Customer Reviews

The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a full-time professional speaker since 1999, doing between 120 and 150 events per year. I only recommend two "how to build a great speaking business" books when people ask. This book is one of them. It is entirely worth the investment and so is Jane.

Rhett Laubach
www.YourNextSpeaker.com
www.AuthenticityRules.com

I disagree with previous assessment of The Wealthly Speaker. I work with a "non-celebrity" speaker that speaks 90 times a year. And I read and re-read the book many times. The value of this book is that it provides an "insiders guide" to the speaking business. It provides a road map to building a solid business plan as in any busiess. Writing a few books and having a website doesn't cut it; just ask any meeting planner. To build a profitable speaking business it's critical to understand where to spend your time, money and energy. WS helps you avoid going in the wrong direction.

This has quickly become THE go-to resource for those interested in the business of speaking.
(I read in Jeff Lippincott's review the common perception from outside the MICE industry that only those who become famous through some other mechanism can make money speaking. While common, it is inaccurate).

For those who understand that the bulk of the fess paid to speakers around the world are paid to those who have made a career and a business of it, this is the ultimate insiders guide to how the most successful do it.

I don't know anyone amongst the 6,000 members of the various professional speakers associations scattered across 27 countries who would not agree that this is one of the most valuable resources in print for those wanting to participate successfully in this industry.

Warren Evans CSP and Hall of Fame
Founding Chairman
International Federation for Professional Speakers

If you want to become a paid, professional speaker, then you need to read this book. In it you'll learn a lot about the business of speaking as well as how to market yourself as a professional speaker. Most importantly you'll learn that what makes a speaker successful isn't just create content or even a great marketing plan, it's lot of practice and willingness to become the best possible speaker while developing great content and great marketing. This book helped me see what I was already doing right and what I could do even better to help me advance my professional speaking career. It also shows a realistic timeline for how long it can take to become a truly successful wealthy speaker.

Thank you Jane for writing your book, "The Wealthy Speaker". I am an online business manager and reading everything I can in order to learn how to provide the best service to my target market which includes motivational speakers. Your book gives every speaker at whatever stage they are at the tools they need to succeed in the motivational speaking industry.

This book will stay on my shelf always as a reference. Thank you again.

Brenda Violette
Online Business Manager
[...]

If you're looking for a book that tells you how to break into the speaking business, you might want to look elsewhere. Let me rephrase: Look elsewhere. I wish I could exchange this useless pamphlet for Alan Weiss's latest (I've read his other stuff. I should have stuck with him.)

If, however, you are writing your own "how to" book and you have come to realize that you have little useful information to provide the reader, DO buy this book as a perfect model on how to fatten up your book. I'm only half kidding about this.

Here are just a few of the things you'll learn about padding up a book:

*Lie about the length of the book! Simple, right? Under "Product Details," have it say that your book is 224 pages when, in reality, it's really only, say, 206 pages (plus another page and a half of acknowledgments).

*Use lots of PULL QUOTES, which--like pull quotes in a magazine--simply restate what's already been written on the page.

*Fill the book with A TON of workbook "exercises." On p. 121, for example, the author has decided to fill up most of the page with, no kidding, blank lines (above which it it reads, ironically, "The Value I Offer").

*Fill up lots of additional pages with blank lines by asking the reader to make promises and pledges.

*Include full pages of "forms." On pages 39 and 41, for example, the reader finds a couple full page box forms that are nearly or completely blank.

*Cartoons are good. The bigger the better, and--again--plenty of them. It need only speak obliquely to the material.

*LOTS of WHITE SPACE! Remember, there's no reason to write in one paragraph what could be, if spaced out and turned into another chart or figure, written in two full pages.

*Ask the reader lots of questions! This really works. Let's say you're writing a book on learning the latest suite of Adobe web site software. Don't just tell them how to use the software. Fill a half a page every now and then by writing, "Before you start learning about Adobe software, really search your soul about why you want to learn it. Are you ready to learn it? Have you done your research about this software and all that's involved in learning it?" Then, of course, follow up with a self-assessment checklist or chart for them to fill out.

*Finally, remember to tell lots of stories bragging about your company, your clients, the people you've worked with, etc. Invite friends to do the same, to tell their stories of going from being merely successful as a speaker to a bona fide "wealthy speaker." (Or whatever the story may be that fits your book topic. Don't worry if it's not applicable to the reader. You've already got their money.)

Take away all the filler and there may be a good 20 pages of useful information in this book, although it was nothing I hadn't read in other books on this topic.

I have been in the speaking business for almost 4 years. This book is written from the NSA "national speakers association" type model, and the focus is to get booked by Speakers Bureaus. In the Speak for fee model.
Before buying this book you should know there is another model that is much more to my liking, and much more profitable and that is a selling from stage model.
If you would like to learn about this business model I would recommend Dan Kennedy's or Ron LeGrand's course on public speaking.
Stephen Reynolds
[...]

It is apparent from Jane Atkinson's writing style that she genuinely wants to give you strong and solid advice that you need, rather than something you might merely want to hear. She has a talent for teaching. She backs up what she advises others to do by implementing her own marketing strategies on her own website. WS is an outstanding book that you will read through, and learn from, many times over.

As a paid professional speaker I've read many books on the speaking profession and speech writing but this one is a must have for anyone seriously thinking of choosing the speaking profession. Jane takes a very hands on approach in her step by step book and really details what level you need to attain to move to the upper echelon. Great info, thanks Jane.
Jake

Experts generally write, speak, and consult. It is easiest to become a writer first. Some speaking and consulting work will flow from it. And eventually you will get more speaking gigs and probably a lot of consulting work. This is the way it works in self-promotion.

In 2009 to promote your "speaking business" you have to think in terms of creating an online presence that presents you as an expert or authority. Experts get that status by authoring things and speaking to crowds. And this can be done online and offline. And the offline stuff can be described on your business Web site. When you meet someone you give them your business card that has the URL for your business Web site on it. People go to your Web site that will tell your story that qualifies you as an expert or authority. And it will tell it very well if you are savvy in self-promotion.

As you become expert and an authority in your field your time will become valuable. As a result you will demand higher fees for your speaking engagements. Ultimately if you keep rising in status and success your fees will get quite high and you will be known as a "wealthy speaker."

So having said all this did I like the book written by Jane Atkinson? Not particularly. I thought it overly glorified public speaking. And I thought it focused too much on public speaking as a business. In my humble opinion public speaking is not really a full time occupation. It is something done to make extra money. But it is not a main line of work for most. Famous people are asked to speak. Celebrities are asked to speak. US Presidents are asked to speak. And CEO's of large high cap corporations are asked to speak. These people are the "wealthy speakers." Does this book tell you how to become a celebrity or US President? No. So is it of much value. Probably not.

The book is a second edition of a book that first came out in 2006. See The Wealthy Speaker. It has an introduction and 7 chapters as follows:

0. A day in the life of a wealthy speaker
1. The wealthy speaker premise
2. Getting ready to launch
3. Phase I: Focus on positioning & the speech
4. Phase II: Marketing to reflect positioning & benefits
5. Phase III: Rolling out to your market
6. Speakers' bureaus & event planning companies
7. Growing your business beyond gigs

I found the book to be well written and well outlined. My only problem with it is that it doesn't provide much value to a reader. If public speaking interests you and you want to practice at it and get better at it, then consider joining a Toastmasters club or two in your neighborhood. Write a book or two and put on some seminars and workshops to promote the book. If you are persistent some day you will be an expert or authority in your field and you will be able to command big bucks for your talks if your expertise is something crowds are seeking to listen about. 3 stars!