Audience

As with most content, the creator should consider the audience - what they want, why they want it, and why they should get it from you. In the case of speaking, this is more relevant than ever. After all, who wants to be in front of a group of people who don't care about what you're saying? Not me!

Nick Morgan has posted a 9 part series on how to write a great speech. His rule #1? Consider the audience. In fact, audience is considered in each of his 9 tips, making it clear that it's not just the content that is important, but the context of that content, and how to effectively make the bridge between an idea, and people that will absorb and use it. Check out the whole series and polish up your presentations.

Short term vs. long term

As an author, many opportunities will present themselves, and within them, negotiations will occur. Speaking opportunities will be provided with trade-offs for fees: exposure, book sales, etc. Some will demand big payments right off the bat. Others will build resources and audience through relationship development. The point is to get your idea out there, so that it can grow to higher and higher levels, more opportunities, higher fees, and widespread credibility.

Geno Church wrote today about the Spinal Tap clip where the guitarist shows off his amp that goes to a volume level of "11." Most amps, as you may or may not know, only go to "10." When asked about why he doesn't just turn his regular amp to "9" and when he needs the extra boost, then turn it to "10," he replies, "But this one goes to "11." The Spinal Tap guy wants something bigger right now. I think many authors feel the same way.

Short term high cash vs. long term raving fans is an equation you'll have to solve on your own. Think about the consequences of both routes.

Espresso anyone?

Print-on-demand book vending machines, called Espresso Book Machines, are now popping up around the world. Featuring up to 1 million titles, here's yet another channel where your content might show up.

I'm curious to see how these develop and catch on.

Creative pairing

An ongoing focus of content producers is offering the content via a variety of channels. As time goes on, the number of channels increases, so it's nice to see a book that sidesteps this rat race by pairing with something in a different format that contains entirely different content.

Yes, it isn't a business book, but let's think creatively. When you click on the link above, look at the reader comments. In summary:

They like what the publisher has done and they are excited to buy the book.

Coming up with creative ways to include additional material does a number of things. For one, it creates the excitement mentioned in the link above, but it also introduces your idea to a whole new audience. In this case, a musician and author's audiences meld. In your case, perhaps your idea and a hip independent filmmaker join forces. The blog coverage instantly doubles. People start talking. Books get sold, and your name becomes that much more integrated into a broad range of people who can benefit from your idea.

Cover as many channels as you can with your content, but don't be afraid to try something different once in awhile, too.

Positioning

Authors (and anyone making anything) are going to be finding themselves looking more at the positioning of their ideas and products. As the market increases and changes, how will your book fit into it?

But before all that, how will your idea fit into it? I can't even tell you how many things I read per day. It's a blur. But what I can tell you is that they come from specific places, many of which I have chosen. A perfect example is you reading this blog (thank you!). The great thing about media today is that we have many options to pick from, to find out things that really align with our interests. It's a great, and easy, thing for people on the receiving end to take part in.

Trying to figure out how to tap into that from the producer side is going to be an ongoing challenge for all of us.

Any big ideas to share?

communic8

David Crystal has an interesting book coming out this fall called "TXTNG." It deals with the topic of this increasingly popular form of communicating: texting. Now, while I can't imagine anyone writing a business book in texting language (except maybe Dan Pink), I do think that communication is important for writers to understand - in terms of how people, especially young people, are receptive to information, and how they'll spread what they know.

Here's a blurb from the publisher, Oxford University Press:

"Do young people text as much as people think? Do adults? Does texting spell the end of literacy? Is there a panic in the media? David Crystal looks at the evidence. He investigates how texting began and who uses it, why and what for. He shows how to interpret its mix of pictograms, logograms, abbreviations, symbols, and wordplay, and how it works in different languages. He explores the ways similar devices have been used in different eras and discovers that the texting system of conveying sounds and meaning goes back a long way, all the way in fact to the origins of writing - and he concludes that far from hindering literacy, texting may turn out to help it."

