Mood boards & Insta tips: How Printable helped kickstart my author brand

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to attend the Queensland Writers Centre Printable program, with a focus on all things brand positioning, audience and graphics.

Launched in 2020, this annual program offers a full-day, interactive workshop, and is suitable for published and unpublished authors.

From mood boards and elevator pitches to the power of whitespace and what *not* to include on your public profile, it provided insights into the various social platforms, and practical take-home strategies to kickstart your online presence. Or, in my case, push it along a bit!

As a marketing professional (I’ve worked for 10-plus years as a business journalist, editor and marketing manager), the world of Canva, WordPress, Adobe, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are not new to me.

However, seeing these content management systems and platforms in the ‘bookish’ context was invaluable. Similarly, being around fellow writers (across various genres) and those ‘in-the-know’ was a great motivator.

And, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Forget the brandy-topped one; Christmas was last week. I mean this very blog. It’s a starting point, but it has brought together the style, colours, wording and wondrous, Australiana-inspired feel I have been toiling away on over the past year or so.

I like to be proactive, even when I’m in a holding pattern with my ‘actual’ writing. I now have the building blocks of an author website and Instagram.

On the middle grade fiction writing front – my finished manuscripts are currently with my agent, as we prepare for a new round of submissions to publishers in the New Year.

Landing an agent – Golvan Arts Management – was a definite highlight of my writing career so far (a story I will share in an upcoming blog) and, teamed with this newfound direction thanks to the Queensland Writers Centre, I look forward to seeing what 2022 brings.

Happy writing!

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