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As a speaker, writing a book gives you additional authority and credibility. Event organizers love speakers who have books because it shows that the speaker understands their material. But, how do you know what's a good idea for an entire book?...
As a speaker, writing a book gives you additional authority and credibility.
Event organizers love speakers who have books because it shows that the speaker understands their material.
But, how do you know what's a good idea for an entire book?
On the flip side, if you're an author and public speaking isn't something you're jumping up and down to do, how can you build your platform to include speaking, even if you're an introvert?
My guest is my book coach Tiffany Hawk, who is a published author and who runs the Breakthrough Book Proposal Program.
Tiffany and I talk about:
About My Guest: Tiffany Hawk is an author and book coach who helps leaders write agent-ready books and book proposals. Her clients have landed literary agents, traditionally published with big New York Presses and small literary presses, self published, won awards, and seen their stories in places like Harper’s, the Los Angeles Times, Narratively, McSweeney’s, and The Atlantic.
Links:
Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/407/
Tiffany’s website: https://www.tiffanyhawk.com/
Get Tiffany’s free resource “How good is your book idea?” = https://www.tiffanyhawk.com/idea/
Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/
Attend our 1-day Speaking for Impact in-person workshop in Orlando on October 10th: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/workshop/
Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/
Connect on LinkedIn:
Related Podcast Episodes:
It's time to escape the expert trap and become an in-demand speaker and thought leader through compelling and memorable business presentations, keynotes, workshops, and TEDx talks. If you want to level up your public speaking to get more and better, including paid, speaking engagements, you've come to the right place! Thousands of entrepreneurs and leaders have learned from Speaking Your Brand and now you can too through our episodes that will help you with storytelling, audience engagement, building confidence, handling nerves, pitching to speak, getting paid, and more. Hosted by Carol Cox, entrepreneur, speaker, and TV political analyst. This is your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.
Carol Cox:
If you're an author who wants to build your
speaking platform even, or especially if
you're an introvert or you're a speaker who
knows that you want to write a book, you're
going to love. My conversation with Tiffany
Hawk on this episode of the Speaking Your
Brand podcast.
More and more women are making an impact by
starting businesses, running for office, and
speaking up for what matters.
With my background as a TV political
analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I
interview and coach purpose driven women to
shape their brands, grow their companies,
and become recognized as influencers in
their field. This is speaking your brand,
your place to learn how to persuasively
communicate your message to your audience.
Before we get into today's episode, I want
to let you know about our brand new
in-person speaking workshop we're holding in
Orlando, Florida on October 10th, 2020 2024.
Early bird pricing is on right now.
If you want to ten x your speaking skills,
both your storytelling and your delivery,
this event is exactly the one you've been
waiting for. If you want to learn how to
lessen those butterflies, those nerves that
sometimes get the best of you before a
speaking engagement.
If you want to learn how to speak
comfortably without notes and without a
script, if you want to develop your
storytelling skills so that you can tell
stories in a compelling way to your
audiences, as well as know how to activate
your storytelling with body movement,
strategic pausing, and vocal variation in
your delivery. And if you want to boost your
confidence and your stage presence, this is
what you're going to do. At our full day
in-person workshop, you'll get personalized
hands on coaching instruction and feedback.
You'll get to practice on our stage.
We're going to help you develop your key
stories in your talk segments and then of
course, give you feedback as you're
practicing them in a supportive environment
with other women entrepreneurs and leaders.
You also get professional photography of you
speaking that you can use on your website
and on your social media.
Get all of the details and register today as
speaking your brand.com/workshop.
Again, that's speaking your
brand.com/workshop. Now let's get on with
the show. Hi there and welcome to the
Speaking Your Brand podcast.
I'm your host Carol Cox.
Today we have back Tiffany Hawk who is my
book coach. But not just my book coach.
She's an amazing book coach to many, many
other people out there who are working on
developing their book idea, but even more
importantly, developing their book proposal,
which they're then going to use to find the
perfect agent for them so that they can get
a publisher and put their book out into the
world. We're going to talk today about how
to know what is a great idea for a book how
to Build Your Platform as an author,
especially your speaking platform.