The audience is in control

Dave Balter posted a great article today at the HBP site.

In summary: "Publishers seem resistant to the facts of today's economy. Consumers are in control: They decide what works and what doesn't; they're the harbingers of cool. They are the ultimate distribution channel."

He goes on to bullet point specifics on how publishers can tap into this, and even suggests an entrepreneur's approach to a new business model (hey 8cr!). All in all, a great article in tune with much of what's discussed here.

Developing an audience

We use the music/publishing analogy here often, so for this post, I'm going to talk about audience development in terms of something I know painfully well: being an independent musician.

As a musician, it can be difficult to get a recording published, book a show, and basically anything else outside of creating the material itself (which has its own set of challenges). Same for authors, right? In many cases, publishers and promoters will want to have a clear understanding of how big your audience is. If you have to convince them of how big it is, things quickly become challenging.

Being in this position can mean three things to publishers and promoters:

1. You're just starting out.
2. Your material has a niche market.
3. What you're doing isn't as interesting to others as it is to you.

If point 1 or 2 apply to you, there's a great opportunity to advance. If you're just starting out, the world is your oyster, and you need to start looking at people and places that align with your topic - both physically and from an interest perspective. Barbara Cave Henricks has a great post on dealing with this from an author's perspective.

If your material has a niche market, there are ways you can try to open it up a bit. Yours is a dedicated group, who also have a wide range of interests. Connect with them as much as possible to get a good understanding of their diversity. Then communicate with them with this information in the fold. Your audience will grow, and they will have done the work for you. This concept has been championed by folks like Seth Godin, Jack Mitchell, et al.

If what you're doing isn't as interesting to others as it is to you, take one step back from your idea and consider why others might not be as excited. Do you have specific criticism? Good. Apply it and see how things change. If not, try coming up with different approaches to your work that still feels right to you. Sometimes the "first draft" isn't the best, and with more revision, even you will become more excited about it. If not, maybe it's time to find a new idea.

Once you beef up the audience a bit, you'll find the publishers and promoters will become more receptive because they'll have something solid to work with. Then, each and every accomplishment you do make, becomes fuel for more.

It takes A LOT of work. Whether you're a new author, or you've been around forever, the second you start coasting will allow the thousands of others to gain market share. Enjoy the ride.

New technology or just human nature?

According to a recent article in the New York Times, eBooks are nothing new. Just their popularity is:

"Electronic books have been available since 1968 and have gained broader attention at least since 2000, when Stephen King sold 600,000 copies of "Riding the Bullet," an electronic-only thriller, in two days. Now, however, "we're finally at the tipping point," Ms. Reidy said."

That said, the article continues with insight from Kindle creator Jeff Bezos:

"Even Mr. Bezos said he does not expect electronic books to replace bound paper versions anytime soon. "Anything that lasts 500 years is not easily improved upon," Mr. Bezos said. "Books are so good you can't out-book the book."

As this year's Book Expo America did focus a lot of attention on digital publishing, I still witnessed thousands of people clamoring for galley copies of new titles from their favorite publishers. It was, in fact, a feeding frenzy.

All of this is further testimony that the issue isn't as much about a superior format as it is about publishers and authors connecting with their audience by whatever means possible.

10 changes

The Observer's Robert McCrum commented on the changes he's seen in publishing. As an overview, the article states:

"This is a story whose outcome remains mysterious. There's no doubt that this transitional decade from the 20th to the 21st century has been decisive, but no one knows when or how it will end. One thing is certain: the appetite for print is growing. In 1996, there were between 60,000 and 100,000 new titles in the UK each year. By 2007, it was pushing 200,000. That's the biggest annual output of any country in the Western world, turning over some £4 a year."

The article covers books beyond the business genre, but it's interesting to read the insight of someone who's been in the game as long as McCrum. What's underplayed is the larger impact of digital, why and how it can be important, and what's coming.

Read the full 10 chapters here.