How to Best Use Speaking to Expand Your Reach and Impact - BM363

If you're an author or plan to be one, get excited, because this podcast is for you. Book Marketing Mentors is the only podcast dedicated to helping you successfully market and sell your book. If you're ready for empowering conversations with successful marketing mavens, then grab a coffee or tea and listen in to your host, international bestselling author, Susan Friedmann.

Susan Friedmann 00:00:31

Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. Well, today, my special guest is actually myself, Susan Friedmann. I'm here with my dear friend Jane Malucci. I've always been asked, Susan, why don't you do more of these yourself? And I'm like, okay, and I try and do it by myself. And I find that it's so much easier when I have somebody who can ask me questions and we can have that conversation rather than me just talking. That's why I invited my dear friend and colleague Jane Malucci to come and be my interviewer. So, Jane, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Jane Maulucci 00:01:27

Oh, my pleasure. This is so much fun because I love talking to you about just about anything. So this is going to be great.

Susan Friedmann 00:01:33

Well, let's be focused. Okay.

Jane Maulucci 00:01:34

All right. Today, I guess, we're going to talk about authors and speakers. There's a correlation.

Susan Friedmann 00:01:43

There's a correlation between authors and speakers. Absolutely, yes. And if you want to make money with your book, you're going to have to do something more than just sell the book. Yes. Selling it in onesies and twosies is very hard. Selling it in bulk is so much easier. But let's talk about a way in which we can do that, and that is with speaking engagements. I think it's really necessary for authors to also be either speakers, trainers, coaches, consultants, because that's really, Jane, where you're going to make the money with your book.

Jane Maulucci 00:02:25

So what exactly should these authors be speaking about? Where are they going to pull the information from?

Susan Friedmann 00:02:31

Well, the most obvious place is, of course, your book. I mean, you've written the book on a subject, whatever it is, we're talking here primarily nonfiction, as that's our focus on this program. So take my book, my Riches and Niches Book, for example. I've got seven strategies that I go through in that book. Well, that's what I would talk about. Now, I wouldn't want to try and cover all seven strategies in a talk. I might say, hey, I'm going to cover three strategies, the three most important strategies in My Riches and Niches book how to make it big in a small market. And you want to know the other four? That's when you buy the book. And if you're even more savvy, Jane, I would include the book as part of your speaking gig. What you charge for your book? You charge X, and then everybody gets a copy of the book because it's included in your fee.

Jane Maulucci 00:03:38

That's fantastic. I love the idea. Of course, you're already an expert on the content in your book. What you're saying is that what you need to speak about is already pretty much written for you.

Susan Friedmann 00:03:51

It's all there and you know the subject matter, hopefully, because you wrote the book on it. You're the expert in that area. So this is what you're talking about. You're talking about something that's near and dear to your heart, something that you know well, something that you've tried and it's been tested and you've proven, you've gotten results from it. So now you're sharing that with more people in your niche market.

Jane Maulucci 00:04:25

That's got to make the speaker much more confident because I think for many people, the idea of speaking is a scary thing. And so now you've just said that you're already this expert. You've written a book, you're standing on your book. Basically, you've got all that knowledge and wisdom and passion so that when you get up to speak, you can really be that authority. That sounds like such a win for an author.

Susan Friedmann 00:04:54

Very much so. I mean, and as you rightly say, you are the expert in this. You've got the passion. I think that's the big word is the passion. You've got the message, the passion to do this, and it's your passion that's going to sell because I've talked many times on this program with my guests about speakers not wanting to sell and promote. It's sort of like the UCKY environment part of this process. And it shouldn't be because it's your passion that sells what you have. If you love your subject enough, if you're there, if you're present with it and you've got your message and you're sharing that message with people, that's what's going to entice people. That's what's going to say, hey, I want what she's got.

Jane Maulucci 00:05:48

Yeah, that sounds fantastic because that's such a better way to think about it. I think so many authors being one of them. It's really scary when you start thinking about marketing your book, because marketing is such a heavy word and all that. But when you frame it, that you're sharing your message and your passion that makes it so much more relaxing, almost. This is like, oh, I feel joy in doing that, sharing my message and being passionate about this, whatever it is that I'm promoting that I'm talking about. That sounds so much more fun than I'm going to give a speech.

