Writing and Publishing News

When you speak to a group about the topic or genre of your book, you want to make a connection with your audience and you want them to connect with one another. If they sit apart from one another, they are individuals either for or against you. Yes, against you. Some people come to your presentation with a chip on their shoulder and they are daring you to knock it off. In other words, “Tell me something I don’t know and that I can actually believe.”

Note: I find that this is actually rare. It happens and I think it is important to mention. But, unless your book and your talk cover something quite controversial, you’ll find most of your audience members congenial, alert and eager to hear what you have to share.

I suggest that you try to bring audience members who are spread all over the room closer together—invite them to come forward and take some of the seats toward the front, for example. Some will and some won’t. A few people will move one row closer. Others won’t budge.

Even if audience members sit apart, you can still pull them together and create an atmosphere of camaraderie, which will greatly enhance your presentation. Here are a few ideas:

• For a smaller group, ask them each to introduce themselves and their projects related to the theme of your talk or their interest or experience in the topic.

• Ask what they’ve come to learn from the session. Some might reveal a problem they’re having. Encourage audience input.

• If someone asks a question or expresses a desire for additional resources or information, respond, but also consider solicit comments from the audience. People will begin to connect. I’ve seen it happen so often.

• If there is time, at some point in the program, assign an exercise that requires audience members to come together in groups—something that depends on teamwork. Try to make it fun.

• Present a challenge to audience members at large—something that requires discussion among the entire group—again, something light, so you get them laughing together.

• Once some of the audience members have revealed something about themselves with relationship to the theme of your talk, mention it a time or two throughout your presentation. Say, for example, “Just as Sonny said earlier, ‘some cats are more trainable than others.’ Does anyone have a cat as stubborn as the one he described?” or “Angie told us that she plants her sweet peas in December—does anyone else have success doing this?” This will endear the individual to you and, again, help to create a connection between him or her and the rest of the group.

This is excerpted from the book I am currently working on—Talk Up Your Book. In the meantime, be sure to order your copy of my newest book, Publish Your Book at Amazon.com or at my website: http://www.matilijapress.com

I thought I’d share something from my book in progress this morning— Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.

It seems that celebrities and well-known authors sell books without even trying. Why? Because they are known—their reputation precedes them. Their fans and curiosity seekers are already familiar with who they are and eager to know more about them. They buy these authors’ books simply on name alone. This is an example of personality selling books.

You and I are among the nearly seven million less celebrated authors who are competing with one another (as well as the celeb authors) for book sales in the US and beyond. And competition is fierce. Every year around a million new books and ebooks are produced. And every year, thousands upon thousands of those newly published books fail. The latest statistics indicate that just under eighty percent of all books produced each year sell fewer than 100 copies; and their authors wonder why.

I say it is a lack of personality. Many authors are not willing or able to practice a hands-on approach when it comes to promoting their books. The intimacy the author experiences with his book during the writing process fades once he faces the overwhelming task of marketing it. Yet, you should know that intimacy is at least as important to your project after publication as it was during the writing phase of the book—intimacy with your book and intimacy with your audience.

The first step toward a relationship with your audience is knowing who they are. You hear publishing experts tell you, and you read in books by professionals, that you must write for a specific target audience. Your audience might be comprised of those who read mysteries, romance or young adult novels. Your book might address avid cooks, other writers, educators, parents of preschoolers, dog owners, pilots or people who are interested in World War I, fitness, home decorating or self-help for adult victims of child abuse. A primary rule of successful authorship is to identify your audience early in the process of writing your book and keep them in mind throughout. When you truly understand who your audience is and concentrate on writing expressly for that audience, not only will your book have a stronger audience base, you will have begun the process of establishing a relationship with each and every one of them.

Some of you haven’t created this sort of intimacy with your audiences while researching and writing your book. And many of you don’t even know who your audience is. I can tell you this—it is NOT everyone. Not even close. Your book has a target audience and, if you hope to approach them with live presentations, through social media and so forth, you’ll have to discern exactly who they are.

I’ll include a table of contents in a week or so. Watch for publication of this book in the fall through Allworth Press.

In the meantime, for books with excellent information, fascinating perspective and useful resources for the author, order your copy of my latest two books today:
Promote Your Book (Allworth Press, 2011)
Publish Your Book (Allworth Press, 2012
http://www.matilijapress.com
And Amazon.com

Do you have a repertoire of live presentations you do on behalf of your book? When you schedule a speaking engagement designed to promote your book, can you provide a list of possible speech topics? Most program organizers appreciate having choices—topics of interest to their group that they can choose from. And it would behoove you to create such a list.

Post this list at your website to demonstrate your range of possible programs for those who are seeking speakers or for those you have contacted and who want more information about you.

