Comments on: How to Develop a Personal Brand as a Writer

By: Kim Grant

Kim Grant — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:08:25 +0000

Hey all,

Remember, this is over 25 years, so 47 books over that time period is doable

I do it with the help of T’ai Chi Chih, a moving meditation practiced daily that gives me lots of energy, intuition and creativity. Check it out at http://www.taichichih.org.

I bet there are a dozen good ideas from the folks who’ve commented here. Using your middle name to distinguish yourself makes TONS of sense: think David Meerman Scott as opposed to David Scott.

Great links/tips about Chai Wallah and Crush It. And Conner, you ARE in a narrow markets BUT they’re popular markets. No offense to the midwest, but at least you’re not specializing in Nebraska City (which is gorgeous, by the way.)

By: Nancy D. Brown

Nancy D. Brown — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:24:07 +0000

Very nice, dialed down post, Kim.

When I changed my Twitter handle to http://twitter.com/Nancydbrown I made a decision to brand myself. (There are a lot of Nancy Brown’s out there!)

I begrudgingly agree with your comment about writing a book within my travel niche. I’ve launched a new blog, http://www.writinghorseback.com and am playing around with the idea of a book.

What’s holding me back? Time! 47 guidebooks. I bow down to you. One of my passions is getting more than a few hours of sleep. How do you do it?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:45:29 +0000

Amazing advice! These tips have motivated me.

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:18:39 +0000

Really great article Kim, very smart and a lot of great points!

By: Ryukyu Mike

Ryukyu Mike — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:46:29 +0000

Excellent, most informative post I’ve seen in awhile. Thanks for sharing!

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:26:33 +0000

Ok, I’m motivated! Time to gear up and scale down in the branding category. Clearly you’ve sifted through many of the thousands of books and articles on this topic and then experimented to find exactly what works for you – and can for the rest of us. Wise words. Thanks.

By: Drea

Drea — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:58:52 +0000

Kim, these are the most useful branding tips I’ve read. As I continue to work on my own brand, I realize that the process isn’t as intuitive as it seems at the outset. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

By: TimR

TimR — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:17:06 +0000

What an inspiring post! Especially #3, which is of course not a new thought, but the “why” of it is. Sebastian Junger instantly came to mind–a guy who was trimming trees, wrote a book, and bam, he’s an instant brand big time. It’s not so much that HE became famous, but his brand did.

I also checked out Seth Godin’s blog, which I’ve read before I think, but now see it in a different light. Buried deep in his older posts, I found a link to a website and planned book (http://chaipilgrimage.com) all about Chai Wallahs and making tea in India. Such a simple yet deep idea that seems to embody all of the branding concepts.

I’m starting to think maybe I could do something like that…

By: Candice

Candice — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:04:04 +0000

Damn this is one freakishly awesome article. Fantastic tips, Kim. I always stress the passion point.

By: Jeff Counts

Jeff Counts — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Kim: Great advice in a nutshell, especially for my brand, a shy, Midwestern rustic with southern roots who is afraid to talk about himself. I’m reading a book on all this, Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, a young wine guy who built up the family liqour store into an online wine giant. His advice is to use a blog as your plantform and work up from there. I’ve done that with some success. I post a blog and then use Facebook to distribute it on a Fan Page for my guide book, Michigan: An Explorer’s Guide. It helped me get a radio interview and I’ll be doing two blogs a month for the Pure Michigan Facebook page, which has 21,000 fans. I don’t bother with Twitter, I don’t think it would work for my stuff. I’ve built up my face Facebook page for the book to about 165 people.

By: Conner

Conner — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:02 +0000

Top-notch advice and do I ever need it! I feel like I’m doing a lot of things right (tips 2-5 I have down more or less), and I’ve passion to spare. But deciding *what* types of social media and marketing is right for me – just wading through all the options and not getting caught up in the “new, new thing” is a bear – is challenging. Your article is a tremendous help and I’ve already discovered a treasure trove of useful info on ChangeThis. Now onto the next links!

I wonder about OVER specializing? I work in very narrow geographic areas (Guatemala, Cuba, Hawaii) and I feel like the competition is killer, even though I have certain competitive advantages.

Thanks again for the terrific article.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:32:05 +0000

Very helpful, Kim! It inspired me to add a few extra things to my to do list!

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:14:21 +0000

This article is brilliant.

By: Katie

Katie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:53:30 +0000

As Abbie said, really useful advice! Especially 7a, its too tempting when you’re starting out to sign up for everything, then never have time to manage them!

By: Abbie

Abbie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:39:03 +0000

Thanks Kim, great advice!