This week Kelly and JJ (and JJ's dog) discuss author platform and brand. JJ is also tackling spring allergies, but it's fighting back and winning. Also, the difference between "further" and "farther!"
Show Notes
Author brand is the image you portray to your readers. It is cultivated to some extent, but should also arise organically from your personality and interests.
Maintain brand consistency is fairly important and can be tricky to navigate. Brand consistency builds trust with your readership, but you also don't want to be pigeonholed into one thing for the rest of your writing career.
Author platform is the means through which you reach your audience. Platform is far more important for nonfiction writers.
Engagement is more important than sheer quantity of followers/listeners. You can have a million followers, but if you don't engage with them, you can't build loyalty.
Brands and platforms take time to grow, so don't worry if you don't have a platform to speak of yet. And just because someone has a million followers, it doesn't necessarily mean those follows will translate into sales.
In short, be honest, be you, and build your following naturally.
What We're Reading
Kelly's been sick, but she's started Truthwitch by PubCrawl alumna Susan Dennard
JJ's in a reading slump, but she has Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older and These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Off Menu Recommendations
What We're Working On
Kelly is working on developmental edits for a client—hire her at penandparsley.com!
JJ is working on copyedits for Wintersong—she is Old and is upset that they came electronically rather than paper as she expected.
That's all for this week! Next week we'll be starting a series on CHARACTERIZATION! As always, if you have any questions, leave a comment and let us know!
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