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Build an Author Brand that Feels Like You
Your author brand isn't just your colors, fonts, genre, or Instagram feed. Your author brand is what people start to associate with you.
And building one doesn't require turning your private life into content.
In this interactive Prickle, you'll uncover the stories, beliefs, themes, interests, and bits of personal lore that already make you memorable—and leave with 3–5 clear brand pillars you can actually use when deciding what to talk about online.
Monday, September 14 • 1:00 pm ET
For women writers • $25 for non-members
Included with Quill & Cup membership.
Maybe you've been told you need to “build your author brand.”
Maybe you made a color palette.
Picked some fonts.
Posted about your book a few times.
And still have absolutely no idea what people are supposed to associate with you.
Maybe every piece of author-brand advice seems to eventually turn into share more of your life online—and you don't particularly want to do that.
Good. You don't have to.
What is a "Prickle"?
(Hedgehogs gather in “prickles,” which is perfect for us.)
Prickles are how we learn, write, brainstorm, and figure things out together inside Quill & Cup.
And this one is going to be very interactive.
Quill & Cup CEO and author Ania Ray knows firsthand what can happen when people start associating more with you than the books you write.
Her author brand helped lead to a collaboration with Jo Malone London in Nashville—an international fragrance brand partnering with a women's fiction author. What?!
But that's exactly the point.
Your author brand can create connections and opportunities that your genre alone never could.
Ania will guide you through exercises designed to help you uncover what already makes you you: the stories you tell, the things you believe, the themes you keep coming back to, the stuff you could talk about forever, and even the random bits of lore people have started to associate with you.
You'll look at examples. You'll have time to brainstorm and write. You'll talk through what you're discovering.
And by the end, you'll narrow all of that down into 3–5 author brand pillars you can use when you're wondering:
Okay... what the heck do I post about?
You're not coming here to invent a brand.
You're coming to notice the one that's already there—and start using it on purpose.
This is for the woman who...
- knows she needs to build an author brand but has absolutely no idea what hers is supposed to be
- wants to connect with readers online without feeling like she's performing for them
- feels like the only thing she has to post about is her book
- has saved approx. 847 posts about author branding, content pillars, and social media for authors and is still confused
- wants an author platform that feels like an extension of who she actually is—not a persona she has to keep performing
- doesn't particularly want to become a lifestyle influencer in order to build a readership
- has interests, opinions, stories, beliefs, running jokes, weird little obsessions, and plenty of personality offline—but freezes when it's time to decide what belongs in her online presence
- wants to know what to post about when she isn't promoting a book
- wants readers to start saying, “This made me think of you.”
You don't need to manufacture a more interesting version of yourself.
You do not need to call yourself a writer to come.
You need to recognize what already makes you memorable.
Ready to figure out what you want people to associate with you?
For women writers • Current Hedgies attend free.
BUILD MY AUTHOR BRAND — $25"I had sat on the Quill & Cup fence for years. Years! Lurking at their social media account, knowing I belonged there, but unable to identify what was holding me back. I had searched for a writing community since I started writing, often bouncing from one group or one program to another. I love being a part of Quill & Cup. The first day I was greeted by a number of writers, and their excitement to meet me made me excited to be there. Q&C welcomes all genres and all writers from across the world, and that varied experience set it apart from other programs I had been a part of."
E.D. Hackett
Quill & Cup member
Women's fiction author
"Quill & Cup resources and support are accessible for writers of all genres, with every crazy, personal schedule under the moon. It is like a MFA program with only the best and most fruitful parts!"
Kelly Sutton
About Quill & Cup
We’re a global community of women writing books, essays, poems, messy first drafts, query letters, pitch packages... all of it.
Some members are pursuing traditional publication.
Some are writing during nap time.
Some are starting over after years away from creativity.
What we're most proud of? Hard to pinpoint, but maybe it's that we're a fiercely supportive community of women who are committed to prioritizing writing and making rest a non-negotiable. We make our “kitchen table” (unlimited Zoom writing sessions) available for all members to write at any time of the day. We’re each other’s braintrust and hive-mind... sharing knowledge of craft, research-based practices for an empowered mindset, and attending workshops and webinars hosted by us and prepared by various teachers of the writing community.
You already have an author brand.
Every story you tell, belief you share, thing you love, hill you'll die on, and weird little bit of lore
is teaching people what to associate with you.
The question is whether you're building those associations intentionally.
Come figure out the 3–5 brand pillars that feel like you—and give yourself something much more useful than another list of things you're “supposed” to post.
For women writers • $25 for non-members
Already a Hedgie? You're already in. Current Quill & Cup members attend free.
🦔 Find the Zoom link in the Hedgie House as usual.