Author Panels and How to be a Good Literary Citizen

I’ve written elsewhere about author readings and presentations in general; but panels are a different animal altogether and require a different approach from solo work. Unfortunately, this is where I’ve seen things go seriously awry.

But they don’t have to.

I’ve been on panels of three people and panels of 10 (pro tip: don’t try the latter); on panels that had a theme and panels that were free-for-alls; on panels with beginning writers and panels with people who have more books under their belts than I’ll ever hope to write. And the odd thing is I see authors in all these and other venues making the same mistakes.

But never fear: you can avoid those mistakes, learn to present well, sell books, and earn the respect of audience and professionals alike. And it’s not that difficult!

The first thing to remember is that you’re on a panel of colleagues, not contestants. You are not in competition with each other. Everyone knows that, in theory, but in practice we’re all so accustomed to the ever-present necessity for self-promotion that we often forget it’s not a zero-sum game up there. I want my fellow authors to sell books at these events as much as I want to sell my own—there’s room on the shelf for everybody.

That doesn’t mean you don’t mention your book; it means you do so briefly and, most importantly, contextually. You should be able to give a basic synopsis of your book in under two minutes; if you can’t, learn how. And then only bring it up when it illustrates a point, rather than making it the point—and remember that illustrations ought to be shorter than the point they’re illustrating.

Panels are assembled for some sort of purpose—there’s a reason this wasn’t billed as a solo author event. So don’t start (and keep) speaking about yourself instead of the things the audience wants to hear: people are there to listen to a discussion of a topic, and the more you stray from that topic, the more you’re disrespecting both your audience and your fellow authors. Make sure your contributions are aligned with what the moderator is requesting, and—my favorite advice—promote a conversational flow with the other panelists.

In an ideal world, all panelists will have read each other’s books. That’s not generally possible, but it is always possible to research your fellow panelists so you know them and their work better ahead of time. What books have they written? How long have they been writing? How does their work fit in with the panel’s theme? What do your books have in common? The best panels I’ve seen have included writers mentioning each other’s books in their own answers and engaging the other panelists in discussion.

If you have a chance to talk with other panelists before the event, it’s a great opportunity to see who is best able to tackle what part of the questioning, and share out those roles sensibly and generously ahead of time.

That doesn’t always work, but it’s the aim. I was on a virtual panel once with two other authors. We met ahead of time on Zoom to discuss how we were going to approach the topic. One author said, “I’ll have to watch myself, sometimes I talk too much. You’ll have to signal me if I’m going on too long.” I don’t think she believed we’d take her up on it, but I answered with alacrity, “Okay, let’s all agree to tug on an earring if someone else is talking too much.” I still have a recording of that panel, and you can clearly see two of us furiously tapping and twisting our earrings, while the other author chats on obliviously about her various novels regardless.

Don’t be that author.