How to Make Book Events FUN
What a joy returning to Honolulu to speak at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival. To make my keynote fun for everyone, we played BOOK ROULETTE. Audience members could call out the name of any of my books (or a chapter number of my new book) and I’d share a story from it.
We also filled out the Happiness Box from SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week and discussed why it's not selfish to act on one thing that will put the light on in our eyes (even when we're busy) ... it's smart.
As Esther Hicks said, "My happiness is on me, so you're off the hook."
A woman approached me afterwards to gift me with a hand-made lei and to say she heard me speak on TongueFu! 25 years ago on Library Institute Day in Molokai.
I told her that since then, Tongue Fu! has been published in 17 languages and I’ve had the opportunity to speak on it to audiences throughout the U.S., in China, Japan, Germany, Geneva, on a world cruise, at the U.S. Embassy in London, and in South Korea at the Asian Leadership Conference with Jack Ma of Alibaba.
Katherine Graham said, “To do what you love and feel that it matters, how could anything be more fun?”
Well, the only thing that could be more fun is to do what we love, feel it matters, do it with people we enjoy and respect, and get paid for it. That’s what I've had the privilege to do for 25 years and I’m deeply grateful for it.
An author came up to me at the book-signing and said, "How do you make a book talk so much fun?"
I promised him I'd share some of the tips I've used over the years to make book events a value-added "rising tide" experience for all involved.
Hope you find them interesting and useful.
- Never, ever just read from your book. People come to see you and get to know your story - not just to hear you read words they can read themselves. Take them behind the scenes and share the delightful, messy details they'd never know otherwise. How did you get your deal for your book? Did you have a dark night of the soul writing it? What's been the most satisfying aspect of this book being out in the world? What's something surprising you learned along the way of publishing this book? What has NO ONE asked that you want them to know about what it's really like to be an author?
- Make your event interactive. This doesn't mean the standard Q & A which can be ho-hum. If you play BOOK ROULETTE, people can call out a page number or chapter number and you share a line from that page or a story from that chapter. Reveal how you came up with that line - or relive that story and make it come alive right on the stage. This turns a passive "reading" into live TV. Instead of reciting a prepared script (boring!) this keeps everyone on their mental toes and gives the event a "never know what's coming next" spontaneity. This is particularly valuable if you're on a long book tour when it's easy to fall into a trap of telling the SAME stories week after week. This fresh format keeps everyone engaged - including YOU.
- Keep it brief so they don't give you grief. You've probably heard the statistics by now. GOLDFISH have longer attention spans than we do. I'm not making that up. That's from research done by Harvard's Nancy F. Kohen. What's that mean for us? No more SAGE ON THE STAGE and one-way "speeches." If you're scheduled for an hour, please don't speak for an hour. Divide up your time so it's 10 minutes you, 10 minutes audience. 10 minutes you, 10 minutes audience. If you're on a panel, you might want to follow the lead of ESPN's most popular sports show Pardon the Interruption. They discipline themselves to speak for 2 minutes at a time. This forces them to be succinct and to deliver a lot of value in a little amount of time. If you're speaking to a large audience, make them a deal they can't refuse. (Yes, this is the Godfather approach to book events). Pronise, "If you keep your questions to 1 minute, I'll keep my answers to 2 minutes." This gives MORE people MORE opportunities to ask MORE questions - and produces a variety and momentum that keeps everyone on the edge of their seats.
- Turn strangers into friends. When people see a long autograph line, they often bail. They think "I'll get the book later" (or not at all) and you've missed an opportunity to connect. If they see NO line, they may feel shy or intimidated and not approach. That's why it's important to "gather people around." Motion people to come closer. Ask the person in front of you their name and if they have a specific question or idea/story from the book that resonated with them. Then, toss that out to the group while you're signing books. "Anyone else like the same story Denise likes? What would YOU do in Tom's situation? How do you think I came up with that character?" Instead of people waiting around and not talking to each other, you can create a mini-community and a meaningful, inclusive conversation that makes everyone glad they came to your table or booth.
These are just a few of the ways you can make book events a win for all involved. And it matters. If you care enough to create a community and add fresh value every single time you speak, you too will have people coming up YEARS later to share how your event is still impacting them today.
And isn't that what we want?
Isn't that why we speak and write - to make an enduring difference?
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Sam Horn, CEO of the INTRIGUE Agency, is on a mission to help people create quality communications that add value for all involved. Her TEDx talks and books have been featured in NY Times, on NPR and presented to NASA, Nationwide, Intel, Cisco, Capital One, INC 500, Accenture, YPO.