Welcome back to my thoughts about what it's like to be a horror author and the things that no one teaches you.
I'm hoping through these blog posts from my experiences you will at least take away some knowledge that can help you be a better and bright author in the future - or in horror's case - more macabre and deadly!
That being said today I want to touch on Branding. When I first started my author journey I was very chilled and decided I need a logo. In a picture below on the very left, you'll see the very first Logo I had created for myself. this became a thing for me and I subsequently decorated my logo for holidays for newsletters, I had a stamp made with it which I still use when I sign books, and I was overall happy.
Good branding right? Wrong!
Firstly, Branding is everything about you. From the font you use to the colours you select, to the way you write your name. Your logo is just one aspect of branding and it should reflect your brand as a whole. I made the mistake of not sticking to a specific font and style, and a specific kind of voice when speaking to my readers, and as a result building my reader fan base was really slow.
Visually people are drawn to things that interest them. That old adage of "Don't just a book by its cover" is bullshit. All the books are judged by all the covers, and so too are the authors who write them.
I had a skull as my first Logo and then decided to create a second one which in the image is in the middle. Still, I hadn't learned to stick to a font or colour scheme and thought, this is a more modern logo and will stand out.
Still no success.
Then I invested in a course with Ashleigh Gianoccaro on how to use picmonkey and created the third logo to the right. I chose my font, my colour palette, and my style. And I'm sticking to it. I use the same fonts on my posts, in my group, I use the colour palette when designing posts. And even though I can't rebrand all my books at the moment, having just rebranded a bunch of them - I will be using genre-specific fonts with my horror books/sci-fi books/thriller books as necessary.
The LOGOS
Don't rush things. I know it's exciting to get things published and on the go and all this admin before it seems tedious. But it's investing in these little decisions now, that will speak for your whole brand later, and will help you build a bigger fan base in the long run.
What do you think of my new logo? Fitting isn't it!
Other things you can look at include catchphrases. If you follow me, or my newsletter, you know I always end it with my famous lines from The Butcher Books - Always Lock your doors. That's a thing that is unique to me and signals to my readers that it's me here, talking to you.
Also, brand your things. Put your logos on videos and posts, so people come to recognize it when they see it. You don't have to be published to start thinking about your brand, in fact, I recommend you do that long before you are published and making cover decisions.
If you have questions about what programs to use for your design or if you want contacts of people who design logos, comment below and I'll be happy to connect you to a few designers I know are amazing.
Until next Time
Always lock your doors
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