Apr 13, 2020
Hybrid Publishing
In today's episode Laura Gassner Otting talks about Hybrid Publishing For Professional Speakers.
Want to know about the difference between traditional publishing vs hybrid publishing for speakers? In today's interview James Taylor interviews speaker Laura Gassner Otting about:
- Hybrid publishing and great book pre-launch campaigns
- Getting momentum in your speaking career
- The three things you can maximize
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Read full transcript at https://speakersu.com/sl057-hybrid-publishing-for-professional-speakers-with-laura-gassner-otting/
James Taylor
Hi, it's James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today's episode was
first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world's
largest online event for professional speakers. And if you'd like
to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with
over 150 top speakers, then I've got a very special offer for you.
Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you'll be able to
register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that's right 150 of
the world's top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and
tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking
business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not
before you listen to today's episode. Hey, there is James Taylor
here and I'm delighted today to welcome onto the show Laura Gassner
orting. Laura is a keynote speaker and author who helps audiences
change agents, entrepreneurs, investors, leaders and donors get
past their doubts and in decisions that consign the great ideas to
limbo. she delivers strategic thinking well honed wisdom catalystic
perspective and for my decades of navigating change across
startups, nonprofits, political as well as the philanthropic
landscapes, and it's my great pleasure to have her join us today.
So welcome, Laura.
Laura Gassner Otting
Hey, James, it is great to be here.
James Taylor
So first of all share with us what's happening in your world at the
moment. Why has your focus just now?
Laura Gassner Otting
My focus just now is that I have a book that came out in April, so
six months ago from wherever anybody's watching this it was came
out about five months ago, and I have spent the previous five
months just basically, in an all out book launch promotional
campaign. So what's got my focus is podcasts, media speaking,
anything that I can do to get the book and the message in front of
people.
James Taylor
Now, I was looking earlier, this is a speaker the challenge a lot
of speakers have to think about is do they go the independent route
or do the Self Publishers say or do they go with a big traditional
publishers that we love penguins and random houses? Or do they do a
kind of a high Britt type of solution and people like yourself. And
I think like Phil Jones, for example, you've kind of found this
really interesting hybrid space, which is like it's really worked
for you. So tell us, you know, that's a big decision to make make
you in deciding you could have, you could have gone with one of the
penguins or big publishers, but you decided to do things in this
kind of hybrid fashion. So why did you make that decision?
Laura Gassner Otting
So this is actually my second book. The first book I wrote was a
book called mission driven. And it's about going from profit to
purpose, how to go from corporate work to nonprofit work. So I
spent my previous 20 years before getting into speaking as an
executive recruiter for nonprofit organizations. And I was
approached about 12 years into that to write this book. And I was
approached by Kaplan publishing, which is like a big, you know,
big, big house, but mostly textbooks. And that experience was sub
optimal, I would say and it was sub optimal because the truth is, I
was a nobody This is they were sort of pre cell into their, into
their expense. So, you know, they pre printed 20,000 books, they
sold them all out before the book was even written. I mean, that
was sort of how they did it. And when it came time to write the
book that I wanted to write, you know, batches of sort of your
voice and confidence and, and living a full life, I decided that I
was still a nobody. And, you know, I'm not Michelle Obama, I'm not
Bernie Brown. If I go with a wily or Random House or any of these
people, I'm not going to get their 18 right, like, I'm not going to
get the best marketers, I'm not going to get the best cover
designers I'm not going to get the best editors I'm not going to
get the best advanced I'm not going to do and so I'm already gonna
have to spend my money to, to to purchase outside of their process
people to market the book and a publicist and designers and an
editor and and so if I you know, you don't want to play with the B
team, you want to play with the a team. So if I'm going to do this,
I'm gonna do with the ATF to hire my own people. So I figured I'm
gonna have to do that. Then I might as well keep the you know,
massive part To the royalty. So with my book with Kaplan, I think I
make 17 cents a book with the book limitless that I did through
idea press, I, you know, I get, you know, $15 a book. So I spent
money on the front end because I knew that I could move a good
number of books. And I knew that the only way that I could move a
good number of books as if I had the a team, if I had a great
editor if I had a great cover design if I had a great publicist.
And so, for me, the decision really came down to do I need the
credibility from getting the stamp of approval of a Wiley or a
Random House or whoever. And, and then the second question is, if I
if I don't need that, then do how am I gonna? How am I going to
move the books and you know, what's the sort of outside team that
I'm gonna need to be able to do that? So for me, it was pretty
obvious decision.
