Yesterday, I asked for volunteers. But no one came forward to have me help them create interesting presentations from their book topics. This is not surprising. We just stay too busy to pay attention and we miss out on all sorts of book promotion opportunities. As another example of that, I think I told you that I\u2019m under contract with Allworth Press to revise, expand and update my book on book marketing. As part of the process, I am interviewing authors who have used some of the various promotional ideas I\u2019m writing about\u2014good publicity for them and their books.<\/p>\n
I posted a request for participants at SPAWNDiscuss, to which we have around 75 members, and I heard back from only 1\u2014one author who understands the value of getting exposure anywhere you can get it. And being featured in a book with a potential of 10,000 copies or so in sales is something worth pursuing\u2014wouldn\u2019t you say?<\/p>\n
Anyway, my blog topic today, as I promised yesterday, is how do you create interesting presentations around your book\u2019s topic\/genre? Here are a few ideas.<\/p>\n
1: To promote my writing\/publishing-related books, I give presentations, post blogs and write articles on dozens of topics which I then break down into subtopics. For example, I talk a lot about book promotion. I break this topic down into presentations (or articles) on 10 things you must do in order to promote your book, book promotion for the timid author, how to get book reviews, how to make book festivals work for you, how to get speaking engagements around the theme of your book, how to use your blog to promote your book, article-writing as a way to promote your book, and so forth. If you follow this blog, read my articles or catch some of my presentations, you know the scope of my subtopics. <\/p>\n
2: For my book of cat stories, I might share one or two of the stories as part of a live presentation. I could focus my talk on one aspect of owning cats, living with a feral cat, how to prepare your home for a new kitten, personalities of cats, why we are either attracted to cats or not, working\/library cats, the importance of spay\/neuter, what prompted me to write this book, how I went about compiling it, what cats give us, quirky cat stories, sad stories with happy endings and so forth. There are probably as many presentation possibilities as there are cats in this world. <\/p>\n
3: Let\u2019s say that your novel features a lifelong love story between two professors beginning in the late 1890s and covering a 60 year period and it is set in the south. You could dress in vintage clothes while telling parts of the story. You could talk about what went into writing the story. You could create an interesting talk wherein you analyze the mindset of various lovers in classic stories over time. Compare life in the south during this period to life elsewhere on this planet. Talk about how some well-known fictional characters (or one of your characters) would be handling the technology age. Or, as I sometimes suggest, let audience members help you act out a section of the book. <\/p>\n
Certainly, nonfiction books seem easier to promote through live presentations. But still, authors are stymied as to how to create interesting, entertaining programs around their books. Here are some addition tips that might help:<\/p>\n
\u2022\tUse visuals\u2014props, a slide show\/power point presentation, etc. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tGet someone to assist you by creating little surprises while you\u2019re on stage (walk across stage behind you with a dog, a sign or a crazy costume\u2026)<\/p>\n
\u2022\tDo something surprising such as sing, play a musical instrument, do a magic trick or dance.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tPresent a debate or a demonstration.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tRead or recite from your book\u2014but only if you can pull it off perfectly. Few people can read so that it is entertaining. If you cannot, hire an actress or actor or radio announcer to read from your book while you narrate.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tDon\u2019t try to give away too much\u2014choose one aspect of one topic or make three points\u2014no more than that.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tInvolve the audience!<\/p>\n
\u2022\tAttend numerous presentations. Adopt those elements that work and stay far away from those that don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
There are numerous ways to promote your book through presentations\u2014you can teach, inform, educate, dazzle, entertain or all of the above. Your primary goal should be to give your audience something of value\u2014to leave them with something that makes their life better or, perhaps, that simply makes them smile.<\/p>\n
Visit me at my websites: Yesterday, I asked for volunteers. But no one came forward to have me help them create interesting presentations from their book topics. This is not surprising. We just stay too busy to pay attention and we miss out on all sorts of book promotion opportunities. As another example of that, I think I told you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,11],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a>
\n http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"