Sometimes writers who are offered a publishing contract are so happy that somebody wants to publish their work that they don't look carefully enough at the fine print.
One aspect you want to check is what kind of editorial control you are giving up. Victoria Strauss has a great post about this on the Writer Beware blog:
Little, Brown Publishers set up a site called Novl (theNovl.com) on which all their teen properties and book projects were featured. The content included book trailers, author guest posts, and author playlists.
Now they are turning it into a digital imprint that will release short-form, low-cost content every month.
These will be e-only short stories and novellas by Little, Brown authors and will be tied to existing properties.
The formats will include prequels and pieces told by characters in series whose points of view have not been explored, or they may be stories whose characters are new but live in the world created by the author.
The lengths will range from 7500 to 15,000 words, and prices will be between 99 cents and $2.99.
There will also be some fan-generated content, and visitors will be able to vote on things like cover art.
At the moment, the site has a relatively modest following (about 13,000) but they hope the new version will draw additional fans.
What's in this for you if you're not a Little, Brown author? If you have a publisher, you might see whether they are open to setting up something like this as well.
If you self-publish, you might want to find another half dozen self-published authors and create a site like this. Ideally the authors would all be writing in the same genre so that visitors are likely to be tempted to sample work by authors they don't know yet.
It could also be a good idea to sign up for their newsletter at the Novl site, to see whether their promotional activities might inspire some of your own.
(for helpful guidance in writing your book, get a copy of Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.)
Below is a link to a short video in which children's picture book writer Pat Zietlow-Miller talks about how she came to realize her writing dream.
She was 39 when she started going for it seriously, and she had 126 rejections. What's more, even though she's now had several books published, she still gets rejections.
The secret of her persistence: she loved writing so much that she'd do it whether or not it ever got published.
https://www.dreamfearlessly.com/story/pat-zietlow-miller/
(If you want to write, find tips and support in my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.)
We all know how it goes: resolutions are made on January 1st and generally they’re forgotten by February 1st. If we don’t take action, we’ll end 2015 making exactly the same resolutions again. That doesn’t mean you’re lazy or lack ambition, it means you’re human and nobody’s helped you do it right.
HERE’S WHAT NOT TO DO
Do not just try to do the same thing, only this time on February 1st! It didn’t work in January, it’s not going to work in February or March or April. There’s a better way.
FOUR SIMPLE STEPS? REALLY?
How come books on achieving your goals make it so complicated? Well, you wouldn’t pay for a book as short as this email, would you? People have to pad it out and give it some kind of fancy name so that you’ll hand over some money. I make my money doing other stuff, so I can be concise. I’m not selling anything. Weird, huh?
IMAGINE IT’S NEXT NEW YEAR’S EVE
Imagine it’s New Year’s Eve, 2015. What’s the ONE THING you want to have be different? What do you want to feel proud that you did? For instance:
* you got your weight and fitness levels where you want them
* you started your own business
* you wrote that book you’ve been thinking about
* you improved your relationship with your kids
* you learned a new language
* you got your finances in order
STEP ONE. Complete this sentence, in writing:
“By the end of this year, the one thing I definitely want to achieve is________________________.”
That doesn’t mean you can’t achieve other things as well, but this is going to be your highest priority, so pick something you’d really be proud to have done. If you achieve it in less than a year, great! You can move on to your next goal.
BIG RESULTS COME FROM SMALL STEPS
You’ve heard the saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Well, it continues with a single step, too. Lots of single steps.
One of the main reasons people fail to achieve their resolutions is they don’t chunk down their goal into small enough bits. They start out big--maybe taking an hour a day to exercise, for instance...but then life takes over. The stuff you used to do in the time you’re now spending on exercising still needs to be done, so you fall behind. And before you know it, it’s too hard to keep up the new effort and you stop.
STEP TWO. Fill in these two sentences once a week, in writing:
This week, here’s what I’m going to do to move toward my goal during just one session of 15 minutes a day:________________________________________. To make this possible here’s what i’m going to do 15 minutes a day less: __________________________________.
First, what can you achieve in only 15 minutes? If you’re learning a language, you can learn a new word or two. If you want to write a book, you can jot down notes about the plot, the characters, the theme. If you want to improve your relationship with somebody, you can spend 15 minutes a day listening--not talking or judging or giving advice, just listening--to them. If you want to get your finances in order, you can set up a filing system and use it on all the receipts and other documents that are in a big jumble at the moment.