James Taylor
But it's worked out really well for me. I see. I see the book
everywhere. I've seen it in a number of places and everything. I've
been to airports. I've seen the book as well. And I think I think
it's a really brave decision that you took as well. Because I've
been to a number of speakers as the keynote speakers, especially,
that have had the same experience with you maybe going through a
traditional publisher, and as you've seen wasn't quite sub optimal.
And you're thinking like, Do I go that way? Or should I just stick
with the way that we know this kind of tried and tested routes? And
so I commend you for taking that because it's really paid off for
your your speaking business. And obviously, your as an author?
Laura Gassner Otting
Yeah, well, and if it is, it was an especially brave decision,
because when I sold my executive search firm to the team that
helped me build it, I also sold the mailing list of 50,000 people
that the database, right, so I literally launched this book on day
one with a mailing list of zero people. So how
James Taylor
did you build that list? I mean, that's worrying because I could
you know, for something for most of those people that do this, that
the hybrid model that you've done, they they have a they have a
date many years ago in a big list and they're able to and that
they're speaking to conferences, they can buy 1000 2000 copies of
the book. So how did you go from Zero, building that list back
up.
Laura Gassner Otting
So, um, you know, it's funny because I hired a publicist and the
publicist said, We have never seen a pre launch campaign as
successful as yours. How did you do it? Like, tell us a joke,
because every one of our other authors, every one of our other
publicists in our house, needs to know how to do it. And I said,
honestly, I think I think I just showed up for people for the last
48 years of my life. And when I asked them to show up for me, they
did and they did in a really big way. And so I, you know, I think
we hear a lot about how we have to have all these, like, pre
launch, you know, bonus buys and things like that. And, and, you
know, I had a conversation with clay bear who I know, you know,
and, you know, what he said to me is, look, nobody's going to go to
your website and say, Well, I was going to buy one book, but now
that I see that I could get this and then the other all by 100,
right. That's pre launch bonuses don't really work that well. What
worked was me calling people up and saying, Listen, I need you to
buy this book, right? Like I put together a video, where it took me
like 50 times to try to like do the video that was like, hey, today
is the launch of the pre launch campaign and I need you to buy this
book, because it's really hard for me to ask for something that I
need. But finally, you know, the camera guy who I worked with on a
number of other stuff was like, Okay, listen, let me just be super
goofy. Let's take one take with you just being like a total
goofball, get it out of your system, and then we'll do a real one.
So he presses record and I start singing happy birthday to myself,
because the pre launch day is February 15, six weeks before the
book comes out on April 2, which is, you know, six weeks, right?
Like that's exactly so what this thing is going to drop on my
birthday. So I do this thing where I'm like Happy birthday to me
and I start singing. I'm like, here's what I want for my birthday.
Please preorder the book and here's why pre ordering the book
matters. And I explained to people not just I want you to do this,
but actually, pre ordering a book helps an author because it shows
all the bookstores that this book can move which tells them that
they should buy it and they should put it in a good place and
people can Under, stay on that. And so when I did that super goofy
thing, and then he hits, you know, he hits you know, turn to the
camera like, please tell me you got that and he's like I did and
then he starts packing up his camera and I was like, wait, like we
have to do the serious one. He's like, No, no, no, that's the one
Trust me. So I think what happened is I went out and I put it on
social media and I talked to everybody I knew and I was just me. I
wasn't Hi, I'm Laura Gassner Adi and I'm the author of limitless I
was just like, Okay, this is ridiculous. I need you to do this one
thing for me, please. People did. So I think being yourself I think
asking for what you need. I think explaining why it actually
matters. It's not just about book sales. It's about book sales in
this pre sale moment, right, like people got it and they understood
the logic behind it and then they felt like they could be part of
the success like people want to be on on the boat with you. They
don't want to just celebrate with you after be like, Oh, great. I'm
waving to you. You know from the side while you're on the parade
like they Want to be on the float with you? They want to feel like
they're part of the growth and the victory and the success. And I
think I allowed people to see all the behind the scenes in a way
that made them feel part of it. But you
James Taylor
said two things. They're so powerful one was the why coming into
the white piece, you know, obviously, like Simon Sinek start with
why you can have coming in with that, why, why now, why why is this
important? The second point, was that you, you're talking about
campaigns, and I guess this is where you have a little bit of a
superpower here, because you have come from the world of
understanding or being more political camp, like political
campaigns and donor campaigns, fundraising campaigns. And it's
something I see a lot from me some speakers but definitely from a
lot of authors who are maybe not listing speakers is they think in
terms of promotions, not in terms of campaigning and over a longer
period of time and how things stack and how you build up like like
any good campaign will do. So. Did you have if I think I've been
avoiding a couple political campaigns in the past and I Go into
those offices campaign offices and they have a big board where they
have that this is the message board. This is the thing that this
this what we do today that witness that. So did you for your
campaign for your book and trying to get this message out? Did you
run it? Did you use experience you've had from politics and
fundraising to kind of map out a campaign?
