Partnerships with authors and influencers and can take different forms:

• An article on an author’s Substack about how they use your product

• A product review on BookTok

• An author interview on your podcast that they cross-promote on their social media

In my experience, cross-promotion is the name of the game. The real value of partnerships is their ability to get your brand’s name and mission in front of a bunch of new, attentive eyeballs. This is your chance to make a great first impression, with a brand partner whose job it is to make you look good. Because authenticity is baked into the author’s relationship with his or her followers, a recommendation from them is worth much more than anything you can do with owned or paid media.

Keep reading to learn how I consulted an author-influencer partnership with a recent client:

Case STudy

The Assignment

A company offering courses to aspiring children’s authors hired me to launch and promote a paid workshop featuring an American kitlit writer with a significant social media following. The primary objective was to boost brand awareness in the US, an untapped but high-value market for the New Zealand-based company.

The Challenges

My first task was to find the ideal influencer. Hiring someone whose honorarium did not exceed the expected revenue from the event was a balancing act. Competitor research revealed a wide pricing range for online author workshops. Premium options tended to include a “gatekeeper” element, i.e. a publisher or agent in addition to an acclaimed author. Because the event would be timed for an American audience, the company’s existing followers in New Zealand and Australia would be unavailable for the live online event.

The Results

My strategy was to elevate the workshop to a premium offering by inviting the lead editor from the client’s affiliated children’s lit imprint to participate as well. I also wanted the influencer-author commit to a high-impact promotional campaign that assured a significant number of the partner’s followers would learn about the event.

In-depth research led us to a kitlit author with over 100k followers who was a perfect match for the brand’s values and ToV. Her audience was highly enthusiastic about the event, resulting in attendance exceeding expectations and covering the cost of the honorarium. We launched a writing competition in tandem with the workshop that brought in additional attendance and boosted awareness about the company’s offering on author platforms like Chill Subs and writing competition roundups.

Check out the event