The Pressure to Be Both a Brand and an Artist
Finding Yourself in the Journey
You became a writer to create. To tell stories. To move people. But somewhere along the way, you were told you also had to be a brand.
Now your writing time competes with social media strategies and brand tone guides. You're supposed to be marketable and authentic. Strategic and sincere. And you're exhausted.
This Isn’t What You Signed Up For
Writing is already vulnerable. You are sharing personal ideas or characters based on feelings you’ve experienced. There is lots of rejection in our field already, to add to it the cost, financially and emotionally, of adding marketing to the mix can make it feel like you’re constantly performing. It becomes easy to confuse your online presence with your worth.
Why the Divide Hurts
When you split yourself into two roles—the writer and the brand—you dilute both. You’re not two people. You’re one. And the work you do needs room to develop and grow without feeling exploited.
Integrating the Creative and the Commercial
But the reality is that we do still need to help our potential readers find us. Self-publishing needs sales. Traditional publishers require a marketing plan. So, I have given below a few things to help you straddle these two necessary parts of being an author.
Decide what part of you the audience gets. Not everything belongs online. Share strategically, not reflexively.
Make marketing feel like storytelling. Think of every post, email, or launch as another scene in your writer journey.
Audit your online presence. Is it reflective of your values and voice? If not, adjust.
The Freedom to Be Whole
You don’t have to perform your brand. You can live it. You can write things that sell without selling out. You can build trust by being consistent, not constant.
The best brand is a writer who knows who they are. Let your work lead. Let your voice be the same online as they find in your books, so buying your book is the extension of the relationship with you.
How have you found this balance? Are there any points you’d like to see me develop further? Let me know in the comments below.