Laura Gassner Otting
Yeah, it's sort of interesting. You asked that because right, as we
were getting on this call, I was literally just texting a friend of
mine who's running for congress in the United States. My Local
congressperson, Joe Kennedy is going to announce in two days that
he's running for Senate, right. So there are as you might imagine,
lots of people scrambling around in my district to run for
Congress. So I have like five friends that are running for
Congress. And one of them I talked to like a month ago and I
already told her I was like on her campaign. I'm on her finance
committee, whatever she needs. So yesterday, she texts me She's
like, okay, it's starting I need to raise $100,000 today like on
day one because that shows all the other people get out of the race
cuz I got this right like you have to, there is something about
that strong. On show of support early on, that places you in
position where people say, Oh, I want to be part of that, because
this is this is the winner like everybody wants to join the winner.
So I it was important to me to think in that mentality that it's
not just like a slow burn, like it's got to come out. And it's got
to be something because like I said in the beginning, I'm a nobody,
like people don't know me. So like my book, debuts at number two on
the Washington Post bestseller list right behind Michelle Obama,
but I'm like 9 million books behind her. But the fact that I get
introduced now on stage as key and it's not just number two in the
Washington Post bestseller list, it's number two on the Washington
coast bestseller list, right behind Michelle Obama, right. Like I
get introduced that way everybody in the audience is like, Oh,
she's awesome before I even speak, right. So there's something
about having, you know, like, you know, those speakers that get on
stage and they're like, they tell a joke, and then the joke doesn't
quite land or like, Come on, guys. That was funny, right? Like, you
could like smell the desperation and it's terrible. The same way
you can like feel the momentum of a winner, right and everybody
wants to be part of that circle. They want to
James Taylor
feel like the big the big mo the big momentum.
Laura Gassner Otting
Exactly. And so I knew that if I was either I was going to either I
was going to do this book and then I was going to like huffing
around and create some cells in the back of the room. Or I was
going to our I was going to have it launched in a way that the
conferences wanted to be in the bookstore, right? And they're like,
and after the speech, you get a book signing with Laura or the
first 50 people get her book, like I wanted it to be a hot
commodity. I wanted to be something that people felt special that
they had. And so I wanted to make sure that I launched it in a way
where it's sort of you know, you get one opportunity to launch
Well, I guess you have to because you have the paperback but if
you're a paperback author, then you get one. So I knew that I had
one shot to just drive this as much as I could. And what I realized
in that process was that it's it's, it's this moment that I'm
calling wonder Hill, right? Like it's amazing that anybody wants to
spend even five minutes thinking Talking about a really interesting
that I wrote. And also, I've never been so exhausted in all my life
like and I've had two babies and run three marathons, right? Like,
it is wonderful and it's hell, it's wonderful. But wonder hell is
that place where the burden of potential comes and like unpacks
itself right smack in the middle of your ego and it's like, here I
am. Serve me. And your burden of potential is only as big as your
ego. And what I realized is that conference planners and and media
people, and and, and publishers and anybody, they like somebody
that doesn't say, oh, would you please maybe think about putting on
your stage, they like people that are like, I'm awesome. I'm gonna
rock it. I'm gonna come and I'm gonna transform your audience. You
should be lucky to have me. I mean, obviously, I don't say to
that.
James Taylor
Because they're there, especially in the event planner side that
always trying to de risk things for them. They're usually quite
risk, there's a risk averseness because they don't wanna get fired
if they're booking a speaker. So they think like, As many proof
points, as you have you mentioned, like the Wall Street Journal,
being on that list just before Michelle Obama, and all those things
that you're placing there, and they feel that this this momentum is
this movement behind you. That's so it makes it you know, when
they're comparing you with maybe two other speakers like, well, we
need to go with Laura because it feels it just feels that this has
to it. This one has the momentum.
Laura Gassner Otting
Right when I started my executive search firm, I had left a big, a
big fancy brick and mortar, very traditional search firm. And I
stole basically the next generation of leadership from all the
other traditional search firm. So we were basically super awesome
high brand search firm, but like a whole lot cheaper, right?