The reason you fill in these sentences once a week is that what you will be doing will change as you make progress. Once you’ve spent a few weeks jotting down general ideas about your book, you may decide to spend that 15 minutesa day working on the main plot points. Once you’ve learned a bunch of new words in another language you may decide to spend 15 minutes a day listening to audio lessons on how to form simple sentences, Most of the time you’ll find it easy to figure out the next logical thing to do.
Second, what can you do less of? If you’re getting more than 7 or 8 hours a night of sleep, you can sleep 15 minutes less. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier, or go to bed 15 minutes later. Or you may choose to eliminate 15 minutes a day of TV, Facebook or Twitter time, or something else. There isn’t anybody who can’t find a spare fifteen minutes a day.
YOUR MEMORY SUCKS (AT LEAST MINE DOES)
You may think there’s no danger that you’ll forget to do your 15 minutes a day, but there is. Trust me, I’ve done it myself.
We need to remind ourselves to do it. One way is to link it to something we do already--something we like or need to do, so we never forget to do it. For instance, you might decide:
* I will not have breakfast until I’ve done the 15 minutes. Put a note on your box of cereal or on your fridge to remind you.
* I will not watch any TV until I’ve done the 15 minutes. Put the note on your remote control.
* I will not look at Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest / Whatever until I’ve done the 15 minutes Put the note on your computer screen or your tablet or phone.
* I will not put on my shoes until I’ve done the 15 minutes. Put the note on your shoes.
You can also set an alarm, or authorize somebody in your household to remind you every day, or make a pact with a buddy to phone or email each other every day, or email yourself at the end of every day. It’s a good idea to use two or three methods at first, to make sure that you’re remembering to do the fifteen minutes. Eventually it will become a habit, but that may take six weeks or more.
Also set up a way to remind yourself to review your progress once a week and set out the plan for the next week. Put it into your calendar, add an alarm to that day, schedule a call with a buddy so you can compare progress and support each other in setting up the following week, or whatever works best for you. It may take a few tries until you find the method that works every time.
STEP THREE. Fill in the following:
To remind myself to do this every day, I will: _________________________________. If that doesn’t work, I will:________________________________________. To remind myself to review the week and set out the plan for the next week, I will:___________________________________________.
If you ever lapse, take that as a signal to try something else, not to give up doing the 15 minutes!
STEP FOUR. Do it now.
I lied. There are really only three steps, but I’m making the fourth one do it today. Ideally, NOW. Skip reading the rest of your emails for the next fifteen minutes. If you haven’t filled in the sentences above, that can be your fifteen minute task for the day. That, plus setting up whatever kind of reminders you’re going to use. If you’d like to have a goals buddy, forward this email to them and invite them to join you.
Did you notice that I asked you to fill in the sentences “in writing”? You need to write or print out those completed sentences and keep them where you can see them every day. That’s an important part of the method, please don’t skip it.
WHAT ABOUT STUFF THAT CAN’T BE DONE IN 15 MINUTES A DAY?
By putting in lots of daily short sessions, you will gain momentum. You will see your goal starting to become real. You will feel proud of yourself. You will have greater motivation to keep going.
You may reach a point where 15 minutes a day isn’t the ideal way to spend time on your project. That’s fine, then you can get creative about how to find bigger chunks of time. Maybe you will decide to spend 30 minutes every other day. Or maybe you will be excited enough by your progress to give up an hour a night of TV in favor of working on your project. Or maybe your project now seems more desirable than however you used to spend your Saturdays, and you give it a full day every week.
The process will be basically the same, though. For every new chunk of time, you decide on something to give up, you work out each week what you’re going to do, you set up reminders for yourself, and you keep going. The closer you get to your goal, the more exciting and easier this gets.
ANY QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about how you can apply this to your own situation, feel free to email me:[email protected]. If I can help, I will.
Business Insider interviewed Chris Scott, who came up with a funny tweet that was re-Tweeted thousands of times, often without attribution.
People changed the wording slightly and then sent it out as their own.
One comedian even accused him of stealing the joke, claiming he'd said it on TV. When challenged to be specific about when he'd said it, he withdrew the accusation and apologized.
