Alignment: The Missing Link Between Your Message, Your Book, And Your Marketing

Authors certainly know how to write their book, edit their drafts, go through the publishing process, and market it to their target readers. However, the messaging alignment is often overlooked, and this messes up your entire author brand. Writing and strategy coach Amber Parr Burdett is here to discuss how to build a solid foundation for your alignment – the missing link between your message, book, and marketing. She explains the four pillars of building a lasting message and making a real impact in the lives of your audience. Amber also talks about the right way to determine your ideal reader, craft a personal vision, and create actual emotional weight through your writing in today’s noisy world.

—

Watch the episode here

Listen to the podcast here

Alignment: The Missing Link Between Your Message, Your Book, And Your Marketing

We have another training on messaging alignment. For anybody out there who’s having a problem getting their message together without clarity or even just authentically getting yourself out there, this is the episode for you. Before we get started, I want to remind you of our upcoming training. Our monthly free training is on September 5th, 2025 at 9:00 AM. You can sign up for it at BAMagTraining.com.

This month is Karie Cassell. She’s a nutritionist and life coach. She works for one of the biggest coaching programs out there. She has a lot of visibility in the marketplace. If you are thinking, “Why in the world would you have a nutritionist and life coach on?” As any good entrepreneur knows, this is all a big balance. Sometimes, we get caught up in some unhealthy habits. I’m hoping you’ll tune in and listen to Karie on how you can break all that.

This is training. Our guest is Amber Parr Burdett. She is an accomplished editor, author, and writing strategy coach with over six years of professional experience in the editorial and educational fields. She has empowered more than 350 authors across 13 countries to shape, write, refine, and elevate their messages through her expert guidance, ensuring proactive support and message clarity.

Amber’s industry expertise spans editing, ghost writing, manuscript development, and curriculum analysis creation. She has crafted editorial workflows, style guides, and instructional best practices for a range of clients from writing and publishing startups to educational organizations. This is going to be training with slides. If you’re someone who likes to watch, please go over to our channel, Superbrand Publishing, and stay tuned for Amber.

—

Alignment: The Key to Author Success

Amber, welcome. Hit it.

Thank you so much, honestly. I’m excited to talk about this alignment because so many authors don’t understand what it means to be aligned with their message. They understand their book. They understand all the work that went into making their book, but then what? They don’t know what to do next because marketing is hard. It’s so oversaturated because too many people are writing. They don’t know the next steps to connect with their ideal reader. It goes back to the foundational piece. That’s why I’m excited to talk about alignment, which is the missing link between your message, your book, and your marketing.

Before we get into that, I would love to explain a little bit about who I am. I have seven years in the industry. I’ve helped over 350 authors across 13 countries. I am a certified alignment guide, and I am an editor and a coach. My highest form of alignment is being a mom to my little one. I love helping people understand what they want to say and what they want to bring to the world. That is why I’ve switched to focusing on alignment as the foundational piece. Before I help with editing and before I help with book coaching, we have to make sure that foundational piece is set.

With that, what is your message versus your story? Your message is so much deeper than your story. Your story is your life. You probably have spent hours and months, if not years, writing your story, which is your book. What is the underlying message you want people to feel? Do you understand your message, that one feeling you want to leave with people, as clearly as you understand your story, or do you even understand your story even if it’s written? Most people don’t. They don’t see a difference between what their message is and what their story is.

Most authors think marketing is the next big step after their story is published. If you can’t clearly define the feeling you want people to walk away with as they’re opening your book and they’re reading your book, and they close your book, then you don’t have a clear message throughout your story. That accounts for cookbooks, fiction, and nonfiction. It’s every single story out there. Most people are focusing on their elevator pitch. They’re focusing on the book summary, but they don’t know what it is they want people to walk away with. With that, that is why I want to get into what alignment is. This was the foundational piece for how to start understanding the difference.

