Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Writer's Conquest: Establish a Brand
    The Writer's Conquest: Establish a Brand
    The Writer's Conquest: Establish a Brand
    Ebook174 pages2 hours

    The Writer's Conquest: Establish a Brand

    By Thomas A Fowler

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Marketing is hard. You want to focus on your writing and you should. That’s why The Writer’s Conquest: Establish Your Brand exists: to allow you to write first and market second. If the terms “target demographics,” “website responsive design,” and “organic S.E.O.” sound like a foreign language to you, read this book and bring the ad agency experience to your author platform. Beginning with research, you’ll learn what goes into brand strategy and finish with an executable marketing plan. With 35 exercises to walk you through the process, The Writer’s Conquest is equal parts learning and doing. Whether you are an established author looking to refine your approach, or an aspiring writer gearing up to enter the industry, The Writer’s Conquest takes marketing step-by-step to sell your books and your brand.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThomas A Fowler
    Release dateJun 9, 2016
    ISBN9780997349900
    The Writer's Conquest: Establish a Brand
    Author

    Thomas A Fowler

    Thomas A. Fowler is the author of nerdy things. At the age of 11, he saw Jurassic Park. It was all nerdy as hell from there. Especially when he stuck around for the end credits and saw "Based on the Novel by Michael Crichton." He went straight from the movie theater, walked down the mall to a Walden Books. Since then, he's written movies, plays, short stories and books. While he sticks primarily to science-fiction, he dabbles elsewhere. He holds an MBA in Marketing from Regis University and uses that as a Content Creator at a full-service ad agency in Denver, Colorado. Somewhere, between writing and advertising, he tries to be a loving husband and responsible father.

    Related to The Writer's Conquest

    Related ebooks

    Marketing For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Say My Name

      May 16, 2019

      Say My Name
      3 min read

    • Article

      Your Structured Approach To Brand Management Is Killing You

      Feb 11, 2018

      For many years now, academics and agencies have been developing scientific models to measure the strength of the brands we build. This is based on the prevailing wisdom that a good brand is one that grows in equity over time. The result is a (very re

      4 min read

    • Article

      About Branding

      Mar 23, 2020

      Branding is both a complex and exciting subject. Regardless of a farmer’s size or status, decisions about branding should be taken with great care. Branding plays a major role in making a product easily recognisable. When scores of farmers are all se

      1 min read

    • Article

      Sell Your Services, Not Your Soul

      Jul 11, 2019

      As Shakespearean scholar Harold Bloom argued, “Before Shakespeare there was characterisation; after Shakespeare, there were characters, men and women capable of change, with highly individual personalities.” Centuries later, characterisation – men an

      4 min read

    • Article

      Creative Direction

      Feb 27, 2024

      Creative Direction
      2 min read

    • Article

      On Brand

      Mar 20, 2018

      As advertising philosopher Jeremy Bullmore once observed: “Products are made and owned by companies. Brands, on the other hand, are made and owned by people… by the public… by consumers. A brand image belongs not to a brand – but to those who have kn

      3 min read

    • Article

      Branding Is All About Influencing Perceptions

      Aug 28, 2019

      LET’S START by establishing what a brand is. It is a customer’s (or potential customer’s) perception of your business or product or service. So, when we talk about branding, we are trying to influence a customer’s perception. Branding is the act of i

      2 min read

    • Article

      NFTs Explained

      Apr 26, 2022

      NFTs Explained
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Celebrity Effect

      Jun 24, 2020

      Celebrities and influencers have completely transformed the marketing game for luxury brands. Supermodels, socialites and KOLs (not to mention their children) have the ability to shape consumer trends with every snapshot they upload onto the digital

      2 min read

    • Article

      Getting Creative With PR

      Sep 22, 2021

      Getting Creative With PR
      5 min read

    • Article

      Facebook Is Testing Ways To Compensate Video Creators So It Can Cut Into YouTube's Dominance

