Because you’re worth it

Last night I went to an excellent talk by Roger Kondrat about social media and blogging at Creative Herts, a network for creative professionals in Hertfordshire. Roger’s main prediction, and I agree with him, is that blogging is here to stay, and will evolve as the technology evolves.

Many members of Creative Herts group are professional artists, and these creative professionals share many similar challenges when it comes to marketing their work as authors. One visual artist explained to me that he was only able to work mornings because of his RSI and therefore as his output was necessarily limited, he was unsure how to grow his business. We talked about the prices he was setting for his work and I think by the end we both agreed that the obvious way forward was to test some price increases for his work and see if the market would bear it. He said he felt what was holding him back was the idea that his work wasn’t worth it.

In a way, we are lucky as authors that our work can be reproduced for mass distribution and we can leave many of the commercial decisions to our publishers. However, we still have all the challenges of a crowded, busy marketplace in which it can be very difficult to get our work noticed and we too only have so many hours in the day or other constraints on our time and resources.

It can be hard, but if you undersell yourself, the primary person who will lose out is you. You are worth it. So when you are considering what fee to charge for your next public appearance, or for that article you’ve got to write, ask for what the market will bear, rather than relying on your own self-perceptions.

Public speaking nerves

Many authors are nervous about public speaking, not least because they may have never done it before. I was quite lucky as I went through the pain of learning how to speak in public when I was at school. I attended a girl’s school up to the age of 16, but the debating society was run in conjunction with several other schools, meaning we could meet and mingle with the opposite sex. It was therefore a popular extra-curricular activity. The first time I rose to make a comment from the floor, the butterflies seemed to be eating my stomach, the whole room had become hot and clammy, and my voice seemed to come out as if it was coming from somewhere else. I felt faint as I sat down.

Nowadays, nerves are usually just a slightly fluttery, light-headed feeling about 5 minutes before I’m due to start. I deal with this before giving work presentations by nipping to the Ladies and having a quiet couple of minutes gathering my presense of mind before venturing forth. Conferences can be difficult, especially when they want to wire you up while the previous speaker is on and there is still some time to go. I prefer it when the PA is fixed, or with no PA at all. I had to address very large halls as a debater without a PA and therefore worked my voice projection up to a good standard.

If public speaking nerves are getting to you I recommend you try a number of things, and see what works for you:

1. Make sure you’re prepared, practiced and use pauses. I used to write it all down on note cards, annotating with pauses. I would then practice several times. Pauses force you to slow down, give your brain a chance to think, and make your words more impactful.

2. Even for off the cuff, have some notes. I now tend to speak mostly off the cuff, but I always, always have notes with me. There are there as a back-up, just in case the worst happens and my mind goes blank. Having a crutch you can switch to, if the nerves are winning, will help and will make you feel better and in control.

3. Slow down and breathe deeply. Nerves can make you feel light-headed and your breathing come in short. Make sure you keep speaking slowly and breathing properly.

4. Before you start, try a mantra. I have a little mantra in French I say before speaking and before walking into rooms with strangers. At the same time I imagine the Three Musketeers when they say their motto of “one for all and all for one” and raise their swords. If they can do it, so I can I.

5. Before you start, distract yourself. Having a quick chat with someone before I start helps me forget I’m about to speak, and therefore seems to help keep nerves at bay. If you don’t feel like waiting in the room while everyone comes in, no one is forcing you to be there – go elsewhere.

6. Check out the room first. And decide where you’ll stand/sit (if you have a choice). If you’re the only speaker, and you want the furniture rearranged – do it! For imformal talks I like sitting on tables combined with a bit of walking around. I don’t like being stuck sat down behind a desk. But if being behind the desk/lecturn makes you feel better, do it.

7. Dress cleverly and comfortably. Authors are supposed to be creative individuals and therefore, you can wear what you want, but I’d suggest wearing something with a bit of flair and colour because being all in dark, drab colours is draining on most people and will mean that your audience looks only at your face. Distracting them with a wonderful jacket, piece of jewellery or high-heels, will take the pressure off a bit.

8. Work towards being warm, inclusive and use open body language. All my nerves go once I know I’ve bonded with my audience. This is because I know they’ll forgive me if I do say something stupid or mediocre after that.

9. Decide whether you want to be interupted with questions or have them at the end. I like being interupted with questions, as this helps me with point 8, but if I have a short slot and a lot to cover, I’d leave questions to the end as that is better than being distracted into losing too much time and then having to rush and/or cut valuable material. I would recommend, until you are used to dealing with questions so that they can no longer throw you, having them at the end.

Tuesday tips 14

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Planning. Don’t plan one author gig (today: workshop to creative writing students) after another (tomorrow: talk to writers’ circle about romantic fiction), both of which need preparation time, with a full day of work sandwiched in between, and combine with the delusion that you’ll have time to write up some Tuesday tips for your book marketing blog.

Author gigs are an investment

Last night at a local business ladies evening, which I was attending as Kate Allan, director of Red Wave Communications, I met a lady who said to me straight off, “Oh, I know you! You write books! Yes, you gave that talk at the Town Hall.” I did, and it was about a year ago, and I had to confess that I was also, Kate Allan, author, and I told the group a little about my novels.

Also yesterday I was speaking to a director of a literature festival. “The problem authors don’t realise is,” he said, “that unless you’re a brand name author, you’re not going to pack a theatre out. But then, when we put them in the library and 20 people turn up – the authors complain, saying, you put me in the library and therefore only 20 people came along. But had we scheduled them in the theatre, they’d still have only got an audience of 20.”

My point is: yes, you’ve devoted a day of your life (with travel) to that event where *only* 20 people showed up, sure, but in the music industry, small-venue gigs are a recognised route which work successfully for many bands to garner a fan base. The fact is that many readers enjoy meeting authors, and having an audience of 20 allows that event to be intimate.

You should be thinking of events as investments, investments which can pay dividends.

Dividend 1 – there is an opportunity to earn money from appearances

Dividend 2 – you’ll sell some books there and then

Dividend 3 – some from the audience will see your book later or look it up later and buy it

Dividend 4 – some will actually read your book, like it and perhaps tell friends

Dividend 5 – years later some will still remember the event

Dividend 6 – years later some will be looking out for your next book, and will buy it

Dividend 7 – some may recommend you to another speaking opportunity

Part of getting your book out there, is you, the author, getting out and talking to people face to face about it. Formally and informally. Nearly all authors I work with tell me that they feel shy/ nervous/ uncomfortable/ scared of giving talks and readings. This is normal. I’ll post some tips on overcoming nervousness, and also on public speaking and how to get your author gigs in the first place.