In an earlier post, I briefly touched on collaborating with other companies and upholding my brand. Since I launched my company and released my book there have been times where I collaborated with others to relinquish myself of having to handle certain tasks and other times where I collaborated to expand my brand. Collaborating and networking with other authors and companies is great for expanding your brand and is necessary to be a successful author. You’ll need to establish and expand your brand through social networks, interviews, book reviews, magazine write-ups, etc. By expanding your brand it allows you to branch outside the realm of writing and provides you with opportunities to do guest blog posts, seminars, workshops, interviews, book signings, and speaking engagements.

When deciding which of these outlets to pursue you should first consider how it affects your brand. For example, if someone contacts me for an interview, there are a few steps I take before deciding whether I’ll accept. First, I do research on the interviewer/outlet. I browse through their archives to see the format of the show, their line of questioning and whether their magazine or show fits with my brand.

What does fitting with your brand mean?

When author Bernice Harris’ Pull Your Pants Up and be a man was released, I was contacted by the Father and Sons organization to speak and present our title at Madison Square Garden. This was an excellent branding component for the book because the book is geared towards young boys between the ages of 13 and 18 and the event was for fathers and sons in the same age range. The exposure fit well with my brand as it was hundreds of dads and sons in attendance and there were major influencers in the community in attendance. The event was in New York and not in my hometown so that gave me an opportunity to get exposure outside of my community. The timing was also great because it coincided with the release of the book.

Everything about this event, fit well with the branding of the book and with the branding of my company.

Another example is my book release party. I would have been fully capable of handling the planning, but I brought in a literary coordinator whose track record and proven results worked well for my brand. We collaborated to pull off an event that not only had a great turnout but also garnered us sponsors and publicity.

Everyone’s brand is different so next we will discuss how to determine your brand. Do you consider your brand when accepting interviews, guest blog posts, or speaking engagements? Please share in the comment section below.