From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker: The Indy Author
By Matty Dalrymple and M.L. Ronn
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About this ebook
Are you ready to elevate your writing career by stepping onto the stage? Establishing yourself as a successful speaker is both an art and a science. Where do you start?
From Page to Platform is your essential blueprint to making that leap. This comprehensive guide will help you land your first speaking engagements, deliver captivating presentations, and build a respected brand as a speaker. You'll learn how to ...
- Define your speaking goals and craft your unique message.
- Connect deeply with your audience, in-person or virtually.
- Land your first paid speaking engagement.
- Discover the secrets to creating impactful slides.
- Impress organizers and ensure you're always in demand.
Learn from Matty Dalrymple and M.L. Ronn (Michael La Ronn), two acclaimed speakers who have successfully transformed their words into income on the speaking circuit.
Whether you're an experienced author or just starting out, From Page to Platform offers insightful strategies, practical steps, and the inspiration you need to share your voice with the world from the stage.
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From Page to Platform - Matty Dalrymple
FROM PAGE TO PLATFORM
HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN AUTHOR SPEAKER
MATTY DALRYMPLE
M.L. RONN
WILLIAM KINGSFIELD PUBLISHERS
Matty dedicates this book to all the event organizers who have given her a platform, to all the audiences who have welcomed her there, and to her virtual author neighbors—Greta Boris, Megan Haskell, Jennifer Hilt, and Jessie Kwak—who have generously shared their knowledge and support on her author and speaker journey.
Michael dedicates this book to Becky Sieve for fostering the spark of public speaking, to his wife Diana and daughter Isabella for supporting him during those times when events take him far from home, and to the event organizers and audience members who have welcomed him around the world, both in-person and virtual.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Your Speaking Career
Defining Your Goals as a Speaker
Creating Your Speaker Strategy
What is your speaker mission statement?
Establishing Yourself as a True Professional
Speaker’s Notes
The Goals of Your Talk
What do you want your audience to learn?
What do you want your audience to experience?
What actions do you want your audience to take?
Speaker’s Notes
Types of Talks ... Not Just the Usual Suspects
Interviews / Podcasts
Panels
Workshops
Author Readings
Keynotes
Speaker’s Notes
Formats: In-Person and Virtual
In-person Events
Virtual Events
Speaker’s Notes
Finding the Opportunities
Your Author and Speaker Communities
Conferences
Placement Services
Speaker’s Notes
Assessing the Opportunities
Consider the Organizer’s Goals
Consider the Organizer’s and Event’s Professionalism
Consider the Venue
Make Your Provisional Decision
Speaker’s Notes
Setting Your Fee and Negotiating the Offer
What to Charge
If the Offer Doesn’t Include Payment
If the Offer Does Include Payment
Consider Copyright
Negotiation Basics
Speaker’s Notes
Preparing Your Talk
Slides
Notes
Handouts
Practice, Practice, Practice
Speaker’s Notes
Selling Your Books
In-person Events
Virtual Events
Speaker’s Notes
The Speaker on the Road
Travel Costs
Travel Tips
Speaker’s Notes
Dressing for Success
Match the Level of Formality to the Event and Venue
Be Comfortable
How about Branded Clothing?
Consider a Uniform
Best (Dressed) Practices
Speaker’s Notes
Before the Event
Block Your Calendar
Heed Communications from Organizers
Manage Your Materials
Research Your Fellow Presenters and Event Attendees
Promote the Event as well as the Talk
Triple Check Your Website
Use the Event App
If You Have to Cancel
For In-person Events
For Virtual Events
Speaker’s Notes
Attending the Event
You’re Always on Stage
Scope Out the Venue
Audiovisual Setup
Be an Active Participant
Use Social Media
Manage Your Energy
Speaker’s Notes
The Day of the Presentation
Calm Your Nerves
Arrive Early
Confirm the Logistics
Mingle with the Participants
Capture the Moment
Speaker’s Notes
Giving the Best Talk of Your Life
The Main Event
Q&A
Dealing with Hecklers
Be the Last to the Leave the Room
Speaker’s Notes
After Your Talk (It’s Not Over when You Step off the Podium)
Recharge and Celebrate!
Tick off the Tasks
Follow up with the Organizers
Capitalize on Your Connections
Share the Experience
Update Your Website
Speaker’s Notes
Your Speaker Toolkit
Media Kit
Speaker Bios
General Topic Information
Upcoming and Past Events
Event-specific Web Page
Headshot
Business Cards
Demo Reel
Speaker’s Notes
Staying At the Cutting Edge of Your Niche
Speaker’s Notes
Afterword
About the Authors
Also by Matty Dalrymple
FOREWORD
Books have the undeniable power to change lives. The right words at the right time within the hands of the right reader can move hearts, shape minds, and alter the world. I’m sure that as an author you’re not only already aware of this special magic, but that you’ve worked at mastering the art of storytelling when it comes to placing words upon the page.