What I find most interesting is Scott's interpretation of the phenomenon:
"It's a genuinely fascinating and foreign concept to me, to see something that you connect with on some level and then decide, 'Well, that's mine now.' My hunch is there's a sizable chunk of people who don't really grasp what plagiarism is or why it's wrong, and they kind of regard Twitter and social media as this giant free-for-all where everybody's just constantly taking and posting whatever they want from whoever they want."
One could argue that since people are not benefitting financially from their Tweets (nor are those who are plagiarising them), this is not such a big deal. What is a big deal, though, is that this attitude spreads easily to appropriating content in general, including going to pirate sites to download material that is essential to the financial survival of the people who created it.
I don't know whether this attitude can be reversed, but writers and other creators will need to find a way to deal with it. Many musicians have turned to live performance as their primary source of income, but I don't think too many people will pay us to read our novels to them.
Being of German background, I may have a bias toward "the rules", but today I read an interesting post by Richard Koch, author of several books on the 80/20 Principle, in which he makes this point:
Events are more random than we think; business and life are profoundly uncertain.
He says often we get so caught up in the supposed rules of life (to get a good job, get a college education; to make money, work hard, etc.) that we miss it when opportunities not in line with those assumptions pop up.
If you want to be more open to benefitting from the opportunities that arise, he advises exposing yourself to a lot of different people and situations. Leave aside your preconceptions and be willing to takes risks:
"Take risks with limited downside, and cut your losses if the bet is going nowhere. For example, change jobs, change where you live, change the people you mix with, accept daring projects that may not succeed but could move your fortunes up a gear. Divide your life into more discrete chunks."
I think we tend to overestimate the risks associated with trying something different, and we hang on too long to things that aren't working...or is that only me? His approach feels like it would be more fun.
It reminds me of one of the sayings of Seneca: "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult."
Koch has some tips that may increase your odds of happening upon opportunities:
* In terms of your career, find companies and individuals who you think may be about to take off and align yourself with them.
* Build up unique skills and be alert to new situations in which these could make a major contribution. That will make you valuable to the aforementioned companies and individuals.
* When you do get a break, don't hesitate. Jump in, give it everything, and if it doesn't turn out to be a winner, cut your losses without regrets.
The few times I've rolled the dice--moving to Los Angeles to get into writing for TV and film, moving to London when I got tired of LA, approaching a publisher out of the blue--have paid off nicely. Of course a few haven't, but in general the evidence favors being willing to take risks. I wonder whether your experience has been similar.
What would you do if you dared a bit more? What might be the payoff? What are the actual risks? Could this be the time to give it a try, not forgetting about having a way out if it doesn't work?
I'm working on a new online course, Profit from Your Creativity, and one section is about mindset.
One myth I'm writing about is that somehow people who publish your book or give your paintings space in their gallery are doing you a favor. Let's go to the supermarket to see if this is true...
At the supermarket you are confronted by an entire aisle of cereals. There are more cereals competing for your attention than can ever win it. It's a buyer's market.
If you choose the shredded wheat, are you doing it a favor? No, you're choosing it because you think it will taste good and/or be good for you.
It's a win for the shredded wheat and for you.
DON'T MAKE THE CORN FLAKES CRY!
Should the corn flakes take your rejection personally? Does it mean they should slink back to the Kellog's factory, knowing that nobody else will ever buy them?
Silly, right? Yet that's the attitude a lot of writers and artists have when their work is rejected.
All it means is that the person who rejected your work doesn't get it. It's their opinion that your work can't make any money for them. They may be right. If they are not excited about your work they wouldn't be any good at selling it to a publisher (if the rejector is an agent, for instance). By rejecting you, they are disqualifying themselves. They have shown they were not the business partner you were looking for.
If they do accept your work, they are doing it because they think they can profit from it. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but it underlines the fact that it's a transaction from which both parties can profit. It's a relationship of equals.
WHAT KIND OF GIRL SCOUT ARE YOU?
You may think that your attitude is not that important--it's the work that will determine whether or not it is accepted. However, the way you present it, for instance in a query letter or pitch, can have a major influence as well. Certainly it can influence whether or not the other person ever reads or looks at what you are offering. Three girl scouts will show you how that works.
At some point or another you've probably been approached by Girl Scouts selling cookies. Imagine three Girl Scouts with three different opening lines and think about how you'd respond:
Girl Scout A: "Hi, we're selling cookies. You don't want to buy any, do you?"