If you are a speaker.
How to go about building authority for
yourself as an author, especially when
you're doing that all important book
proposal. But we're going to start out
talking about Tiffany's journey from maybe
we could call it a reluctancy, to call
herself a speaker, to now getting feedback
from the speaking engagements that she's
been doing this year as an energetic and
charismatic speaker.
Tiffany, welcome back to the podcast.
Tiffany Hawk:
Thank you. Carol.
Yes, definitely reluctant speaker for sure.
Carol Cox:
Well, I was so honored to have you attend our
client retreat that we held earlier this
year in February in Orlando, Florida.
You flew in to that and we had ten women
together for three days, where we did
coaching and practicing on our stage.
And then we did filming on the third stage,
and we had known each other for a few years.
I had hired you to help me work on my book
idea. I'm in your book proposal group
program right now, which is fantastic.
I can't recommend it enough.
And then you decided to come to this
in-person retreat, even though you have told
me that you're not a speaker.
So why did you decide to come?
Tiffany Hawk:
Oh my gosh. Yeah, this is so funny to me
because you come to me, Carol.
Like I'm not a writer.
Even though you're writing these amazing
speeches and you have all of the
storytelling skills. And then I've been
teaching for years, but I come to you like I
am not a speaker, and I would still almost
say that it's really hard to kind of embrace
that. But part of why mostly it was just
really intuitive. I had this feeling like I
need to go to Carol's retreat eventually.
Like when I have, you know, I wanted to be
in person more. That was a big part of it.
And then we were emailing and I said
something about like, next year I'll do that
because I don't have a talk prepared.
And then you convince me, no, you can come
here without your talk prepared.
You only need a few segments.
And I just instantly said, okay, I'm doing
it. And it was just a complete moment of
intuition. I had no idea what I was going to
talk about, what I was getting myself into,
but I just pulled the trigger and signed up.
And it was, you say, ten women.
It was ten amazing women.
Like, I could not believe the strength of
this group and the warmth.
And it was it was just really, really
incredible. But I keep telling people, you
hear me say this because you're in my class
and I'm not going to sound like you paid me
or something, but it was truly a life
changing retreat for me because, you know, I
think in a number of ways because it even
helped my writing, because I think if
there's something that you're afraid to say
or you're afraid to say in front of a big
enough audience, that's going to show up on
the page, and it's going to show up in other
parts of your life.
So going there, I was just kind of hoping,
like anyone, like a couple going to therapy
or something for some tips and tricks and
maybe you know, a little bit of footage or
something. But being in that group and
getting up on the stage over and over and
over and getting comfortable with that warm
audience, learning how to kind of command
the stage and use body language like
deliberately, instead of either just
standing there behind the podium like I
probably would normally do, or, you know,
just kind of frantically pacing or using my
hands, not deliberately getting comfortable
with that. It was so much more natural than
I thought it would be.
And then I don't know how one weekend could
do this, but I left there with so much more
comfort and so much more confidence, because
before that, I mean, I was like heart
pounding in my chest, in my ears, not able
to think. So. All the stuff that I would
want to say, the people wanted to hear from
me until I got comfortable with that group,
like if it was a group of students, I just
would lose track of what I was thinking and
magically like once you have that comfort in
yourself and your strength, I'm not going to
say I don't get nervous. I definitely still
do, but not to the point where I can't think
and I can't impart my message.
So for a book person who's we consider
ourselves very introverted.
I really, really recommend doing something
like that. I mean, you guys put us through
all that improv too, which, my God, there is
nothing a book person would hate more than
doing the improv. And I was terrible at
that. But I mean, legitimately, I'm not
putting myself down like that was
ridiculous. Some people were just like, so
great at it. Um, but all of that just doing
it, you know, like anything, you get
comfortable by doing it.
Carol Cox:
Well, Tiffany, I am I'm so glad to hear this.
