When indie author Briar Black approached me about launching her novels, I knew I could help bring to life her vision of becoming a successful mystery Romance author and creating a fiction empire. As an author and experienced copywriter, I had the expertise to create the strategy needed for marketing an indie author. But this project was bigger than just my skillset—it required the full expertise of my Rebel Wolf Marketing team to handle everything from website design to visual branding.

One of the most important steps in marketing any author—especially an indie author—is building a strong, recognisable brand, so you can build brand awareness. For Briar, her brand needed to reflect her passion for romance and her love for the Bookstagram community. We developed a dreamy, cottage-core inspired aesthetic that not only conveyed the essence of her books but also resonated with her target audience on Instagram.

This was the first step to take before doing anything else. Branding creates consistency across every touchpoint, whether it’s social media, book covers, or her website. Indie authors need to stand out in a crowded market, and a strong brand identity does exactly that. It ensures that when potential readers encounter Briar’s content, they immediately associate it with her unique style, increasing the likelihood they’ll engage with her books.

Building Her Author Website

A well-designed, optimised website is the cornerstone of any indie author’s marketing strategy. It serves as the central hub for all their content and marketing efforts. For Briar, we created a stunning site that not only showcases her books but also makes it easy for readers to learn more about her and sign up for her email list.

In the age of social media, it’s easy to forget the value of owning your own platform. Social algorithms can change overnight, affecting how much of your content gets seen. But a website is a space you control entirely. It’s also where you can build trust with your audience, offering them direct access to your books, blog, and newsletter signups. For Briar, this website became the foundation for growing her audience and driving long-term engagement.

Now, no matter which social media platforms rise and fall, or how easy or tough it becomes to actually get your posts in front of your audience, Briar Black is an established online presence poised to thrive and grow.

Growing Her Email List with a Lead Magnet

While social media is a powerful tool for reaching readers, relying solely on it is risky. That’s why I advised Briar to focus on building an email list—arguably the most valuable asset for an indie author. To encourage signups, we created a lead magnet in the form of a novella, Eve Was Framed, which serves as a prequel to her debut novel Bane.

Why is this a game-changer? An email list allows direct communication with readers, free from the unpredictability of social media platforms. It’s the start of building a clan or pack (it used to be called a Tribe, but we don’t like that word’s connotations anymore). With every email subscriber, Briar is building a loyal community that she can reach out to whenever she launches a new book, without having to pay for ads or fight for visibility. The novella lead magnet was particularly effective because it offered something of real value—an exclusive, free story—that immediately hooked readers into her world.

The idea behind this list is ultimately the creation loyal superfans who will auto-buy every new book Briar releases, and of brand ambassadors who love her stuff so much they recommend it to everyone (thus, marketing her books for her!).

Thanks to targeted PPC campaigns, Briar now gains over 1,000 email subscribers a month, giving her a solid foundation for future book launches.

Passive Income Streams: Earning Money While Building a Brand

One of the key elements we introduced to Briar Black’s marketing strategy was setting up multiple passive income streams, which allow her to generate revenue with minimal ongoing effort. This approach not only supports her author career but also complements the rest of her marketing efforts seamlessly.

Book Reviews and Affiliate Income

Briar is a huge fan of romance novels and regularly reviews books on her blog, where she posts a weekly roundup of her favourite books in specific genres or niches. These blog posts have become a major part of her content strategy, with most of her blog focused on reviewing books or discussing broader topics related to writing. However, beyond just being a way to engage her audience, these reviews also provide an opportunity for Briar to generate passive income.

Here’s how it works: in each book review or roundup post, Briar includes affiliate links to the books on Amazon. When readers click through and purchase the books (or any other product during their session), Briar earns a commission through Amazon’s affiliate program. The more traffic her blog receives, the more likely people are to click through, and the more sales she generates as a result of her recommendations.

What’s particularly powerful about this is that Briar is already blogging as part of her marketing strategy to attract readers to her own books. By integrating affiliate links into content she would already be creating, she’s effectively turning her marketing efforts into a steady stream of income. With no extra work required beyond writing the blog posts, Briar is able to monetise her passion for reading and reviewing books.

