Your brand is the reputation you build through your actions, expertise, relationships, and presence, both online and in real life.

And in a world filled with AI-generated noise and growing mistrust, people are looking for something increasingly valuable:

A real human they can trust.

That was one of the lessons Andrea Sullivan, CEO and cofounder of VyVE, shared with the Your Bestselling Book cohort this summer.

Her session tackled something many writers dread: building a personal brand around your book.

Andrea has spent years building brands, first at Interbrand, then alongside Gary Vaynerchuk, and now with entrepreneurs in her VyVE mastermind community.

One thing she said really stuck with me:

"Your book launch is not a single day. It's a campaign. And your personal brand is the engine that carries it."

Build Your Audience Before You Need It

Social media has changed.

It used to be easy to think about success in terms of follower counts. But now, engagement and genuine interest matter much more.

Andrea described this as a shift from a social graph to an interest graph.

In other words, it's not simply about how many people follow you.

It's about whether the right people care about what you're saying.

And that means building an audience isn't about posting endlessly about yourself.

It's also about participating.

Comment on other people's posts. Share ideas you genuinely find interesting. Start conversations. Become part of the community you want to reach.

Which brings me to one of the best lines from Andrea's session:

"Build the audience before you need the audience."

You may be completely focused on writing your book right now.

That's exactly when you should start building your audience.

Share snippets of your work.

Grow your email list.

Guest on podcasts.

Start conversations.

And declare yourself an author.

You are one.

You Don't Have to Be Everywhere

Then Andrea shared a story that surprised me.

Watch it here!

A VyVE member once told Gary Vaynerchuk that building a brand on social media made her feel physically ill.

Instead of telling her to push through it, he essentially said:

Then don't do it.

I love this.

Because there's no point forcing yourself onto a platform that makes you miserable.

If you're constantly drained by the way you're showing up, people will eventually feel that disconnect too.

Maybe social media isn't your thing.

Maybe you love writing a newsletter.

Maybe you'd rather host a podcast.

Maybe you come alive when you're speaking at an in-person event.

Maybe you need someone else to manage the social media side of your brand so you can focus on what you actually enjoy.

There isn't one correct way to build an author brand.

Start with the place where you feel most like yourself.

Build a Flywheel From There

Once you find that starting point, you don't have to create completely new content for every platform.

Take one chapter of your book.

Break it into smaller ideas.

One becomes a newsletter.

Another becomes a social post.

Another becomes a podcast topic.

Another becomes a guest pitch.

One piece of thoughtful work can fuel multiple channels.

And yes, you can use AI to help with the parts you don't enjoy, as long as the ideas, perspective, and voice remain unmistakably yours.

Because the goal isn't to create more noise.

It's to create something people recognize as you.

Start Before Your Book Is Finished

You're already doing the hardest part.

You're writing the book.

But don't wait until the manuscript is finished to start thinking about the people who will read it.

Start planting those relationships now.

Build your email list.

Share your ideas.

Find the community where you feel comfortable.

Show up consistently in a way you can actually sustain.

Joy is sustainable.

And the best author platform is often the one you can keep showing up to because you actually enjoy being there.

Ask yourself:

What's one brand-building step you could take next week?

Start there.

Aloha,
MeiMei

TIP OF THE WEEK: Start With Joy

List every way you could connect with future readers:

• LinkedIn
• Email newsletter
• Podcast guesting
• Your own podcast or YouTube channel
• Instagram
• BookTok
• In-person events
• Brand collaborations

Then circle the one that sounds like the most fun.

Don't worry about what looks most impressive.

Don't worry about what an influencer told you that you should be doing.

Choose the place where you can show up as your best self.

Then commit to taking one small action every day next week.

Joy is sustainable.