Susan Friedmann 00:06:25

Exactly. It's got to be fun. If you don't enjoy it, you're going to get burnt out. You're not going to enjoy it. Now, obviously, it's not just a matter of getting up there and saying, oh yes, I've got this information, and you get up on stage and you're going to wing this because you've got all of it. No, you've obviously got to practice. You've got to outline what it is that you're going to be saying, you've got your overarching message. And I would recommend, especially in the beginning, you're going to have three points that you're going to make, and each point you're going to have a story, you're going to elaborate, you're going to have some kind of anecdote or a metaphor analogy, something that's going to help people remember what that point is. And obviously that's information that I would think you would potentially have in your book. And if you haven't, well, you can always add it. It doesn't mean you have to go verbatim for what you've got in your book, but hopefully the overarching message is what your book is about. And that's key, especially if you want people to walk away with your book. They're taking you away with them. They love you. They think your message is amazing, they think you're amazing. And they say, I want a piece of her. This is like their souvenir that they walk away with. Yes. I mean, it's so key to everything that you put together in terms of this package, this speaking, that you're going to be doing to gain that authority, that expertise being recognized in your marketplace.

Jane Maulucci 00:08:14

Susan I can feel the excitement of being in front of that audience. And at the same time, there's also that terror because not everyone is comfortable speaking. You're a really good speaker. How did you learn to be a speaker? How did you understand how to put that speech together and then have the confidence to do that delivery in front of a crowd of whether it's 30 or 300 or 3000 or 3 million? How do you do that? How did you get to be a good speaker?

Susan Friedmann 00:08:46

I think with everything, it's called practice, practice and more practice. I mean, I recall even now I have a little bit of stage fright, especially if it's people I don't know and a very large audience. And I think the hardest thing is speaking to your peers. Usually it's people you don't necessarily know, but it's all about practicing. And if you haven't done it before, go speak for free. That was the advice that I got when I first joined the National Speakers Association. It's like, go out and speak for free. Just start feeling comfortable with this and make the mistakes. You're going to make mistakes. It's not a matter of trying to read a script. And that actually is probably one of the worst things that you can do is to try and memorize a script or just to read it verbatim because you're going to put everybody to sleep. Don't try that. And if you try and memorize it and I've seen this done on major stages, where people have memorized their speech and all of a sudden they go, there's silence. They've forgotten what comes next. And so don't do that. Always remember hearing the story about Sir Lawrence Olivier, the great Shakespearean actor, british actor. He always said before he went on stage. He had that stage fright, but he had his own exercises, breathing. Sometimes I just go into the ladies room and I take, like, ten deep breaths just to calm myself down and then go out there. Or you can do jumping jacks. Just something to get rid of the tension and those nerves that get in the way. What's key, Jane, is to have a beginning that you know verbatim so that you don't even have to think. And this is not a joke. You don't go out there and say, well, on the way here, I met some joke that everybody knows. Or you think, that's the way to warm up an audience. No, it isn't. It's something dramatic or the beginning of a story without saying, oh, hi, I'm so pleased to be here. Oh, thank you for inviting me. People don't care. Get into it. People have got the attention span of a flea these days, and it's getting shorter and shorter. You've got to grab them straight away.

Jane Maulucci 00:11:28

I think it's also important when we're speaking is to remember that each person in that audience is listening and they're hearing something different. So it's actually a one on one conversation, no matter how many people are there. And I find that really interesting because you can get to the point where you're comfortable enough speaking, where it is that conversation, where you're really communicating. And that's the goal of every really good speaker, and that's what I've seen you do, Susan.

Susan Friedmann 00:12:03

Thank you. Yes. I mean, it's really talking to one person here as I'm talking into the microphone. I don't know how many people are listening. I mean, I hope there are thousands. I know that we have several thousand people who download this every week, but I'm speaking to one person. I'm speaking to you. I'm speaking to somebody out there. And you're a nonfiction author, and you're looking for help. You're looking for advice. You're looking for guidance that's with every kind of speech that you give, you're conveying that message, and that's what you've been hired to do out there. One of the tricks of the trade is literally finding a smiling face in the audience. And even in the beginning, you can plant people have people in the front row. People hate sitting in the front row, but pay them to sit there so they can smile at you. I remember asking people in the beginning to smile, because that just makes you feel like, oh, my goodness, somebody's out there, and they're smiling at you. And that just sort of brightens it all up. Yes.

Jane Maulucci 00:13:17

Thinking about how our world has changed. You're not always speaking on a stage. What other different types of speaking opportunities are there for office? No.

