How to Turn Your Book into a Killer Talk and Engage Audiences

You've written a book, and it's pretty darn good if you say so yourself. And now you want to get on stages and share your story and the message from your book. Well, besides the little details like getting a speaker's reel, prepping talk topics, speakers pitches, having a speaker sheet, well, there's also that not so small topic of how the heck do you turn your book into a killer talk. Well, there's plenty of ways your book can become a great talk, but if you're looking for an idea on how to do it and structure it well, this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book broad and I am founder of Book Launchers and I'm also the author of three soon to be four books. I've won at least 20 different book awards and I've given at least 100 talks, probably many, many more. And a lot of those topics were out of a book I've written. So let's chat about how to extract distracting a great talk from your book. Because you've already done a lot of the hard work when you wrote your book, let's figure out how it might become a 30, 45 or even 90 minute talk. First. There are really two main approaches to taking a book and turning it into a talk. There's kind of the a la carte option or the buffet option or another way to put it. Also thinking in terms of food. You can give them one dish but go deep into how it was made so they can make it themselves. Or you can lay out the whole meal and share the thinking behind it so they can make their own meal construction decisions. What I'm trying to say is you can take a piece of your book like a chapter and teach it, or you can teach the hook of the book for self publish and succeed. The hashtag noboringbooksway to write a nonfiction book that sells. The talks I usually give lay out the hook of the book, which is that you need to write a book that is set up to sell. And setting it up begins before you even start writing and you continues throughout the whole process. This usually ends up in being a five tips type talk, but encompasses the whole book. But I've also done a talk that goes deep into the subject of titling a book to sell. So no matter what, for your talk to be engaging, whether it's a really deep into one section of your book or it's the whole hook of the book, there needs to be kind of five pieces to that structure. So let's go through those five pieces right now. Number one the Hook. This is your talk spine. So this holds your talk together or provides an anchor, much like the anchor of a ship that keeps it stable amidst the waves. But it's also the line that you return to again and again and thread through your main points. For most nonfiction authors, this would be the hook of your book, which is the outcome of the outcome that you're offering the reader. This can be something you run counterculture to, and ideally you tell a strong personal story that illustrates your message and and introduces the hook at the beginning, and then you can call back to this story throughout the talk. This helps establish a strong emotional connection with the audience and also makes your talk more memorable and impactful. If you don't have a story of your own, you can draw from others. If your book discusses resilience in business, your anchor journey could be the Rise of Steve Jobs, for lack of a better example, a tale of courage and perseverance that links all your insights on resilience. Or bonus points if you can find a story that is about someone most people will know about, but they don't know that backstory Part 2 the linear lesson the linear lesson is that core teaching of your talk, and it's broken down into digestible, ideally sequential, but they don't have to be points. This structured approach helps the audience follow your thoughts and retain the information in a common talk. I give on the five tips to write and publish a book that's set up to sell. My five tips vary depending on the audience, but they usually cover things like your reader isn't a demographic. Get clear on your hook and why it matters to your reader. Don't fall in love with a title that won't sell. Chapter titles are salespeople and write like a grade 6 student, not a PhD. If it's a 30 minute talk, I'll just break those down with a short example. If it's a longer talk, I can go deeper into each with stories and exploration, really helping someone develop their book with that tip. So the structure stays the same depending on the length of the talk, but the content shifts for the length of time as well as sometimes the audience. Just like a roadmap guides travelers, your linear lesson guides your audience through your insights. If your book offers a unique business model, break it down into clear stages or principles. Think of how Simon Sinek presents his concept of the Golden Circle in a simple step by step manner in Start with why It's Number three Facts, stats, and stories that keep them listening. This involves presenting a startling fact or statistic that contradicts popular beliefs or grabs the audience's attention or establishes your unique perspective. A well placed surprising statistic can be the wake up call that brings back those wandering minds and also refocuses the audience's attention on your talk. Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers used the fact that debunked the myth of the lone genius. Or here's a funny one for you. History holds a dark secret. There was a great emu War in 1932. Australia declared war on emus thinking they were pests destroying farmland. However, the emus outsmarted the military and the war ended for defeat for the humans. That's right, we waged war against the birds and we lost. It's a stark reminder that underestimating the intelligence and resilience of others can lead to unexpected outcomes. The the emus proved to be agile and elusive which made it hard for the soldiers to effectively target them. And the emus quickly adapted to the soldiers tactics and scattered in small groups and evaded their gunfire. Personally, I'm cheering for those emus. Way to go birds. Do some research and find some stories if they aren't already in your book, and shock the audience by sharing something they will remember. Now it does have to tie back to your message, but keep them listening by surprising them, you're not going to forget the emu war, alright? Number four Audience Participation Involving the audience means making your talk interactive. Now this doesn't mean you bring people up onto the stage with you, but think about how you can ask them questions to get a show of hands or get them to high five a neighbor. High five neighbor. Ultimately, it's about turning a monologue into a dialogue. Audience engagement strategies can include asking questions, initiating polls. It can also be hands on activities like Write this down. It keeps the audience attentive and makes the learning experience more personal and memorable. So look at your book or your topic and think about what you can do to bring in some audience participation. Speaking of participation, have you clicked on that like button? No. Go ahead, do it. And if you have not already done so, please make sure you've subscribed to the channel and turned those notifications on so we can hang out in the future. Also, please know that the folks that make the extra effort of commenting on the videos below hold a special place in my heart because that kind of audience participation is fabulous and provides feedback and information for me. And it also gets you entered to win some of our fabulous hashtag NoBoringBook swag, which includes mugs journals, sometimes T shirts and hats. Number five Close the Loop Closing the loop is taking the audience back to that opening story or the hook, and tying it all together with all the points that you discussed throughout your talk. This provides a sense of closure and leaves your audience with a key takeaway. And it's like reading the final chapter of a book. It wraps up the story and provides a satisfying conclusion. It can be motivational or leave them with some other great feeling as they walk out the room and hopefully hire you for more speaking. Buy copies of your book and tell the world that that was amazing. So hopefully you're already getting ideas of how you're going to pull these five items from your book and translate them into big and small talks that you can give. And of course, this will all help you transform into a compelling speaker who captivates attention and and drives change and sells books. Now if you first need to get your book done and you want a team who will help you write a great book that will be positioned for talks and a team that will also help you get those talks, podcast, interviews, media, and so much more when your book launches, let's talk. That's what we do at Book Launchers and you keep all rights and royalties while remaining the CEO of your project. Connect with us@book launchers.com and go to booklaunchers.com apply to set up a call. And if you want more video content, you might be wondering how to make a really compelling hook of a book. Well, this video on how to develop a hook for your book is going to be a big help. And this one right here, how to Make Money From Nonfiction Books is going to help you see that speaking is just one of many ways to make a great living from your book, both are going to be great. So click on over and I'll see you there.