But what about the ability to transform that same dynamic dance with words to captivate an audience from a speaker’s platform?
That’s where From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker by Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn (M.L. Ronn) comes in.
The first several times I stood on a stage in front of an audience I was a complete mess. I wasn’t only nervously shaking, sweating, and convinced that my legs were going to give out from beneath me at any second, but I also found it necessary to run to the restroom. Butterflies in my stomach
is too subtle a term. It felt more like a flock of angry Canadian geese flailing around inside. I couldn’t effectively speak until I’d emptied my stomach just prior to climbing on to the stage to deal with the overwhelming nervousness.
Over the years, though, as I spoke to more and more audiences, the nervousness eventually faded, but the thrill and the rush of storytelling from the stage took as firm a hold of my heart as the idea of public speaking used to take hold of my stomach. There is nothing like the feeling of speaking to a group—whether it’s reading a piece of fiction, offering a well-rehearsed keynote, or just speaking openly and from the heart. The magnificence of connecting with and moving an audience is one of the finest majestical moments I’ve ever experienced.
The book you are about to read captures that journey and more, providing you with all the tips, strategies, and encouragement you need to become a great speaker. I know I wish I’d been able to get my hands on a book like this all those years ago—Matty and Michael would not only have saved me a lot of angst and pain, but they would have reminded me that I wasn’t alone.
Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn are the perfect co-authors to guide you on your own writer-to-speaker journey. Matty’s transition from corporate seminars to author readings, and her deep dive into podcasting, interviewing, and crafting non-fiction, gives you a clear path to follow. And Michael, with his impressive 100+ books, popular YouTube channel, and commanding and powerful on-stage presence, shows you a way to balance writing, speaking, and an exceptionally busy life.
But From Page to Platform is more than just a how-to book. It’s like having two experienced and compassionate friends by your side. I’ve known them both for years and hold a tremendous amount of respect for them as people, as writers, and as advocates for helping other authors with their own success. Matty and Michael not only understand the challenges you’ll face—whether it’s negotiating with event organizers, creating impactful visuals to go along with your talks, or staying professional in a variety of settings—but they’ll do it in a way that eases you through the process. Their advice, sprinkled with personal anecdotes and tales, will resonate whether you’re just starting out or already have some experience and are seeking to improve your speaking game.
A key takeaway from this book is the importance of being authentic. In the same way that you likely worked to find your unique author voice, you can find a parallel voice for use on the stage. Matty and Michael will help you with drafting a stage persona that can connect deeply with your audience all while ensuring that you stay true to yourself.
This book covers everything from setting your goals as a speaker to mastering different types of talks. Whether you want to establish your expertise in a particular area, make some extra money, build a community, or simply share your passion, From Page to Platform helps you craft a strategy that will fit your personal and professional goals.
If you’re new to public speaking, the idea of facing an audience can be scary. After all, it’s a far cry from the way most of us writers take comfort in the solitude of stringing words together from behind the safety of a keyboard. But don’t worry—this book and these two authors have got you covered. They’ll share tips to help you not only prepare and plan, but also offer advice on enhancing your speaker toolkit and continuing to improve. Each section of the book ends with practical exercises to work through as part of helping you set the stage for your own goals and your own success.
As you either start or enhance your path from page to platform, remember that every great speaker had to begin somewhere. Your unique experiences and perspectives are your greatest strengths, and you have two of the most genuine and magnificent instructors to guide you along, helping you craft a unique voice to take your passion for storytelling to an entirely new level.
And so, as you turn the page and prepare for Matty and Michael to take you to that next phase on your own journey, I wish you success as an author speaker. May this next chapter in your author life be as rewarding and transformative as the words, stories, and books you’ve already written.
Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Author of Wide for the Win and A Book in Hand
INTRODUCTION
Speaking is an art, science, and experiment. The art of speaking involves knowing how to work a room and how to make your points as effectively as possible. The science of speaking involves managing the details of a speaking engagement, such as working with organizers, creating presentations, and knowing the ins and outs of webinar platforms like Zoom. The experiment of speaking is understanding that your field, the strategies that resonate with audience members, and the needs of organizers are always evolving, and you have to evolve along with them.
As an author, you have an advantage over other speakers because you’ve already mastered two of the most important parts of successful speaking: organizing the story you want to tell your audience and finding the right words to tell it. To excel as a speaker, you’ll want to refine other skills, such as negotiation (for when you establish the terms of your engagements with organizers), design (for developing the visuals you use to supplement your words), and professionalism (to ensure that each engagement satisfies organizers and audiences and leads to more opportunities).
From Page to Platform will help you do all that and more. Whether you are a beginning speaker looking to break into your first engagement or an experienced speaker seeking to improve your craft, you’ve come to the right place.
How This Book Was Born
We—Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn—are both successful authors and in-demand public speakers. We met at the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City and discovered we share a passion for speaking.