      Mar 19, 2018

      If you're a die-hard fan of a Facebook video creator, the social network may soon give you a way to pay for exclusive content and award you with a digital badge to declare your fandom. Those are some of the new ideas Facebook is introducing in the co

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Tools Of Attention

      May 15, 2019

      The technology of the day is of vital importance to marketers. It doesn’t just define how we make what we sell, it defines how we connect with those we sell to. Modern marketing has only been around for a little over 100 years. What many believe to b

      4 min read

    • Article

      Paying Attention

      Mar 20, 2018

      As the old phrase goes, everyone has a story in them. And that’s where most of them should stay. But with media outlets still cutting back on editorial resource and the rise of new digital tools that have allowed brands to talk directly to consumers

      3 min read

    • Article

      Becoming an Authentic Brand

      Sep 11, 2020

      Becoming an Authentic Brand
      4 min read

    • Article

      Six Attributes Of A Progressive CMO

      Mar 24, 2021

      Given the rise of digital marketing and online culture, and with this all the tech needed to support e-commerce needs, data requirements and better UX/CX, the CMO of the future is going to be a hybrid of a CIO and CTO. Yes, they’ll still be grounded

      3 min read

    • Article

      Word Of Mouth

      Sep 15, 2019

      Word Of Mouth
      5 min read

    • Article

      New Breed of Buyers

      Oct 29, 2020

      Luxury — just like the internet — is a truly global phenomenon. Its sellers are global. Its buyers are global. Even the aspirants are truly global. Luxury goods are often bought by buyers outside their home countries because shopping is such an inali

      2 min read

    • Article

      Claiming Your 4 Superpowers

      Jan 21, 2021

      Claiming Your 4 Superpowers
      4 min read

    • Article

      What I Learned

      Aug 22, 2016

      What I Learned
      4 min read

    • Article

      What Type Of Content Is In Demand?

      Mar 30, 2020

      Tabitha Fairbairn, managing director of Mango Communications, part of DDB: Content that benefits the consumer. Just because a brand says it’s interesting doesn’t mean it is. You have to start with the consumer and the conversation. What’s interesting

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Writer's Conquest

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Writer's Conquest - Thomas A Fowler

      BOOK DESCRIPTION

      I really want to stop creative writing and work on my marketing.

      - No author ever

      Marketing is hard. You want to focus on your writing and you should. That’s why The Writer’s Conquest: Establish Your Brand exists: to allow you to write first and market second. If the terms target demographics, website responsive design, and organic S.E.O. sound like a foreign language to you, read this book and bring the ad agency experience to your author platform. Beginning with research, you’ll learn what goes into brand strategy and finish with an executable marketing plan.

      With 35 exercises to walk you through the process, The Writer’s Conquest is equal parts learning and doing. Whether you are an established author looking to refine your approach, or an aspiring writer gearing up to enter the industry, The Writer’s Conquest takes marketing step-by-step to sell your books and your brand.

      Thomas A. Fowler

      Digital Edition - 2016

      THE WRITER’S CONQUEST

      ESTABLISH A BRAND.

      Copyright © 2016 by Thomas A. Fowler.

      All rights reserved. No other part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Nerdy Things Publishing, LLC.

