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Branding for Nonconformists
Author Branding Isn’t Smarmy!
(Unless you were a relentless self-promoter even in kindergarten)
After publishing the first article in this series, I toggled back to last-minute edits on A Bright Clean Mind, my new creativity book that includes juicy interviews with sixteen vegan artists — painters and illustrators, musicians, writers, the indie dyer behind VeganYarn.com, and the maker of the first-ever vegan feminist horror film. One of the authors I interviewed is Maya Gottfried, who has published several children’s picture books as well as Vegan Love: Dating and Partnering for the Cruelty-Free Gal, with Fashion, Makeup & Wedding Tips. When I reread our conversation (which took place exactly a year ago), I felt a pang: am I contradicting myself? Here’s our exchange:
There’s so much stress these days on your platform and being a brand, and while I understand that times have changed, my personal preference is to be a writer rather than a brand.
YES! Thank you for saying that!
Publishers may need me to be a bit of a brand, and I’m happy to do that work to try to sell my book as much as they need me to — but in my heart of hearts I really want to be David Sedaris, who is so not a brand. He is a writer.
