Milford-on-Sea WI

On the evening of the 18th I spoke about 'My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer' to Milford-on-Sea WI. This is one of the biggest Women's Institutes in the New Forest and there were about 65 at the meeting. It's funny how often before a talk like this I will get someone asking if I find it daunting to speak to a large group of ladies. Not at all, in fact I once spoke to 500 at the Spring Council Meeting of the Avon Federation of Women's Institutes and really enjoyed the experience. In future posts, I might mention some of the audiences who were daunting...!

The Milford ladies were a great crowd and afterwards a number of them took the updated free 'Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers!' leaflet. Sales of my booklet 'Nick R's in a Twist!' were excellent - 22 copies!

Which brings me on to merchandising. The first item I offered widely at talks was the BBC double cassette 'Roy Hudd's Pick of the Huddlines'. I eventually sold all the copies I had ordered from BBC Worldwide but at £9.99, sales were low and slow (many of the groups I speak to live on pensions) The minimum order was quite an investment and the profit margin fairly small. Also, cassette players were starting to go out of fashion and it wasn't released on CD.

I then added a 24-page A5 photocopied booklet, 'The (Fairly) Little Book for Comedy Writers', comprised of handouts from my comedy writing evening classes and one-day workshops. These go well at Writers' Circles, U3As with Creative Writing groups and Literary Festivals where there are aspiring writers in the audience but their sales are obviously limited elsewhere. Nevertheless, I have sold a few hundred.

From very early in my speaking career I had people asking whether I sold a book of my anecdotes. For years, the intention was to market a live tape (I record virtually all of my speaking engagements - more about this in future posts) but there was the problem of finding someone to edit a compilation, the fact that the material was always being honed/added to and, as I have mentioned, the business of cassettes being replaced by CDs - should I offer both formats or just one, and if so, which?

Two years ago, I finally decided that it was best to offer my anecdotes in a booklet which would be easier to dip in and out of than a live recording, cheaper to produce and easier for me to carry around in large quantities!

One difficult part was deciding what style to write it in: did I reproduce these items word-for-word in a conversational manner as they have been delivered at my speaking engagements for years or put them down them in the more formal written style? In the end, I think I reached a happy compromise. I am very proud of  this collection; these true stories have been extremely good to me and I was particularly pleased with how the structure just seemed to fall into place.

'Nick R's in a Twist!' is a 10,000-word collection of humorous anecdotes which are all connected in some way with my speaking engagements, TV appearances or, to a lesser extent, my writing career. It also contains much of the unintentional 'found humour' that I have stumbled across over the years. Once again, it's a photocopied A5 booklet and it has a cover illustration by my late mother Jenny Walker who was a talented artist, writer and speaker. Sales are now pushing towards 1,000 copies, virtually all of them sold at my talks (never mind about the Harry Potters and Da Vinci Codes, I read recently that the average sale of a published book in the UK is around 250 copies a year!)

Not only does it give me extra income (there are some engagements where merchandising doubles my fee, thus making some of the lower-paying bookings more viable for me) but it gives the audience a souvenir (many people also seem to send them on to friends and relatives as well) and they get additional stories that I didn't have time for.

The merchandising can also be useful for the organisation that booked me, for example, those WIs who allow selling (not all do) take a very reasonable 10% commission. In the case of this talk, their percentage recouped the travel expenses they paid me plus a small portion of my fee so it really was a 'win-win' situation.

The point about merchandising is that it's an extra - you cannot make your talk a sales pitch. When I am delivering 'My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer' or 'The Power of Humour in Everyday Life', I mention the booklet and its title as part of a section about the humour of names. Then, just before the end of the talk, I briefly mention it again, along with the free leaflet ( I even have a humorous anecdote to introduce that with!). It also helps if I read the odd story from the book as part of the talk - a short reading varies the style of delivery, as I have mentioned before.

There is no way to predict the number of sales (I have spoken to 31 people and sold 18 booklets, I have delivered the same talk to 66 and sold 1! ) but overall it makes quite a difference and it's very satisfying to know that are all these pockets of the country where x number of people own something that I've written - even a smallish book is less ephemeral and more substantial than a quick sketch on a BBC show or a ghost-written joke for a DJ or speech for a businessman!

Just one other thing: even when selling a booklet at a very low price, I have had the first customer hand me a £20 note so I always take a float with me.

Public Speaking Tip #31: As well as providing additional income, selling an inexpensive item such as a booklet at your speaking engagements reinforces your message, gives an opportunity to include additional material and can be a great souvenir. It may also make lower-paying engagements more viable and a commission on sales can be most useful to the organisation booking you.

Do not make your presentation a sales pitch for whatever you are selling but naturally introduce it into your content a couple of times - including once towards the end of your speech.

Take a float with you - not everyone will have the right change!

Very important: when someone books you, always mention that you would like to offer a popular, inexpensive item for sale afterwards and ask if this is acceptable (the vast majority will say yes but it's just common courtesy to check).

All in all, I had a great evening at Milford. I must also thank the very charming Mrs Clarke who gave me a lift from New Milton station - and back to it!