Branding Your Name

No lie, every author want's to have their baby (AKA book) prominently featured on the New York Times Best Seller list. It's a coveted position, but rarely do you see people transcribed to the list that don't have a strong branded name. I haven't see one name on that list that I can't research and find a plethora of information of them already. I mean it can happen, but for the wide majority it wont, and it has to do with two little words: name branding.
Name branding isn't about putting your name out on books, articles, blogs, and FB...if it were that simple my life would be made! In reality name branding is an effective marketing strategy in which you , the name, begin to brand it and set image standards for it. Your brand can be anything you want: funky, cool, calm, collected, professional, but never can it be conflicting.
Here is what I mean. When you are looking to brand your name, don't promote a charismatic wild nature and then appear to your first news interview as 100% professional. It confuses fans, it confuses you, and it confuses your brand.
If at all possible let the people around you choose your brand for you. Everyone who knows me is always telling me this blog, my website, my business cards, my writing, in fact everything I touch mirrors my personality. That's because I let the people around me explain to me how they saw me, and then I branded it. So ask your connections how they see you, are you professional and serious? Then brand it. Are you funky retro? Brand it, baby! Tap into who you are and let free. It will only mean good things for you. Once you have your brand pinned down, then you can start to market your name and make it your own. This is what is referred to as branding.
Many authors share my niche and will share yours, don't view it so much as a competition but different interpretations on the same brand. Some authors are professional and serious, I know several, but they each portray it in different ways to market their professionalism and serious outlook as unique.
Don't ride off the ideas of others, instead shape and cultivate your brand name and get to branding it publically. This is where your business cards, social media, interviews, and all that jazz come in to play. But notice how they don't shape the make of your name, your name shapes and makes them unique to you.
Last lets talk about your writing as a form of branding. When you make a written post public, it's the same as publishing an add for you as an author. Do you want that add to blend in? Or worse, portray the wrong message? Your words have power, the only difference between being an author or not is embracing that truth. Famous or not, your words are important and meaningful and should always portray the purity of your flair and style. Use your words to your advantage; step out from the shadows of anonymity and give yourself an edge that can't be found anywhere else.