According to an article by Karen Holt in Publishing
Perspectives, there’s a new trend: publishers are setting up speakers bureaus.
They book appearances for their authors and split the fees. Four years ago
HarperCollins started the movement and now Knopf, Random House, Simon &
Schuster, Macmillan, Penguin and the Hachette Book Group have all followed suit.
The article quotes Ellis Trevor of Macmillan Speakers:
“We’re generating revenue, we are selling more books, and I think in the long
term changing the paradigm of how we market our books and authors.”
Of course the big names make the big money. Two authors who
have become stars of the lecture circuit are Malcolm Gladwell and David
Sedaris. Others who can demand large fees include Jonathan Franzen and
Alexander McCall Smith. However, less well known writers are also in demand,
sometimes for events such as conventions relating to their topic.
I do a bit of this myself, although most of my appearances
are workshops or mini-workshops. The upside is that you get to meet a lot of
great people who share your interests and sometimes it pays pretty well; the
downside is the travel, which usually takes much longer than the appearance itself.
But if you’re a writer looking for an additional revenue stream, you might want
to check it out, either by registering with a bureau (there are many not associated with a specific publisher) or marketing your talks yourself.
(for information on how to get started on your writing career--or advance it--see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available at amazon and other onlien and offline retailers.)
