I was talking to Kevin C. Pyle today, the author of “Blindspot” and the newly released “Katman” graphic novels.  We were very briefly talking about his upcoming book signing at Watchung Bookseller’s in Montclair, NJ, which is tonight October 27th at 7:00pm incidentally.  I was really curious about the marketing that goes into his book because 1.  I am working with another author, the Science journalist Nicholas Wade  and 2. I just watched Gary Vaynerchuck more or less CRUSH IT! with his newest book, and I’ve noticed that publishing companies actually rely heavily on their authors to do promotions.

Kevin was sharing with me a few things about his marketing when he said something that I’ve been noticing in the business world.  To paraphrase, he said “Well, I actually write books for different markets, adults and teens, and my publisher said my personal branding should be for the teen market”.  So, an individual who is dynamic enough to be able to publish for both Teens and Adults should brand himself, as a teen author only?  That is the message many seem to speak:  You brand ONE thing, you give ONE thing to the world, you have to have ONE idea.

I see this as a major marketing error, to define yourself as an entity with only one focus.  For some it works, but most people offer their passion in a multi-layered way because the traits they possess, and which define their offering are multi-faceted and contain many parts.  Huh?  In more simple terms:  We are more complicated then that.

This brings me to another question then:  If you are branding yourself:  Gary V = Wine Guy + Business Guru -  Nicholas Wade = Science Journalist + Compelling Author  – Joe Nobody = Auto Mechanic + Photographic Artist, then how do all these people present themselves to the world?

I believe when we brand ourselves we are searching for a deeper unifying principle with which to identify ourselves to the world.  For Gary that could be:  “Passionate Business Developer”, for Nicholas: “Man of  the Scienctific Pen” for Joe: “Mechanical Artist”.

Essentially, you are isolating a core intention with which to center yourself in the world, BUT, the marketing and branding must be multilayered.

Why should a person be asked to put themselves in a box?  It’s not genuine, it’s not WHO THEY ARE.  What is important is that a person’s energy shines through whatever medium they are communicating with, so that they can touch their audience, this is how their message becomes magnified.

That’s basically what I told Kevin Pyle, “You have to be yourself, or it won’t be real and it won’t work”.

Checkout Kevin’s Blog and his Books.

I’ll be chiming in with a post about the “unifying principal” in a future post. With the help of a Twitter sage: @holymully I hope to give out a great key to developing your passion.