Because I figured out a way to do it differently. I we were a
virtual firm, I was paying my people differently. I was charging my
clients differently. I left because I knew that I could do the work
better and faster with more integrity and more profit than these
big bloated you know, bureaucratic organizations. And for a while
we were only getting like 50% of the searches that we pitched him I
couldn't figure out why we weren't getting all of them. It was so
logical to me. Like you either hire this group and you pay a
premium or you hire us, which are the same people who did the work
there. And you do it for a lot less. Why aren't you hiring us? And
what I realized is that nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM,
right? Like, you hire IBM, and they screwed up and you go, I don't
know, we hired the big guys, and they couldn't do it. But if you
hire like the little local, whatever, and it doesn't work, it's
like, oh, well, clearly, you took a chance, and you made a wrong
decision. And so I had to figure out a way to have a show up, as,
you know, this sort of super impressive, there's no risk involved,
we're going to do the work and we're going to be amazing. And I
think that's sort of the same. That's sort of the same mindset that
I'm bringing to the to the writing and the speaking is the like, I
got you, right, like I understand you, I understand your audience.
And not only is there no risk, it's actually going to be better
than, you know, the traditional stuff that you've had before
because that's really boring. So that means that I need To have the
kind of publicist that was going to get me on the Today show when
Good morning American profiled in real simple and Forbes and
Harvard Business Review and all the like, you know, we live in this
pedigree centric society where everyone's like, oh, okay, checkbox,
checkbox checkbox, right? Like, you know, the reason that I'm able
to walk into certain rooms because I was a presidential appointee
in the White House checkbox, right. I didn't go to Harvard, but I
have that, like, you have to have there. There are these. There are
these like shortcuts that people have in their minds? And I think
it's really important that you figure out who is my target
audience? Who do I want to sell to? And what are the credibility
markers that they're looking for. And once you know, those, then
you can sort of build, then you can build towards having those and
you don't have to have all of them, you just have to have the ones
that your audience wants. So taking
James Taylor
almost a reverse approach to that. If someone's watching this just
now, and they're they're looking at this, whether it's you're
you're into what you're saying just now or any of the other guests
we've had on summit, and it's 150 Have them in there. And they're
kind of feeling overwhelmed, frankly, because, well, Laura, she got
his publicist and she had this thing, this thing. And it feels, it
can feel quite overwhelming, especially if you're just getting
started. Maybe you're in that executive job just now and you're
wanting to make that place and become that speaker. where someone
is watching that is that is what's in their gut. That's what
they're feeling just now. Where do they start? Where should they
go?
Laura Gassner Otting
So the very first talk I ever gave, was a TEDx talk. So I was I I
sold my company to my team. And then I had this like, super crisis
of identity, like Who am I when I'm no longer Laura Gassner wedding
CEO. Here's my business card. And so I just started writing a blog
and I was just writing about stuff that you know, I was passionate
about, and Tamsin Webster who has been one of the guests on this on
the show. She is the executive producer of TEDx Cambridge. And she
called me up one day. And I was driving in my car. And I had been I
had been coaching her about how to leave her company and start her
own thing. And so I saw the phone ring, and I knew she was in the
throes of this. And I was like, Oh, no, I got to pick up the call,
even though I'm driving, because she might be having an emergency.
So I pick up the phone, my kids in the in the passenger seat. So I
entered on speakerphone. And she's like, Hey, I saw this latest
blog that you wrote, would you consider doing a TEDx talk on it?
And I was like, No way. No way. No, how I have no interest in
speaking that scares the hell out of me. I know. Thank you Goodbye,
and hang up the phone. Of course, my kids in the passenger seat.
And he turns to me, he's 15 years old at the time, and he's like,
so Mom, don't you always tell me I have to do things that scare
me.
James Taylor
She was shamed by your child,
Laura Gassner Otting
always telling me that life starts on the other side of the fear.
Don't you always tell me if it doesn't challenge me? It doesn't
change me. It's like so come on, mom. What gives? So six weeks
later, I'm standing on the TEDx stage. No notes. No net theatre
lights 2600 people go. So you don't have to start with like big
money, big publicist, big whatever. I didn't have a speech already.
I had a blog post. And it was interesting and it turned into
something. So all of a sudden, I had this TEDx talk, which had
really great footage really great. You know, it's a beautiful film.