And you were so naturally funny in the
stories that you told as part of the talk
segments that you were working on at the
retreat. Like, you have this natural sense
of humor that really came across.
And of course, you're great at storytelling
because that's what you do in your writing
as well. And, you know, thinking about being
an introvert. And I know we've talked about
this, uh, you know, in your book proposal
Group program is that many authors, because
we probably like to read, consider ourselves
to be introverts. I consider myself to be an
introvert. Yes, I really do.
And so and so for me, it's like I, you know,
I enjoy speaking because it's a way for me
to share a message with more people, but
it's almost like it's also a way for me to
have a role at an event where I don't feel
like I'm just kind of like, I don't know,
what am I doing here? Who am I supposed to
talk to? What am I supposed to do?
Like, it gives me a place and a role as an
introvert that makes me feel so much better.
But then the other thing is about improv.
So I'm terrible at improv, right?
I'm a reader. I'm an introvert, I totally
relate, but this is why I do it.
I force myself to do it, and I force you all
to do it because it makes such a difference
in that. All right, so, Tiffany, you came to
the retreat in February, and then you had a
pretty high profile workshop that you were
facilitating not long after that, a couple
of months after that, and you gave you sent
me some of the feedback that you got from
the attendees of that workshop, and you were
very pleasantly surprised about some of that
feedback. And but I was not.
I knew that that's probably I wouldn't be
surprised.
Tiffany Hawk:
I was shocked, it was literally I think it
was three weeks later, something like that.
It was it was I think it was still in
February, if I'd have to look back and
check. But it was very, very shortly after
that and I really enjoyed it.
Like, I'm not going to lie, I left the
retreat. Most of the women there left being
like, I want to do this for the rest of my
life. I love speaking and I left going,
well, that was great. That was life changing
and I never want to do that again.
I just, you know, I was just so nervous up
on stage. But then I took that.
So I was teaching at Stanford.
So I went there and I was with people who
were there to hear what I had to say.
So it was like a different kind of audience
that was really interested in books, and I
had that comfort walking around and talking
whatever, and I was shocked by the feedback.
I was hoping to hold my own, and that was
part of why I was glad I had the retreat
first. But people's reviews were like
anonymous reviews, and they were saying I
was a gifted speaker and charismatic, and
I'm like, okay, I have never heard that
before in my life.
So it was pretty cool to tap into just
figuring out what makes you what your
strengths are and how to how to use that in
a way that's comfortable for you, rather
than trying to be the way someone else
might. And it also didn't require me to be
totally rehearsed, which, you know, I still
I don't think I would be as good at the big
20 minute Ted talk.
I think I would really need to work up to
getting comfortable to something that was
that long, but it was somewhat more
conversational where I would be talking for
a while, and then people would be asking
questions and back and forth and be able to
really get the audience engaged.
So yeah, thank you for that.
Carol Cox:
Okay well. Challenge accepted.
We'll get you there to.
Tiffany Hawk:
Oh, maybe. No, no.
Yeah, we will, we will, we will believe it.
I'm getting more and more comfortable all
the time, so thank you.
Yeah. We'll get there.
Carol Cox:
All right Tiffany. So thinking thinking about
leveraging our strengths and kind of in, you
know amplifying what we're already good at.
And a lot of that has to do with our
communication style but also our voice.
So not just not I don't mean our physical
voice, but our voice in the sense of our
perspective, our angle, what we want to say
on our topic. So let's talk about what makes
a good idea for a book, because obviously
books and speaking go very well together.
And so but obviously with the signature talk
or a keynote or even a Ted talk, it's short,
right? Ten minutes, maybe 45 minutes, maybe
an hour. There's only so many words you can
fit in that. But a book 200 pages, 250, 300
pages, it's a lot. It's a lot more than a
talk. So how do you know what is a big
enough idea and a good idea for a book.
Tiffany Hawk:
Oh yeah, that's such a good question.
And I actually want to back up from the idea
for a second, um, because, well, some of the
reasons that or some of the questions that a
publisher is going to ask you or a literary
agent are going to be, why this book?
Why you and why now?
