Improve Your Presentations—and Sell More Books!

Many (if not most) authors are introverts: we sit in a room and we write, and we like it that way. That works well for the creative process—but not so much for your marketing efforts, because one important component of selling your books involves going against those introvert instincts and getting out in the world, doing readings and speaking engagements.

Some authors approach these engagements with terror. Others learn by doing and feel reasonably comfortable in front of an audience. Some few lucky souls actually enjoy it.

But everyone can improve. And better presentations will sell more books. Whether you’re in a room with five audience members or on a Zoom event with hundreds of them, there are a few considerations that will help you be more engaging—and encourage listeners to want to go out and buy your books immediately!

Prepare ahead of time

Preparation is most successful when you center it around your audience. You may be speaking to a book club, for a library event, at a café, on a panel; each opportunity will have a different group of listeners. The audience matters; you need to research who will be attending (not in terms of specific individuals but rather in terms of group interests) so you can make your presentation meaningful and enlightening—or even just plain entertaining!—to them.

In other words, don’t pull out the same presentation for everybody, but tailor-make it to the group you’re going to be in front of. This means the audience will be more engaged, will react more positively to your talk—and be more willing to consider adding you to their list of must-read authors.

Be focused—and succinct

If there’s one mistake I see authors make on a regular basis, it’s their tendency to ramble. Remember that people, even literary-minded ones, have short attention spans. Your best results come when your talk is focused and succinct: make a point, give a brief example of the point from your work, and then move on. (It’s this second part that has many authors floundering: they seem to think that the more information they can cram in about their plot or characters, the more enthralled people will be. It doesn’t actually work that way.)

You’ve already done your research on your audience, right? So now put a list together of issues or questions that interest them, and work your presentation around those points of interest rather than around you. For example, unless you’re promoting a memoir based on your childhood, people aren’t in the audience for a talk that begins, “I was born in Illinois…” They’re there to get something out of it, and there’s nothing more annoying than being served up extraneous biographical details.

Craft your reading deliberately

People read aloud at about one hundred words a minute; and you never want your reading to last more than eight to 10 minutes at the outside—you want to tempt your audience, give them just enough to pique interest, and leave them wanting more. So choose a passage to read that is well under 1,000 words.

One thing I learned the hard way is that what works on the page is not necessarily what works when read aloud. Long descriptions, of either places or characters, aren’t going to grab an audience’s attention. Nor is a passage inside the book that requires a lot of set-up to clue listeners in—you’ll have lost them before you even start reading. Try and find something that’s self-contained, that is punchy and memorable, and practice reading it out loud. Several times. You need to practice until your reading becomes easy, familiar, and relaxed, and so that you can look up from it from time to time without worrying about losing your place.

In terms of delivery, always read more slowly and more loudly (unless you have a microphone) than feels natural. We rush, especially if we’re nervous, and you want your words to be heard, understood, and digested.

Change hats from author to performer

You’re already a storyteller: your published work speaks for itself in giving you credentials. You’ve mastered one way of telling stories; now it’s time to learn and perfect a different way of telling them—aloud and to a live audience. This is called performing.

And you owe your audience a great performance. These people have stepped out of their lives to give you the honor of their time and attention: it’s about them, not you. So give them a good show! Make eye contact with audience members as you speak. Establish a connection at the beginning—with humor, if you think you can manage it; starting off with a laugh means a more relaxed and receptive set of listeners. If you lose your train of thought during your presentation, just move on. If you’re reading and stumble over something, don’t apologize: just keep on. Be animated and enthusiastic. Your listeners will reward you with enthusiasm of their own: receptivity to your ideas and a willingness to read your work.

So what?

The most important question you can answer in any kind of marketing, but most especially in giving presentations, is, so what? So you wrote a book—so what? So you won a literary award—so what? What does that mean to me as an audience member? Am I here as a supporter/reader, to find out about your most recent novel? Am I a beginning writer wanting to catch some tricks of the trade? Am I a library professional looking to decide whether or not to recommend your series? Tell me what I am here to learn, and I’ll respond to you.

What’s next?

Most presentations allow for questions at the end, so some of your prep work will be to think about possible answers to potential questions. Make sure you close by telling people what to do next: where they can sign up for your newsletter, how they can purchase a book, why they should visit your website. Think of your presentation as the start of a conversation, not as the conversation itself. Writers and readers depend on each other, and fostering dialogue with your readers is one of your most important goals.

At a time when most authors are expected to do the heavy lifting around marketing their books, the more you can improve the skills that enable that heavy lifting, the more results you will see.

Resources

• TED Masterclass: TED Talks are the gold standard of interesting, engaging talks on a wide range of subjects. Even if you’re not planning to get involved with the organization, this class is well worth the fee (currently under $50).

•   MindTools' career development organization's blog, "Better Public Speaking," offers insights into the importance of presenting and how to become better at it. Its communication skills page offers free information on how to be a better communicator, which ties into presenting and public speaking.

• The University of Washington’s Coursera is not inexpensive ($49/month after a brief free trial), but offers excellent hands-on training for public speaking.