Tom Jackson is a live music producer. He is a master at transforming an artist’s live show into a magical experience for the audience. I recently heard him speak and he knows what he’s doing and has some huge artists under his expert guidance.
He recently wrote a Blog article about being an opening act people remember and it got me thinking about author presentations. Before I share the four rules, let me share a sad, but true story.
I was with a friend of mine the other day and he told me that a few years ago his favorite author was going to speak locally. He was all excited and even invited his ten-year-old son to join him as his son had picked up on his father’s enthusiasm for this person’s books. My friend related, “I got there and the author was sitting down with a microphone in front of him. He just sat there. He seemed almost tongue tied. He took a few questions from the audience, and after about ten minutes, he got up and left. My son looked at me with those ‘are you kidding me?’ eyes.’”
What a horrible let down for my friend. And, truthfully, this happens all the time when authors are in front of audiences—they either have nothing to say, or they drone on ad nauseum.
Isn’t your goal to be memorable? Isn’t your goal to reward your current readers and engage new ones? I should be hearing a resounding “YES!”
Here are my four tips:
Please don’t repeat what this nationally-known, best-selling author did to my friend. You never want your audience walking away with a memory of frustration anger or regret that they came. You want them to feel engaged and you want to create a memory that lives with them and is told by them to others who may even buy a copy of your book.
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