As I’ve said before, not enough people are digging deep enough. You’ve probably taken classes. You’ve probably listened to podcasts. You might have bought marketing templates, but you’re not sure how tobuild something that sounds like you. You’re not sure how to resonate with people on that emotional level so that you linger in their minds. That is not because you’re doing it wrong. That is simply because you’re building on that shaky ground and not asking yourself the deep questions, so that way, you can clearly define those to your ideal market.

Aligning Your Message and Impact

Alignment is your message, your book, your offers, and your marketing all anchored in who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish, that impact you’re trying to make. I work with authors all the time who say, “I keep changing what I think the book is about and how I talk about the book. I’m not sure who I’m writing to anymore or who my book is for anymore. I know this matters, but I can’t explain why.”

That way, they go to the foundational piece of, “My book is for middle-aged women who want to learn about farm life or want to learn about how to become a better mom.” They don’t impact them and say, “I’m writing to that person who feels like she’s lost her identity and who wants to understand who she is and how she can bring forth herself to the world.” That is where it’s different when you’re talking about how you want to impact them moving forward.

I want to ask. If your reader forgets every detail of your story, what’s the one idea or truth you want to stay with them? Do you know that clearly? I know this is presentation style so far, but I would love to ask the couple of you in the room. Do you know the one idea or truth you want to stay with your reader in a single sentence or word? Terry, I see you’re shaking your head yes. I’d love to hear.

My book is on God’s fatherhood and how we misinterpret God based on what our human fathers have been like. My foundational piece that we’re talking about is the God the Father loves you more than you know. That pretty much sums up the message of the whole book that I want everyone to walk away with. As I’m listening to you, I’m thinking how do I also get that same message into the marketing? If that’s the message and that’s the point, even the marketing pieces should say it.

Agreed. I also think you can dig deeper, because that’s what you’re telling them. That’s what you’re saying. You’re saying, “God the Father loves you more than you know.” How many different people are saying that same thing? How many different religions are saying that same thing? How does your specific message impact them to live life differently? That is what I want you to think. How can you change them, and how does it resonate with them specifically?

Maybe it would be, “When you discover how human fathers and other authority figures have given you misunderstandings of who God the Father is, then you can separate, differentiate, and discover that God cares for you more than you imagine.” How’s that?

Connecting Deeply with Emotional Impact

I like where you’re headed, but if you don’t mind, because I like doing work shopping, I would love to push a little bit deeper and tell you how you can impact people and resonate with people on that emotional level. You’re saying we grow up with these foundational truths. People teach us, but they also impact us in negative ways, positive ways, and ways that we don’t realize as we go about life.

You’re talking to your reader, and I’m going to talk to you as if you’re your reader. You’re saying, “You’ve lived life with these unconscious beliefs. I need you to know that He loves you. Your Heavenly Father loves you more than anybody, and He gets you wholly and completely.

As you understand Him and understand that He loves you, you can then move forward, understanding that sometimes those negative things that impacted you can be shattered and you can be broken free from them.” Do you see how that resonates a little bit deeper because you’re talking about how it personally connects to that one person?

Yeah. What you came up with is a paragraph, and I came up with a sentence. It’s okay to come up with a whole paragraph, then?

I like to encourage people to get their ideas flowing, and then you can synthesize them and refine them over time. Too many people are self-auditing. They’re like, “An elevator pitch has to be a sentence,” which it does, but if you don’t understand that emotional impact you’re trying to make and you aren’t able to have a conversation with someone and get them to be like, “That is exactly how I’m feeling,” then how are you going to able be able to synthesize that and distill it down into a single sentence?

That is what I want. I want you to feel activated. I want authors to feel so activated that they are passionate. They feel their message living inside of them. As they’re talking about it, people are like, “That is exactly what I need.” Everybody goes through life with those unconscious beliefs. You can change it depending on who your message is for.

I’m talking to Terry, but for me, I’m going through life, thinking, “This is what it means to be a mom.” Typically, who I’m marketing to is moms who feel like they’ve lost their identity. Since I’m playing on that identity piece and saying, “You feel like you’ve hit all the check marks and have done all the things, and you still don’t feel fulfilled. Maybe we go back to the root cause and pull out why you don’t feel fulfilled and why you feel like you’re not living your vision.” More people resonate with that.

