Speaking Tips for Authors & Introverts
Whether you need to publicize your book with a reading, build your platform to get a book deal, or just speak up for yourself, I wanted to share some game-changing takeaways from the recent workshop I did with Carol Cox.
Carol is a speaking coach, TV commentator, and keynote speaker who is a genius at helping thought leaders—particularly women—speak up.
She’s so articulate and confident that I was shocked to find out she too is an introvert! Perhaps that’s why her tips are so helpful.
You get nervous for a reason
It may seem obvious, but I was still surprised and relieved when Carol emphatically said, “You get nervous for a reason.”
There’s nothing wrong with you or weak about you if you get terrified before speaking up, especially to a group. I know I do! Despite my experience teaching and being on TV and radio, my heart often starts pounding before I speak to a group, even when raising my hand to ask a question. 🤪
This is normal. As Carol reminded us, you’re alone up there, and you’re vulnerable. Your body will react the same way it would if you were away from your tribe and susceptible to predators. It will gear up to fight, flee, or freeze.
Below are some tips to overcome those nerves and get comfortable speaking up. Like anything, it gets easier with practice as you train your body to know that you’ve got this.
Before you speak up:
Prepare. This one is obvious. If you’ve practiced and visualized, you will feel much more ready and therefore confident.
Move your body .Instead of letting that energy stay pent up, get it moving through you. You can do this backstage or in the bathroom, wherever you are comfortable.
On stage:
Get the audience involved
This one has been immensely helpful for me. If I do something early on to interact with the audience, it instantly dissipates ¾ of my nervous energy.
Instead of being alone up there facing the wolves, you’ll be having a shared experience, which will put your body at ease. Also, you’re taking some of the attention off of you, just long enough to calm down.
Yeah, sure, but how?
Ask for raised hands to a question
Ask them to do something – stand up, write something down, close their eyes and think of something
Use humor
If you can get even one little joke in there early on, you’ll do two things. You and your audience will feel lighter and happier, and you’ll once again be making this a shared experience. Both of these things will help your body recover.
During a reading:
You’ll be tempted to hide behind your pages, but that can make the time stretch to an eternity. Without an engaged audience, you may start to panic.
Like being on stage, it will go better if you make a connection that feels more like a conversation. This will also help keep the audience interested and alert. We’ve ALL been to readings where the author fell into a monotonous and overly calm poet voice and put us to sleep.
#1 Don’t use Poet Voice!
In a conversation, we vary our tone, pitch, volume, body language, and emotion. So do that while reading too!
Choose a selection that makes all of the above easy by incorporating one or all of the following:
Emotion
Dialogue
Humor
Consider editing your selection—feel free to truncate or add to the piece rather than keeping it exactly the same as it is in the book. For example, you might bring a line of humor into a serious or emotional piece that isn’t needed in the book. Or vice versa. You could also bring in a few lines of dialogue from another part of the book. You might also simplify or omit complicated sentences or descriptions in order to sound like you’re talking naturally.
Get the audience involved, just like you would on the stage.
Talk casually for a moment before you start reading. Maybe ask them a question to get a show of hands or other collaborative action. As just mentioned, try working in a line of humor to an early part of your piece so that you’ll set the tone with some interaction.
Here’s why you need to start speaking, even if you don’t feel ready…
If you’re a writer and think you can get away without speaking up and speaking out, here’s food for thought:
if we hold our voices back in one area, it tends to affect the others. Our fear of using our physical voices —in meetings, on stage, on air—can make it harder for us to say what we need to on the page. We are literally training ourselves to hold back so we don’t face disapproval.
Speak up, write on, and share your story and message with the world!
