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Publishing and Public Speaking Go Hand-In-Hand

Writing and publishing a top-quality book brings many benefits to today's professional speaker.

by David Dunn

You've just spoken before a large audience, and hundreds of interested listeners are clapping their approval and looking up at you with admiration. You look your best, you're at the top of your game, and your speech was a hit. As the applause dies down, you know you've got to keep that excitement going when you leave the podium, and for that you need a book to sell -- a really great book - with your name on the cover, your message inside.

Many successful public speakers have learned how much writing and publishing can add to their careers, according to Nancy Vogl, president of Universal Speakers Bureau, one of the country's top booking agencies. "Publishing your own book is about more than having something to sell. It's about adding credibility to you as an expert speaker, and that leads to higher speaking fees."

"A speaker's book is their calling card. It's what the audience remembers you by. Your book has to be of the highest quality, and its creation and production needs to be managed by professionals. Investing in a book is an investment in your speaking career. "

Just such an expert is Tom White of the Jenkins Group, who has managed the publishing of numerous speakers' books. He says it's all part of the branding process. "We do more than produce a book. First we look at each speaker's career, and make sure the book becomes a tool that will elevate the speaker's identity."

The Jenkins Group staff recently attended the National Speakers Association's annual convention in Dallas, where we demonstrated how the energy of our design and management team matches the excitement speakers bring to their presentations. "We know your business," says White. "Just as a speaker has to perform at their very best to stand out, we bring that same attitude to designing and producing a book that will set it apart from the rest."

"We're trying to create our own style of publishing; there's print-on-demand, there's trade quality, and then there's the custom, one-of-a-kind custom job that we do -- and we think we do it best. For example, we did a split print run for (past NSA president) Tom Winninger's book Selling Easy: What To Do & Say To Get More "Yes". He wanted both hard and soft cover books, and we coordinated the design and printing accordingly. Tom was able to use the hardcover book as a showpiece for corporate executives, and the softcover was used for workshops and back-of-the-room sales."

Judy Hoffman, a recent Jenkins Group client agrees. "I just launched my book in April, and I already see evidence that it is sparking my speaking and consulting career." Her book, Keeping Cool On The Hot Seat, is about preparing and responding to organizational crises. "I gave out my books at a conference of chemical industry executives (my niche market) and have gotten one definite and one tentative engagement to provide my full-day workshop for companies who were impressed with what they saw and figure I 'know my stuff.'"

"I've also gotten one speaking engagement since publication too. Being the author of a book certainly adds to my credibility as an expert. I never really anticipated having a bestseller and the whole purpose was to write the 'book-as-brochure,' and to achieve this very thing."

Dennis and Wendy Mannering, authors of the best-selling Attitudes Are Contagious: Are Yours Worth Catching? also worked with Jenkins Group. "As professional speakers, we found that having written a book gives us immense credibility with our prospective clients and speaker bureaus. We have tied our corporate 'look' around the design of our book, and it has become our 'brand.'"

"Beyond image and credibility, having books to sell after a presentation creates 'passive' additional income and provides extra value to the audience participants. The Special Sales program offered by Jenkins Group has also provided an expansion of sales to markets we may never have reached on our own. (35,000 copies of the book have been sold to corporate clients, a Greek translation has been done, and a Russian translation is underway.) The bonus income from these sales has been a pleasant surprise."

Joe Tye, author of Your Dreams Are Too Small agrees. "For me, working on my book with Jenkins Group was an outstanding experience. They helped me merge my speaking and writing careers, and really gave me a promotion and marketing advantage. In addition, I achieved tremendous visibility in a market I'd hardly dented up to that point - direct marketing." Joe Tye continues: "What do writers and speakers have in common? They are both in the business of communicating their ideas. One of the most effective ways to be more effective at one is to work on the other. Every speaker should be a writer, and every writer should be a speaker. "

"For the speaker, writing a book will help you crystallize your ideas and what you stand for. It will differentiate you from all the other speakers out there who otherwise seem to be saying much the same thing. It will give you a marketing advantage, and a product to sell at the back of the room or on your website. Most important, it will give you confidence and pride of authorship."

"For the writer, becoming more effective as a speaker will help you refine your writing craft as you learn techniques for keeping an audience engaged with your words. It will also help you be much more effective at promoting your books, both in person and through the broadcast media."

Joni Wilson is an internationally known voice and performance coach, singer/entertainer, and professional speaker. When she decided to write a book she came to Jenkins Group for help.