Navigating Personal Identity Crisis

I wasn’t working with him yet, but I was talking with someone who still felt that identity crisis because of a webinar. He felt like, “That’s what I need.” I was talking about that identity crisis where you feel like you’ve lost a piece of yourself. You feel like you’ve entered the space or exited a space, and you’ve lost parts of who you were. He wasn’t a mom at all. He was a 47-year-old ex-pro athlete who felt like he was entering the real world and re-needing to discover his purpose.

That is why it went back to the truth of who do you want to be known for? Are you writing to tell a story, or are you writing to leave a mark? What is that mark you want people to feel that they walk away with? What do you want people to believe after they finish your book? Do you see the difference between, “Here’s an elevator pitch about what my book is,” and, “Here’s the impact I am trying to make on you, so that way, my words stick and linger.” That is what we’re trying to accomplish in this episode. I know it can be hard, but that’s why you have to get into that activated space. You can’t build looking outward. You have to start inward.

A lot of people pick their book idea. They pick their marketing tactics, thinking, “This is what people are telling me to do.” A lot of people say Instagram or LinkedIn, but where’s your reader? How are you going to resonate with them? Are you trying to do all the things and be in all the places? Is your reader not even on social media? Are they just listening to podcasts? That’s why you have to understand how you want to impact people and why you have to define who your reader is. This is where I want to get into what your story is.

Your story holds the details. That’s what grounds what your message is trying to say. That’s where people relate to you, but your message carries the weight. Your reader will probably forget a lot of the details of your story. They’ll forget a lot of the components, but they won’t forget how you made them feel if you know what you’re trying to make them feel in the first place. That includes marketing, writing, and speaking, however you’re trying to resonate with people.

If you’re showing up on Instagram, LinkedIn, or on podcasting, I want people to walk away feeling this one word. Activated. Understood. Loved. Everything you say falls back on that specific message, which is “You are loved.” You’re like, “How can I make them feel loved? Here’s how I found that message.” You are activated to share your story, and it resonates with them. I would love to know if you have any questions so far about what I’ve shared. We’re going to get into more specific details, but so far, does everything make sense? I’m getting some head nods.

There’s the misalignment trap. Misalignment happens when you’re writing, saying, or selling, and when that doesn’t match what you believe and what you want to be known for. This works for people who are not Christian and who don’t have a faith. It works for people who do have faith, because it’s what you believe. Many times, I hear people say, “I believe in a lot of things,” but so does everyone else. We’re all human. They mistake that niching down means, “I can only believe one thing,” or niching down and selling to a market means, “I can only sell one thing.”

Alignment is when your core values, vision, avatar, which is your ideal reader, and mission all align. That is what you want to believe and be known for, that impact you are making on people in every interaction. Instead of looking at the big scale, like, “I want to be a bestseller,” you have to look at the minimum, “How can I leave an impact on people every single day?” That is how you start understanding how you can show up, how you can start marketing, and how you can reach your people.

Crafting Impactful Social Media Messages

If you’re posting on social media, you can say, “What do I want to be known for? What do I want people to feel as they see my posts?” As you get consistent and as you share what you believe, you will resonate with people. Video content, podcasts, and webinars are the best way to relate to people because people then hear your words. Whereas if you’re typing a sentence, it’s harder for them to understand and resonate. That’s why with a lot of captions or posts, I like when it’s a longer post because they’re getting a feel for what you’re trying to say and who you are.

I say Instagram a lot and LinkedIn because those are the two biggest ones that the authors I’ve talked to are using. There’s a graphic or a video to catch people’s attention, but then there’s a long form caption or a long form post that gets people to keep reading and keep feeling that emotional weight of what you’re saying. That is how your book works as well.