Girl Scout B: "Hi, we're selling cookies. Do you want to buy some?"
Girl Scout C: "Hi, we're selling cookies. Which do you like better, chocolate chip or brownies?"
It's really easy to agree with Girl Scout A: "No, I don't, thank you."
Girl Scout B's approach is better, but it still makes it very easy to say no.
Girl Scout C doesn't give me the chance to answer no right away. Instead, she prompts me to think about cookies. Which do I like better? If I like brownies, her question probably makes me think about (and maybe visualise) eating a brownie. Yes, please!
Unfortunately, a lot of writers are like Girl Scout A. Their query letters include negatives, like "My work hasn't been published yet, but...." Or in a pitch they say something like, "I haven't worked out all the details yet, but..." If you do that, nobody is going to buy your cookies.
THESE COOKIES WILL [not really] CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
I'm not suggesting that you go to the other extreme: "This book will outsell Harry Potter because it's the most exciting blah blah blah!" That's a turn-off too. It smacks of delusion or desperation, neither of which looks good on a writer or artist.
Instead, you want to use a form of presentation that reflects your enthusiasm for your project...and a potential win-win for equals.
(Would you like more useful information about writing, all the way from the idea through to publication? You'll find lots of useful help in my book, Your Writing Coach. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.)
Many artists have remarked that having constraints (like deciding to use only two colors in a painting or no more than 1000 words for a short story) often leads to more creative results than unlimited freedom does.
Few have thought that constraints (such as a limited budget or limited time) relating to how they market their work could be an advantage, too. However, that can be the case. For example, let's say you're a self-published author who wants to promote your e-book.
What you don't have is an inside track to anybody in the media, a lot of money to spend on marketing, a marketing background....actually, probably the list is long, so let's focus on what you DO have and how that could be put to use.
A CAR. You could put an ad for your book on the car. Will the ad sell many copies? Probably not. Will it get attention from local media? Quite possibly.
CLOTHES. You could get some t-shirts made up that promote your book. What events in your area are likely to be covered on TV? How can you be sure you're right up front?
FRIENDS AND RELATIVES. You could organize a brainstorming pizza and beer night. You supply the pizza, they brainstorm how they could help you get attention for your book. Who do they know that might be useful? Do any of them own a business (like a coffee shop) where your book could be on sale?
A LIBRARY. Find out whether the library would be interested in having you give a talk about your book and the writing process.
A LOCAL BOOKSTORE. All right, sadly not everybody has one of these, but if you do, check whether they'd like you to do a talk/signing. Again, it may not sell too many books but might get you coverage in the local paper.
A SENSE OF HUMOR. Can you make an amusing video about your book to put on YouTube, your website, and other sites? Will it go viral? Probably not...but you never know.
STUFF YOU WANT TO GET RID OF. Instead of a yard sale, how about sponsoring a giveaway with intentionally crappy prizes? Again, the kind of thing that might get some media coverage if it's creative and amusing enough.
A LOCAL RADIO STATION. Local radio talk show hosts get desperate for something to talk about. Probably they're not eager to talk about a book, but pull a stunt like the ones mentioned above and they may be. Don't underestimate the value of getting coverage from a local newspaper or radio station. Larger media often pick up stories from local outlets.
A BRAIN AND CREATIVITY. You are creative enough to write a book (or paint a picture, or whatever you do). How else can you get creative about marketing what you create?
(I've written two books you might find useful: Do Something Different, published by Virgin Business Books with an introduction by Sir Richard Branson, and Marketing for Entrepreneurs, published by Pearson. Both are available from your favorite bookseller.)
The sales of paperback non-fiction have been declining and it's easy to assume that this is the result of the advent of e-books. However, figures provided by Neilsen Book at a recent digital publishing conference suggests that the decline started before that.
The most likely reason is that so much information is available free on the internet. People who formerly might have bought a reference book look to Wikipedia and other online sources now.
I think this suggests an important lesson for anybody who is writing a non-fiction book, namely that you have to make sure that either the content or the presentation of your material is different from what people can find easily on the net.
Here are a few ideas on how you could differentiate your non-fiction book.
DECIDE: BEAT THEM OR JOIN THEM?
