You’re already competing in a VERY COMPETITIVE world, so why are you making life harder and seeing everyone as the enemy?
Life’s too short
Loving is much easier than hating
And guess what…collaborating can be damn fun.
In the previous post I talked about 28 Reasons Why Writers Should Collaborate – Not Compete. Don’t get me wrong, I understand you sometimes have to fight back and be ruthless.
This is Plan B, though. Your first outlook, in my humble opinion, is to share and look for ways to collaborate. Hopefully by now you’ve read the list of reasons why, but what about the ways you can?
How To Collaborate Your Author Platform?
Author Platform…if there are two words that send writers scurrying, it’s these two. There really is no need to be afraid, though. An Author Platform is anything you make it, and so long as you remember that you make your own rules, everything will be fine.
So how can a writer collaborate in order to improve their Author Platform?
There are many ways you can approach it, but these are the 3 areas I personally find exciting:
1: An Actual Book
I can’t imagine all books would work as a collaboration. For example, I could never have written my debut novel, Beyond Parallel, with anybody else. But sometimes it works.
It doesn’t always have to be a big project, either. You could join forces with a fellow writer to create a short book of tips and tricks. Or maybe a collection of short stories. Or, how about a serialised collection of books.
It can bring a lot of stress and heartache, but collaborating with another writer can help you reach new readers, introduce new skills and ideas, and begin a tight knit relationship. Depending who the person is, it could literately make your Author Platform BOOM.
2: The Online Course
Online courses are huge these days. The topics range from how to improve your writing, to building an author platform, to marketing and publishing and design.
They are also be a lot of hard work. You have to create it, to start with, build it, write it, share it, market it, sell it etc etc.
It make sense to share this workload with a few other people. Not only does it make your life easier, but it allows you to spread your reach.
Dan Blank offers an amazing Author Platform course, but he utilises a few special guests. Not only does this ease the workload for Dan, but it adds some serious kudos to his course.
3: A Circle Of Awesomeness
Sites like Triberr are a great idea. Building an author platform is no easy feat, and teaming up with a circle of awesome people can make life easy and awesome.
Not only do you build some great relationships, but your content is suddenly exposed to many more people then you could ever do on your own. And the great thing is, you don’t have to use a service like Triberr.
You could, for instance, team up with three or four bloggers you admire. Simply send them an email and propose a circle of awesome. You can make the rules (what you share, how often you share, etc) and you take control.
However, I offer caution. The people you team up with need to be relevant to YOU. They also have to share your ideals and values and overall style. You will share these people with your readers (your most important people). Don’t let them down.
Concluding Your Author Platform
Building an author platform is tough, and if you try and fight everyone, life will be miserable. Be a lover…not a hater!
My previous post showcases the reasons why. I now hope you have an idea how.
Collaborating with others can be great. Not only does it extend your reach and open up door after door. It allows you to build REAL relationships with people, and in my experience, REAL relationships go a long way.
What about you?
Do you collaborate or compete?
Could you add to this list?
Leave a comment below and complete the process.
Turndog Millionaire – @turndog_million