      To continue the journey, head to WritersConquest.com

      ISBN 10: 0-997-3499-1-3

      ISBN 13: 978-0-9973499-1-7

      Edited by Vivian Trask

      Proofread by Bree Crowder

      Cover Designed by Harry Forehand III

      Formatted by RuneWright LLC

      Contents

      BOOK DESCRIPTION

      TITLE PAGE

      DEDICATION

      THE STRUCTURE

      IT’S ALL ON YOU

      EXERCISE ONE

      A HARSH TRUTH

      EXERCISE TWO

      WHEN A BRAND WORKS

      EXERCISE THREE

      BRAND RESEARCH

      EXERCISE FOUR

      STRENGTHS

      EXERCISE FIVE

      WEAKNESSES

      EXERCISE SIX

      OPPORTUNITIES

      EXERCISE SEVEN

      THREATS

      EXERCISE EIGHT

      POLITICAL

      EXERCISE NINE

      ECONOMIC

      EXERCISE TEN

      SOCIAL

      EXERCISE ELEVEN

      TECHNOLOGICAL

      EXERCISE TWELVE

      MAPPING OUT RESEARCH

      EXERCISE THIRTEEN

      THE BRIEF

      EXERCISE FOURTEEN

      BRAND POSITIONING STATEMENT

      EXERCISE FIFTEEN

      NAME

      EXERCISE SIXTEEN

      CONCEPT

      EXERCISE SEVENTEEN

      LOGO

      EXERCISE EIGHTEEN

      COLORS

      EXERCISE NINETEEN

      TAG LINE

      EXERCISE TWENTY

      VOICE

      EXERCISE TWENTY-ONE

      BRAND STRATEGY

      EXERCISE TWENTY-TWO

      RECOGNITION

      EXERCISE TWENTY-THREE

      AWARENESS

      EXERCISE TWENTY-FOUR

      DIFFERENTIATION

      EXERCISE TWENTY-FIVE

      ATTACHMENT

      EXERCISE TWENTY-SIX

      INSISTENCE

      EXERCISE TWENTY-SEVEN

      BRAND PRODUCTION

      EXERCISE TWENTY-EIGHT

      BOOKS

      EXERCISE TWENTY-NINE

      WEBSITE

      EXERCISE THIRTY

      BLOG

      EXERCISE THIRTY-ONE

      SOCIAL MEDIA

      EXERCISE THIRTY-TWO

      PRINT

      EXERCISE THIRTY-THREE

      CONVENTIONS AND APPEARANCES

      EXERCISE THIRTY-FOUR

      DIGITAL MATERIALS & CONTENT

      EXERCISE THIRTY-FIVE

      SPONSORSHIP

      EXERCISE THIRTY-SIX

      FINAL PRODUCTION PLAN

      EXERCISE THIRTY-SEVEN

      CONCLUSION

      INDEX

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      DEDICATION

      This book is dedicated to the Colorado advertising community. The Writer’s Conquest is a culmination of lessons learned at Regis University, NEXT Creatives, AdClub, Ad2 Denver and the astonishing talent this state generates. Most importantly, thank you to the incredible agency I’ve called home, Vladimir Jones. The advertising industry is both unique and insane. I love every minute of it because of the group of co-workers who trudge through the fast turnarounds and creative challenges we face day-to-day as a team.

      THE STRUCTURE

      This isn’t a book on theory; it is work. Too many books on marketing and author platforms are all talk. They give you ideas, but nothing is put into action. The Writer’s Conquest is about putting in hard hours and late nights to become an expert in what you do. The end of every chapter has tangible questions to help you create your brand. This desk should not be clean by the end of your reading, but riddled with sketches, tag lines and concepts. Let your brand come to life by learning and doing. Nothing teaches like action.

      Let’s get to work.

      IT’S ALL ON YOU

      Your writing can be of great comfort to readers. Your books can have a consistent presence in a person’s life. If you have a hard time believing that, think of your favorite author. Their collective works adorn your shelves. They’ve established their brand. Through either a series or individual works with a shared theme, their writing helped to define a portion of your life. Many great authors start with their brand in place, even if they don’t realize it. They merely write the works they want to read, and their brand naturally emerges as their career progresses.

      At some point, that author had to sell their writing to a publisher or agent, or both. If the successful author was self-published, they sold their authorship thousands of times via social media, convention appearances and signings. No author worth their salt left their brand unnoticed. They honed their craft, channeled their message and fulfilled an emotional want or need within the industry. They wrote the series no one had seen yet. They reached out to readers and gave them a lasting cathartic experience.

