Case Study of an Author Re-Branding

DETAILED Breakdown: Need-->Concept-->Planning-->Execution

I have a lot to show you, a lot to say, much to announce, and hopefully a lot to teach you. Buckle up, bookmark, and share it if you find it helpful.

As an author there is nothing more important these days than communicating to people who you are in the fastest, clearest, and most memorable way you can. I’m going to break down this deep-dive into some headings/categories so you can easily follow along, follow the roadmap I just traversed, and hopefully give yourself and your brand a possibly-much-needed overhaul.

Let’s get to it!

INTRODUCTION: Why Bother With Branding?

We are submerged on the internet - under piles of ads, posts, short-form content, videos, podcasts, channels, groups, communities, even more podcasts, and a flood of AI Sasquatch vlogs (which, by the way, are brilliant).

If you are a creator of any kind, you are competing for attention. That doesn’t mean everyone is your competitor, that means you are competing against yourself on a playing field of social algorithms to get in front of eyeballs. Removing one person from the playing field does not benefit you, and removing people at scale has social implications that start with “G” and rhyme with “Enocide.” So let’s not do that.

The problem itself is simple: “How can I increase my chances of being seen?”

The solution often feels like this, courtesy of World War Z.

See that zombie buried under the pile? No, you don’t. By the way, that’s you.

This comes down to communicating WHO YOU ARE in the most succinct and cohesive way you can. It’s answering some questions in someone’s mind as quickly as possible:

1. Who am I?

2. What do I do?

3. Why do I do it?

4. Where can you find me?

Within those four questions exists everything that a potential fan/reader/consumer needs in order to discover you, get to know you, and connect with you. The bad news, it’s hard to nail the cohesion necessary to communicate all of this. The good news? It’s possible, and there are many angles with which to attack the problem.

So let’s get into the Case Study, shall we?

PHASE 1: Recognizing Need.

Ladies and gentlemen, our test subject (That devilishly handsome guy. NO, not the pumpkin, you ass).

I love being culturally insensitive.

I’m an author, a business owner, a long-time YouTuber, occasional sh*tposter, podcast/show host, and more. I’m cutting an album. I have a reputation for some wild outside-the-box marketing ideas. I’m going to list out the various online places I frequent, and highlight what I identified as a problem area within my own presence, ie: personal brand.

This is what “NO BRANDING” looks like:

On X: @DavidBadurina: I post about writing, some randomness, whatever projects I have going on, stream MIRTH QUAKE episodes, and generally use X as the primary hub for author presence due to my well-publicized hatred of Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, etc. etc.

I’ve had various headers atop my X page, none of them “branding.”

On TikTok: I *WAS* at “@dbadurina_author.” I used TikTok primarily for posting short-form clips from MIRTH QUAKE, sometimes personal stuff that was writing related. This was a random bin for content from different sources.

Nothing was branded. Whatever goofy picture I had would be the profile pic, everything was all over the place.

On YouTube: I’ve been on YouTube for 6 years as “youtube.com/davidbadurina.” I rocketed up to about 17,000 subscribers creating content about:

*MBTI Psychology

*Author Experiences

*Life Stuff

This was my YouTube header for the longest time:

Why nobody told me that the Neo-Plasticism art movement should’ve died a long time ago is beyond me. De Stijl was a TERRIBLE branding idea, and “The Style” deserves to be on the trash heap next to it’s troll-spawn, Bauhaus. Bring back Art Deco! I’ve grown since then. Improved ALL of my design work.

Forgive me for this misstep, I was trying to be cool.

Anyway …

ALSO On YouTube (since October 2024 and currently being awesome): The MIRTH QUAKE Web Show:

This is an inviting logo that communicates joy, chaos, and fun. I eventually got this shit right.

Then we have the website … http://davidbadurina.com …

The header, circa 2017 …

The header, circa 2020 …

The header, circa 2022 …

The header, circa 2022 (the above didn’t last long) - until about 3 days ago *shakes fist at simplified Dutch art style* …

INSANITY, right? Re-design after re-design, because I couldn’t settle on that single thing … WHAT AM I AND HOW DO I COMMUNICATE IT?