What’s happening when you’re posting is if you’re looking outward at your readers and the people at the audience and saying, “What do they want to hear?” before ever deciding, “What do I want to say, and what do I want them to take away with?” that is where you’re just noise. You’re adding to that noise because you’re saying, “They want to hear this. They want to hear that,” but you don’t know what you want to say. You’re not allowing yourself to be activated enough to understand that.

As I said before, there are four pillars of building a lasting message. Pillar one is your avatar. That’s knowing who you serve in your writing, your marketing, and your legacy brand. That’s what you are as an author. You are building a brand and a lifestyle. The second pillar is owning where you’re headed. That’s your vision. The third pillar is knowing why it matters to you. Why are you doing this? Why do you want to be an author, and why do you want to resonate with people?

The fourth pillar is leading by what guides you, your core values. What is it you believe that grounds you that makes you different from everyone else? If it comes down to it, not everyone believes the same things. We all might want similar things. If you have a value of family relationships and don’t define that value, then a lot of people are saying, “Family’s important,” but what does that mean to you? We’re going to get into this a little bit more with knowing who you serve.

If you’re trying to reach everyone, no one hears you. I’m sure you’ve heard this before. This is the first place I still see published authors founder. They’re still trying to reach everyone. They say, “I wrote my book for one person. I already have that done. Now I need to reach everyone, so everyone reads my book.” The truth is, in your marketing and your story, you’re still talking to one person. It carries more people in.

As I shared before, I was working with an ex-pro athlete who had an identity crisis, but who I was marketing to was a stay-at-home mom who felt like she had lost her identity because she was so focused on her kids. Since I played into the emotion of what they were feeling, that you’ve accomplished the things you wanted to and you still feel lost, I was pulling in more people because I was talking to one person specifically. It still carried that emotional weight.

This isn’t just demographics. In some marketing tactics when you’re trying to pick your audience, sell, and run ads, you have to pick a demographic. When you are talking to someone and crafting your message, it’s emotional targeting over those demographics. That is why you have to understand what you are trying to accomplish as a writer.

Understanding Reader’s Struggles

Ask yourself. If your book only changed one person’s life, who would that be? I want you to see them as they go about their day-to-day life. What are they struggling with? What’s the moment they realize they need help? What do they believe that’s keeping them stuck? That’s who your reader is. That’s who you’re trying to speak to. That’s how you pick the points that you want to address in marketing, in your writing, or if you’re publishing blogs.

That’s how you then pick the pieces of your story that resonate with that impact. You’re saying, “What’s the moment they realize they need help? All of a sudden, their kids are going to school. They feel like, “I have this time, and I’m so lost and so scared. I don’t know what to do with life.” It could be, “All of a sudden, they are craving acceptance. They crave this need to feel like someone loves them.” You’re seeing on that foundational level the moment that they finally turn and say, “I need help,” and you speak to them in that moment. I see some different looks. I’d love to know if you have any questions about this or if you want to workshop someone’s avatar. No one? Terry.

Supporting a Friend Through Tough Times

As you were talking, I was thinking of a conversation I had with my handyman. He told me he was depressed. He had lost some business, somebody had stolen his tools, and his marriage was suffering. I knew him well enough to know that he was a tough redneck guy. He was a guy who cusses, a guy who has a temper, and doesn’t forgive when somebody does him wrong, but here he was, being vulnerable with me, saying he was depressed. I went through that process of, “In this moment, what’s he seeking? How can I help him? What can I say?”

I didn’t even show him my book, but I started talking in the way that you’re talking about. That particular conversation didn’t get him to change his direction or anything. You talk about visualizing the person and their day-to-day life. I’m thinking, “What will get this guy to the point of wanting help?” as you put it. That was who I was imagining. I don’t have answers yet to what this particular guy would be changed by. That’s more challenging than maybe my normal audience. That’s what I was thinking of.

I love what you’re saying. There are two important things to remember when you have an avatar. It can relate to people you know, but you also have to be aware that just because it relates to someone you know doesn’t mean that if they don’t accept your message, they’re not your person. Your avatar is that theoretical person who is ready. When they do hear your message, they are activated to change.

