In this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi Podcast, Dale L. Roberts talks with Danica Favorite, community manager at PublishDrive, about what truly makes an author brand effective. They dive into how the power of relationships in author marketing, avoid the most common branding mistakes, and take real control of your marketing. Danica shares how wide distribution and authentic community-building can help authors stand out—and sell more—by owning their unique narrative.
Listen to the Podcast: The Power of Relationships in Author Marketing
Show Notes
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About the Host
Dale L. Roberts is a self-publishing advocate, award-winning author, and video content creator. Dale’s inherent passion for life fuels his self-publishing advocacy both in print and online. After publishing over 50 titles and becoming an international bestselling author on Amazon, Dale started his YouTube channel, Self-Publishing with Dale. Selected by Feedspot and LA Weekly as one of the best sources in self-publishing of 2022, Dale cemented his position as the indie-author community's go-to authority. You can find Dale on his website or YouTube.
Read the Transcripts
Dale L. Roberts: Welcome to the branding, marketing, and promotions segment of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast. I'm Dale L. Roberts, and in this episode, we're digging into what it really takes to grow your author platform, not just with tools but with purpose.
My guest today is Danica Favorite, community manager at Publish Drive, a self-publishing company focused on helping authors distribute their books wide, manage promotions, and optimize their sales through smart publishing solutions.
But today we're not just talking about Publish Drive, this is about Danica today because I find her super fascinating with her years of experience as an author, marketer, and community builder. She's seen what works, what fails, and what most authors never even think to ask when it comes to building a lasting brand.
Welcoming to the show, Danica, how you doing?
Danica Favorite: I'm good, thanks. How are you?
Dale L. Roberts: I'm alive and kicking. Anytime I get a chance to meet up with you, it literally just lights up my day and I think everybody's going to discover why today.
Danica Favorite: Oh, thank you. I love hearing that. I think it's easy when you get to talk with great people.
I feel like when we've talked enough that it's my buddy Dale, we're just having a chat amongst friends, and that just makes it more fun for everyone.
Dale L. Roberts: I want to tap into your background, because you have been doing this for a number of years, both as a traditionally published and self-published author.
You've worn a lot of hats, author, marketer, and now of course community manager of Publish Drive. How has that mix of experience shaped how you approach author branding?
Danica Favorite: It's funny because I think it ultimately comes down to the same thing. It always has and I think it always will.
Obviously, we'll probably get into this more that I definitely have a bench towards AI, and I've got an AI podcast that I do with Steph Pajonas called Brave New Bookshelf.
The Importance of Relationships in Author Branding
Danica Favorite: So, a lot of people are like, Ooh, marketing with AI, and this and that, and yes, but here's what it comes down to, and this is what I was saying when you and I first were chatting, is it's the relationships. You have to build those relationships.
I have friends in the writing business that I made 20 years ago and some of my biggest cheerleaders, and I have gotten to do that for a really long time.
Those relationships are the thing that really sustains you over the course of a career and some of the people that I look up to or looked up to back then, they aren't even writing anymore. But there are still those relationships, and you still chat on Facebook, and you still go through life together, and I think that's really unique to our industry is remembering that it is the relationship.
My first experience with that was, gosh, it was the first synopsis I ever wrote when I was trying to submit my first book for publication. One author who was just so kind and so gracious, said to me, hey, I would be happy to look at your synopsis for you. At the time this woman was making a lot of money teaching synopsis classes and things like that, and she did it for me for free.
Dale L. Roberts: Nice.
Danica Favorite: I remember saying to her, how do I repay you, what do I do? And she said, just pay it forward. At some point in your career, you're going to be able to help somebody else out, and I want you to remember this moment and I want you to do the same thing.
So, I said, okay, cool, and that is really how I have spent the past, I really hate saying 25 years because I feel so old, but that is what I've done my entire career. Do I have that opportunity to pay it forward to help somebody else out, and I know that is your philosophy, which is why we're friends, is that idea of, can I make a connection? Can I help somebody else?
