How to Present a Successful Book Event
by Marilyn J. Schwader
http://arebooks.com
A book event (a book signing) is a popular way for authors
to create awareness for their work. Most large publishing
houses require authors to participate in a 10-city book
tour, at the minimum. For self-published authors, it's a
good idea to arrange as many events as your time and budget
allows. But, no matter who's making the arrangements, there
are five key ingredients to making the event a success:
1. Plan out your book event. Forget about winging it. Some
authors think that the audience will provide them with
questions. However, leaving the content to the audience is
not a good idea. Know exactly what you will say, and how
you will say it. This is important for your confidence as
well as your purpose. Audiences are usually there to hear
more about the book before they buy it. If you have what
you are going to say prepared, and the audience is
knowledgeable about you or your writing, that's great; you
will have that much more to talk about. Just remember, you
are there to convince people to buy your books. Don't leave
your message to chance!
2. Keep it interesting, build a relationship with the
audience, and leave them wanting more. More, is for them to
purchase a copy of your book. If you've written a book,
then you have a story to tell. Connect with the audience,
take them into the palm of your hand, and make them want to
hear the end of the story.
3. Practice, practice, practice. You will be natural,
consistent with who you are as a person, and much more
confident. The greatest speakers become the greatest
because they practice every speech before delivery. Notice
next time you're watching speakers at a big event, like the
Oscar Awards. Some of the acceptance speeches are
captivating and some make you cringe. What is the
difference between those speeches? The amount of care and
time that the speaker invested in practicing what and how
they would present to the audience.
4. Keep track of the time as you tell your story. Don't
overstay your welcome. When you are practicing your speech,
time it. Then, during your presentation you'll have a sense
of when to go from building the relationship with the
audience and telling your story to the shift into the
business portion of the book event.
5. Allow time to tell people about the book itself, what
it contains, and how it completes the story you just shared
with them. And don't forget to tell people how they can own
a personal copy! After all, that's the reason you are there
in the first place.
Marilyn J. Schwader is creator and publisher of the "A
Guide To Getting It" book series. Her articles on topics
related to books are published in
href="http://arebooks.com">Books News the leading
resource on-line for information about books. Visit the
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