Susan Friedmann 00:13:27

More and more? Well, obviously, now you've got your live and you've got your online. And most of mine these days is done online. I actually like it. I live in a remote part of the country. Getting to an airport for me is 2 hours just traveling, and then you've got to be there an hour plus before. It's quite an ordeal. So it's half a day just to get to the airport. I find for me, online is a much better option. But you've got speaking, you've got training, which again, you can do online or you can do live, you can do coaching. You can do coaching one on one. You can do coaching in groups, and you've got your consulting as well, and all of which can be both done live or online and obviously, depending on your vicinity and how much you enjoy traveling, traveling isn't quite as fun as it used to be. I mean, I couldn't wait to get on an airplane. We lived in Cincinnati. I was only 40, 45 minutes from the airport, and it was so much easier. But nowadays, yes, it's that much harder and not quite as much fun as it used to be. But then, of course, I'm getting older, so that might have something to do with it as well. But we won't even go there.

Jane Maulucci 00:14:52

It's just a little bit of lost its time. I think more than anything, you're talking about so many different types of audiences, training audiences, speaking audiences. So how would an author find an audience?

Susan Friedmann 00:15:07

Well, and that's a good question because most people think, well, who shall I speak to? Speak to everyone? Well, no, you can't speak to everyone. Just in the same way as your book isn't for everyone. Your book is for a target group, a niche market. My favorite is the smaller that you can make your group, how you can be a big fish in a small pond, the easier it is to find people. You want to look at your niche, you want to look at the industry. So let's say we're talking about professional women, okay? So professional women wear what industry are we looking at? Because there are millions of professional women out there. But if we talk about, let's say, professional women in healthcare, so you would look at, well, where would I find professional women in healthcare? What kind of events would they go to? I like to do when I talk to my clients and we look at that, we look at I go on guess where good old Google and Google up, well, events for professional women in healthcare. And then you find out all the different events that might occur. We've got a healthcare business, women's association events. We've got medical conferences and events. We've got women leaders in healthcare. There are a ton of places, and these are the places you start. I mean, every industry has an association that is a great place to start the industry events and their national events, their international events. And then there may be state events, local events, which you may want to start with. You may want to start with a chapter, if they have chapters in different states to start there. And then you get recommended from one state to another state. And then you start asking, well, who do you know at national? Try and get in the back door because I tell you what, you're not the only one looking to speak at these events. So you want to look at how can you find ways of getting introduced to the right people who organize these events, organize the speakers for these events? Because there are different, especially in associations. I mean, you've got people who are organizing speakers, you've got people who are organizing the workshops, you've got people who are organizing the exhibitors if they've got an exhibit, a trade show element to it. So there are many different components. And finding the right person and being introduced to that person and getting the referrals is always good.

Jane Maulucci 00:17:53

You mentioned about start with your niche so that you're focused on those people and figuring out where they're hanging out and what they're doing and that's how you get in and start speaking to them. Now, you're not talking about being a volunteer speaker, you're looking at this as an income stream, is that correct?

Susan Friedmann 00:18:13

It's much better to get it as an income stream. However, you've got two sides of this. You've got the one where, yes, you're getting paid to do this. You're getting another opportunity potentially. And some of these associations don't necessarily pay. They may pay keynote speakers who are often celebrities. The larger the organization, the larger the event, they're going to have a celebrity speaker. And so you may not be in that category yet, and you have the opportunity, let's say, to do a breakout session. Those breakout sessions don't often get paid. So then I would say is as long as you are speaking to people who can hire you, you may want to consider doing it gratis. Often these events are being booked up many months in advance. So you can go to the meeting planner and you can say, let's say, they say to you, well Jane, we don't have any room anymore, we've got all our speakers. You say, okay, if somebody at the last minute drops out and you need a speaker, I may be available. And if you're at the event in any event, which may not be a bad idea to go and network and find people who could hire you, but you can always say, I'm going to be at the event in any event. So if you need somebody, I'm there. Or let's say the event is being held locally at a drop of a hat, you could be there then that's always a nice thing to say because people are like, oh yeah, there are emergencies, there are accidents that happen that you don't anticipate and so you never know.

Jane Maulucci 00:20:09

Yeah, that's fantastic. Make sure that they know that you're available. And then if you happen to be at the event, just say, hey, here I am, just in case you need me. I'm still here. That's different.

Susan Friedmann 00:20:21

Exactly. It's always a nice thing. Make yourself available.

Jane Maulucci 00:20:27

How did you become a PAGEKEEPER?

Susan Friedmann 00:20:30

I started asking for money.

Jane Maulucci 00:20:35

How novel.