And so that's something I do want to come
back to. But I think before we even get
there into that specific idea and how to
market it, there's another why that Simon
Sinek kind of why that's way more important.
And that's your intention, your reason for
writing this book. Because especially when
I'm talking to entrepreneurs, a lot of
people come to it, um, like, I want to write
a book and I don't know if I should.
And so if their reason is because they can't
stop talking about this topic, it's so
important to them. They find it meaningful.
There's an audience they can help.
We can take that all the way to the
bookstore. But if they're like, well, I
should do this.
People are telling me this is a good way to
market my business or you know, it's time.
And I don't feel like, you know, I'm a real
thought leader until I have a book.
That is not a good reason to write a book
yet at least should is the worst reason to
write a book. And I have actually done that.
So personal experience with that not working
out. Um, but once you have that reason
that's bigger than that, because you are
going to be spending maybe two years working
on this, even if you like, if you've already
got your book today and you get a literary
agent tomorrow and they magically are able
to sell it three days later, the book isn't
going to hit the shelves for probably 18
months at least.
So this is something you're going to be
living with in terms of the writing and the
editing and then the promoting for years.
So you really, really do have to care about
it. The second thing is that's what's going
to help make the book stand out, because,
okay, so we had talked about this, someone
we both know had come to me wanting to write
a book and had two different ideas, both of
which were cool. One I was more drawn to,
but she wanted to hire me to help her with
the first one that she was determined to do
because she could write it in her sleep that
like, let's just knock it out and get it out
of the way. And I didn't work with her
because I was like, if you're if you can
write this in your sleep, you're going to
put your reader to sleep.
So having that thing that you can really put
your enthusiasm behind is going to matter to
the reader. So then we want to look at,
okay, how do we make this idea something
that's, you know, I don't say worthy of a
book in terms like you're worthy of saying
what you need to say, but fitted for a book.
So one of the things that you really want to
do to explain to an agent or publisher why
this book, their first why, is to really
start to understand the market, look at what
are the other books on your topic so that
then you can start to, you know, first
understand the industry and what's out
there, but start to notice what makes you
different and what makes you stand out.
Now, of course, it's completely normal.
The first thing you're going to do is freak
out and go, oh my gosh, it's already all
been said before. And that it's like major
imposter syndrome because this is their idea
that's been distilled for years with the
help of their publisher and all the
publicity and everything. So you don't
compare your first draft to their published
book that's already out there, but start to
notice, like the tone, the audience, their
take. What can you add to this conversation?
What do you have that's different?
That might be that you're taking a familiar
topic and bringing it to a brand new
audience that's been overlooked.
Or maybe it's a topic that's been written
about very, you know, dense and academic in
terms of tone and content, and you can make
it accessible or funny, or maybe you're
tackling something that everybody kind of
knows the same advice, and you want to turn
it on your head and, you know, think of it
from a completely different way.
Either the problem or the solution is
different than what we're thinking of.
That's actually a really great, great topic
for a book is when you can make it
counterintuitive like that.
And then, like you said, it has to be big
enough and broad enough for an entire book.
You might be able to figure that out by if
you give a 20 minute talk and you're that
you've exhausted everything you have to say,
well, it's not quite there yet.
You're going to have to kind of keep
developing your material because it's going
to take hours and hours and hours for
someone to read a book, as opposed to 20
minutes. You might start with an article and
see how that's received.
And that also can help build your platform.
Um, so then you also want to be able to say
why now?
Like, why is this important to people now?
How is this different? How is it fresh?
How is it moving the conversation from where
it is now forward?
Carol Cox:
Okay.
Tiffany Hawk:
Winded answers.
Carol Cox:
No, this is this was so helpful.
So I have lots of questions and I know the
listeners are taking notes on this.
So you mentioned about if you feel like you
can write your book in your sleep, it's
probably not the right book to write because
you may put your reader to sleep.
So here's what comes to mind.
And please, I would love to hear your
thoughts on this or to change, change, or
correct what I'm saying.
