Enjoy the first installment of our “Business of Being an Author” Series—Branding!

Presented by Lori Carroll of Jan’s Beaverton Bookstore and Hybrid Pub Scout

We invited Mary Bisbee-Beek, Courtney Clark, and Tara Lehmann to participate in HPS’s first ever live recording! Lori Carroll’s brainchild, the Business of Being an Author series, aims to arm writers with publishing business knowledge beyond the usual writing craft instruction. We were so pleased when she thought of us to partner with her on this project.

Questions posed included:

• What exactly is a brand—for an author and just in general?
• What is the difference between an authentic brand and forced authenticity (the “Instagram effect”)
• How does genre play into the way you market yourself, and how do you know how to craft your image to fill that niche?
• How much time and money should you invest in building your brand?
• Do you really need to be on every social media platform?
• How do you balance marketing, writing, and day-to-day work and life?

Guest Bios

Mary Bisbee-Beek

Mary Bisbee-Beek has worked in book publishing for over 35 years both as a staff member at independent presses on the West Coast and at the University of Michigan Press. From 1992 through 2003 she was the owner and director of Beeksbee Books, a full service publicity and marketing consulting office.

In 2010, a move to the West Coast precipitated the opening a new independent office, READ! A Unique Perspective covering the areas of publicity, marketing and foreign rights work and in 2016 Publishing Sherpa was added to help writers move from manuscript to book. The READ!/Publishing Sherpa offices are in Portland, Oregon and their working territory is world-wide.

Courtney Clark

Courtney Clark has been in the creative business all her life and in the creative business branding business for almost 3 years and is a natural creative type who received a degree in art with a focus on painting. She is a graphic designer and social media manager with a focus on helping small to medium size businesses be seen. Brand development and social media communication is where she thrives.

Tara Lehmann

Tara graduated from Portland State University with a masters of science in writing, specializing in marketing and editing in book publishing (with a concentration in children’s publishing) in 2013. My work has progressed through sales, marketing, editing, design, and event coordinating. She currently works as Marketing and Publicity Associate at Oni Press in Portland.

AND as promised…

here’s the Mr. Sandman Tik Tok featuring a precious, precious ginger kitty.