Branding Your Self-Publishing Business - For authors and low content book creators

[@GrantGreetings]

I just love your videos! They are so informative and really motivate me to get to work. I publish all my books under my real name, which is the same name on my author central account. But, I have created my own publishing company with a very recognizable logo to brand all the books I publish. That logo is on the back of every book and every spine that is wide enough, where it can be. I do place it on the title or copyright page sometimes too. It just depends on where I want it to appear. I have a tag for the front of my car with that logo for free advertisement, a website, and social media pages. I also have an account with Lulu to publish books which are also on my author central page on Amazon along with my kdp books. I also have a store on Zazzle where I publish notebooks and journals under that same author name and publisher brand. So far I am very happy just using my real name as my author name/pen name and have no intentions of creating a fake pen name. Can you give me any reasons why I should consider doing so? Under my real name I can publish any variety of books I want, branding them with my publisher name and logo. Open to any advice you may have on how to be more successful in my book publishing business. I really enjoy it! Yes, I also design greeting cards. Hence my logo here on this comment. That is another story that has to do with not putting all your eggs in one basket. Ha!

[@TheHomeBoss]

Looks like you're doing all the right things already! I love how pro-active you have been. Regarding pen names, the only reason authors use them is either to stay anonymous or to separate their genres or niches. I think I made a video about that too, for example, Joanna Rowling publishes her Harry Potter fantasy books under J K Rowling but her crime fictio books under Robert Galbraith. That way both genres are separated and she can target both different audiences with each pen name.

[@GrantGreetings]

@@TheHomeBoss Thank you so much for your detailed explanation! I truly appreciate all that you do. You're a great teacher. I wish you much success in 2023.

[@jennyb-aeternabitart7436]

Another reason to use a pen name is continuity. I have been using the same pen name for 25 years - not my name then or now - including a 15 year hiatus in book production in the middle. People who enjoyed my work (way back then) may recognise the name and read something new. I also have a separate name for some other things, and so I wanted to use my actual name as an artist. Which is difficult because there are already a lot of artists with similar names; I ended up with two variations with a cards&craft and fine-art split because I couldn't find anything that was basically my name for both and avoid confusion... So I use pen names for separation of branding and for long-term continuity - and to avoid confusion. I hope that helps! 😊 Jenny x

[@jeanettef.chaplin4326]

Great timing! I've just published my first ebook and I'm looking into supplementing the material with printables.

[@RafaelLimapoeta]

Thank you very much for your tips.

[@teneilkw]

Yesss. Looking forward to the branding course. Definitely want more on this topic

[@jennyb-aeternabitart7436]

Thank you! You're right - this is a HUGE topic. But it doesn't seem to have much attention paid to it by people doing how-to's. So, thank you for redressing the balance! 🙌

[@MsJ3ny]

Thank you very much for sharing your business ideas/plans ect with us. ❤️

[@TheHomeBoss]

You are so welcome! Thank you so much for watching!

[@davidmccugh1337]

Great topic! I had the same issue where Amazon nixed my brand as an author name so I had to put my brand for Contributors. Keep crushing it!

[@TheHomeBoss]

Thanks for sharing! That's another way of getting around the problem. Great tip!

[@AvisPope]

Awesome video that's packed with excellent tips. Thank you 😇

[@TheHomeBoss]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DejaDrewit]

ohhhh wowww i didn't realize the imprint is the publisher name!!! that is amazing to know thank you! I was very worried about creating random pen names because they are different niches but i still want people to find my books by searching my publisher name. i was also thinking when i write books to use a new pen name as the author and say illustrated by my main brand name aka publisher name even though it's one person.

[@cherylbutler2724]

Hi Nuria. Amazing and extremely helpful content as always. 😊. If pen name and brand name are different, how do you present that on the author page? 😮

[@TheHomeBoss]

Thank you Cheryl. Your brand should ideally be the same as your pen name. You can only have an author page for pen names. Think of Stephen King, that is his pen name but also his brand.

[@planetaryPoem9]

So if the brand name is not a person’s name, there’s a chance of rejection? I have a brand that I publish most of my books under and it’s not a person’s name. I’m worried now. KDP are becoming too strict.

[@clarissa182]

Hi Nuria! So I currently use a brand name for the books I currently have published, which are notebooks, puzzle books, trackers, and coloring books. I am moving toward writing children storybooks in the near future and I am currently working on medium to high educational activity books and learning books. Would you recommend that I continue to use my brand name as the publisher OR in addition to my brand name, I begin to use a pen name with my new books OR should I create a new brand all together, for what I consider a new phase for me in my publishing journey? Thank you so much for the wonderful videos!

[@TheHomeBoss]

That is a difficult question to answer for me without knowing your books.... I advise that you pick the books that make sense to you to build a brand on. Maybe pick a brand name that allows you to publish a variety of books. For example, I have a brand that contains lots of different types of books, but they all have something in common in the design.

[@commercialaviation3809]

Good day Nuria I am doing My MBA thesis regarding Amazon Kdp sales and factors affecting the sales of low and no content books. I am from Lebanon, and as you know it is hard from here to find the targeted audience. Is it possible to help me regarding the survey distribution.

[@ezzydrop9798]

Hi. I made a sale from an e-book before I realized that I need to update my manuscript. It is now updated. My question is, will KDP send an email to the buyer that there's an updated version, and if it is possible that he can get that updated one? I know some other platform (like Gumroad) selling e-books that sends email to the buyer to download updated versions. Is it the same for KDP? Thanks.

[@TheHomeBoss]

I don't think Amazon does that, I could be wrong but I have bought a lot of books and have never received an email about an updated version.

[@AdiArkoGamingAndVideos2624]

please .. I am waitng brand creation course..

[@TheHomeBoss]

I'm working on it as we speak. Originally it was going to be a mini course, but I am going to create a fully detailed course which is taking longer than anticipated... it will be worth the wait as it will include much more information. Thank you for waiting.

[@AdiArkoGamingAndVideos2624]

@@TheHomeBoss please now in the mean time suggest etsy printable course that I start journey..please

[@sidm4027]

Can we make our author central to have a brand name ( i mean to be like a company name) and inside it to have books written under different pen names (people names) according to the niches we write for?

[@TheHomeBoss]

No, you can only create an author central account for your pen names.

[@lunaedugus5755]

Can the same brand be created for an audience in English and Spanish, with their respective Facebook or Instagram, in English and Spanish respectively? For example, "Ardent Reader" and "Spanish Ardent Reader"

[@TheHomeBoss]

It would be double the work, but you can do that if you want to. I would probably concentrate on one to begin with.

[@lunaedugus5755]

@@TheHomeBoss Yes, I was thinking about that too, but you always need experts to mention it to you :-) Thank you very much for answering. By the way, your course on writing stories for children, is very good. I'm learning a lot.❤

[@TheHomeBoss]

@@lunaedugus5755 I'm so happy you like it and that you are learning. I wish you much success with your books.

[@ang.giselle2024]

How do you create a brand without giving away your book ideas? 😊

[@weightlossyourweightloss3741]

Your videos have been really helpful,I'm hoping to and looking forward to a good business with Amazon 🙏🙏🙏

[@TheHomeBoss]

Not sure I understand your question exactly. You would be branding it for your readers or customers, not for your competition.

[@ang.giselle2024]

@@TheHomeBoss oh, I see. Just thought if you had a webpage, you’d display your books there. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@TheHomeBoss]

@@ang.giselle2024 Yes, you do. I don't know what you mean by giving away book ideas?