So it sounds to me like, you know, you
you're going to have a premise for your book
idea. It could be based on speaking
engagements that you've been doing or some
or the work that you've been doing in your
business or career. So you have this sense
of what your idea is.
Maybe it's counterintuitive, like you said,
maybe it's to a different audience that
hasn't been served with this similar message
before. It sounds to me, though, that if you
in your your own mind, already know all the
answers that you would put in the book,
maybe there's not enough in there to spark
your curiosity as the writer.
Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah.
Carol Cox:
To like to dig almost deeper into yourself,
to find more like to write, to find those
deeper nuggets to put into the book.
Because if if I feel like I could just write
the book in my sleep, then I don't know.
I guess I feel like maybe it's too
superficial.
Tiffany Hawk:
Possibly. I mean, yeah, I think that's
really, really interesting.
I do think, though, that sometimes you might
feel like you know your topic, but at least
you're excited and you know that you don't
know what it is, but you know that there's
more. There's something more that you're
going to have to delve into because, you
know, people don't want to only hear your
perspective. Even if it's a memoir, you're
probably going to be doing some research to
be able to add context about the time you're
writing about. You're going to have to go
back and look at things. So there's probably
going to be some research involved and also
some if you, you know where you're going
with it. But right now it's only somewhat of
a vague idea as you work on each piece of
your proposal or as you start writing the
book, things are going to come up.
And almost always with a project this long,
you're going to reach a point where you go,
oh my God, I can't do this.
I don't know what I'm doing. This is so
complicated. As soon as I start to talk
about this, it brings up that, and I don't
know where to go. That's a good thing.
It it won't feel like it.
It'll feel horrible and terrible and you'll
want to give up. But as long as you know not
to give up because that's part of it, you
actually start rethinking your material.
And as you're writing your book, you're
developing your thought leadership.
You're further developing that message, and
it's usually going to change, and you're
going to have to go back and start to revise
what you've already written or what your
plan was, and that's when you know you're
really digging into something special.
Because, yeah, it's not just you're exactly
right, Carol. Because if you're if you know
everything that's in there, you're saying
stuff that's been said before.
So if there's no element of surprise for
you, it's probably not that original.
It's something that at the very least,
you've been saying over and over.
So that means other people probably have as
well.
Carol Cox:
Oh, that is so good.
That's like a juicy little nugget right
there, you know.
Tiffany Hawk:
Cool. Well, you know, and I was actually
speaking this last weekend.
And because I get to do it again and again
now that I've had your help, but I was on a
panel with a couple of other authors, and
one of them really brought up a great point,
and that we all had agreed people were
asking about like how to start, and
sometimes it's just a matter of starting.
It doesn't matter what, it doesn't matter if
it's terrible, but you just need to start
with some kind of material, no matter how
bad it is, because it's a lot easier to
revise and to rewrite than it is to just
come up with that initial thing.
But one of the authors who's incredibly,
incredibly well known was saying that he
just knows going into that first chapter,
those first things he writes 100% of the
time in all of his books, ends up being
completely different. By the time he reaches
the end of the book, he's so much better
understands what he's saying that that first
chapter is always going to get revised.
So you really don't want to have pressure on
that first chapter, because you just one
need to get on the page so you can work with
it. And then two, as you keep going, even
the proposal process, even when you haven't
written the whole book, you're going to
understand it so much better.
As you go through each piece, you're going
to go back to the beginning again.
And knowing that, I think can be freeing.
Carol Cox:
Yes, that really helps a lot.
Tiffany. Yeah, knowing that whatever you're
putting down on the page is certainly not in
its final form. Eventually we'll get to a
final form and we have to be willing to let
it go at that point.
Yeah, and not like the perfectionism, uh,
paralyze us too much, but I that is so
helpful to think. Okay, remind yourself as
you're writing, like, where you're going to
come back and edit this. You don't need to
do it right now.
It will. It will happen.
So don't feel like it has to be perfect
coming out. And I'm giving myself this my
own advice.
Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah. Knowing it's going to change.
