How to you reach out to your readers and, with subtlety and grace, encourage them to become aware of your writing? Inherently, this is about being public as a writer. And to do this, you need to craft your identity.
We tend to think of one’s identity as just a thing that exists. “Just be authentic” is the advice thrown around. But that is not always as useful as we hope. (More on that below.)
Today I want to talk about the importance of developing your identity as a writer, the components of it, and how to be intentional about connecting with readers.
This post is part of first month of my fall curriculum, which I’m calling the Joy & Connection Marketing Plan. Please consider joining my paid community where this week I kicked off the first exclusive series: Define Your Creative Identity. I gave an assignment and am engaging directly with the hundreds of writers and creators in my private Chat, reacting to their introductions, homework, and questions. It’s been incredible to see all the support in this community. Join us here:
Okay, let’s dig in to today’s topic…
Should Creative Work Speak for Itself?
When raising the topic of being public as a writer, some may feel resistance, asking, “Shouldn’t my writing speak for itself?” Yes, of course. But what happens when you publish your book (or Substack, or podcast, etc.) and it just sits there on a shelf, not speaking for itself. Few people pick it up, fewer buy it, and even fewer post reviews about it or tell a friend.
Is that okay? Sure. But most writers and creators I speak with want something more. The best advocate for your work is you. This does not mean you need to become a huckster, or that annoying friend always pushing their products. In fact, it is just the opposite, your creative identity provides a meaningful way for others to learn about your creative work, and the ethos behind it.
This is not a new concept, yet I know many writers and creators resist it. Let me look to another creative field — music — to see how they have handled the idea of, “Shouldn’t my creative work speak for itself?”
If I look up musician interviews on YouTube, I get zero results. Clearly, they feel the music should speak for itself. Likewise, there has never developed a meaningful form of media such as magazines talking about music or interviewing musicians. Musicians have famously never gone on podcasts, they decline any TV appearances, rarely appear in public, and wouldn’t ever choose to play a song live, because that would be akin to becoming a salesperson on stage. When cable TV came of age in the 1980s, a few musicians recorded ads for their music which they called “music videos,” but they were quickly scorned and no musician was brave enough to try again. Musicians, as we know, are famously a hidden part of our culture. They record their music in private, publish it through a record label or via the web, and then go back into hiding to making more music. They feel the music should speak for itself. If you offered me a million dollars, I wouldn’t be able to pick out the members of The Beatles from a photo of 10 people.
Of course, that is all absurd. If we look at our history with the arts, we find people are often curious about the person behind the art. When we engage with writing and art, it opens up a gateway to a new way of looking at the world, each other, and ourselves. Naturally that may include curiosity about the person who created the work that we so covet.
Should your writing and creative work speak for itself? Yep! But that doesn’t mean that nothing else can be done to support it and help it connect with readers.
What Makes Up Your Creative Identity?
What are some core components of one’s creative identity? That can be many things, and it is different for each of us. Too often, I think people focus on the obvious design related decisions: a brand color, for instance. As in, “Oh, my website and social media posts all use my brand color — orange — so people know it’s me! When they think orange, they will think of me and my books!”
And that’s fine, but to me, that is the slightest indicator of what your creative identity really is. Your creative identity is how you and your work make people feel.
It’s what you create, but also why. It’s what you create, but also how. It’s what you create, but also what inspires you. It’s what you create, but also your fears and dreams. It’s what you create, but also your collaborators. It’s what you create, but also your community.
Your creative identity is how you communicate and create connections with people, and the trust they feel with you in the process.
You are a gateway, giving people “ways in” to the themes, stories, and topics you write about. This is inherently about human connections — how you and your work speaks to one individual. I’m listening to 16 hour autobiography right now, and even though the author is famous and the book has thousands of reviews, he is speaking directly to me. When I send out my newsletter each week, even though Substack sends it to thousands of people, each person receives it alone, and if anything I say speaks to them, it becomes a connection between me and that individual, not me and an audience.
We often think that the internet radically changed how a writer or creator develops their creative identity — or how they are public online. Yet, I tend to find the same human elements are what matter most. I study how people become successful on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and elsewhere. Do they create good work? Of course. But they have also developed their voice and identity in a way that simply resonates with people. Why does Ryan Trahan have 16 million subscribers? He makes good stuff, he’s really smart, and people like him. I could not make a dull hotel room as interesting as he does.
Your creative identity is often about moments and experiences. It’s the interactions you have with people, and how they relate to or are inspired by your process and motivation as a writer or creator.
I remember being a part of arts communities and cafe culture back in the 1990s, and what I see online feels similar to what was happening back then. Like-minded people coming together around the arts, but truly getting to know each other and feeling a sense of meaningful connection with creators and fellow fans.
How to define your creative identity? Get good at communicating with your ideal reader and develop a sense of trust with them. Focus on one experience at a time, just like in real life. You don’t forge meaningful relationships by walking into a room and yelling your bio and book description. Or then saying, “And my brand color is orange!”
You Can Be Intentional in Crafting Your Creative Identity
You can be proactive in creating your identity. Advice I commonly hear people give here is, “Just be authentic!” In some ways, I think that advice is not always very helpful. Because we may feel pressure to be magically charismatic and interesting.
You can choose what to share in a proactive manner. This is also how you set clear boundaries around what remains private. I will write about this more soon, but I am a huge believer in establishing firm boundaries so that you feel safe in what is public and what is not.
Each day, we craft a version of ourselves. This can be in simple things like what we wear, how we do our hair, and our grooming habits. But it can also be in how we act around others: the nonverbal cues, social niceties, and communication style.
And if you are an introvert like me, I still think all of this is very accessible. I sit in a room with a locked door all day, yet still share a newsletter each week, a video each week, and dozens of social media updates. I talk to a wide range of writers via phone and Zoom all the time. I share what I like, don’t share what I want to remain private, and turn down all requests for in-person meetings, or anything requiring travel. You can find the balance that works for you.
Please let me know in the comments: what kinds of moments would you love to have with your readers or audience?
To dig into this work even further, please join my paid community here on Substack. You can immediately view this week’s lesson on defining the narratives that drive your creative work, and next week I will be sharing a lesson on crafting your short bio or mission statement. This is a vexing challenge for many writers — how to succinctly describe who you are as a writer and describe your writing in an engaging manner to your ideal readers.
Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan
Kids of the Week: the little fella had to finish up some typing right before bed. It’s amazing how many uses he finds for his typewriter. The big guy was busy with high school and cross country this week, so no photo of him!
A visit with mom. We got her a stuffed animal that looks just like a dog we had in the 1970s and 80s, and now he is her constant companion:
What a lovely pic of your mother! A friend bought a life-like cat that could mew and move for her mother, who rejected it as childish. One evening I held it on my lap, inspecting its moves and petting it but then forgot about it. Ten minutes later as I was chatting away, it started to slip off. I screamed and pulled it back to safety.
Your mother is a very lovely lady! She thrives because you take the time to know what she needs, and what will pique her interest!