Speaking Tours with Author Doug Benton

Speaking tours are a great way to promote our books; garnering the interest of our potential audience without screaming, “buy my book!” This type of exposure can be a good platform for our future releases as well.

Author Doug Benton, as well as being a special friend, is the author of several works of poetry and what I would call, “directive storytelling” works of fiction. He is by far one of the most talented writers I have ever met.

I recently had the opportunity to briefly interview him regarding his upcoming speaking tour. I've posted the interview below.

Carol Denbow: Doug, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk a little with us about your upcoming speaking tour. You are the author of a couple books, one I am very familiar with, and the other is a new release. Can you start by telling us a little about each one?

Doug Benton: Well, let me start by thanking you for the opportunity to discuss my work. As you know, The Road To Veritas was published back in 2005. In fact, you were most helpful with that one. It is a collection of narrative poetry dealing with life, liberty and spiritual truth.

In November of 2009, my most recent book, The Hummingbird Goose was released. It is a book for children of all ages that addresses the age old myth of the hitchhiking hummingbird through a fable of faith in friends and family.

Carol Denbow: I understand you are attempting to organize a speaking tour. Are you focusing on one particular book or will you try to touch on each one?

Doug Benton: I will be primarily selling The Hummingbird Goose while developing interest in my next book.

Carol Denbow: How did you decide who exactly your audience would be for your books?

Doug Benton: Well, as it turns out, the market potential is still evolving. The preliminary feedback is far ranging. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised at how many parents and grandparents have seen fit to buy The Hummingbird Goose to be read aloud to kids.

Carol Denbow: How did you go about finding suitable locations to speak?

Doug Benton: As you know, I have a background in Christian broadcasting and ministry. Many of my friends and colleagues are pastors and workers in the recovery field. Referrals for guest speaking are a natural outcome of such association.

In addition to promoting The Goose, this tour is a preview of my upcoming non-fiction work A Most Excellent Way which chronicles the eight years of “hands-on-experience” my wife and I had sheltering those recovering from drug and/or alcohol abuse.

Carol Denbow: How many tour stops would you consider “enough” to see results?

Doug Benton: “Enough” is an elusive term. I expect that referrals will result in developing many venues for the tour.

Carol Denbow: How do you find is the best way to “break the ice” with an unfamiliar audience?

Doug Benton: Humor is a great “ice breaker,” Carol and you know how funny-looking I am.

Carol Denbow: LOL! How will you go about selling your books to your listeners?

Doug Benton: The topics of the tour will deal largely with the methods we discovered for restoring “self-respect” and its companion “self-discipline” to those abused by life. The preliminary speaking engagements in the Portland area have resulted in both book sales and in gathering contact information for my e-mail feature Living Bread Crumbs. I am building a data base for continuing contact with my readers.

Carol Denbow: Do you have any additional words of wisdom for our readers?

Doug Benton: Science has determined that the “Human Spark”, the quality that sets homo sapiens apart from other creatures, seems to arise from the development of language. Insight and imagination are shared through the documentation of language….writing. Authorship provides the “footprints” that mark the human path. What a privilege it is to leave tracks!

Carol Denbow: If our Blog visitors would like to learn more about your work, do you have a Website we can send them to?

Doug Benton: www.hummningbirdgoose.com or www.booksaboutabba.com

Carol Denbow: Now let’s ask the important questions. Have you any “concrete” scheduled tour stops you can share with our readers in the event they would like to come and listen? If not, where will they be able to see your tour schedule once it’s all organized?

Doug Benton: I have a radio interview with Light House Radio Group (K-Light) later this month and I will begin to develop the tour schedule after that. I will be publishing the incremental schedule by e-mail. If any of your readers would like to be included in future mailings you may contact me at dgbntn@hotmail.com.

Carol Denbow: Well I thank you Doug for sharing this information with us. F.Y.I., K-Light Radio is in Oregon). Hopefully by reading this, our Blog visitors will be able to get some ideas for their own speaking tours.

Read some of my favorite poems by Doug at http://www.booksaboutabba.com/poems.php, then come back here and leave your comments. If you are interested in knowing more about Doug Benton, please e-mail him or click on his Website.

Vol. 5 / Book length – Where do I go from here?

Some writers plan ahead as to how many pages their complete book will be. Others simply start writing and end when they feel their work is completed. Either way, before publishing, the number of pages will need to be decided.

Most commonly, the length of your manuscript determines what type of publication you have.

• Short story – under 15,000 words
• Novella – 15,000 to 29,999 words
• Short novel – 30,000 to 44,999 words
• Novel – 45,000 to 69,999 words
• Plus or super novel – over 70,000 words

There are some exceptions to these numbers. If you are writing a children’s book, you may have as little as 500 words, but many more illustrations, which might add to the total number of pages in the finished work. If your manuscript is less than 8 pages, it may not be worthwhile to publish as a book. In most cases, a minimum of 32 pages is needed for a hard cover book to have a solid “backbone.”

If you self publish and have your book printed, your layout and printing costs may vary depending on the books length. Many printers prefer a book to be set up with a particular amount of pages. Most books are printed on large sheets of paper which are folded into sections containing 8, 16, or 32 pages. Since printers generally set up the pages in segments of 8 at a time, keeping your book at an even number devisable by 8 can save you some money on printing costs. For instance, if your book is 144 pages in length, the printer may use 18 sheets to copy it (144 divided by 8 = 18). Printers may vary on the number of pages per sheet so it is important to discuss this with your specific printer.

When calculating the total number of pages in your finished book, don’t forget to add up the extra pages needed for components such as, your table of contents, introduction, index, etc. And by all means, don’t forget that book pages are two-sided.

Suggested Reading;

Modern Matriarch, The Ideal Length for Your Book
McGraw-Hill, Book Length

E-zine author; Carol Denbow
Author of; Are You Ready to Be Your Own Boss? (2006 Plain & Simple Books, LLC)
Stress Relief for the Working Stiff (summer 2008, Publish America)
A Book Inside, Writing, publishing, and selling your story
(Summer 2008 Plain & Simple Books, LLC))

Visit Carol’s new website at http://www.BooksByDenbow.Weebly.com

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