Pinpointing the Issue:

The problem with all of this is one of identity. I’m an author. I’m a YouTuber. I’m a podcaster. I run a show to platform fellow authors. Those are some wildly different things.

And within those, we have subsets. Yes, I run a YT channel, but about … writing? Some vlogging? Psychology? Author stuff? Book stuff? It’s like making soup by starting with chicken stock, then putting in stuff that makes no sense. Handfuls of hydraulic grease. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figurines. A carburetor from a 1978 impala. A few of your saved baby teeth. Nutella. The label from a bottle of 2010 Château Lafite, and a cassette of the 1985 classic album, “Whitney Houston.”

*belts out power ballad, “I decided long ago, never to walk in ANYONE’S SHADOW”*

Anyway …

If one person comes across my YouTube channel (the main one), they see one version of me that could be different from one video to the next. If they go to MIRTH QUAKE? Totally different. Hit my X profile? Is that the same guy? Facebook? Dude I don’t even know what you’d see. I have started and cancelled Facebook and Instagram more times than I can count.

On Facebook alone I’ve had pages, groups, the personal feed, all mixed up with different looks, different headers, different colors. TikTok, well there are some clips from YouTube and a cat video as well as some SPACE PEW PEW stuff. Then they go to my website, and I try to explain the whole thing with yet ANOTHER completely different look. Sure, I’m an author, but also a show host. I’m a co-creator and head writer for a new anime show. And what do I write, even? Inspirational non-fiction? Sci-fi absurdity? Deep and philosophical Urban Fantasy?

Yes, all of the above.

What does all of that communicate?

It communicates that I’m terrible at branding, I am not even trying, I don’t have an author career, I’m not serious about how I’m presented anywhere, and I need an intervention. No cohesive colors, no cohesive branding, nothing matches.

Is this you as well? I’m not trying to be a dick, but when I look at most authors out there, ya’ll are just as shit at branding as I have been.

There is a better way, and I’m not selling you anything, I’m just sharing what worked for me.

How did it devolve to such utter madness?

This is how my brain works. I’m creative. I go crazy. I do multiple things. Then I leave future-me the problem of picking up the pieces and making sense of it all when I become overwhelmed and inevitably want to shut everything down and go live in an off-grid cabin somewhere.

PHASE 2: The Concept.

Now we start to get a little deeper, and frankly to the root of one of the major issues, an issue of identity.

The branding crisis I just had was simply a microcosm of something deep, emotional, and painful - the loss of my big brother 6 years ago. An event that shattered my ACTUAL identity, and turned me into someone I no longer recognized.

Happy times. I miss him.

Six years of trying to figure it out …

That was at the start of my writing career. His loss pushed me through my debut novel, turning it into a deeply personal, introspective story, that was still epic and badass. And after that? Depression truly hit, along with the panic attacks.

I tried everything. I tried rebrands, medication, I tried recording videos, meditating, I tried different topics, subjects, diet, anything and everything to shake myself out of a deep, and at times terrifying darkness.

Yes. Terrifying in “that” way.

The problem wasn’t my brand. The problem wasn’t external. The problem wasn’t my brain. The problem was grief and disconnection from purpose, God, and this world, and no amount of sugar-coating or slapping glitter on it would make it easier to deal with. It took time. Love. Support. Introspection. Forgiveness. Acceptance.

That old version of me died when my brother died. And frankly I’m still a little unsure about who I’ve been since that day, but every day it’s better.

Grief does that to you.

Figuring it out …

There was one thing I knew I wanted to do, and it’s been the key to unlocking everything about my randomness, I just didn’t realize it.

Starting the personal YouTube channel back up.

And I struggled with it for the better part of three years. Always trying. Always changing the look. Always failing.

The channel died, I was no longer interested in making psychology content, I don’t want to be one of those people always talking about writing, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to give writing advice (unless you need advice on dick jokes in space, then I got you).

It was on the way home from LibertyCon in Chattanooga just a few weeks back, where all of this clicked for me. Especially when I looked down the list of what I do:

• I love to write stories with deep emotion, and tons of heart.

• I love comedy, write comedy, and I’m exceedingly good at humor.

