Some lessons learned while promoting your book by lectures...
During the past year or so, I have done nearly a hundred talks about my book, “LADIES: A Conjecture of Personalities.” It’s about the First Ladies – the OLD First Ladies, Martha through Mamie. Since they talk to each other and cross through centuries, it is, of course, an historical fiction. In doing so many lectures, I thought it might be interesting to discuss are some of the things I have learned….
More lessons learned on the lecture trail....
Having determined that you want to promote your book via personal lecture-appearances, and having determined your target markets, what comes next?
The final installment of tips for promoting a book-by lecture.
So now you’ve arranged some speaking engagements. Your talks have been prepared and you are about to start a new – and very pleasurable – experience. This essay is not designed as a treatise on public speaking; it is already assumed that you are able to speak in front of an audience. Suffice it to say that my high school public speaking teacher gave us the three cardinal rules: Stand Up, Speak Up and Shut Up. My college public address professor gave us one dictum: Know Your Subject. They were both right.
Feng Shui, for the uninitiated, is an oriental concept of arranging the elements in one’s surroundings to achieve various positive conditions in one’s life. I am a positive person. I have some fine qualities. I am loyal, courteous, kind, and quick to hold the door for people carrying packages. Alas, however, discipline is not high among my virtues. Do not think I haven’t tried.
Naturally, if you wish to create your characters from scratch and merely place them in an historical setting, such as creating a fictional Revolutionary War soldier's homecoming, you have a lot of latitude. You can do almost whatever you like. But if you want to use real, people, such as George Washington coming home to Mount Vernon after the Battle of Yorktown, you need to have a fair degree of accuracy.
