Nailing Your Author Talk: Tips and Best Practices for Effective Presentations
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
As an author, one of the most incredible moments in your writing journey is when you get the opportunity to speak to your readers in person and give an author talk. But presenting and public speaking can also be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if it’s your first time. With the world moving towards virtual events and meetings, author talks have become more prevalent, and learning the art of giving a compelling one has never been more important. Below, I’ve compiled some tips and best practices to help you make the best impression every time you give an author talk, workshop, or presentation.
Know the Audience for Your Author Talk
To give a memorable presentation, you must pay attention to your audience's preferences and interests. Taking the time to research the people or group to whom you're speaking is crucial. Gather as much information as possible to help you tailor your talk to their interests or specific needs. What motivates them? What are they struggling with? What do they want to know? What do they hope to learn from your author talk? The more you know, the better equipped you'll be to add value to your presentation. Your author talk shouldn’t merely be a platform to glorify yourself or a sales pitch for your book. Attendees (and potential readers) always want to benefit somehow from hearing a presentation. You can talk about getting published, the writing craft, or revision, for example. Use your book and experience as examples but make sure attendees walk away with useful and actionable information. Don’t hesitate to ask the event organizer what they think their audience wants to know—they know their demographic best, after all.
Prepare Your Presentation
A well-prepared presentation is key to delivering a successful author talk. Start by creating an outline of what you want to say and use that as your guide for the rest of your preparation. Add supporting points, examples, and anecdotes to your outline, making sure to include visuals or relevant multimedia to complement your presentation. Balance your presentation by mixing text and images; remember, you're trying to engage your audience and give them various ways to interface with the information you have to offer. Any kind of insider information, original cover designs, examples of writing before and after revision, or other fun peeks into the process of writing and publishing are usually welcome. Keep your slides simple to avoid distracting your audience—go for key messages, visuals, and bullet points. You might want to make your slides available after your author talk so attendees aren’t stressed out trying to take notes.
Engage Your Audience
A successful author talk is all about engaging your audience. They’re your listeners, and it’s up to you to keep them interested and attentive. Start your talk by introducing yourself, your book, and the topic you're speaking on, in a compelling and engaging way. Sell your attendees on the benefit of what you’re sharing with them and how they might use your takeaways in their own creative writing or their quest to get published. You’ll also get your audience’s attention by asking questions, sharing anecdotes, or adding humor to your presentation. External factors like your body language and tone of voice also play a significant role in engaging your audience, so make sure you’re using them to your advantage.
Build a Relationship with the Organizer
Your relationship with the organizer of your author talk is important. Take some time to build a robust relationship with them that’s founded on mutual benefits. They’ll help you get the venue and audience, so make sure to communicate often with them. Be punctual and responsive to all their queries. You can also propose to sign some copies of your book to give to the organizer for promotion. A good relationship with the organizers can go a long way to boosting your author career, and they might tell other organizers (who are always looking for dynamic and interesting presenters). This could help you build an author talk network and hit the presentation, writer’s conference, or book promotion circuit.
Writing and publishing a book can be a significant achievement, but it’s only a part of the bigger picture. To truly connect with your readers, you need to engage with them and build a personal relationship. This is where your author talk game comes in, as it’s a powerful way to offer benefits to your readers while also doing book promotion. The tips and best practices I’ve shared above should help you to get the most out of your author talk practice, whether you present in-person or virtually, or both. Above all, remember to be yourself, be authentic, and enjoy the moment—your audience will appreciate you for it.
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