- Publishing your book
may feel like crossing the finish line,
but when you publish a book to build something bigger
as a business owner or a thought leader,
launch day is actually just the start of the race.
Becoming a speaker can change your career trajectory,
increase your income and make your name known,
and it can all start with your book.
If you're wondering
how to build a speaking career from your book,
then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey, I'm Julie, The Book Broad,
Founder of a fabulous author services company
called Book Launchers.
Speaking engagements are worth the butterflies
and stage fright you might face
at the thought of standing in front of a big audience.
They are effective, an awesome way to make more money,
sell more books and boost both your reach
and your influence as an author and thought leader.
But landing those first speaking gigs
that create a foundation for your future
as a speaker can be tough,
especially, if you're not known well within your industry
or you're just new to speaking on your subject matter.
I said tough, but not impossible.
To help you out,
I asked our wonderful book marketing manager,
Sarah Bean, for her top tips and tricks
for landing opportunities as a new speaker.
So let's get into it,
we have a speaking career to build after all.
Tip one, if you've never spoken before,
you need to first figure out who you are addressing
and how you can help them.
Whether it's business owners
who need to level up their company growth
or parents looking for solutions for problem teens,
know who your audience is
and how listening to you, buying your book or your talk,
will solve their problems.
Be specific and know that there are organizations out there
for pretty much everything.
Two, build your unique topic and brand.
Create one to two topics or abstracts
that directly help the audience
and be able to adapt those on the fly
for different audiences.
You want buyers to know, right from your talk title,
who you're addressing and what they can take away from it.
Practice those topics so you're prepared well in advance
when opportunity comes knocking.
One of my standard talks is
five tips to write a book that sells.
There are fundamental principles
I cover in every talk I give on that subject.
But this week, I gave that talk to a group of entrepreneurs.
So I adapted it to be five tips to write a book
that grows your business.
A lot of the same material goes into it
but I change up the examples and I also drive the points
towards business benefits versus selling books.
Three, have your materials ready.
The most important thing?
A speaker's reel.
Even unpaid engagements will ask for this
if you don't have a reputation as a speaker already.
They wanna put somebody who's going to entertain
and educate their audience in front of their audience,
so they wanna check up on you.
They just wanna see examples
before they invest in you for their event.
So put together a video, a reel,
or a speaker one pager at a minimum that shares your topics.
Your speaker reel is ideally
a combination of different talks that you've given,
showing the audience engaged and clapping and laughing.
But if you've only given one talk,
well, that will have to do.
Maybe you showcase the whole thing
or just take a clip for your reel.
But in the future,
you wanna collect as many videotaped talks as you can
to create a robust speaker's reel.
Then you wanna create a speaker's one sheet
that showcases the topics you can talk on,
create a list of past client engagements
to showcase your expertise,
and I would ideally ask for recommendation letters
from some of the key talks that you've given
so that you can include those
as referrals in your speaker's package.
You also wanna create adaptable abstracts in advance
with three to five audience takeaways.
And remember to make sure
your materials are on brand for you
so you can stand out from the competition.
Four, if you're brand new to presenting to audiences,
start small and local.
That $25,000 keynote opportunity
doesn't usually magically come along
just because you've published a book.
You have to build up to it.
Besides, it's better to gradually move up.
When I started speaking,
I went from my first talk being in front of an audience of,
I think, about 12 people at a local meetup
to an audience of 600 people
on a large stage in Toronto, Canada.
I was so nervous, I don't even remember the talk.
So I suggest you practice your material
like a comedian would.
Go to, you know the equivalent of an open mic
and test your material on small live audiences.
For me, those are usually local meetups
or local association education sessions.
When you do that,
it can organically lead to bigger opportunities anyway
and then you're more comfortable with your material.
And those local events,
they can actually sell a lot of books
and you may find a lot of local support
for you and your book.
Number five, don't say no automatically
just because there's no paycheck.
When we watched the Super Bowl halftime show this year
with all our favorite artists from the '90s,
my husband commented on how much they must have been paid,
and I said, "If I were them, I would do it for free."
Think about how much people pay for a Super Bowl commercial.
And these people are getting massive exposure
in that halftime show.
I think for many of them,
it's the best advertising they could ask for.
Well, I did a little research.
It turns out they do it for free and they do it
because it's huge exposure to a really wide audience.
And in their case, decades old songs get new life,
but for an artist, it's also a feather in your cap
to be invited to do a halftime show.
So as a speaker, don't turn your nose up
just 'cause something's free.
Some free events have enormous value
when they're the right event for you
and for reaching your audience.
So before you say no,
let's look at what factors might make you wanna say yes.
Like, who's in the audience,
or what channels that organization might open up for you.
Or if you could just use that video footage
for a better speaker's reel.
And if you have a chance to sell books
or drive a lot of traffic to your website,
those might be really good reasons to do a free talk.
Sometimes those are even bigger results
than getting a speaker's fee
when you can't promote your stuff or your book at all.
Number six, know that if you bring your best self
and deliver value, whether it's paid or free,
one speaking gig almost always leads to another.
Never discount an audience
as not big enough to be prepared.
In the audience, there may be somebody
who wants you to speak for their company,
or something that you may say
that resonates with somebody who becomes a new client
or refers a whole bunch of new people to you
or wants to buy a copy of your book
for everybody in their organization.
I've been a speaker at events
that have had thousands of people in the audience,
only to have 20 people in my breakout room for a talk.
That can feel really demotivating
if you just look at the empty seats
but I usually encourage, cajole,
pick on people until they move forward
so I feel like they're a good group together.
And then, I deliver massive value
to the folks that are there because my belief is
that every person showed up there for me,
I'm gonna show up for them and give them value.
And who knows?
They might become a client, buy my book,
or tell somebody else about my book or my business.
You can also focus on finding one person
that you can really help that day
and just cultivate those relationships
and take advantage of the opportunity
that you've been given to get in front of that audience.
And if you're allowed,
invite them to download your reader magnet
so that you get their email address,
and you can start building
a long term relationship with them,
or if you're allowed as well,
you could have books to sell
or even give away during the event.
When you're finished speaking,
make sure to network with the organization,
the team that's there and the audience.
And, of course, send thank yous.
You'll never know what connections you could make.
Number seven,
if you're struggling to find a speaking opportunity,
skip the cold call and start with your network.
I started by speaking at the groups
I was already a part of.
Within your industry,
you may have all the warm leads you need.
So start with a list of your own contacts, your network,
your organization's past or current clients,
or just look at the groups that you're active in
and they might be able to introduce you to people
looking for speakers for their audience.
By reaching out to these friendly contacts,
and seeing how you can help them with your content,
you'll probably find yourself on stages pretty quick.
Now, there is no easy or fast button,
but if I were to tell you the three most important things
to building a speaking career from a book,
it would be number one, be prepared,
have a talk ready to go on short notice
and test that material live before you go big.
Two, be okay with free when it's a good fit.
Three, get your speaker's reel and references ready
as quickly as you possibly can.
Without that it's tough to land giant paid speaking gigs.
A book helps you open doors to put you on stage.
It gives you another way to monetize your time on stage
and develop deeper relationships with audiences.
But it won't happen with one talk.
Build on each talk and keep going,
and looking back two years later,
you'll likely find yourself with a paid speaking career.
Looking for more marketing tips
the #noboringbooks way?
Well, then you should watch this video right here
on preparing for a book signing
because many of your speaking gigs
will also be book signing events.
Or you could also watch this one right here,
that YouTube thinks you'll really like.
Either way, I'll be waiting there for you.