That is what marketing really is. Building those relationships, whether it's with other authors who can help you market, or other authors who can give you advice, or right down to your readers; are you building that relationship with them and creating that community of people who believe in you, believe in your writing, and it isn't just about you because it's about your belief in them.
Dale L. Roberts: I really love the idea of relationships. How does it tie in?
Building Your Author Brand: Tips and Insights
Dale L. Roberts: How do you find that some of these relationships have influenced your idea of author branding in general, because I've seen some of your books and boy, you can see that there's a certain branding element to that, visually speaking, but I'm sure there's other aspects we can cover in branding.
So, how did those relationships influence the author branding, say the difference between day one for Danica Favorite to now?
Danica Favorite: So, part of that, I appreciate the compliments on the cover branding. Most of those I had zero input on, because that was my publisher.
Dale L. Roberts: It was just like, we're doing it for you, forget about it. You don't have to worry about it.
Danica Favorite: Exactly. I wrote for Harlequin, and so all of their books are very specifically branded, and you really don't get a say in that. So, I think that is one of the things that is maybe not where I'm a good example of the branding because I had no say.
That said, as I look at what I'm doing and taking a look at pivoting my writing career right now. Actually, I'm in the middle of a big writing career pivot, and that really was looking at branding, who is the core of who Danica is and what I want to say through my writing? Some of that really is leaning into other author friends and saying, okay, what do you see, what do you think? Because sometimes we are too close to ourselves and I can say, I want this to be my message, I want to do this, this is my branding, and I find that we're often too close to our own work and our own stuff to really have that good sense of what the branding should be.
So, sometimes I think that relationship isn't necessarily the branding itself, but it helps inform the branding.
Dale L. Roberts: When you first connect with an author who has no brand presence, where do you start? What's the first thing you look for or recommend they focus on?
Danica Favorite: What I recommend is really asking them what that theme is. Why do you write? What is that question for you?
I understand, okay, to make a billion dollars or whatever, maybe that is some people's author answer, but really, why are you choosing to tell the stories that you're telling? What is that message that you're putting out into the world, because that's going to inform all of the branding.
If I were Mal Cooper for example, she's got all of the space books and everything, and so when you see her at conferences and stuff, she kind of dresses in the latex space kind of thing because that's who she is, that's who her branding represents. So, part of that is to figure out what that branding is for you.
I don't necessarily have a brand where I have to dress a certain way. But again, when I think about that branding and what is the message that I want to tell, my message is very simple. It is about the fact that your story is valuable and your story matters.
For me, everything I do is informed by that lens, even my work at Publish Drive. Part of why I do what I do at Publish Drive is I believe that everybody has a valuable story to tell, and I spent the most of my career working for a major publisher where the gatekeepers were saying, these stories are valuable, these stories aren't valuable, because they were just looking at it in dollars and cents.
I'm in a position now where I can look at it in terms of, no, every story has a value, how do we help you get it out into the world?
But part of that is you needing to know what that message is, so you know where to target it, who is going to be the right audience for that, and who needs to hear it and why.
Dale L. Roberts: I love how simply you broke that down. I think it's sometimes, again, as you had mentioned, it's tough when it's right in your face. When you take a step back though, or you have somebody that's a bit more unbiased that can offer some recommendations, like you, it really is very beneficial.
I know firsthand about the whole branding visually because I'm always wearing the orange shirt. It's for a purposeful reason.
By the way, people could go into my closet, they probably think I wear the same orange shirt all the time, like I'm some scuz ball. No, I've got an entire closet of orange shirts, believe it or not. But that's my branding and I don't think everybody needs to embrace that, or Mal Cooper's pleather latex look.
Common Branding and Promotion Mistakes
Dale L. Roberts: But you've worked closely with both traditionally published and self-published authors, what branding and promotion mistakes do you see both groups making over and over again?