And then that got a little bit of attention. And then I got asked
to give the keynote talk for the nonprofit symposium conference in
Boise, Idaho, the Idaho nonprofit Center's annual like their
statewide gathering, and they offered me 1500 dollars and an
airline ticket and I thought, I've never been to Boise before. Why
not? So I went and then after that, I got offered another gig and
another gig and another gig and they came with more and more and
more money. And that was the point where I was like, wait, this is
a job. People do this. Tell me more about this job right get on
stage. I talk about things about which I'm passionate and you pay
me for them. That sounds awesome. But what I did is in each one of
those, I invested a little bit of money to hire somebody to film
them. You can get a pretty cheap film crew in Boise, Idaho to come
film you speak for 45 minutes. And so I was able to take footage
from this ragtag bunch of like four or five very early, very early
speaking gigs, where they filmed me and got some audience reaction
B roll, and I put it together in a speaker reel. And then all of a
sudden, I was like the Wizard of Oz, right? Like, don't look at the
man behind the curtain. She's only been speaking for like 14
seconds. But in this in the speaker, I look, I've been doing it for
10 years. Right? So that was sort of one flank of the Armada of
trying to figure it out. And then the other one was, if I'm going
to get paid to do this, like a professional, I should probably get
trained to do this, like a professional. Right, so I invested more
with Tamsin Webster to help me build out a team keynote I invested
with Michael and Amy port to help me figure out how to develop you
know, on stage presence and improv and performing, you know, all of
this stuff. And so and then, you know, I got involved in speaking
spill. And you know, and I and I just got to know, I started going
to NSA conferences, and I just got to know other people and I got
to study them and watch what they did. So on the one hand, I didn't
wait till I was legit before I started filming myself as legit.
Here's the secret. If you're giving a 45 minute or a 30 minute or a
20 minute talk, you don't have to have 20 great minutes, you need
like three different one minute bits that are really good that you
can then move into different things I gave a talk in, in Las Vegas
where they wanted me to do the more junior people in the morning
and the more senior people in the afternoon. So rather than go to
lunch and sit and eat rubber chicken, I went back to my room I
changed into a different outfit, and then I went back into the
second one. So I have because I was in two different rooms with two
different backdrops so suddenly I have two more speaking gigs.
catch up on my speaker reel that make me look real. So these are
the things you can do. You can do your dress rehearsal in one
outfit and then your you know the soundcheck in one outfit and have
somebody film it, and then do the actual gig and a second outfit,
and then suddenly you have more gigs and more stages. So it's
really a matter of like, make yourself look legit before you feel
like you're really legit. You just need like three or four or five
different bits. You don't need to nail three or four or five
different keynotes, and at the same time work on figuring out how
to nail a 45 minute keynote. So you have to do both at the same
time. It's not it's not waiting and I think most people wait until
they've perfected it before they hire the film crew.
James Taylor
So once once you were kind of getting out there you're now speaking
you're traveling all over the place and doing your speeches. And
the often comes a point with with speakers where the the start to
then decide what kind of business model that they want to have in
their speaking because there's so many, there's so many different
flavors that you could so when you were kind of starting Decide,
okay, this is fun. I'm enjoying this, I feel like I have a I have
ability to be able to do some do some really high level. Now, what
is the model, the overall business model? whether other speakers
that you saw out there you said, I liked the way that they've built
their business or there's particular parts or what what was the
decision you made in terms of your kind of revenue streams how you
wanted to what you want to speaking to do for you.
Laura Gassner Otting
So that's been a little bit of a moving target. Because I've you
know, I've only been doing it, as I mentioned for a couple years,
so I'm really still pretty new in this in this world. In fact, I,
in fact, I gave that a bit three years now. So I gave that TEDx
talk in September of 2016. So it's, I'm, yeah, you're I am three
year anniversary of being a speaker. And I'm like, you know, making
money now. It's like, so it takes a little time. In the beginning.
I really thought that it would it would be like what I be speaking,
I would sell from stage I get hired to coach, you know, I would do
some writing. And I really wasn't expecting to write a book. And
then I realized, the people who are there, there are several miles
of people there people who just get on stage two, three times a
week, every week, and they speak. And that's all they do. And
that's, I think that's a really good business model for some
people. I think I would go crazy if I did that, because I, I, I
don't know how to bring the energy two to three times a week. You
know, in the same way for that, I think that's kind of exhausting.