      That will be your challenge. How do you make your writing successful and sellable? Find both short and long-term goals to reach out to industry professionals and fans. Those goals will help to create a sustainable business model. This model will be something you believe in because it is based on you and what you love to write. It makes no sense to build a foundation on anything else. That belief will turn into conveyed passion in your messaging. That messaging will lead to conversions. Conversions end the hobby and result in a career. When a brand is successful, it articulates its purpose with immense clarity.

      A good brand tells you exactly what it provides. It won’t be the right fit for every single consumer in the marketplace—that’s an impossible pipe dream—but a focused brand finds the right type of consumer and celebrates them. In order to become a champion of your own making, you have to embrace four major ideas. If you adhere to these four edicts, your brand will be both strong and something you believe in. Put these edicts on a cork board, put sticky notes on the wall, commit them to memory. Frame these four edicts. Keeping them near where you write will keep your priorities straight.

      The first edict of The Writer’s Conquest: write what you want to read. Nothing helps a brand shine like doing what you love. Little else needs to be said. Think of movies you go to see; you can tell when the cast, the director, and everyone else involved in the making of the film put every effort into making the movie the best it can be. As shown in press junkets, they have a true passion for the film. They share fun stories of late nights to make the movie work, how meticulous the wardrobe department worked to have costume details fit a character.

      In the writing world, there are authors who absorb their genre wholeheartedly. This shows in the best way possible. When an author becomes a champion for their genre, it’s not by complete accident. They’ve written a book they wanted to read within their favorite genre. They are equal parts fan and contributor.

      Reversely, you can tell when a business tries to enter a market they don’t fully understand or have the wherewithal to be an expert in. Embrace the books you love. You feel compelled to write for a particular genre. To go against that to try to accommodate a temporary trend in publishing will show, and it will show in the worst way possible.

      The second mantra: write first and write a lot. Agents and editors will dismiss a query without a completed manuscript. Imagine going to a restaurant where the chefs have never actually cooked a meal. It may be delicious, it could taste deplorable. As a result, you’ll eat at another restaurant. This is the exact reason your query will be ignored in the slush pile. Writing will also help support your brand because the more you write, the more visibility you’ll have—you’ll have more to sell.

      The third edict: market second. This feeds into the previous two edicts, but is equally important to emphasize. If you fixate on marketing too much, you will forget the core product of your brand: the writing. You are a writer. Write first. It is the single most important element to your brand. Marketing is a priority, but is secondary to writing.

      The fourth and final edict: it is your book, your brand. Most companies will carry on if a CEO departs, as they’ll just elect a new one. This will not be true of your brand. It is dependent upon you; it lives and dies with your ownership. The weight of that responsibility is strong. Choosing to become a writer is a hard decision to begin with, if you’re taking it seriously.

      Many believe you write one genius book and the world comes to celebrate you. Those who have done the true work know that is extremely unlikely. The real success stories belong to those who write after they’ve worked a 9-5 to support their monthly expenses. The real writers are the ones at conventions, meeting fans—talking, interacting, participating on social media, putting in the time it actually takes.

      This means you are responsible for the image and likeness of your brand. Granted, depending on your chosen route, there may be agents and publishers to advocate for, and guide, your path. However, the ownership starts and ends with you. You’ll also have to make the decision about whether you’ll go the traditional or independent route, or do a mix of each. You can ultimately turn down a publishing contract if it isn’t the right fit. To go the traditional route, you’ll need to find an agent or publisher to represent you. It’s up to you to find the right fit. It’s also up to you to sell your product. It’s no easy feat. However, if you write what you love to read, you write a lot, and you take ownership of your book and your brand, you will successfully establish your brand.

      WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO READ.

      WRITE FIRST. WRITE A LOT.

      MARKET SECOND.

      IT’S YOUR BOOK; IT’S YOUR BRAND.

      EXERCISE ONE

      Without doing any marketing research, fill out the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1