The Assignment

A company offering courses to aspiring kitlit 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. They also aimed to break even, which meant not paying more for talent than they earned through ticket sales.

The Challenges

My first task was to find an 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, they company could not depend on their existing followers in New Zealand and Australia to sign up.

The Results

My strategy was to incorporate the lead editor from the client’s affiliated kitlit imprint and to have the influencer-author commit to a high-impact promotional campaign that assured a significant US-fanbase would attend the event.

Dogged 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