I go out and speak on book promotion, aspects of publishing, writing a book proposal and freelance writing. But I make it easier for a program director to choose an appropriate program by listing more specific topics and even giving the presentations titles. For example:

• Two Key Steps to Successful Publishing.
• How to Write a Killer Book Proposal.
• Book Promotion for the Bold and the Bashful.
• Get Your Book Reviewed Many Times Over.
• Promote Your Book Through Magazine Articles
• Platform-Building Tips and Techniques.
• How to Write the After-Publication Book Proposal.
I’ve recently added, “The Psychology of a Book Proposal.”

For a book on selling real estate, your list of presentations might look like this:
• How to Establish Curb Appeal for Your Home or Office Building.
• Tips for Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent.
• Understanding the Real Estate Market.
• Just What can you Expect From Your Agent?
• Simple Steps to Selling Your Home.
• When to Buy and When to Sell Locally.

For a historical fiction novel, your list of speech topics might look something like this:
• From Banker to Novelist in Five Years. (Your story.)
• How to Research for a Historical Novel.
• Little Known Historical Facts About New England.
• One Family’s Journey Out of the Darkness.
• The Real Story About Self-Publishing.
• So You Want to be a Novelist.

For nonfiction, your chapter titles and subheadings might be appropriate titles and topics for presentations. For fiction, you might tell the story of one particular character—perhaps offering some back-story that is not included in the book. Get into the psychology of why someone would behave in a certain way, as depicted in your story, for example. Do a program on some disease or dysfunction and what you learned about this during research.

You’ll book more speaking engagements if you are well-prepared with potential programs that are of interest to your reading audience. So go to work this weekend creating your topic list and then start contacting program directors for civic organizations, your local garden club, church groups, business conferences, pet trade shows, etc.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

How do you approach your live audiences? Do you give them what they expect? What do they expect when they come to listen to you speak about your book?

For the most part, they expect to learn something and to be entertained. While a few people will come out to support you (authors make it your duty and privilege to support other local authors), most are in the audience because they want something from you. They are interested in the theme of your book. They want information, resources, insight, inspiration and/or motivation. They want to know more about the history of the area, budgeting, pie-baking, dress-making, woodworking, flying or photography, for example. If you’re a novelist, your audience is probably gearing up for a few hours of pure entertainment.

Most likely, you spend a lot of time thinking about your presentations and hoping that you will come across okay. But do you consider your presentations from the point of view of your audience? Can you put yourself in their place?

Let’s say that you’ve arranged to speak to a group. (Note: most of the time you are responsible for finding the venue and making the arrangements to speak. Sure, you’ll receive occasional invitations—program directors will hear about you and seek you out. But only if you’ve been giving a lot of presentations and getting a lot of publicity so they know about you.) Anyway, you’re speaking to a group of armchair travelers or quilters, avid readers, businessmen/women, animal lovers, gardeners, hopeful authors, artists, etc. Here are my suggestions for a successful author presentation:

• Know who your audience is, approximately how many will be in attendance, what their expectations are (based on the way your talk was promoted and the nature of the group or association) and something about the space, equipment available, distractions, etc. I’ve had to speak out-of-doors while a book festival was going on all around me. Once I spoke in a gym with a noisy basketball game being played on the other side of the wall. Once I rewrote my entire speech while waiting for my queue when I saw the speaking challenges I would be faced with that day.

• Be clear about the program director’s expectations. Will you be speaking for 15 minutes or 90? Does he want a workshop style program or a speech with a Q and A afterward? Will you be able to sell your books after the presentation?

• If you plan to read from your book, do so only if you are very good at it. Not many people are. I sometimes read brief passages—generally anecdotes I want to use for emphasis and that I want to get exactly right. I’ve heard many authors read from their fiction and nonfiction books and only a scant fraction of those were effective. It takes a pleasant voice, clear enunciation, vocal variety, the ability to pace oneself and a professional quality when it comes to using pauses. However, instead of honing the skill of reading in public, I urge you to become a better off-the-cuff presenter.

• Prepare so well that you can present your material without notes and even deviate successfully and expertly from your original speech if you desire.

• Read your audience while you’re presenting. Pay attention to what piques their interest and spend more time with that. Notice when you seem to be losing them and make some adjustments.

• Plan audience participation—especially for longer presentations. I like to find out a little about each audience member (when the group is fairly small—6 to 20 people, for example).

• Speak directly to each audience member. Ask them to say a few words about why they came to hear you or what their interest in the topic is. And then direct some of your comments to these individuals as you proceed with your talk. For example, someone in my audience might tell me that they are struggling to promote their local history book. Throughout my talk, I might point out a couple of things as I go along that would be of interest and assistance to that particular author.

• Set your rules. I sometimes welcome questions throughout my talk. Other times, I prefer to stick to my presentation agenda so that I can adequately cover a certain number of points. Then I will open the floor to questions. I tell the audience up front how I want to handle questions.

