6 Ways to Gloss Over Your Fear of Public Speaking

Public speaking IS totally terrifying.
Public speaking can be terrifying.

If you suffer from Glossophobia, there’s a chance you’d rather die than speak in public. The good news is, there are lots of ways to get around this common fear. There’s no need to listen to that nasty voice in your head screaming They’re all going to laugh at you! because no one actually wants to laugh at you. And overall, being a solid speaker and delivering a quality presentation is completely within your hands. One day, Grasshopper, you will be a top contender in the World Championships of Public Speaking! (Yes. That’s a thing. Some people actually love public speaking – and the key to their success is practice!)

These 6 steps will put you on the path to success.

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Crowdfunding ABCs: G is for Goal Setting

We all know that proper goal-setting is a critical part of your crowdfunding campaign success strategy. There are a ton of great posts (like this one) on how to set goals, so I’m not going to belabor those basics.

On this subject, however, there are two concepts I’d like you to ponder in a bigger sense when you’re strategizing for your campaign.

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You Wrote a Book! Now What?!

Every 12 seconds, a new book is published (and 80% of statistics are made up on the spot). To be slightly outdated, but more accurate, in 2012 Bowker reported that there were 3,500 books published every day in the USA alone, and this figure doesn’t even include e-books. (I don’t math, so feel free to calculate the per-second volume in your own time!) Simply put: There is a ton of competition in the book marketplace. How can a new writer stand out with all this noise?

Is she your audience?
Is she your audience?
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Are You Taking Yourself Seriously as a Writer?

Remember: whether you’re writing fiction, creative non-fiction, graphic novels or a research paper on the mating habits of termites in Madagascar… (wait, whaaaaaat?!) there are some rules of the road that apply to everyone.  Today’s post comes from the co-founder of an exciting new literary venture out of Toronto, Nicole Brewer – hold onto your hats, check out her site, and when you’re done – get busy being a writer!


words(on)pages is an organization created by emerging artists for emerging artists, so that we can help writers and poets find the validation and acknowledgement that every budding writer needs to keep going. We want to give writers the opportunity to showcase their work online, in print, and in front of an audience, so that they can value themselves as much as we do. Often, the most difficult part of being an emerging writer is getting yourself noticed, so words(on)pages wants to give you a few pointers on what you can do to help get yourself out there. We may not be experts (this is an art, not a science!) but it’s been working for us.

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Venn Zen: Be One with Your Audience

I was mightily inspired recently by one of our authorpreneur clients who tested us on our theory of building an Audience Avatar. (I love it when they do that! It’s what keeps us on our toes.) I’ll get to that test in a moment, but first I want to share with you the two-phase process we go through. Step one was to have her coach (me, in this case) interview her as if she was one person at the centre of the most likely audience for her content.

I asked her to envision this person, give her a name, and describe her demographic characteristics. “How old are you?” I asked. “Where do you work? Are you married? Do you have kids?” We went on like this for about a half hour, exploring her Avatar’s life—her beliefs and behaviours, as well as spending, reading and communication habits. We dove into her key influencers, and discussed her hopes, dreams and fears.

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ABCs of Crowdfunding: L is for Launch

Everyone knows (or should know by now) that a minimum of 30% of your crowdfunding goal comes from those closest to you. From your peeps (ie. friends and family, the soccer team, the fellowship group, the gang at work).

The most successful campaigns have that in the can before they ever go live. Those savvy campaigners view the launch as something that happens in stages — a piece of the crowdfunding puzzle — definitely not just on campaign opening day.

Saturn V

You might define the launch period as having three distinct stages, just like the famous Saturn V rocket that launched all Apollo space missions in the US between 1966-73.

Stage I – Lift-Off: The Key Allies Launch

Think of anyone/everyone who might answer the call to do at least one of three things for you: (1) be a campaign gossiper (by that, I mean, everything you tell them about the campaign from now on, they promise to tell everyone they know); (2) be a campaign contributor; (3) be a campaign volunteer. Read More