"One magical weekend in March 1998 my life¹s direction did a complete one-eighty," says Wilson, who is also a San Diego-area National Speakers Association board member. She attended a seminar in Anaheim California called "How to Build Your Speaking and Writing Empire", given by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, co-creators of the Chicken Soup for the Soul phenomenon. At that time, her plans were to make the transition from voice trainer/entertainer to professional speaker, but the role of author had never entered into her career mix.

For the weekend, Mark and Jack had assembled the finest authorities in the industry. People like Dottie Walters, Jerry Jenkins, Dan Poynter, Joel Roberts to name a few, all spoke and shared their stories. "Their task was to fill our heads with helpful and inspiring information," recalls Wilson, "and to give us a clear road map to follow while pointing out some of the pitfalls they had personally experienced along their own roads to success."

"As the weekend progressed, I heard the same words repeated over and over: "If you're going to be a successful speaker you must be recognized as an expert in your field. The best way to do that is to become a published author. Write your book!" How can you debate the wisdom spoken when it comes from the mouths of two of the most successful speaker/writers in the world?"

Wilson's course for the next three years was set as she excitedly sat in that conference room and began creating what would become The 3-Dimensional Voice. To give her the boost she needed, Mark Victor Hansen endorsed her project, and she was off and running. She spent the next five months teaching voice, writing her masterpiece and planning her strategy, following step-by-step the path set by the experts.

"With manuscript in hand, I signed up for another weekend with Mark and Jack in November with one purpose in mind--to somehow put my creation into the capable hands of Jerry Jenkins who could guide me through the self-publishing maze and help me produce an 'industry standard' quality book. Bingo again! Jerry agreed to take a look at my creation and help me iron out the rough spots--and there were plenty of those that I, as novice writer, couldn't see."

"I bless the day I handed my project to Jerry, for his wonderful team not only held my sometimes shaky hands through my first book, but with their guidance and suggestions, one book became a series of five books called the Wilson Voice Series."

Now, three years later, Wilson has self-published two books in her series: The 3-Dimensional Voice and The 3-Dimensional Business Voice, and as for her speaking career, she's a board member of the San Diego Chapter of the National Speakers Association, give classes on voice improvement, and is selling her books and tapes at the back of the room after her speeches, "just like Mark, Jack, Jerry, Dottie, Dan and the rest of those incredible people I grew to respect and admire."

"Now when a budding speaker comes up to me and asks, 'What should I do to get started?' I have so much I want to say. I smile at them, while giggling to myself inside, and give them the same wonderful advice the experts gave me on that magical weekend three years ago. 'If you want to be a speaker, let the world not only hear your words, but let them read your words as well. Write your book!'" Joni Wilson says: Here are five good reasons the experts gave me to consider self-publishing. They convinced me!

1. Unless you have some kind of celebrity status and can pre-sell books on your name only, the major publishing houses will not touch you. In the time it takes for you to get an answer back from them, you could have your book in your hands, be doing media interviews, have sold enough books at the back of the room, on Amazon.com and in special sales to pay the cost of your publishing.

2. Selling a book is like dividing up a pie. Everyone who comes to the table gets a piece of it. If you slice up your $15.95 cover price between the distributors who takes 55% right off the top, your storage, shipping, advertising, publisher (no they do not pay for your PR), and your expenses, by the time it comes to the authors share, your left with the crumbs. As a self-publishing author, not only am I the author, publisher, and distributor, but when I sell at the back of the room, I don¹t even have to give that 55% away. I own my books. Wow, that feels great!

3. When I have created a market and a demand for my books, through my own diligent work (which I would have to do anyway, even if I had a royalty publisher), I can then sell the entire package to a publishing house and negotiate a better contract. Many a bestseller started as a self-published book.

4. I can do my book the way I want to without the heavy hand of an editor cutting out all of my creative gems. Self-publishing through the Jenkins Group gave me the professional guidance I needed to keep me from going too far over the edge and yet they allowed me the freedom to make the final choice.

5. This is the joy of creating something I am proud of. I can now include the role of Blue Loon Press publisher to my list of accomplishments. As a speaker, the more life experiences you have, the more you have to talk about and share. Boy, can I tell good publishing stories...

Good luck -- and go write that book!!!

For more information about Jenkins Group publishing services, contact David Dunn or Tom White, or visit the JGI website.

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