Personal branding · Creators and public voices
Between two books nobody can find you, and the invitations go elsewhere.
Personal branding for an author is the visibility that carries between books: what a festival programmer, a commissioning editor or a company buying copies in bulk finds when they look you up.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Personal branding for an author is the visibility that carries between books: what a festival programmer, a commissioning editor or a company buying copies in bulk finds when they look you up. GullySales builds and maintains that presence from a regular conversation with you.
Also written for
Author, Non-fiction writer, Columnist.
For authors
Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.
“The publicity ends long before the book does”
A publisher's publicist works your launch for a few weeks and then moves to the next title. The book stays in print for years. After that first month nobody is putting your name in front of anyone.
“Panels and workshops pay, royalties mostly do not”
For most non-fiction writers the money is in the keynote, the teaching and the bulk order for a company's leadership programme. Those arrive because you were visible and reachable, not because of a sales rank.
“The next contract asks what you bring to it”
A proposal for the second book is read alongside your standing. An editor who searches you and finds a publisher's page and a photograph from the last launch has their answer.
“Everything about you sits on pages you cannot edit”
A retail author page, the publisher's site, a listing with a bio from two books ago. When a title goes out of print or a site is rebuilt, that record goes, and your name still has to be somewhere.
What we do
What we deliver for authors.
Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.
An author page you own
Your own site with the books, the bio, the press and a way to reach you about speaking and rights. Not the publisher's page, which belongs to them and changes without asking you.
Result: One address you can give a programmer, a reporter or a reader for the rest of your career.
The kit an event asks for
Biography in two lengths, a current photograph at print quality, the subjects you speak on and what each session covers, and where you have appeared. Ready before the request arrives.
Result: A festival invitation is confirmed the same day instead of after a week of chasing files.
Writing in the years between books
You are already reading and interviewing for the next one. An hour of your time turns the material you cannot use into short pieces under your name. If you cannot give that hour while drafting, wait until you can, because ghost-written opinion reads like it and your readers know your sentences.
Result: Two silent years become two years of being read.
Pitches to festivals, panels and the trade press
The lit fest circuit from Jaipur to Kozhikode, industry conferences that pay a fee, and podcasts your readers actually listen to. A short note saying why this subject, why now, and what you would bring to the stage. Programmes are set months ahead, so a pitch sent in season is a pitch sent late.
Result: Invitations that were going to writers with more visibility and less to say.
Somewhere for bulk and corporate orders to land
An HR head who wants copies for a leadership programme, plus a session to go with them, has no way of reaching you today. A page and a mailbox for exactly that, with your terms on it.
Result: The orders worth more than a year of royalties stop going missing.
Your Amazon and Goodreads pages kept current
The author page on Amazon, your Goodreads profile and the publisher's listing, all carrying the same bio and photograph as your own site and pointing back at it. Most authors have never claimed these, so the bio on them is whatever a junior typed in launch week.
Result: Someone who finishes the book finds where you are now, not where you were at the launch.
How the result is measured
- Enquiries that name you or came through your profile
- Searches for your name, from Search Console
- Profile views and connection requests from your industry
- Speaking invitations, press enquiries and podcast requests
- Posts published against posts planned, and what held up the rest
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the work runs for authors
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Work out whether this is even your bottleneck
The first conversation covers how enquiries reach you today. If the company's own site is the weaker link, that comes first, and we say so.
- 2
Search your own name with you
We look at what a buyer sees today: every profile, old listing and photograph. Some of it you will want taken down, and some of it only you can take down.
- 3
Agree what you will and will not say
The subjects you know cold, the ones that belong to your clients, and the lines your regulator or association draws. Written down before anything is published.
- 4
Rebuild the profiles
The bio page, LinkedIn and the directories that matter in your field, done once and done properly.
- 5
The routine
Interview, drafts, your approval, publication. The interview is the only part that needs you, and it is the part that cannot be skipped.
- 6
Hand it over
The subject list, the drafting notes and the calendar are yours. If you would rather keep it running yourself, that is a fair outcome.
Before you hire anyone
The first thing to do yourself.
It costs nothing, and it shows what a buyer sees before they ever call you.
- Search your own name and your practice or business name in a private browser window, and list the first ten results.
- Open your profile on each major platform and check that the name, photo, description and contact details agree.
- Ask two people who recently chose you what they looked up first, and write down their answers.
Judge any provider
What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Who writes my words, and do I approve everything before it goes out?
- Which of my own details and claims will you need to check with me before publishing?
- What will you not write because of the rules my profession follows?
- Whose account do the profiles and the content sit in, and what happens to them if we stop?
- What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will this sell books?
My publisher handles publicity. Why pay for this?
I write fiction. Is this different?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Creators and public voices
Personal branding for the rest of the creators and public voices.
Or start from personal branding.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.