Danica Favorite: I think the biggest mistake I see is especially for traditionally published authors, which by the way I made that mistake a lot, is relying on your publisher to do all the work for you. You have to do the work too.
I went through seasons where I couldn't do the promotion and I got to ride on the coattails of what my publisher was doing, but you have to be willing to put in the work regardless of whether or not you're traditionally or independently published, because ultimately it's your book and if you want the sales, the buck has to stop here. You have to be the one who makes those decisions for branding and marketing.
So, that is like the big one for traditionally published authors.
But the one that I see for everybody is that I believe very strongly every author needs an up-to-date website and, I'm going to get some flak for this one, Dale, I'm going to get some flack.
Dale L. Roberts: Oh-oh.
Danica Favorite: I think that you need a presence on every social media channel.
Now, I say presence, so everyone who's freaking out, oh no, I have to do all the social. No, you don't. But be present. At least own your name on all of the social media platforms. If a new social media platform opens up, you grab your name.
Part of it is because you don't know if you're going to want to use it in the future, but here's the other part of it, and this is what happened to me a lot when I was promoting authors at my previous job. Dale has a new book out; I am going to put him on all of our social media's. Oh, wait, who do I tag?
I know that's really silly to say that, but it's really hard. If, for example, your social media handle on Twitter or X, I guess, I still call it Twitter, but if your social media handle was @dalelovescupcakes on one and the other one is @dalefantasticmusician, I don't know that, and a reader looking for you isn't going to know that.
So, you want to scoop up all of the domains, all the social media handles, as close to Dale L. Roberts as you possibly can and keep it consistent.
I'm lucky, I'm Danica Favorite. There are no other Danica Favorite's in the world.
But, if there's two Dale L. Roberts, okay, @DaleLRobertsAuthor, but do it consistently and make it easy to find.
Then use the same or similar profile picture so that immediately if someone's looking for you, no matter where they're looking for you, they know immediately it's you. Even if you're not present on that social media platform, in your bio is a link they can click on for where to find you and how to contact you.
I've seen so many authors miss out on opportunities because someone's looking for them on Instagram. They're not on Instagram, and so they've missed out on that promotional opportunity, which is free, simply because they didn't have a presence there. Even if it's just Instagram with their information in their bio and, hey, I am not really active on Instagram, but click here and go to my website.
You have to have that way for people to reach you.
Dale L. Roberts: So true, and you bring up a good point of reserving the social media handles. It's something I did a long time ago.
I can't remember who taught me that, but it was more recently, over the past several years, as my notoriety, if you will, or fame, some people might say, it grew. So, in turn, what ends up happening is you get a lot of ne’er-do-wells that come in and they want to impersonate me.
I've had some impersonators before, Danica, that's the wildest thing.
It's scary, but thankfully I had already reserved all those social media handles. So, a lot of people were able to identify, notice I said a lot, not everybody, they were able to say, that's not Dale, that's definitely not him. They already knew that my handle was @SelfPubWithDale. So, it is a good one for long term.
Even if you're a new author, the advice that Danica is giving you is very solid. I'm going to go a hundred percent behind it, but I'm also going to double down and say that it could safeguard you in the future from people trying to pretend they're you and then they can, I don't know, sell people on some meme coin or some garbage product, and then you've got mustard on your face.
Danica Favorite: That happens. Every once in a while, I'll see a post from an author friend saying, hey, if you get a request from this person, it's not me. Hey, if this person is asking you for money, it's not me.
I've seen people taking over author handles and asking for money and so yeah, you're right. It is basic internet safety at this point, but for promotional, that's also really important.
The other one I will say is particularly the newer authors, or even an established author looking to launch a pen name, Google it before you go down on that pen name and use it.
I had a friend who was writing inspirational romance and there were some last-minute things that changed that they could fix it, but the pen name she chose was actually a porn star's name.
Dale L. Roberts: Oh no.