• Give, give, give. Some authors are afraid that if they give too much, people won’t buy their book. Actually, if your book is so shallow that you can tell all there is to know about it fully within even a 90 minutes speech, it probably isn’t worth much to start with. I try to stick to a theme throughout my talk—it might be “2 Steps to Publishing Success.” Or “How to Write a Killer Book Proposal.” While I include a lot of material from my book, I expand greatly on much of the information. And this is where entertainment comes in.

• Make it entertaining. I present a great deal of the information that I share in presentations through anecdotes. Stories generally have entertainment value. While it is important, when you’re promoting a nonfiction book, to provide information, resources and that you offer up some new ideas, don’t neglect the emotional value of what you offer. Decisions to purchase are often made at an emotional level. And you want to reach your audiences through their emotions. Make them think, but also cause them to laugh, chuckle, roll their eyes, applaud, tear up, etc.

For more information about public speaking and over 250 other no and low-cost book promotion ideas, order your copy of Promote Your Book, Over 250 Proven, Low-Cost Tips and Techniques for the Enterprising Author. http://www.matilijapress.com/PromoteYourBook.html It’s also at amazon.com, B&N.com and IndieBound as well as many bookstores throughout the US.

Contact me with your editing questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

Do you have a repertoire of live presentations you do on behalf of your book? When you schedule a speaking engagement designed to promote your book, can you provide a list of possible speech topics? Most program organizers appreciate having choices—topics of interest to their group that they can choose from. And it would behoove you to create such a list.

Post this list at your website to demonstrate your range of possible programs for those who are seeking speakers or for those you have contacted and who want more information about you.

I go out and speak on book promotion, aspects of publishing, writing a book proposal and freelance writing. But I make it easier for a program director to choose an appropriate program by listing more specific topics and even giving the presentations titles. For example:

• Two Key Steps to Successful Publishing.
• How to Write a Killer Book Proposal.
• Book Promotion for the Bold and the Bashful.
• Get Your Book Reviewed Many Times Over.
• Promote Your Book Through Magazine Articles
• Platform-Building Tips and Techniques.
• How to Write the After-Publication Book Proposal.

I’ve recently added, “The Psychology of a Book Proposal.”

For a book on selling real estate, your list of presentations might look like this:

• How to Establish Curb Appeal for Your Home or Office Building.
• Tips for Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent.
• Understanding the Real Estate Market.
• Just What can you Expect From Your Agent?
• Simple Steps to Selling Your Home.
• When to Buy and When to Sell Locally.

For a historical fiction novel, your list of speech topics might look something like this:

• From Banker to Novelist in Five Years. (Your story.)
• How to Research for a Historical Novel.
• Little Known Historical Facts About New England.
• One Family’s Journey Out of the Darkness.
• The Real Story About Self-Publishing.
• So You Want to be a Novelist.

For nonfiction, your chapter titles and subheadings might be appropriate titles and topics for presentations. For fiction, you might tell the story of one particular character—perhaps offering some back-story that is not included in the book. Get into the psychology of why someone would behave in a certain way, as depicted in your story, for example. Do a program on some disease or dysfunction and what you learned about this during research.

You’ll book more speaking engagements if you are well-prepared with potential programs that are of interest to your reading audience. So go to work this weekend creating your topic list and then start contacting program directors for civic organizations, your local garden club, church groups, business conferences, pet trade shows, etc.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

?

You know how to prepare to speak about your book:

• Choose a topic.
• Outline your talk.
• Focus on 3 points.
• Practice.

But what else do you need to remember when you’re planning a talk? I always try to leave audience members with more than just the memory of my speech. I attempt to leave them with something tangible and form a long-term connection with them. How?

• Create a handout related to the theme of your talk and your book.
• Attach your business card/brochure.
• Have a sign-up sheet for those who want to receive your newsletter, a free report (article, resource list) or a free ebooklet, for example.

You’ll find that there are advantages to collecting names and email addresses beyond just that initial contact. Add those names to your emailing list. Notify these people when you produce a new book, are speaking in their area or are offering a special service, for example.

I’ve had this practice pay off nicely for me. While the potential customer might go home and forget about me, I remember her and let her know about it. I inform her when I post new articles on the topic of my speech at my website. I let her know when I run a special on one of my books. I contact her with a resource I think she might be interested in. I alert her to blog posts I think she might be interested in.

Of course, you sometimes run into unreasonable people. Once, at a conference workshop I was conducting, a woman added her name and email address to my sign-up sheet. When I returned home, I sent her (and everyone else on the sheet) a thank you for attending the workshop and an invitation to ask any questions they came away with. I also offered a free report (article) on a related topic. This woman shot back an email accusing me of stealing her email address.

Oh well, you get all kinds. Expect it. But don’t dwell on the ugly stuff. Enjoy working with the people who need/want your help and support.

Sign up at my newest website for a FREE ebooklet: The Successful Author’s Handbook:
http://www.patriciafry.com

Check out my array of published books:
http://www.matilijapress.com