Susan Friedmann 00:20:37

Yes, I started to ask, now I know what goes through many authors mind is, and I've had this question many times, Jane, as you well know, is that speakers said, well, what shall I charge? I say, well, what are you worth? Because I don't know what you can charge. If I could give you a number, I could say you could ask for $5,000, you could ask for $10,000, you could ask for $100. I don't know. You've got to feel comfortable asking for an amount. So if I would say to you, what are you worth? Then people would start thinking, because again, it's your time. Not only the time it's going to take you to prepare for the event. This may be a 20 minutes or 40 minutes an hour long speech, but you've got to prepare. And that preparation could take you several hours, especially if you do slides. If you do any kind of you've got to put together maybe a workbook of some kind. Let's say it's a training program, or even if it's a keynote speech, you want somebody to write something down, take notes. That's always nice. It gets people involved when they have to write something down. All of this takes time, your travel, how long is it going to take you to travel there and back? All of this you want to take into consideration when you're asking for a fee. Then, of course, if you're going to add in your books, even if you give them the books away at cost or sell them at cost rather, then that's got to be included in your fee. All of this is not to say what an amount that I should tell you to charge, because I don't know. Now, could we work that out together? Absolutely. I could help you come up with a fee that sounds like it's something that you could ask for, that you feel comfortable with, even if it's just that little bit more than you feel comfortable. If you can at least let it come out of your mouth with ease and with confidence, because that's half the battle, is being able to say, well, I charge $2,500, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. And the hardest thing, Jane, is the first time I remember even just the first time asking when I raised my price and felt, well, I'd like to raise my price, and just saying it for the first time. And then when I said it once and they said yes, it's like, yay, I can do this, and be careful about negotiating. That sort of implies this element of negotiation as well. People say, well, the last speaker we had only charged eggs. Well, again, are they comparing apples with apples. And a good question to often ask, too, of the meeting planner is, what do you have in your budget? Because, again, you don't want to be selling champagne on a beer budget. That's always a difficult one. And then you don't want to feel, well, they said, oh, well, we've only got $1,000. And you say, Well, I normally charge 1500, but yeah, I could do it for 1000.

Jane Maulucci 00:24:08

Right.

Susan Friedmann 00:24:09

If you do decide to do something like that, I would ask for something else in exchange. Well, if I did it for $1,000 and you have something up your sleeve, maybe they could do some advertising in their magazine for you. They could do a special mailing for you. They could do something else for you that might be equivalent to what you're not getting financially, but you could potentially get in some other service that they could offer.

Jane Maulucci 00:24:44

Susan, you have given us so much information today about becoming a speaker, becoming an author who speaks. I think it's really important that people know how they can reach you so they can have that one on one conversation with you. So what's the best way to get on your calendar?

Susan Friedmann 00:25:01

Well, the best way is with BrainstormWithSusan.com. I will give you a 20 minutes complimentary session where you and I just talk about whatever will help you get to the next stage in your speaking, in any of your marketing that you want to do as an author. So that's always the best way. It's a session. I'm not looking to sell you on anything. Yes. I would be more than happy if you'd like to work with me further. And the 20 minutes session is just focused on you and what you need.

Jane Maulucci 00:25:43

20 minutes of your undivided attention. That's fantastic. BrainstormWithSusan.com. Excellent. Now, Susan, I'm going to follow your formula. You always end with a golden nugget. So what's your golden nugget for authors who want to be speakers?

Susan Friedmann 00:26:01

Go out and just do it. Don't make it hard for yourself. Yes. Is it challenging in the beginning? Is it scary? Yes. And it pays off because that's where you're going to make money with your book. You're not going to make money with your book, selling it in onesies and twosies, posting it on Amazon, hoping and praying that somebody's going to discover you, that's a myth. It's sort of like a nice big fairy tale that goes on out there in the marketplace. So don't fall for that once upon a time, just do it. And I'd love to be of service to you, Brainstorm, with Susan.com. Let me help you do that.

Jane Maulucci 00:26:48

Well, this has been fantastic, Susan. Thank you for inviting me into your studio today to talk with you about this, about authors becoming speakers, because I think this is valuable information that they definitely need to know. I need to know as an author as well. So that getting out there and taking advantage of all the great information and passion that their book contains and turning it into speaking opportunities. What a grand idea. Thank you.

Susan Friedmann 00:27:13

Thank you. Yes. And hey listeners, I really hope that this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books. So until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.

Click here to schedule your 20-minute brainstorming session with Susan

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