Danica Favorite: Yeah. So, when you're picking that pen name or you're picking that handle, immediately go out and check every social media platform. Make sure you can grab that handle. Make sure you can grab all of those and snatch them up immediately. Even if you end up not going with that pen name or using it, you can always cancel it and let them go, but at least have it just in case.
Dale L. Roberts: I want to pivot over to something that you are an expert at, among other things, because you're obviously the community lead over at Publish Drive.
The Role of Community in Author Success
Dale L. Roberts: So, let's talk about community. That's a word that's slung around quite a bit, but I want to really cement our understanding.
What's something authors often misunderstand about building an authentic community around their books and brand?
Danica Favorite: I think it goes back to what I started in the very beginning. It's about relationship.
There are so many times where I think the authors think that if you build it, they will come. That just isn't the case.
How many authors have dead Facebook groups? Yay, I'm one of them.
I'll be honest, even the Publish Drive Facebook group is really dead, and part of that is I inherited it, and they hadn't done a great job of creating that community. So, now I'm like, we don't have that basis anymore. We don't have a baseline to really give the community members value and a reason to come back, because the reason for them to come into your community isn't, hey, hear about my books, it's what value am I giving to them?
Again, this is a relationship. What am I doing to feed that relationship and make that relationship grow and be strong?
Think about your reader avatar and think of them as your friend. How would you build that relationship with them as your friend?
It isn't just about, hey friend, I have a new book out, come buy it. It's, hey friend, how are you today? Hey friend, I found this recipe that you might like. Hey friend, look at this funny meme I just got. This is what you do with your friends, and that's how you have to treat your readers and work through that, and make sure that they understand that they're part of something where they belong. Because ultimately that is what people are looking for in community. They're looking for a place to belong.
The kind of postscript to my brand as an author is so that people know they're not alone.
That is part of why I write. That's important to me as a writer. I want people to know their story matters and they're not alone, because I think when you have this great story of your life, which every human being has, when they think, oh, my story doesn't matter, that makes them feel alone.
So, how do you, when you're creating a community around your readers, see them as people and help them be seen and not be alone? Make them a part of something that is beyond, hey, buy my book.
Is that labor intensive? Yes. If that's how you want to market, that's what you have to do in order to be successful.
By the way, choosing to not market that way, that's totally fine. But again, in my opinion, that's what's going to give you that longevity.
Dale L. Roberts: Nice.
Leveraging Wide Distribution for Brand Strategy
Dale L. Roberts: Now, in your role at Publish Drive, you see what's working in wide publishing. How can indie authors leverage distribution as part of their brand strategy rather than just another sales strategy?
Danica Favorite: I think that's interesting because as the brand strategy, again, think about who your readers are and who are you serving.
Let's just pretend you write books about being in Italy and you're an American, but you're writing these great books about adventures in Italy.
I just saw a show on Netflix where they bought this Italian villa and I don't know if that would be appealing to an Italian audience, but gosh, if you're writing books set in Italy, why wouldn't you also publish them in an Italian market? Why wouldn't you also translate them into Italian?
The great thing about having wide distribution, like Publish Drive, is that you can get to all of those markets because we think, oh, Amazon will get you there. Amazon isn't in every market. So, think about, where are the markets where your readers are?
Also think about what do your readers prefer.
So, for me, here's my author distribution branding mistake. Most of my readers have historically been older people, so what the little old ladies want is they want a paper book with large print. That is what they want. Trust me, if I have an eBook only book out, which I still have one that I haven't put into print because I'm lazy, and seriously, I get so much hate mail on that one eBook. I really should just do it.
But {inaudible}, do you hate your readers? Why aren't you putting this in large print? Don't you know I can't read? Well, yeah, I do know. There are also a million complications with getting that one particular book in print, but that's a whole other story.
But think about that. Think about how you can serve your readers because distribution is important. Can you get that book distributed in the format your reader is going to like, in the territories that your readers are going to want to read it in.
