I was 36 when I discovered that people fear public speaking more than death. Let that sink in for a minute. People would rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy.
This revelation came during my stint as a sales rep for MacDermid, a chemical manufacturing company that had the good sense to enroll all their salespeople in a Dale Carnegie course on public speaking. The logic was simple: if we could communicate effectively, particularly off script, we’d impress customers and project confidence while discussing acid copper plating solutions and other sexy chemical products.
I was not in any way, shape, or form a natural speaker. Unlike my husband, Walt, who began life as a trial attorney and can be wound up to talk about anything for any length of time, driving key points home with the precision of a surgeon. That man was born for the spotlight, while I spent my early career desperately hoping nobody would call on me during meetings.
After I walked away from chemical sales and started my own business, I had to learn to speak. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to. Speaking puts you in front of audiences. If you want to sell your books and/or your services, there’s no better way to do that than by standing in front of large groups of your target reader, looking them in the eye, and making a genuine connection. (Horrifying, right?!)
Here’s what I’ve learned: you can start out wanting to speak like my husband, who then figured out that having a book makes you far more marketable on the speaking circuit. Or you can start out wanting to write a book, then figure out that you can sell your book a whole lot better (and the associated services you mention in your book) if you give talks on stage.
It’s a chicken or egg situation. Which came first doesn’t actually matter.
What matters is recognizing that these two skills—writing and speaking—amplify each other in ways that can transform your business and your impact.
I’ve worked with countless authors who spent years pouring their heart and soul into a manuscript, only to have their book launch with a sad little whimper instead of the bang they’d imagined. They did everything right—hired a good content developer (waves hand), invested in publishing (points at herself yet again), even worked with a publicist. But they hadn’t prepared themselves to be the face and voice of their work.
The truth is, in today’s market, writing a great book is only half the battle. Being able to talk about it compellingly is the other half.
And not just any talk will do. I’ve sat through plenty of author presentations that consisted of them essentially reading their book jacket copy, then awkwardly asking if there are any questions. The audience response is usually polite at best, comatose at worst. (No wonder public speaking tops the fear list!)
Learning to speak makes success much easier to attain. It helps you sell books, sell your ideas and services, and inspire massive change. It allows for true impact. But that requires that you have a speech that’s related to your book if you want true cohesion.
And that takes some skill.
Hard as this is to believe, standing in front of a crowd and telling them they’re awesome doesn’t move them to change or inspire action. (Even if you’re wearing an amazing pantsuit.) Neither does droning on about your research methodology or the 27 steps in your proprietary process. Knowing how to construct a speech isn’t intuitive. It’s an entirely different beast from writing a book.
In a book, you can take detours. You can elaborate. You can trust that if a reader gets bored in chapter three, they might skip ahead to chapter four and still get value from your work.
On stage, you don’t have that luxury. You have a finite amount of time to capture attention, build connection, deliver value, and inspire action. Every minute counts. Every word matters.
I remember my first major speaking engagement after publishing my book. I thought I could simply distill my 250 pages into a 45-minute talk. I created 72 PowerPoint slides (yes, really) and rehearsed a presentation that covered every major point in my book.
It was a disaster.
Since then, I’ve learned that the most effective author-speakers don’t try to cram their entire book into a presentation. Instead, they identify the most compelling elements—the stories that made readers gasp, the insights that generated the most highlights and margin notes, the frameworks that clients have actually implemented with success—and build a focused, engaging talk around those elements.
The result is an experience that gives the audience a taste of your best ideas while leaving them hungry for more—the perfect setup for them to buy your book or explore your services.
Because in the end, that’s what effective speaking does for authors. It transforms your ideas from words on a page to a living, breathing experience that people want to be part of.
It’s a skill that will allow you to step out into the spotlight and create interest in you, your ideas, and your business—often faster and more effectively than your book can do on its own.