One evening, at a New York restaurant and after a day of each presenting several seminars, we got to talking about how we had landed our engagements, the strategies we had each used, and pitfalls we had avoided based on missteps earlier in our speaker careers. At one point, one of us said, We have enough information here for a book!
The other said, We do!
And so From Page to Platform: How to Succeed as an Author Speaker was born.
Who We Are
Matty began her experience as a speaker in her corporate life, when she facilitated two-day seminars for new employees about tools and techniques they could use to operate more productively within the company’s values. She honed her perspective about what it takes to be an excellent speaker when she coached executives on the stories they would tell at these seminars about how these practices had contributed to their professional and personal successes.
When she began her writing and publishing career, many of her early speaking engagements were part of author readings—an often-overlooked outlet for using a place on the podium to spread the word about your work. Once she launched The Indy Author Podcast and began publishing non-fiction books, she gained the opportunity to share her expertise in the writing craft and the publishing voyage in venues like in-person writers’ conferences and virtual webinars.
Her books and the podcast provided evidence of her professional commitment to her topics, helping her secure engagements; each engagement led her audience to her books and podcast; and all the parts of her author business benefited from this virtuous cycle. The speaker’s fees she earns provide a valuable addition to her multiple streams of author income.
Michael is the author of over 100 science fiction, fantasy, and self-help books for writers and an internationally acclaimed public speaker. He also runs a popular YouTube channel called Author Level Up,
where he provides advice for writers.
He built his writing and speaking career while raising a family, working full-time as an executive in the insurance industry, and even attending law school classes in the evenings. He perfected his speaking skills alongside many other responsibilities, and he exercises those skills in all areas of his life.
About the Book
As we worked on collecting material for the book between these other commitments, we didn’t rely only on our own experiences but tapped into professional colleagues for additional perspectives. Mark Leslie Lefebvre shared his experience with speaker’s bureaus. Matty’s husband, Wade Walton, shared his expertise as a video producer to inform our best practices for headshots and video presentation.
We’ve assembled all that information into what we believe to be the most definitive guide available for authors interested in moving from page to platform.
In this book, we offer guidance on:
Your Speaking Career
The Goals of Your Talk
Types of Talks ... Not Just the Usual Suspects
Formats: In-Person and Virtual
Finding the Opportunities
Assessing the Opportunities
Setting Your Fee and Negotiating the Offer
Preparing your Talk
Selling Your Books
The Speaker on the Road
Dressing for Success
Before the Event
Attending the Event
The Day of the Presentation
Giving the Best Talk of Your Life
After Your Talk (It’s Not Over when You Step off the Podium)
Your Speaker Toolkit
Staying at the Cutting Edge of Your Niche
Glossary of Terms
One of the trickiest parts about writing From Page to Platform was deciding on the terminology to use.
Common usage suggested that speaker was the right word for someone who shares knowledge verbally with a group of people. But what term does one use to describe that experience? Presentation not only introduces confusion between the experience and a slide deck, but also paints the role of those people as a passive one. Speech is similarly problematic because, although it semantically matches speaker, this isn’t a book about oratory.
And what is the best term to use to refer to the people with whom you’re sharing your knowledge? Audience, like presentation, paints those people as having a passive role in the exchange, but participant isn’t quite right either; there are times when the people with whom you are engaging really are just taking in the information you share with them.
Here are the terms we settled on:
Speaker — someone who shares knowledge verbally with a group of people
Audience — the group of people with whom the speaker shares their knowledge
Talk — the specific forum where a speaker shares their knowledge with an audience
Presentation — visual supporting material for a talk (e.g., a slide deck)
So …
Michael introduced himself to the audience, then began his talk by bringing up the first slide of his presentation.
Other terms we use in the book:
Event — the gathering of which the talk is a part
Organizer — the person or group organizing an event
Venue — the physical location where an event is held
Engagement — the formal agreement a speaker has with an event organizer to give a talk
So …
Matty accepted an engagement for a talk about podcasting for authors at the New England Crime Bake event, which was hosted by Sisters in Crime New England and whose venue was the Dedham Hilton.
Finally, we distinguish between podium and lectern—a podium is the raised stage from which speakers deliver their talks, while a lectern is the stand, usually with a slanted top, on which speakers might rest their notes.
Speaker’s Notes
At the end of each section, we include questions for you to answer. How does the information we’ve shared resonate with you as you consider your transition from page to platform? What actions will you commit to take based on what you’ve learned?
You can capture your responses in the downloadable document available at https://www.theindyauthor.com/from-page-to-platform.html. These Speaker’s Notes will serve as a map for your transition from page to platform, enabling you to track your progress and adjust course as needed.
YOUR SPEAKING CAREER
The first step in paving the way to your transition from page to platform is to be clear about what your goals are. Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can define criteria against which to assess opportunities and craft a speaker mission statement to achieve it.
Defining Your Goals as a Speaker
As with any journey, you