All of those things, that's part of the branding in terms of saying, I see my readers, I care about my readers, and I want them to be seen and there needs to be met.
Dale L. Roberts: I'm going to do a sharp pivot here.
Effective Promotion Strategies for Authors
Dale L. Roberts: We've been talking all about branding, but I feel almost like we have to touch on promotion before we wrap up today.
If an author came to you with, let's say, only an hour a week to spend on promotion, where would you tell them to focus their time and why?
Danica Favorite: That is a super hard question because it totally depends on the author and where their books are and all of that.
But what I would say is, first of all, if you're distributing with Publish Drive, Publish Drive has a lot of different, free publishing tools for promotion right in your dashboard. Use those because they're free. You just go through your dashboard of Publish Drive, and you click, yes, and you're applied to all those promotions, and that's all you have to do.
So, if you're with Publish Drive, please do that and take advantage of it. I get so frustrated that more of our customers aren't taking advantage of it because it's there and it's free.
Dale L. Roberts: I'm guilty.
Danica Favorite: If you're not a Publish Drive customer. Again, think about where your readers are. If you are in KU, you probably want to look more at Amazon ads. If you do Amazon ads and you're wide, you are missing out on all of these other stores that your readers are potentially buying from.
So, right now, the conventional wisdom is Facebook ads. But make sure you're talking to someone who knows Facebook ads and knows what they're doing because I see this popping up all the time. I get Facebook ads for people who do Facebook ads, and most of them are garbage.
I'm sorry I'm a little too honest sometimes.
Dale L. Roberts: I love your bluntness. Keep it coming.
Danica Favorite: If you see, okay, wow, this is a great deal on Facebook ads. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. But ask around, ask your author friends.
We're here on ALLi. ALLi is such a great resource for, who is a legit service provider, who's actually good at Facebook ads?
Also remember your mileage is going to vary. So, think about, is the person you're looking at good at doing them in your genre for your audience? Because again, different strategies for different audiences, and you have to really take that into consideration. I know we say Facebook ads, but it's not one size fits all.
Dale L. Roberts: So true, and I think that goes for all of marketing and promotion, especially when it comes to spending your money.
Empowering Indie Authors: Taking Control of Your Career
Dale L. Roberts: Finally, what is one thing you wish more indie authors understood about their power to shape their own career?
You've been very inspirational with everything you've shared so far, so if you feel like you have to repeat yourself, by all means, go ahead. The floor is yours.
Danica Favorite: I think the one thing is actually in the question, that they have the power.
We give our power over to everybody else so many times. Like I was saying with the marketing for traditionally published authors. My book isn't doing well, my publisher isn't doing anything for it. Gosh, you know how to do it, do it. You have the same capabilities, go out and do your own book marketing.
If you're an indie author and your book isn't doing well, and you can't figure out why. Again, we're here on the ALLi Podcast, you have so many resources in ALLi. You have so many other author friends that you should be building those relationships with, and if something's not working for you, don't blame the market. Don't blame how bad Amazon is. Don't say ads don't work. I know six and seven figure authors who got there using ads, who are still doing it with ads today as we speak.
So, it isn't that you're a victim of all of these things that don't work. Figure out how to make it work for you.
Dale L. Roberts: Brilliant.
Dale L. Roberts: I always love chatting with you, Danica. How can our listeners get in touch with you?
Danica Favorite: So, for Publish Drive, find us at publishdrive.com. I mentioned my podcast with Steph, bravenewbookshelf.com, which is a great resource for AI stuff.
My personal website is danicafavorite.com. Again, I'm the only Danica Favorite in the world, so I am on every social media channel as Danica Favorite. You can find me there.
Dale L. Roberts: Danica it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time and I hope that we can bring you back to the podcast in the very near future.
Danica Favorite: Alright, thank you Dale. It was really nice to be here and as always, the time went by way too fast, so I'm sure we'll find lots more to talk about.