I think very rarely, but occasionally someone
knows exactly what the start of their book
is, whether it's fiction or non-fiction or
anything. It's exactly right in the first
chapter because they just know that scene.
That was the whole kernel of the book, their
whole wire intention.
But most of the time, what you if you were
to start out and then just polish it and
never change the first chapter, you probably
didn't grow and develop that idea very much
as you were writing it.
So maybe that's more often than not a sign
that you didn't.
You didn't go deep enough.
You didn't push yourself hard enough.
Something I've been telling you, actually,
like yours is great, and there are parts
where you are going back to relying on that
expert thing. So I'm saying, Carol, we need
to make this more Carol. We need to push,
make it bolder, make it more.
You know? Anyway, I'm sorry.
I'm, like, calling you out on your own
podcast.
Carol Cox:
I. This is why I do this publicly.
Because I have to be called out and I have
to be reminded. And this is why I work with
you, Tiffany. Because to remind me of this
and, you know, and you mentioned about
coming back to the opening of the book.
And I think about when we work with our
clients on their talks, we do the opening
last. Yeah.
Because I don't know, at the beginning of
our work together what that opening is going
to be for them. I have to fill out all the
rest of the talk on the board and figure
out, okay, now what's going to be
interesting for the audience to bring them
in based on everything else we've just laid
out. So it's the same process?
Tiffany Hawk:
Yes. And unfortunately, at least when you're
working on a book proposal, you're usually
at least going to start trying to write that
first chapter. But hopefully when you come
back to it after writing, you know the rest
of it anyway.
Carol Cox:
Well, let's talk about how authors and
speakers can build their platform.
So I know that, Tiffany, obviously you work
with a lot of authors and not that many some
of them have done speaking before or have
their own podcast or have I've been doing
podcast interviews and they've been building
their platform that way.
I know a lot of the authors that you work
with have not been doing much speaking.
What do you recommend as far as what are
agents and and editors and potentially
publishers? What are they looking for?
But even just for authors who know that when
their book comes out, maybe they're going to
do self-publishing or hybrid publishing,
that they still want to go to bookstores and
talk about what they're doing, or they still
want to get exposure for their book.
Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah. And I think that's actually an
important distinction that you make or not
distinction, but an important topic that you
bring up the self-publishing versus
traditional publishing.
I think they can both be really, really
great. But where I worry about
self-publishing is when people bypass
traditional publishing because they think
self-publishing is going to be easier, and
they just kind of put their book out there.
So if we look at this as the reason that
publishers want certain things from you,
like that idea that's adding to the
conversation and is fresh and new, and that
you have an audience, which I am going to
come back to your question, but I wanted to
address the self-publishing.
If you aren't able to speak to those things
there, they want those because that's how
they're going to reach readers.
So if you don't put the thought and the
effort into how you might be attractive to a
traditional publisher, you're probably not
going to be attractive to readers either,
because you haven't clarified your idea.
You haven't built your way to reach an
audience. So platform is something writers
get really, really worried about because
again, we're shy, you know, book people that
aren't necessarily putting ourselves out
there, but it is important.
The biggest misconception, I think, that I
hear over and over and over is that authors
assume it has to be social media, and they
have to have, you know, 6 million followers
on Instagram or TikTok or whatever it might
be. 100% does not have to be social media.
If you are good at that, that can be great.
But in most agents are telling me it's
actually the least effective and the one
that takes the most work.
So you definitely don't have to go there.
There's other really, really more um,
potentially authoritative and faster ways to
build an audience. But you do need to have a
way that people are going to hear about your
book. So some of those are writing articles
for publications, either well-known
publications or those that are directly
related to your audience, even if it's a
little bit smaller. But it's the people
you're trying to reach are reading that.
Um, podcasting can be great networking and
getting blurbs from people in your industry.
Those are all great speaking is at least
it's probably tied for one and two with with
articles for me. But, um, it's one of the
best ways to build a platform because you're
getting in front of your audience, you're
working that material with them, so you're
understanding it and you're vetted.
