In the last five years, I’ve published five books — the first through a traditional royalty publisher and the rest at home. One of the most helpful resources I’ve had in that adventure is the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA). It’s a friendly group of folks who meet on the second Saturday of every month to share their knowledge of self-publishing. This month, I’ll be the speaker.
The meetings cost $5 for non-members and $3 for members, and despite having worked in publishing since 1994, when I launched Music & Computers magazine, I learn something every time I attend.
One of the most motivational parts of each meeting is the “elevator speech” segment, in which everyone gets just 30 seconds to promote his book or services. (In case you aren’t familiar with the term, the concept is that you unexpectedly find yourself in an elevator with a Powerful Person — Oprah, say — and have just the 30 seconds between floors to pitch a deal.)
A chess clock at the front of the room marks the time limit with a ding!, and attendees who overshoot are quickly drowned out by mass grumbling. Stick within the limit, though, and the audience is very supportive. It’s an excellent lesson that when selling something, you really need to consider your audience and play to their interests.
It’s fun to see how authors use that tiny window to grab attention. I still remember the guy who announced, “My name is Bill, and I wrote a million-seller.”
Everyone gasped. Bill basked in the silence for a moment, then grinned, “Yep — I’ve got a million of ’em in my cellar.”
Here’s my first elevator speech:
“Hi. My name is David Battino. My wife and I write and publish a series of children’s books called Storycard Theater. It’s based on a traditional Japanese street-performance format that lets you read a story while showing the pictures. [Show front and back of Momotaro card stack.] To read a normal picture book, you have to twist away from your audience like this.
“Last year, we won the Dr. Toy award for Top 10 Creative Products in the country and we’re currently ranked number 1 on Google. More at Storycard Theater.com.”
Maybe it was my beginner’s earnestness, but that little speech got the biggest applause that day. (I think the “number 1 on Google” part referred to being the top hit in a search for our own name, but it was an elevator situation!)
I realized later that I hadn’t said anything about the content of the books, so I addressed that in a later meeting:
“Hi, I’m David Battino. Imagine you had the chance to call up 50 of your musical heroes and just rap about creativity for an hour. And then you chopped up those 50 interviews and remixed them into a giant cocktail party of a book — with a DVD. That’s The Art of Digital Music. The Library Journal gave it a starred review. The leading magazine in the field called it an 'absolute must-read.' And now my publisher is up for sale and has completely stopped promoting it, so I’m looking for ways I can continue that momentum. Speaking of fantasy, I also write children’s books. Thank you.”
As I recall, that spiel went over well, too, but in retrospect, it seems gloomy — and more about me than the audience. I returned to more upbeat themes in future meetings.
Still, the Elevator Speech is a neat strategy to apply to any number of life situations. If you’re stuck creatively, try boiling down your concept to a few short phrases you can speak aloud with conviction. Then reduce that to a punchy caption or headline; you may be surprised by the clarity that brings. There’s a classic episode of This American Life called “Break-Up,” in which the narrator stumbles onto a wonderfully poignant song lyric while bellyaching about a boyfriend. So often, creativity is about juxtaposing disparate ideas and seizing on the sparks that fly.
In fact, the title of my talk this weekend is “Your Book Is Only the Beginning: Growing a Publishing Business the Holistic Way.” Writing books has enabled me to pull together so many interests and opened so many opportunities — opportunities that seemingly have very little to do with the printed text. And yet, it is all related. So I’ll be talking about bringing big projects to life and getting happily caught up in them. Hope to see you there!
BAIPA Holiday Meeting
Saturday, December 13, 2008
9 a.m.–12:20 p.m. (I speak at 11:15)
First Congregational Church
8 North San Pedro Road
San Rafael, CA 94903
Map
]]>
The kamishibai version of Jack and the Beanstalk.
Participants were first asked to identify moments of visual innovation on small sticky notes first, from the cave paintings to the proliferation of the iPhone, and then annotate those events on larger notes that would be used independently. This allowed the specific events to be organized in a timeline, while allowing the trends to emerge independently of chronology. Thus ideas across the board could be focused with a visual end-result. Given that the discussion was about innovation in visualization, the experience became noticeably meta.