While we have that heart to resonate with those people and you’re like, “You are perfect,” they might not realize it yet. They still have that choice. I say this because I know, Terry, you are a strong Catholic. That goes back to God and the free will that He gave us where it’s like, “You need this. I know you need this. I want to shake you, so that way, you understand that my message can save you,” but they’re not ready yet. You have to keep speaking to those people who are ready. If you go and dilute your message and go back to, “How can I get this one guy to be ready?” you’re then forgetting the people who might already be ready. You can’t forget your people.

I get it. It’s people who are ready to find help. They’re seeking help.

That’s why you are speaking to them in that emotional state. They might be feeling the exact same way, but they have been activated enough where as soon as they hear your message, they are like, “I need her book. She is speaking to me.” I do appreciate you sharing that. I’m glad we were able to workshop and talk a little bit about the difference between real-life people and avatars, and why we have an avatar over a, “This is my friend who fits this avatar perfectly, so she is my avatar.” Believe me when I say a lot of people struggle with that.

Understanding Your Ideal Audience

We went over some of these questions, but I want to point them out again because this is how you can understand who you’re wanting to serve. If you’ve asked yourself these questions, what is your person afraid of? What keeps them up at night? What are they secretly hoping someone like you will solve for them? That is how you understand that emotional level. Something is bothering them. They have some need or some pain point that you are perfectly able to address. That goes back to your message, which is, “I want them to feel this, but where are they right now where they’re not feeling that? What are they afraid of? What’s stopping them from feeling loved, activated, or understood?”

When you know who you’re best equipped to support, advocate for, or lead, you stop trying to prove yourself to everyone and instead start showing up with purpose for the right people. You keep speaking to your avatar even if it takes a month or longer before your avatar shows up. By being consistent to your one person, your voice will be heard.

If they’re on LinkedIn, if they’re listening to podcasts, or if they’re reading blogs, by understanding where they’re going for these answers and being consistent with at least that one spot, you’re then not trying to dilute your message saying, “I need to do this TikTok trend. I also need to be professional on LinkedIn. I also need to be on every single podcast and write all the blogs.” You’re no longer feeling overwhelmed.

I love your descriptors of these different pillars. What was it you said about vision?

That is the next piece that we are getting into. I wanted to give a brief overview of what the pillars were. I know I gave some more details, but it’s because it can be overwhelming. That’s why I wanted to give a brief overview and a summary. Your vision is owning where you’re headed. Your vision is your filter or the measuring stick for what you want to say yes to and, as importantly, what you want to say no to.

Defining Transformational Communication

It’s not a five-year plan. Your vision is the picture of the impact you want to make. How are you showing up for your people? Also, how are they then spreading your message and sharing your message? That’s why you have to first get clear on who you’re talking to, because that person will naturally feel activated enough to talk to their friends who they feel like are in the same spot. Your work will emulate into their lives.

Your vision means you’re not just telling the story, but this is how you’re shifting them and where you’re defining that shift. It’s not about teaching everything, but it’s about leading the reader through the transformation they can feel. You’re defining how they felt. If you’re looking at your book or your message, how did they feel before they started reading your book, and how did they feel after they finished your book?

You’re then saying, “What was the transformation needed from where they started to where I want them to be?” Examples are like, “I want them to go from burned out to having clarity. I want them to go from being silent to feeling confident. I want them to go from being confused to having conviction in what they say and feeling completely understood.” You’re almost, like an outline, mapping out the little points you need to talk about so they feel activated enough to get that end result.

Thank you.

I have my book, and I started a women’s group. It’s called She Said. It’s a coloring journal.

I love that.

It’s based on my poetry of my own healing journey. It’s fun, whimsical, and delightful, but it’s also very poignant. On the back cover, I have my elevator pitch. I’ll read some of this to you, and maybe we can workshop. With the women’s group, it’s working well. The transformation is happening with them. I’m using my poetry. They get to bring the book, and they do coloring. I do guided meditation with them. I’m happy with the way it’s working, but I need to get it more out there. I’ve also started doing more videos and stuff.

