Aloha from Karen Whiting. CAN treasurer

I Love speaking to Moms, Women, Writers, and well, anyone who shares similar passions. I also find that there are many ways books get promoted when I speak, beyond the actual time I stand and talk.

It starts the moment I get a speaking engagement with the meeting planner letting people know I’ll be coming and my posting the event to my website upcoming appearances. There are several ways to maximize the promotional possibilities.

Once booked, send a photo, bio, and a description of the talk. This keeps the meeting planner and her team excited. Ask if they have a newsletter where you could send a little information about yourself and maybe some teasers of your upcoming talk.

Prepare to connect with the audience and build relationships. Have tip sheets, bookmarks, or other handouts to give them they will want to keep. This keeps you in their mind after the meeting. Invite listeners to connect on social networking or by ending one talk with a teaser about a possible future talk.

Make the most of your book table when speaking. Give some bargains at your book table, make it attractive, and help the audience understand the books. You can group similar books, use a digital picture frame as a display that showcases the titles and what’s inside each title, and have that be the place for picking up the freebies so people will need to stop by the table.

Each book sold is an opportunity to connect. Add a bookmark, letter, or tip sheet inside the books. These can share the story behind the book, information about you, and ideas on using the book. This helps the individual value you and not just the book and provides a bonus for the buyer. If you can generate interest in your book the reader will chat about you and your books to friends, possibly at the following group meeting. This helps generate a word-of-mouth buzz.

I pass out information to grab names when I speak. I use a participant feedback from and use the form to draw a name for a free book. This helps me collect names to send out notices for future book releases and stay in touch. However, I need to modify the form and grab social network addresses too so I can start following the people to build relationships instead of just trying to send information, tips, and notice of book releases. I’m not good at writing e-news letters and I’m working on building the social network so this would be a better way to go. It’s a reminder that we need to re-evaluate what we’re doing and make changes that fit marketing better.

I also try to connect with media when I will be speaking. If I’ll be in a different area than my home I check out the radio of the area and send a press release announcing where I’ll be speaking and the topic. When the media picks up on it and schedules an interview I let the meeting planner know so her audience can tune in and pass the word along.

Enjpoy letting a speaking engagement be part of building relationships with readers.

Karen’s website   

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