The Business of Writing

Reminder writers, just because we’re creatives, doesn’t mean we can ignore the business side of our passion. As most of my followers know, I've recently returned to the writing game after 4 long years away from the keyboard. To me, this meant a complete restart. Or, as we say in the marketing world, it was time to rebrand.

I have a university degree in marketing, meaning I probably had an easier time than most creating my personal writing brand and self-marketing plan. All that means, is that I'm here sharing my knowledge with any writer who happens to stumble across my blog; completely free.

Coming back into the writing game, I knew I couldn’t just write. If I wanted to ever publish and make a name for myself, give my all to this passion, I had to do it right. I created a logo using Canva, a simple, free site. Then I created my website using the user-friendly Wix (FYI, no one ever tells you the hardest part about writing website content is the “About Me” section).

All very amateur tools, I'll admit, but without a deep understanding of graphic or website design I did the best I could. I made sure the aesthetic of my site matched that of my logo and my positioning (genre/reading-level/premise). This is vitally important so that you’re easy to recognise across different platforms and exposure. Brand image is crucial. Think about it, you check out someone’s website, it’s all in greyscale with sharp fonts and little colour. Well, if you’re a romance writer, that may not be the best image for you. (Sidenote: Is horror-romance a subgenre? Add some curly font and a couple bandaged hearts and this might work for you).

Once I had my logo and my site I started on social media. Oh how I loathe all the different apps. What happened to good ol’ Facebook and that was it right? Now I have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and I couldn’t bring myself to download or create an account for TikTok... call me old, call me chicken, I may regret this in the future but I just have zero interest.

On all these accounts I linked back to the other apps as well as my new site. So, I had my accounts, and I had my website, which included a blog feature. So how do I get noticed? How do I decide what I'm going to post and when? Content and social media marketing plan.

For my personal use, I simplified this way down to creating an excel spreadsheet for the month of January, coming up with a few categories my posts would sit under (lessons, anecdotes, writing practices, etc.), then I spread those out evenly around the month with no clear defined topics.

Then, once again using Canva to create the social images, I slowly and methodically picked topics related to my genre and experience. I'm a fantasy and supernatural writer, I’m a planner, I want to engage with my followers, I love to read. And so some of the topics I picked were stories about mythology, or crystal healing. I did a post about planning (or not planning), first drafts, and plans for more to come. I added some common trends such as #writerslift on Twitter to engage with my fans in addition to some personal anecdotes to share a part of myself with those willing to read. I've done a few book recommendations with plenty more in the works.

So, that’s the basics of how I rebranded myself on my return to writing using my marketing degree as a foundation and manageable tools at my fingertips. Reminder: results take time, remember that this isn’t an overnight fix. It will take time, exposure and consistency to get results. That's where I wait.