I don’t want you to read it. I want to ask you a question. You said it needs to get out there more.

I need to get my message out there more. In other words, I need to be more active on social media.

I don’t want you to say you want to be more active on social media. I want to know how you want your message out there. How do you want it to resonate with people first?

I want it to resonate with people. What do you mean?

What is the emotion you want them to feel every time they’re in a room with you?

I want them to feel hope. I want them to have a vision of where they are and that they can get where they want to be. I want them to feel that hope, that there’s a place of compassion, understanding, and validation of where they are at, and that they can be where they want to be.

What is stopping them from that?

What is stopping them from that is fear and often unconscious beliefs that have been laid down since they were little or could be any time in the past. Usually, it’s foundational from when they were little. Their belief system, the way they’re seeing themselves, and the way they’re seeing other people is stopping them. I am here to tell them that they can change that, and I have a way to help them to change that

I’m going to take a brief moment to pause because I want to point out and I want to see if other people noticed. Did you see how activated Peggy was? You could see her getting excited about it because she was allowing herself to not say, “I know it needs to get out there. I know it needs this.” She was saying, “This is what I want. I want to help this person. I want them to feel this understanding.” You go back to who is that one person? Where are they showing up? You’re saying, “I know I need to post on social media,” but what social media platform? How many are there? Who is your person?

Facebook.

Have you gotten specific enough to pick an age for your person?

It’s women between 40 and 60, so about 20 years. I know that you’re supposed to have ten years.

Target Age Specificity

I encourage people to not have any age range. I encourage them to get specific enough where they see 1 person in 1 state of time. Your 40-year-old might have kids who are about to graduate college where the 50-year-old’s kids have graduated college. Their life is a little bit different, and they’re looking at different things. The 40-year-old might be focusing on, “I have to get my kids ready for the future. I’m worried about these things.” The 55-year-old might be thinking, “How can I retire? How can I do this next thing?”

By getting specific enough to one age, you can then pinpoint even more specifically, “What is that emotional impact? How can I speak to that person in that state?” You’re not saying, “To the dad who’s looking to retire or to the mom who’s focusing on getting her kids ready for graduation.” You’re saying, “It can be scary. The future ahead is scary. Both people might still be feeling the same thing, the person about to retire and the person who might be looking for a career change or might be about to be an empty nester.” You’re speaking to their emotional state. I encourage you to even pick one specific age you’re speaking to in marketing.

I’m a little confused because at first, I thought you said don’t pick a specific age. Pick an emotional state. Is that not true?

I probably did say that, and I’m sorry I didn’t clarify. Thank you for pointing that out. I like to start by saying, “Don’t pick an age yet. First understand how you want to impact people.” When you’re speaking to them, if you’re getting confused and overwhelmed by, “I’m still speaking to the 40-year-old and the 60-year-old,” I like you to imagine an actual person. What I do is I close my eyes and be like, “What do you need right now?”

I have so many friends and people that come to my group. I have many examples of that one person. Pick one of those people specifically?

Yeah. That goes back to who your avatar is. As we talked about with Terry, you have a lot of different examples of who those people are, but they are still not perfectly your person. They’re at different stages. When you can get specific enough to speak to 1 person in 1 emotional state, then you’re attracting all those people in. Does that make sense or is that still very abstract?

To one emotional state?

First pick how you want to show up in the world and impact someone. When you’re marketing, pick one person in your mind, not an actual person. Close your eyes and ask yourself those questions of what’s keeping them up at night. What do they feel but they’re not telling anybody, but you know because you know them perfectly? Ask yourself those types of questions because then, you’ll have the confidence to know them as a whole person. You’re not overwhelmed by, “Am I speaking to the 40-year-old or am I speaking to the 60-year-old?” You’re always speaking to that emotional state.

Got it. Let me see if I understand what you said. The emotional state is what we’re looking for. You’re going to start big on that, and then you go down to the specific about the age and the person.

What their life looks like.