Authors have responded to the rise of internet content in two ways: the "if you can't beat them, join them" strategy, which entails having bite-size content, colorful graphics, sidebars with comments that resemble Tweets, etc.; or the "do what they can't/don't do" approach, going in-depth and being unashamed about demanding the concentration of the reader.
I believe that books that aren't clearly in one camp or the other are less likely to succeed.
BRING YOUR PERSONALITY
Bring your personality to the subject. The one thing you can offer that nobody else can is your unique experience or perspective. When appropriate, include anecdotes and other personal touches.
A good example of this is the Freakonomics books, which make a traditionally dry topic (economics) entertaining and bring in the authors' experiences and views. The first book was subtitled: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.
FOCUS ON THE DIFFERENCES
In your marketing, including the title, cover image, blurb, etc., reflect what makes your book different. Again, Freakonomics had a cover very different from that of most books on economics.
THINK ABOUT SEQUELS
Finding people who buy your book is hard work, so think ahead to how you can keep them and what else might interest them. It could be a sequel or just a related topic. If you put your website address in the book and offer the reader an incentive (e.g., an extra chapter) for signing up, you'll have a list of people to whom to market your next book. If you already have the next book in mind you can mention it in the current one.
Here's an example, continuing on from Freakonomics, of a book that gives more of the same:
Then they went on to a book that uses what went before but goes off in the direction of self-development:
CONSIDER OTHER FORMATS
Rather than assuming that a book is the best format for your project, consider whether other ways of presenting it might be better or easier to market. For example, although I've written a number of books on writing, my next project will be an online course. That allows me to integrate videos, audios, quizzes, etc. I will also be offering free webinars to people who buy the book, which will allow me to interact, answer their questions, and of course let them know of future projects that could be of interest to them. This creates a product with added value to the user, and also allows me to charge more than I would for a book.
BE CREATIVE
All of these tips have one thing in common, namely that they encourage you to be creative about how you approach a marketplace in flux.
d
At TheDigitalReader.com, Nate Hoffelder summarizes the challenge that self-publishers (and even traditional publishers) are facing:
"As 2014 draws to a close indie publishing finds itself at a crossroad. There's a growing consensus that the supply of indie e-books is beginning to exceed demand, leading to the textbook micro-economics result [falling revenues]."
WHAT WORKED ISN'T WORKING
He lists three conclusions:
"One, the days of releasing the first title in a series as permafree have passed. All that accomplishes now is to flood the market and make it harder to sell e-books.
Two, the idea of writing and publishing your next book as the best marketing strategy is also going to have to be reconsidered.
Three, getting into or out of Kindle Unlimited isn't nearly as important as some thought it was a few weeks ago. As I noted when I first reported on this story, this problem is affecting authors both in and out of KU."[Kindle Unlimited is a plan in which, for a monthly fee, readers get free access to many of the e-books available on Kindle. Authors have reported that joining this plan has resulted in lower sales and that the revenue they get from KU has not been enough to make up the difference.]
To this I would add that, for most authors, using social media to promote their fiction doesn't work unless they put an enormous amount of time and effort into it. Yes, you can do blog tours, take part in forums, have a blog about your book, etc. but all those face exactly the same problem as the books themselves: too many people doing the same thing.
Also, just as giving away your book in hopes that this will attract readers to other books you have written or will write doesn't work now, neither will lowering the prices--that will just result in a race to the bottom.
SO WHAT WILL WORK?
I don't have a magic plan, but I think based on what's happening now we can safely say to get attention in this ever more crowded marketplace you have to do something different. A few examples:
* Some authors have used crowdfunding as a way to create an audience for their book before they finish writing it. They set the financial bar low to help ensure that their target will be met. However, getting attention for your funding effort also requires a lot of effort, and works best for high-concept books. Two important elments are how creative you can be with the pitch video that you put on the crowdfunding site and the kinds of rewards you come up with for the people who pledge funds. (I'll be doing a series of posts on crowdfunding at some point.)
* When everybody is trying to use new media, it may be the right time to go back to using old media. Local newspapers, local radio, magazines, and other old media are still alive and get a sizable audience. The hook for getting their attention usually is something extreme about the work or about you. Think of oldest, youngest, longest, shortest, cheapest, most expensive, an unusual origin, an unusual experience, etc.
* There may be piggybacking opportunities, but usually you have to create them yourself. For instance, if you have written a romance in which one of the protagonists suffers from an illness or medical condition, is there a charity or support group that might help you promote the book if you donate 10% of your profits? Obviously this would work only if they felt your portrayal was accurate and might help promote understanding.
