Speaking for Profit and Pleasure: Making the Platform Work for You (Part of the Essence of Public Speaking Series)

I highly recommend this book!

Well written and well organized. The cover and the Editorial Review are honest reviews-refreshing. Book is neatly broken down into three parts. 1. Why People Speak 2. Growing as a Speaker and 3. The Business of Speaking. Chapter 7 (Avocational Speakers) is a wonderful review on how to take the first steps toward getting known as an excellent speaker and being in demand as a speaker locally. It evaluates the process in excellent detail and lists in Appendix F Some Associations That Engage Unpaid Speakers. A particularly targeted audience of this book is how to use Toastmasters International as the jumping off point and were to find other coaching and training. Then, how to step out of that organization to further develop along the path toward considering making money from public speaking. Different than other "Get Rich Quick by Speaking" books, he does not glamorize the process to sell a book. There is no wasted time on the subject of how the rich and famous can make money speaking. The book is devoted to finding a way to profit if you simply get good at speaking. He covers why you need to be an expert on something of interest to get chances to speak. The book helps you sort through the process of finding the topics, audience and eventually get paid. One book lists the currently popular topics for paid speakers and says do one of these topics. This book encourages you to find your own topic and work toward finding the audience that will pay for it. This task is covered in considerable detail. In a prior reviews of authors sponsored by Toastmasters International the books can be a disappointment. This one is not.