What their life looks like, what is the secret they’re not telling anyone, and what stuff keeps them up at night. I then speak to that one person. It’s not someone I know is what I heard you said. It’s someone that I can picture in my mind.

Crafting Impactful Personal Vision

It might overlap with someone you know because a lot of people will be feeling those same things, but it’s not an actual person. With your vision, then you’re asking yourself, “What do I want that person to feel? How am I impacting them? What do I want to be known for by them?” You’re asking yourself how you want to impact them. It’s not on that big scale of, “I’m going to be a bestseller, so I’m impacting thousands.”

You’re saying, “Every day when I post on Facebook for Peggy or when I speak on my own podcast for Terry,” or however you are doing your marketing, you are asking yourself, “What am I wanting them to leave and walk away with? What is that one-word vision that I want them to feel?” That is how you’re accomplishing that vision so you can feel fulfilled on a daily basis instead of, “I didn’t hit a thousand books sold today, so let me keep grinding.” You’re focusing on the microvision first.

Finding Clarity Amid Market Noise

I say all of this because there’s so much noise in the world. Juliet and I were talking about how Amazon ads are so oversaturated and how Facebook demographics are not reaching the right person. It is a noisy world, and people are craving clarity more than ever before. They’re craving authenticity. If you haven’t found that for yourself, that clarity of how you want to show up in the world and how you want to impact that person, in which the how is your vision, then you’re not able to reach them because you’re not clear for yourself.

First get clear for yourself so then you can be clear in your messaging for them, and they feel the activation. When Peggy was talking about, “I want this,” I can see her getting so passionate about what she’s wanting to accomplish that I’m naturally drawn in and I want to know more. When you’re memorizing something and you’re like, “I’m supposed to talk about this,” you don’t feel activated. You forget your story and your message. It has to always go back to who you are at your core.

Can I ask another question? It’s a little different but on the same subject where you were talking about if you have your message to that one person, other people will come into your sphere who resonate with it. I love your example there. My book is called She Said. I have the website SheSaidCoaching.com, but I have a male client, which is not at all. I can use my name PeggyMatheson.com as my website .I can use SheSaidCoaching.com. I can use SheSaidJournal.com, which is my book. I’m trying to decide what might be the best way to do it.

I love SheSaidCoaching.com because it is so specific to my book. I have other books that are going to be a little different but similar. This one’s specifically for a woman’s voice. It’s all my voice. I’m a woman. I’m redoing my website. I already have one called PeggyMatheson.com. I put up SheSaidJournal.com for my group around the book. I’m trying to get focused here as I create a new website using GoHighLevel. SheSaidCoaching.com or PeggyMatheson.com. Does it matter?

Author Branding Strategy Shift

I’m careful because I don’t know all of your components. I have brief little insights. I speak to mothers, so I have MoralMothering.com. However, that is my avatar in the beginning stage. I have five phases of my avatar. I also have my author name as a website. That is speaking to those people who want to be authors. Even though I’m still speaking to that emotional stage, that’s where I’m then drawing in those people who want to be authors that aren’t the 34-year-old moms.

I use Instagram primarily because that’s where my moms are. I used to call it Moral Mothering, but I switched it to my name because I was trying to connect with more people who wanted to be authors in that phase of my avatar. I can’t speak to what your website name should be, but I do think on all the outward-facing things, you should use your author name because you probably have more than one book in you. Maybe Juliet has some insight, if you want to share anything, Juliet. I don’t know specific enough.

I have a couple of different brands. I hope this helps. What I do is they all go to the same website. I forward Author Traffic School to Superbrand because I have two brands. It sounds like that’s where you’re going. No matter where they go, the URL is forwarded to Superbrand.

You have that one website, but it’s called Superbrand Publishing. I was thinking of that, but I’m wondering if it is PeggyMatheson.com or SheSaidCoaching.com.

