You Are a Writer Read Online Free PDF

transfer to me.
    I was wrong. It doesn’t work like that. Only you can own your own platform. Only you can manage your own brand.
    You have to have an image and personality that people recognize. And it needs to be distinctly yours. Otherwise, you disappear. You don’t exist. You’re camouflaged, blending in with the background of other voices.
    Trust me, I know.
    I used to write for a magazine. Every time I sent in a new piece (after publishing multiple articles with them), I had to re-introduce myself. Every. Single. Time. It was pathetic. And terribly frustrating. But I had no home base — no website, no landing zone, no platform. I got what I was asking for.
    Without a brand, you’re forgettable.
    The good news is you have a choice. With the Internet and the million ways people are connecting with each other every day, you can take command of your personal brand. In fact, you must .
    What, exactly, is a brand? That’s not a bad question. In fact, there’s a lot of confusion about what the word even means. It means different things to different people.
    For some, a brand is a logo. For others, it’s your reputation or the trust people put in a product. The word itself may conjure images of Apple or Coca-Cola. It may cause you to wince or make you roll your eyes.
    If that’s the case, hang in there. Because what I mean when I say “brand” is actually quite simple. And as far as I’m concerned, every writer needs one.
    A brand is who you are. But it’s more than that. It’s your truest self. The part people remember.
    Elements of a Brand
    There are three elements of every brand. When building yours, you would do well to pay attention to each:
     
Name: Your actual name, a brand name, or a pseudonym.
Image: A logo, your face, or some kind of custom headshot.
Voice: Your style and tone of communication. It’s how people recognize you.
    A brand is your identity. It’s what makes you, you. But it’s not just your personality. It’s who you consciously choose to be. It’s an intentional identity you don for the sake of your art.
    Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean your brand can be whatever you want. It’s an important part of yourself revealed to an audience. Not in a disingenuous way, but in a way that is helpful, consistent, and understandable to your readers.
    I like guacamole, but it doesn’t need to be part of my brand. A brand is part of you, but it can’t be the whole person — with all your nuances and idiosyncrasies, that’s impossible.
    Choose the parts of your personality you want your brand to emphasize and why. My affinity for avocados doesn’t need to be central in my brand. What does is my belief that passion is central to life.
    The Biggest Mistake Writers Make
    The biggest mistake writers make is believing they don’t need a brand. Wrong. This is a common fallacy and, quite frankly, ridiculous.
    Everyone has a brand. One way or another, you are making an impression on your audience.
    Branding yourself with a consistent image, voice, and name is how you gain some semblance of control over what people think of you. It’s not a perfect process, but you can guide it. You can influence what people think of you, if you care enough to act.
    A brand will happen whether you do this or not. Either you intentionally choose one for yourself, or one will be given to you. Might as well have some say in it.
    When it comes to branding, I can’t emphasize how important it is to be yourself. Not in a lazy, lackadaisical kind of way, but purposefully and intentionally.
    Don’t misuse marketing gimmicks to trick your audience into believing something that isn’t true. If you do, you will be found out, exposed, and discovered for the fraud you are.
    But if you do this branding thing right, your audience will thank you, because you will help them know what to expect.
    Think of a brand as a promise — one you get to deliver on with every word you write and article you publish. Every book you sign.