Branding and Rebranding to Create Balance, Grow, and Improve Sales

I have done branding and rebranding several times.

A collection of the author’s paperbacks for sale at Farpoint

In the fall of 2016, I began to put a LOT more effort into both my fiction and nonfiction writing. I had begun to post blogs at least three times a week and was working on my fiction to publish.

The question that arose at the time was this – how do I brand myself? I was starting to create more fiction – sci-fi, fantasy, and Steampunk – but also writing regularly about positivity, conscious reality creation, mindfulness, self-awareness, and related topics.

Could my writing brand – MJ Blehart – be both fiction and nonfiction? The answer – at that time – was yes. I published my You Are Amazing books and blogged about this choice weekly for the next 2 years.

Once I published more fiction – I started to feel that being both a fiction and non-fiction writer under one name might cause marketplace confusion. When I hired a marketing consultant, she also felt I needed to do some rebranding.

Thus, I also became Murray “MJ” Blehart – rebranding myself in the nonfiction markets I write in.

But I am, after all, only one person. How do branding and rebranding work with this divide?

One person of multiple minds

It’s not uncommon to be of two minds – or more – on any given topic. Situational awareness can help you to see in the here-and-now what does and does not work.

As I write frequently – change is the only constant in the Universe. Change always is, always was, and always will be.

The question is not will things change? The question is, how will you adapt when things change?

Being adaptable is the best way to handle and work with change. It keeps you from complacency, as well as rigidity that prevents growth, potential, possibilities, and working with opportunities.

That written – because I am only one person, I choose where my attention does and does not go. And that can be challenging.

When it comes to my nonfiction – I have a set schedule. I post articles 5 days a week. Each nonfiction post has a topic.

Monday is Positivity (to my blog and Medium.com)
Tuesday is the ongoing writing process (to my author website blog and Medium.com)
Wednesday is my Pathwalking philosophy (to my blog and Medium.com)
Thursday is health, wellness, and wellbeing (to Medium.com)
Friday is my (possibly-being-rebranded) Awareness for Everyone podcast
Saturday is another ongoing writing process post (to my author website blog and Medium.com)

I share everything on social media. But as to my nonfiction books and related fiction – I give that little to no attention presently.

It’s my fiction – which is my first love in writing anyhow – that I seek to promote further.

But currently, the writing time I am giving it is not as much as I’d like to be doing. And that factors into how I focus on my branding and rebranding and what I do with it.

Photo by EJ Yao on Unsplash

Branding and rebranding to build bigger

Are you familiar with the notion of an elevator pitch?

If not, please allow me to elaborate. An elevator pitch is a short description of your product/brand/service that you can give during a short ride on an elevator. It needs to be quick, concise, but to the point and explanatory. It tends to be about 15-30 seconds, total.

This is a branding and rebranding challenge. It’s more than just a simple explanation of what you do – an elevator pitch is a sales pitch. You have 15-30 seconds to convince someone to buy your goods and/or services.

For me, when it comes to branding myself, being both a fiction and nonfiction author made my elevator pitch extra challenging. Explaining who I am and what I do – while trying to persuade you to buy my brand – is not easy.

I am MJ Blehart. I’m a writer of sci-fi and fantasy – as well as conscious reality creation, mindfulness, positivity, and similar self-awareness works. I love to both create new and fantastic worlds – as well as to explore human potential. Can I interest you in checking out my Amazon author page and buying some of my books?

At a reasonable, unhurried pace, I can read that in 20 seconds. Not bad. But it’s still fairly vague.

Now try this:

I am MJ Blehart. I’m a writer of sci-fi, fantasy, and Steampunk novels. I have published multiple books and series on Amazon in these genres. I create and build fantastical worlds that spark the imagination and evoke a sense of wonder. Could I interest you in some of my upcoming work, and may I share with you my Amazon author page?

It needs work, I know. But the latter pitch – which takes around 20 seconds to read – I think illuminates my brand better.

Branding and rebranding in different ways

Creating less confusion and more clarity is why my most recent branding and rebranding has occurred. Certainty of who I am and what I offer potentially increases my sales.

My marketing consultant felt that if someone arrived at my Amazon author page in its previous incarnation – they’d be confused. Is this a sci-fi and fantasy author? A nonfiction author? What am I looking at here?

To be fair, multiple fiction authors have also penned nonfiction works. This includes Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Steven Pressfield, Paulo Coelho, and others. I believe – though I have not done my research to confirm this – that they had already established themselves via fiction before writing and publishing nonfiction.

Also, lots of people recognize these authors’ names. Fewer people know me and my brand.

Thus, if I haven’t already established my brand clearly, it makes sense to clarify it appropriately.

Finally – change is the one and only constant in the entire Universe. As such – branding and rebranding will be ongoing to face and work with change.

Why? Let’s look at Web 3.0 and the Metaverse, for example. They are here – but are still new and growing. What impact these will have on me – and my brand – remains to be seen. But if I am more aware of them now – I can start to think about branding and rebranding my work to enter these new venues.

I have done both branding and rebranding multiple times. And I expect I will do more throughout my career. But by being aware and mindful that this is going to be a going concern, I can adapt and do more to achieve the goals I desire to.