I have them all. I would do your name because it’s name recognition. At the end of the day, they’re not looking for She Said. They’re looking for you, specifically. I always save my Juliet Clark as a speaker site, but I haven’t set it up in years. I already have name recognition. For you, I would keep it in the name recognition space and then She Said Coaching feeding into that. That gives you flexibility in the future, too. If you make a shift, it’s still Peggy.

I would still have SheSaidCoaching.com and direct it to PeggyMatheson.com. If I do memes or posts and I decide I want to put my name on it, I put Peggy Matheson on it, right?

Yeah. You don’t even need two sites. If you’re looking for Author Traffic School, it feeds right into Superbrand. You don’t need to build two different sites from that. You feed that one URL, forward it to the other, and it’s all you.

I wouldn’t use She Said Coaching if I used my name, right?

Can I jump in?

Yeah, please.

I’ve been a webmaster since the internet was born. What I have found very helpful is that from PeggyMatheson.com, do a /SheSaidCoaching. That would be another page that has on it all the things that search engine optimization would find to lead people to that particular page. The homepage of a website is not normally the landing page. It’s an inner page that is dealing with something that strikes the person in their heart, and they want to find out more. You could have all your ideas for the different website names, but have them a page or a set of pages on the same website. That would be my suggestion.

That’s great.

Finding Purpose and Values

I like that. There are so many technical pieces. We can get into that more if you ever want to have a one-on-one conversation with me, with Juliet, or with Terry. I know we’re supposed to wrap up at 45 and I’m already over, but I do quickly want to say understand why you want to be an author and why you want this. Ask yourself why you care about the work. What pain have you experienced that you want to help other people avoid? What lights you up when no one’s watching? What feels fulfilling even when it’s hard? Understand your purpose, and then set your values and define them. Don’t say, “I believe in God.” What does that mean to you? How is that truly a value in your life that shapes who you want to be?

Since we have to wrap it up, I quickly want to say I offer alignment sessions. I would love to take each of you through because I think each of you can go deeper. I do a 90-minute session. Usually, they’re $500, but if you are interested, I will do a 90-minute session for $375. Feel free to reach out. We’ll go over each of those four pillars for you specifically in your specific state, and we’ll help you clarify your message so you can see your person and reach them more specifically because I know this was a broad overview. Thank you so much. Juliet, I’d love to give it back to you.

Thank you. Amber, where do we sign up for that?

If you scan for the free discovery call or you email me, that would be great. The discovery call would be a good place to start, or email me and we can set something up.

Podcast Email Offer Highlight

When you email, be sure to mention this episode. You can go to Amber@Burdett.us. Email her and mention this episode, and she’ll give you that discounted discovery call. It sounds like all of you had some great questions here that you could benefit from that call as well. Thank you so much for showing up. Amber, this was great information. Thank you for doing this. I wish we had more time because I feel like you could have dove a lot deeper with these guys.

Take advantage of that because it sounded like all of you had great questions and could get clear. Everybody who’s on this call has a book, So it’s a matter of getting that messaging a little bit better. Dorothy has three. She’s got two cookbooks in the works, and she is a busy lady with a canning course as well. Terry has multiple books as well. Guys, thank you so much. Amber, thank you.

Important Links

• Amber Parr Burdett
• Moral Mothering
• Discovery Call $375 if you mention this podcast. Email Amber@Burdett.us
• She Said
• She Said Journal
• Peggy Matheson
• BA Mag Training
• Superbrand Publishing on YouTube

About Amber Parr Burdett

Amber Parr Burdett is an accomplished editor, author, and writing/strategy coach with over six years of professional experience in the editorial and educational fields. She has empowered more than 350 authors across 13 countries to shape, write, refine, and elevate their messages through her expert guidance—ensuring proactive support and message clarity. Amber’s industry expertise spans editing, ghostwriting, manuscript development, and curriculum analysis/creation, where she has crafted editorial workflows, style guides, and instructional best practices for a range of clients from writing and publishing startups to educational organizations.

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

• Here’s How »

• superbrandpublishing.com
• Promote, Profit, Publish on YouTube
• Follow Juliet on LinkedIn
• Take the Quiz!