* There may be unusual sponsorship opportunities. For instance, hotels, restaurants and even train lines have had writers in residence. The main value isn't that residence, but the opportunity to leverage it for publicity. Again, you need to be proactive--why not suggest such a scheme to a business that's not doing it now, rather than waiting to hear about one and then having to compete for it?
DON'T LOSE HEART!
In any crisis, there is opportunity. I'm convinced that authors who are as creative about their marketing as they are about their plots and characters will find a way to cut through all the noise.
(To find some great techniques for coming up with creative ideas, see my book, Creativity Now, published by Pearson. For 100 case studies of unusual and inexpensive market techniques, see my book Do Something Different, published by Virgin Business Books. Both are available from your favorite bookseller.)
It's that THERE IS NO SECRET.
Another day, another offer in my email for aspiring writers (from the same people mentioned in my last two posts), with the usual implication that there are secrets of writing well that you don't know--but you will when you buy their book or course.
Here's part of the latest pitch from Trent Steele, this time for a course about writing for children:
"For years, the world’s greatest writers have followed a SECRET SYSTEM.
It’s a system that enables them to write well – and write QUICKLY.
And YOU don’t know about it!
Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” in just 2 weeks. Barbara Cartland wrote each of her books in a quick 5 days.
Yes – THESE writers know the SECRET of WRITING QUICKLY."
In the case of Dickens, the secret is that he was a supremely talented and disciplined writer. In the case of Cartland, it was that she wrote basically the same book over and over.
Writers tend to be open about their methods. I collected much of their advice (including that of Dickens) in my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass. Many of them wrote extensively about how they worked. I didn't come across any who wanted to keep it a secret.
AND HERE COMES THE HYPE!
Later in the pitch, we come to this:
"Inside 'How to Write a Children's Book in 14 Days' you’ll learn the PRECISE STEPS you need to follow to GUARANTEE a best-selling children’s classic – in under two weeks.
Let us savor that promise for a moment.
They GUARANTEE (their caps)...
that in under two weeks ...
you will write not only a best-selling children's book...
but a classic!
If you believe that, please contact me about a bridge I have for sale.
Then they suggest:
A book about writing, from people who don't know the difference between peak and peek, how could you go wrong?
Writing on the thnk.org site, Robert Wolfe makes an interesting observation about how storytelling can gain power when the teller reflects the hero's journey in the way he or she tells the story:
This journey is a structure underlying many of the world’s tales and myths, uncovered by Joseph Campbell. In short, the hero leaves the safety of the village on a quest and deals with failure and near death to eventually overcome his or herself, find the elixir, and come back a changed person. Stories are about going out on a limb and they are about change. So during the course of telling of a story, we ideally expect the storyteller to make that journey in front of our eyes. Hence we don’t want them or their bodies to be in a position of power throughout the telling. In a sense, it should be a journey away from safety, to where it is unknown and dangerous and then back to find the world is changed, either outside or within. From strength to vulnerability and back again, or to somewhere else altogether.
When I thought back to some of the best pitches and presentations I've heard, that rang true.
If the person doing the pitching hits you with 100% of their power right from the start, it can feel overwhelming, like they're over-acting or trying too hard. I experienced this once at a conference. At a time when most of the audience was still kind of waking up (many came in with cups of coffee), the first speaker of the day launched into her talk with maximum energy and enthusiasm and expected the audience to be with her right from the start. We weren't. Her attempts to get us to respond to her questions (which we all recognized as rhetorical anyway), fell flat. People near the doors fled.
In a presentation, the introduction of the speaker can be considered the 'normal' phase, the speaker coming on to the stage is the call to adventure. The speaker's initial nervousness reflects the impulse to resist the call, and spotting a friendly face in the audience is the equivalent of finding a mentor.
In a pitch, the small talk preceding the actual pitch is the normal, then the start of the pitch is the call to adventure, a time when it's natural to feel a bit nervous, and noticing that the other person is listening and perhaps nodding helps you feel you have an ally. At points in the story where there is maximum danger or conflict, your body language can reflect that as well.
In either situation, we can warm up to the story, tell it in the way that's natural to us and mirrors the content, gather strength from the attention of the audience, and finish strong.