Print-On-Demand Merchandise

Another significant passive income stream we set up for Briar was print-on-demand merchandise. Featuring original artwork from her books, we created designs for items like t-shirts, hoodies, and mugs. Rather than having to purchase stock upfront or manage inventory, Briar uses a print-on-demand service, which handles all the logistics of printing and shipping the products directly to the customer.

This means Briar incurs no costs upfront and doesn’t have to deal with packaging, shipping, or managing stock. Every time someone purchases a piece of merchandise, she earns a portion of the sale, with zero effort required. The artwork, which was already created for her book covers, is repurposed for these products, allowing her to monetise assets she already has.

Why Passive Income Matters for Indie Authors

For indie authors, creating multiple streams of passive income is a smart way to make the most of their existing efforts. Every piece of content Briar creates—whether it’s a book review, a blog post about romance tropes, or a roundup of the best romance authors or books she recommends in a particular niche—can potentially generate revenue without requiring ongoing effort.

By incorporating affiliate links and offering merchandise, Briar is able to make money from her blog traffic and fanbase while focusing on what she does best: writing. It’s a sustainable way to support her career, helping to cover the costs of marketing herself as an Indie author and book production, and providing her with additional income streams to grow her author brand.

In short, by making the most of her content and existing audience, Briar has turned her love for books and writing into a multi-faceted business that’s not just about selling novels but about creating a sustainable income for the long term.

Developing Briar Black’s Brand Aesthetic: Why It’s Crucial for Indie Authors

When crafting Briar Black’s brand aesthetic, we focused on creating a visual identity that would resonate with her target audience—romance readers who are active on Bookstagram and Instagram. This wasn’t just about making things look pretty; it was a strategic process aimed at building a memorable, cohesive brand that would serve Briar long-term.

We began by identifying key elements of Briar’s personality and writing style. She wanted her brand to feel dreamy, romantic, and a little whimsical, reflecting the tone of her books. From there, we chose a colour palette centred on her favourite shade, sage green, and paired it with a bright pink to add a pop of colour that would catch the eye on social media.

Why is Branding Key To Marketing An Indie Author?

Branding is more than just a logo or a colour scheme—it’s the emotional and visual connection that readers have with an author’s work. For indie authors, who often have to compete with well-established names, a strong aesthetic helps differentiate them in a crowded market. A cohesive visual identity ensures that every piece of content—from Instagram posts to book covers—feels recognisably “Briar Black,” making it easier for readers to remember and engage with her brand.

Key Components of the Brand Aesthetic:

  • Colour Palette: Sage green, bright pink, and neutral tones gave her brand a soft, romantic feel with an element of boldness. These colours were chosen to resonate with Briar’s personality and the themes of her writing while ensuring that her content stood out visually on platforms like Instagram.
  • Typography: We selected fonts that conveyed elegance and readability, with a focus on clean lines and a romantic vibe. This was critical for ensuring consistency across her website, social media posts, and book covers.
  • Photography Style: We curated outfits and photo props to reflect the cottage-core aesthetic that Briar loved. Light, airy photos with a slightly dreamy vibe were used to visually represent her brand on Instagram and other platforms. We even created Lightroom presets for her, allowing her to apply the same filter to all her images to maintain a consistent look.
  • Logo and Illustrations: Finally, the original illustrations created for her book covers played a huge role in tying everything together. The visual style of her covers reflected the same aesthetic we developed for her social media and website, helping her build a recognisable presence across all platforms.

Indie authors don’t have the marketing budgets of large publishing houses. They rely on their personal brand to attract and retain readers. A strong, cohesive aesthetic makes an indie author look professional and polished, which in turn builds trust with potential readers. It also makes them memorable, helping them stand out in the saturated world of self-publishing.

For Briar, this carefully developed aesthetic wasn’t just about visuals—it became the foundation of her marketing strategy, creating a seamless experience for her audience across every touchpoint. Whether a reader sees her on Instagram, browses her website, or picks up one of her books, they immediately know they’re interacting with “Briar Black,” the author they love.