• I love absurdity, I’ll make fun of anything, everyone, everything. It’s all funny.

• I love creating - images, logos, branding, editing, book covers, marketing materials, promo stuff

• I love being absurd.

• I love taboo humor, stereotypes, and warming my hands close to the cancel-culture fire.

• I love sharing what I know, teaching others, learning, and helping fellow creators.

• I love showing my passion - one day a post that’s insane and ridiculous, the next a post that’s an acid-dripping, flame-throwing nuke targeting insufferable cancel-mob weirdos (usually of the anti-AI purist variety).

• I love pissing off gatekeepers, critics, and insufferable pricks.

• I love the look on fan faces when I read them something I wrote that is so totally unhinged and wild that they cannot help but bust out laughing.

So during our 16.5 hour drive back from Chattanooga, refreshed and inspired by the successes and great time I had at the convention, I took time to simply … think. If I’m going to get back to what I do - and it has to roll in ALL OF THE ABOVE so I stay engaged and inspired to do so, I’m going to need a set of rules for myself, and I’m going to need to figure out what to call this endeavor.

My new set of rules:

1. Never self-censor. I cannot be authentically me if I’m holding back because I’m afraid of being either cringe, or cancelled.

2. “Chase the Muse.” Wherever my insane mind takes me creatively, it never gets second-guessed, it only gets chased with the unleashed enthusiasm of a starving fat dude hauling ass for free entry to an Old Country Buffet.

3. Accept who I am. God himself made me this way. I wanted to be Twain. God gave me SPACE PEW PEW. If he can love me for who I am, then I can love me for who I am, and anyone who decides to judge me for it can go fuck themselves because I got the big man in my corner. (I’ll pray for them tho, I’m not totally awful)

And if that bit of faith and trust in a higher power wasn’t enough of a sign, Jaclynn asked me a simple question, and it feels like Jesus himself slapped me upside the back of my head to force my answer without allowing me to second-guess myself.

Somewhere on the highway in West Virginia, she asked it …

“What are you going to call your new YouTube show?”

Bitch-slapped by Jesus, I blurted out the first thing I thought, without a second thought:

“Quill it with Fire!”

Rule #1, never self-censor? That’s just me being unfiltered. Rule #2, “Chase the Muse?” That’s just me being unhinged. Rule #3, accepting who I am? That’s me being unbothered.

The day after I got home from LibertyCon, I had a new brand, one that embraces everything, and an umbrella that provides shelter for all of my insane endeavors.

I searched for the phrase online. Zero results. Boom. A brand that I can stake out as uniquely my own in the digital world, an EXCEEDINGLY rare opportunity.

The word “Quill” is a nod to the writing roots and author lens with which I view everything. The Fire is my creative napalm that I douse every project in before setting it ablaze without a care because Creativity is what I love.

The punny reference to “Kill it with Fire” is thus turned on it’s head to embrace something totally new:

CREATE EVERYTHING WITH RECKLESS DISREGARD OF THE RESULT.

Unfiltered. Unhinged. Unbothered.

I needed a character as well. A logo. A symbol. A mascot. Something to communicate my absurdity, my joy, my creativity, my writing, my FIRE. And in the most unhinged way possible! While nodding to the unfettered gloriousness of the approachable charisma and humor with which I operate in this world. A character so patently absurd that looks like he will take absolutely any suggestion and try it with hold-my-beer-and-hope-I-survive enthusiasm. Maybe he’ll self-immolate. Maybe he’ll explode. But I guarantee you he’ll be laughing like a lunatic having the time of his life the whole way down.

Enter … “FLAMEGUY.”

Personal mascot. Alter-ego. A direct representation of what you get when you deal with me.

My friends … that stupid image represents “me” more than any selfie possibly could. And by the way, I spent HOURS in Photoshop and Illustrator on this dude after generation. Do you know how hard it is getting little strands of feather and flame to properly show transparency? Without a tablet/pen? But the result? Worth it.

PHASE 3: The Planning.

All of this stuff is great, but I still had the issue of disjointed socials and social channels to deal with. So I got to work with my wingman, Grok.

