Review of Joanna Penn’s Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives, and Other Introverts…
(Joanna Penn, Public Speaking, self-published, 2014)
More focused on helping someone wanting to make a career out of public speaking, Ms. Penn’s book still offers some good tips for introverted types who must do some public speaking and dread it. Of course, you don’t have to be nerdy or introverted to dread public speaking—we’ve all heard the expression “tough audience”! Facing the know-it-alls and hecklers can be daunting…or even just facing a lot of people you don’t know.
She starts by defining some characteristics that make her an introvert. I found this part amusing; I share all those characteristics! In academia and R&D work, I was forced into public speaking, though, so I’ve had some practice. A large lecture class or conference presentation certainly qualifies as a large audience (sometimes with a Nobel Prize winner in it), but I was still nervous during a recent podcast and lecture about reading, writing, and book publishing (here are the links: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/dead-to-writes/id1323768397?mt=2 and https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dLNmI9KdD88 ). Invisible audiences engender trepidation as much as visible ones, it seems—at least for me. I’m much better with discussions in a small group. (Maybe because I’ve run them?)
Other than bloviating politicians who seem to love to go on and on, public speaking is daunting for most people, in fact, but especially introverts, so I’m not exceptional. And authors tend to be reclusive (that’s me!)—how can you seriously write in a crowd?—so even greeting readers can make a writer uncomfortable. I’ve done enough public speaking that I should be comfortable with all its aspects, but I’m not. But I can’t say that this book makes me feel more comfortable.
But back to the book’s emphasis on a career in public speaking: I doubt that the world needs another Joanna Penn. She’s unique in the book world. She makes supplementary income, according to her book, on her speaking tours, but the average author shouldn’t start thinking that s/he can do the same by following the advice in this book. Ms. Penn started in the publishing business after I did and chose some roads I didn’t follow to make a living with her novels, marketing advice, and public speaking. More power to her—she filled an ecological niche that was waiting to be filled. I wouldn’t have made those choices, and I didn’t have to do so.
The author offers up a few words about publishing (self-, small press, or Big Five) and book marketing (finding readers to buy your books). For self-publishing, I agree with her that authors should NEVER be 100% DIY. A few might be good editors, but other pairs of eyes on the MS always help. Most are not graphics artists; they shouldn’t be designing book covers. And why waste time on formatting when other people can do it better? Authors’ time is better spent writing.
I’ve also changed my mind about traditional publishing, so this represents a point of contention with Ms. Penn. After many books, editing, formatting, cover art, and other upfront costs add up to a considerable investment. I’d rather share some royalties with a small press and have them make that investment. That also gives me more time to write the next book. No author should be satisfied with just one. (OK, Harper Lee was for a long time, but she changed her mind—or someone did it for her!)
Too many people write a few books with some modest success and then think they’re experts in these areas, so they write books offering advice—maybe a well intentioned and not just a money-making gambit? I’ll offer my advice for free about most of this advice. People are probably finding me tiresome for repeating the following mantra ad nauseam: all advice about publishing and marketing should be taken with a grain of salt. There are absolutely no guarantees for book success. In fact, nowadays it’s probably less likely to occur than winning the lottery. (One online discussion group kicked me out for harping on this—people don’t like to hear the truth these days!) Ms. Penn and many others can offer up things to try; no one can offer up a silver bullet to achieve book success. There are NO sufficient conditions, only necessary ones. The same goes for any human endeavor, including public speaking.
I feel a wee bit guilty that I downloaded this ebook for the sole reason it was free. I’ve followed Ms. Penn’s career a bit and have read her other free offerings, including blog posts, so at least I’m consistent. The ebook immediately returned to its original price of $4.99, the top of my range for fiction and much too expensive for a book of this type where about half of it is just blathering from (famous?) public speakers who decided to contribute (I ignored all of them, and the book doesn’t need them).
Is the advice about public speaking worthwhile? I’d use Amazon’s “peek inside” feature to see if it might work for you. It’s good advice if you need it and can’t find anything else, free or otherwise, but caveat emptor.
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PDFs free for the asking. I can’t publish everything I write. You will find a lot of good fiction, short stories and novellas especially, in my list of PDFs free for the asking—see the webpage “Free Stuff & Contests” (the bad stuff never sees the light of day, of course). That list includes mystery, thriller, and sci-fi stories. It also includes my little course on writing fiction—possibly a politically incorrect examination of what writers of fiction need to do from start to finish, whether they’re self-published or traditionally published. It attacks a lot of myths and discusses what works in writing, publishing, and marketing. All these PDFs are free—just query me using my contact page.
In libris libertas….