It's showing authority, that and
credibility. So the two things that
publishers are looking for with when we talk
about platform one is that you have the
credibility that people are going to want to
read this book from your perspective.
And then two is that ability to reach an
audience. So speaking is doing both of those
things. You're going to be showing, um, that
you've been chosen to speak at this
organization. So you're kind of vetted as an
authority. You are interacting with your
material and your profession, especially if
it's non-fiction.
You're able to develop your material that
way. And then the other thing, you're able
to stand out from other writers because this
is like clear, clear, um, sign that you know
how to and are willing to get out there in a
way that so many shy authors aren't.
So it's a wonderful, wonderful way to do
that. Plus, they know that then you'll be
able to sell books at your speaking
engagements later.
So that doesn't mean you have to be this
huge speaker, and you've been all over the
place and you've been speaking to thousands,
or you have, you know, a million views of
your Ted talk. Like, I know you have clients
who have done, which is just awesome.
But even if it's smaller, if you can show a
few events, especially if they are directly
getting you in front of your audience and
people that are interested.
And then you can say, okay, I've spoken at
these three or whatever places, and here's
the other places I plan to pitch.
And here's my, you know, speaker bio.
That's going to go a long way to show that
credibility and that you're going to be
putting yourself out there and that you know
where to find your audience.
Carol Cox:
And I can imagine with the agents and the
publishers that they're also seeing that you
as an author, you're putting the work in to
build those relationships.
And so then they can they can reassure
themselves, okay, this person is going to be
willing to go out there and speak because he
or she has already been doing it.
Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah, yeah, to publicize the book, but also
that it's really hard to write a book for an
industry that you're not interacting in.
Like, who's going to want to hear from you
if you're not part of it?
So speaking is a really great way to be part
of it. It's not the only way by any means,
but it's an excellent way to do it and it
builds your network as well.
Like you said, when you're there.
Carol Cox:
Well, thinking about it from the speaker
point of view. So for those of you listening
who are doing speaking but don't yet have a
book and you are thinking about having a
book. I can say from looking at clients that
we've had that clients who already have
books get more speaking invitations.
Tiffany Hawk:
Oh for sure.
Carol Cox:
Because they already have this body of work
that's out there, and it gives them a lot of
authority and credibility built in,
especially if it's related to a specific
industry that they're in and they have a
book. And then I see them.
They get speaking invitations all around the
world for that industry, because the book
gives them that additional leg up.
And I know that also, for a lot of the
clients that we have who have books, they
can do, uh, like negotiations for their
speaking fees, because a lot of times maybe
they'll have a certain speaking fee, but
that particular conference or company or
group doesn't have quite the budget for
that. But they do have a line item in their
budget for books. So then they'll say, okay,
we'll buy 100 books or 200 books for the
event, and then and then and then pay you X
number of dollars for your speaking fee.
Tiffany Hawk:
Oh, that's a tidbit I didn't even know.
Like, I know how well they go together and
that they feed each other and that people
are often selling hundreds of books.
I had a client go and sell like 400 books at
two different events, one after the other,
because it was a really good book.
That's the key. It wasn't just that he was
there and he had one, but I didn't think
about that being something that the
conference itself might purchase.
Yeah, that's a great tip.
Yes. You learn something every day when you
interact in a different profession.
Carol Cox:
Yeah so books and speaking go very well
together. And so Tiffany, let's talk a
little bit about some of the ways that we
are collaborating coming up because I think
listeners will be excited about this.
So on October 1st, 2024.
So coming up not too far from now, we are
doing a joint online workshop.
So it's going to be live.
Both myself and Tiffany will be there and
we're going to lead you through that.
How to build your platform your speaking
platform as an author.
So if you are kind of that bookworm
introverted person like we are, how to get
started as a speaker, how to find some
speaking engagements, how to put together a
talk based on your book idea based on the
book that you have.
So how to build your speaking platform.
And then if you're a speaker and you haven't
yet published a book, or you're working on a
book proposal, or you want to work on a book
proposal with Tiffany during that workshop,
we're going to help you think about how to
build your authority for your book proposal
and then your eventual book as a speaker.
