Banishing the Concept of Being a Brand: Maintaining your Humanity in a Digital World

   I grew up in the city of Grand Island, Nebraska. I ordered Starbucks, went out to eat at Applebees, and enjoy the luxuries that big corporations provide, but in Nebraska, there is a general mindset of shop local. We are encouraged from a young age to shop at the local business over corporations. We trade big-name brands for smaller, family-owned ones. Our pumpkins come from patches, our cookies come from little bakeries, our corn comes from farmers' markets, and our books come from Nebraskan authors. 

   Part of the shop local mindset is due to much of our state still being rural. We were settled in 1867, making us a relatively young state, compared to others. Nebraska was founded on the Home Stead act. Farms came long before cities and towns are still spaced out like they were back then. We have two main cities, Omaha and Lincoln. Kearney and Grand Island are smaller ones. The majority of our land is family owned. It's farmland or small towns. It's not uncommon to hear someone say, "I'm going to the village," because there are villages everywhere and bars that still sport taverns and saloon titles. I bring this up because I believe the rural, small-town mindset, is what independent publishers need to have. 

  Here in Nebraska, if you are a small business, people don't know your brand. They know your face. You are a human first and foremost, and a business person second. Personal relationships are the backbone of small businesses, and lately, I feel like the writing community is losing this concept.

  We write to communicate; to have conversations with our readers. So why are we acting like billboards instead of people?

  I have Tik Tok, Facebook, and Instagram. I got rid of Twitter a long time ago simply because I didn't use it enough. Each of the media sites I have contains different content from mine, and I follow different content on them. For instance, I love Tik Tok for author tips. There is a community of authors on #booktok that are dedicated to advising fellow writers. One of their big topics is branding. They push branding like it's going out of style. 

  Branding is important as it helps set you apart from others, but you can't give up your humanity to accomplish it. I, personally, am more likely to buy a book from an author I've seen post about their pets than an author who only posts book trailers.

  "Don't post things that aren't related to your brand," some of the brand advice givers say. "Don't post about your personal life. Don't post about your pets. Don't use filters and effects that aren't related to #booktok. Don't hype up another author's book on your author page. Make sure 90% of your posts are teasers from your books."

  I want to go on record here, before I get too into this subject, to say that I am not a "best-selling author". I am a human being, writing for a particular group of people. I don't make hundreds of dollars a month. Honestly, my royalties are about $0.35-$8.00 a month. Most of the time I am struggling to make ends meet. I've never had a royalty check higher than $15.00, and I'm okay with that. Because my books are reaching their intended audience which leads to my ratings are fair and consistent.

  I've been told multiple times that I'd be a best-seller if I sold smut or if I followed the advice of those #booktokers I mentioned before. Money isn't why I got into this business, though, and it won't be why I stay. 

  Here's some cold hard truth for you. People buy from people, not billboards.

  Had I known where I would be now, I would have taken some business courses back in college, but had I taken those courses I might have bought into the whole "you are a brand" concept. People, you aren't a brand. You have a brand. You are a person and that has to be the center of your business or else you'll end up as corrupted and greedy as corporations.

  Post about your pets, post about your kids, post about that random thing that made you chuckle at the grocery store. Your readers want to feel connected to you. You don't have to give out super personal details (and I wouldn't) like where exactly you live or what school your kids go to. All you need to do is post a picture every once in a while about your life. My favorite way to do this is to take a snapshot of my cats watching me writing, or my coffee cup sitting by an open notebook. When I was in college I called these moments 'the little moments' and they were what I dedicated my Instagram to, way back before I started publishing. They're moments of happiness, joy, sadness, and anxiety. Moments where I felt truly human. I can't speak for all readers or all authors, for everyone's journey is different, but what I've found in my life is that people are more likely to support a living, breathing person, than a 'one click' website.

  I know it's tempting to post about nothing but your books, but your books aren't your entire personality. Every person is made up of several different personality traits. Show them off. Design your logo with your favorite animal or colors, get creative with your website, and host polls about covers you're considering. Get your readers to interact with you. Otherwise, you're going to get burnt out and your page reads will dwindle. 

  Remember, you are not a brand, you have a brand.