This was the prompt:

“For this one, you're going to put on your "Branding Expert" hat. Your goal is to ask questions to clarify if needed, and advise on a best path forward for what I'm going to ask you.”

I then went on to describe the books I’ve published, the themes, genres, etc. How it was received, the challenges, my feelings on creating all of them, when and how they were built, etc. I explained MIRTH QUAKE. I detailed all of my socials (as I did above for you). My ideas for the *NEW* YouTube channel. What I do on X. Projects that are upcoming. Merch. The status of every social account, project, and timeline I’m currently on.

And, my personal goals, my mission, who I am, what I love to do, what brings me joy, what worries me, and how I work. My personal “Chase the Muse” philosophy. The status of my career, my experiences at conventions (brief AARs, basically). My schedule, personal bandwidth … you name it, I explained it to X’s Grok.

And I’ll be damned, it spat back some FIRE.

First, the review/breakdown/summary of all of my thoughts:

After the summary, Grok interviewed me, clarified, and together, we came up with the plan:

We covered everything in this back-and-forth as I started to form ideas and change some of the direction as well as correct some of the suggestions and further clarify.

AI is a tool. A powerful one. I would not be having the success and accomplishments I’ve had in 2025 without it (publishing 3 books, rebrands, help with all of the coding and technical stuff, and distilling my random scattered thoughts into actionable steps).

I then had Grok spit out a concise to-do list of everything I’d need to do to accomplish a full re-brand, get everything under the correct umbrella, and essentially TOTALLY REMAKE every social channel, project, and account I have to be cohesive, together, and uniquely me.

Which brings us to …

PHASE 4: Execution

Here’s a brief shot of that to-do-list (I can’t give you the whole to-do list, because it was about SIXTY ITEMS LONG):

We were going back and forth with CSS coding, adjusting DNS records on the website backend, I was creating logos of different shapes, sizes, and purposes for the different requirements on all of the channels, everything. Every time there was a technical hurdle, we paused, fixed the issue, and moved forward with the next task on the list.

The result? Remember that disjointed mess of socials from before? Here’s what it looks like now:

Currently on X, YouTube, FB, TikTok:

On X.

On YouTube.

On Facebook.

On TikTok.

And the best of all? Here’s what the front page of my OVERHAULED WEBSITE (davidbadurina.com) looks like:

All of my insanity, captured in one thought bubble. Together.

Space for the books, even though I am multi-genre. Space for QUILL IT WITH FIRE!, space for MIRTH QUAKE! And even a full-on Merch store which can be shopped through the website, or through http://quillitwithfire.store:

Are there still things to do? Absolutely. My Substack, for instance, is getting a custom domain. I’ve got all kinds of little odds and ends to wrap up, mostly promotional.

Is the website beautiful? Yes. Is it perfect? Not for mobile viewing (unless you turn your phone landscape), but that’s a monstrous CSS coding project that I’m not looking to get into right now, because there are more important things.

PHASE 5: Wrapping Up, Looking Ahead

More than anything, I hope this very long, very detailed post has helped you in some way. If it helps you think outside the box, great. If it helps you question your own identity, how it is presented, and whether you have a cohesive brand representative of WHO YOU ARE as a person deep, deep down in that heart and mind of yours? Good.

And you know what’s supremely awesome about all of this?

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

When the Quill It With Fire channel starts churning out videos, it’s going to be something special. I’ll be getting back to the part of me that I lost so long ago when my brother left us. Strategy-wise, it will be leveraging YouTube’s algorithm to grow the channel once more now that all of the SEO, settings, keywords, descriptions and everything else is firmly in place. And growing QiwF means growing MIRTH QUAKE, and that means platforming amazing creators like YOU will have more impact, and my help will be broader, more intense, and more impactful than ever before.

Will I get all of this right on my first go?

Nope.

Constant adjustment, some frustrations, some troubles, some worries, all of it is still there. Plus the writing, the filming, the various projects, all of it will be stretching my personal bandwidth, but the one thing I don’t have to worry about any longer?

People making a mistake about who I am, what I do, why I do it, and where I can be found.

With that being said …

Hi.

I’m David.

I’m an author, and a creative.

It’s wonderful to meet you. :-)