So information about that is coming out.
So stay tuned for that.
Get on one of our email lists or both of our
email lists, and I'll make sure to put links
in the show notes so that you can do that.
I know, Tiffany, you also have a resource
for the listeners, which we're going to
share here in just a moment.
The other thing that Tiffany are going to be
doing is in the spring, we are very excited
about this, and we are just working on the
details right now.
We are going to be doing a joint in-person
writing and speaking retreat.
So if you know you want to have a place that
you can go to to kind of get away from your
regular environment and have that time and
space with Tiffany's guidance to work on
your book idea, to work on sections of your
book, you're going to have an opportunity to
do that, as well as an opportunity to get
feedback and guidance and exercises, maybe
some improv and dance parties as well to
hone your speaking skills.
I know now this everyone's like, nope, not
going to do it. But trust me, I know, know
know you will.
Love it so much no matter how introverted you
are. I promise you you will love it and it
really will help you to develop not only
those speaking skills, but I think it's that
inner confidence which, even if you decide
you don't want to like go on a speaking
circuit for your book or what have you, I
feel like you'll feel more confident putting
those query letters out there to find
agents, because all of a sudden you're going
to feel more comfortable in literally in
your own body, in your own skin and
understanding your message and what makes
you unique so much better.
Tiffany Hawk:
Oh, 100% I, I can attest to that because the
confidence that I've gained as a speaker,
when it was something I was shying away
from, now it's just it's that using your
voice again, when you find different ways to
use your voice, it shows up in the other
places. And I think that could help for
speakers too. Not telling themselves, oh, I
can't write, you know.
Carol Cox:
Yes. Yeah, it all goes, it all goes together.
And just like with anything that we do in
our businesses and our careers, we have to
hone those skills.
They're not innate. I didn't come out of the
womb as a speaker.
Tiffany did not come out of the womb as a
writer. We developed these skills over time.
We had this innate interest in it, so we
wanted to develop it.
And so we kept doing the reps.
But now, if you want to develop, another
side of it is putting the reps in and having
that guidance along the way.
All right, Tiffany, so you have a resource
for the listeners about helping them figure
out how good their book idea is, what is?
Where is the best place to get that
resource?
Tiffany Hawk:
Yeah, if they go to Tiffany Hawk Comm.
So it's h.a.w.k.
Tiffany.com/idea. I have a workbook to kind
of work through.
Is this book, um, is this book idea good.
And what do I need to do next if I discover
that it is at the end of it?
Carol Cox:
Okay, great. And so by doing that.
Tiffany Hawk:
Come by my class or something like that.
It's like a few different options for
different levels of where you fall out
there.
Carol Cox:
Well, even if it is come by, come by your
class or go into your group program, I
highly recommend that. So if they do that,
they'll get on your email list as well,
correct?
Tiffany Hawk:
Yes.
Carol Cox:
Yes, okay. So go do that Tiffany Hawk comm
slash idea to get that resource.
And then also get on Tiffany's email list so
that you'll hear about our online workshop
this fall and the in-person retreat in the
spring. You could also come to speaking your
brand.com/quiz to take our speaker archetype
quiz. It's fun.
You'll think you'll discover what your
natural communication strengths are and how
to add to them. So if you do that speaking
your Brand.com slash quiz, you'll also get
on my email list.
So then you'll get notified about these
upcoming collaborations as well.
All right, Tiffany, thank you again for
coming back on the Speaking Your Brand
podcast. It was so fun to talk with you, and
I always appreciate all of your wisdom and
your insights, and I can't wait to do more
and to have you we'll have you back on the
podcast. I know sometime soon to talk about
more of what you've been doing.
Tiffany Hawk:
Great. Thank you. It's been fun being here.
I always love connecting.
Carol Cox:
Thanks again to Tiffany for coming on the
podcast. Make sure to check out all the
links for the different things that we
talked about in the show notes.
You can find those show notes as speaking
your brand.com/407.
Until next time, thanks for listening.