I also have 15 and 17 year old at home. And so they're at that age
where they don't really need me. But when they need me, I better be
around. So I do want to be home a little bit, you know, a little
bit more than I'm gone right now. Then I also realize that I'm not
scalable. So, you know, when I ran my professional services
company, I there was there was a lot of work that I could do, but
we could only grow so much until I hired other people to sort of be
proxy versions. Me, and if what you're selling from stage is you,
that's kind of hard to do that, you know, unless you get big enough
that you're like licensing how you do the work and I, I've already
built that business, I don't want to build another business in that
way. What I really realized that I that I like to do is I actually,
I actually love media. I love those moments of the two things I
love most I love doing live national TV, right? Good morning,
America, today's show, etc. like asking questions of people on TV
and having them raise your hand or not raise your hand and not
tirely knowing what they're going to say but being pretty sure. And
I love live coaching onstage bringing somebody up handing them the
mic and being like, Here's 60 seconds, tell us your problem. And
we're going to solve it together in front of like 5000 people,
those without a net moments, yeah, where you have personal
individual connection to real people, or where I thrive, like I
come alive more in the QA and and in those live coaching moments
that I would doing, you know, two, three For gigs a week in front
of 100 people, talking to 10,000 people is so much easier than
talking to 100 people. For me.
James Taylor
It is great that you you've kept going back to that. Who am I?
Yeah, what what gives me joy? What gives me passion? Yeah, you talk
about living a limitless life. Yeah, like how to live a limitless
life with limited hours, I guess. And so you're thinking, Okay, I
can do I mean as a speaker, where you are in your career just now.
You can go so many different directions and do so many different
things with your, your speaking business, your brand as a whole,
but it's great that you are taking that time to be reflective and
thinking, Okay, I love that. I love that life coaching thing. how
can how do we build something around this and scale as well?
Laura Gassner Otting
Yeah, so for me, you know, I feel like you can do you can do three
things. You can either maximize profitability, you can maximize
impact or you can maximize your personal flexibility and I have
always in Every job I've ever had, whether it was working in the
White House or you know, working in a search firm or running my own
or writing or speaking or any of it, I have found that if I
maximize impact the things that I care about doing good work with
good people, right? And if I maximize my own personal flexibility,
so I have lots of choices, every time you walk into a door or room,
there's like additional doors, then maximizing profitability comes
but sometimes you have to make future money, right? And I think
that's the same thing you can go with go back to your first
question, you can go with a traditional publisher who's going to
give you an advance and you can maximize profitability there or you
can go with a hybrid and know that you are if you can, you can
actually make more money later than you know if you if you try to
get all the money upfront, I think future money is always bigger
than than then then now money. So I try to maximize impact and try
to maximize flexibility and everything that I do. And I think the
way that I've modeled my speaking business is sort of the same. You
know, you don't get paid money to do lots of media unless you're,
you know, like an anchor on you. major TV, but what it does is it
gives you social media following social media follow. And and
people who are signing up to your list give you an opportunity,
they give you an audience and then you can sell stuff to them. So
if I create a course then I've got, you know, the reason James
clear, had a best selling book immediately is that he spent seven
years writing and building up an audience and he had 100,000 people
on his email newsletter list who listened to him every single week
and got great value from him. So when he went out and he's like,
here's my pre sale my launch before my book, of course, he likes
sold 20,000 books the day that he sent out the email saying my
books coming out in six weeks, please buy it, he sold 20,000 books.
That's incredible, right? I'd like to get to a point where I have
that kind of leverage with what I'm doing. And you don't often get
that by maximizing profitability and trying to squeeze every dollar
out of every gig. I'd rather say you know, my, my speaking fees
range from x to y, y is full fee. X is like not full fee, but it's
full. It's some fee plus some amount of book sales or some amount
of fun. lineups are some amount of whatever. Because you know,
there's lots of ways where you can define value like my price is x,
but my value I can get value from lots of different things. So it
might come from, you know, a five cameras shoot it might come from,
they're gonna bulk buy 500 books it might come from, I'm on an
agenda, you know, on a schedule with Robin Roberts, who is the
speaker right after me, who then sees me and invites me onto the
Good Morning America. Right. So like, there are lots of ways to
derive value from your speaking gig, which don't always come in
cash. Yeah,
James Taylor
that's, yeah, that's and you can make those decisions if
profitability, is it your number one goal, because you're
right,
Laura Gassner Otting
I mean, longer term,
Laura Gassner Otting
right? There's like you need to make like, there's two different
numbers, right. There's like the need to make number and the wants
to make number and the need to make numbers, table stakes, like we
pay our mortgage, you got to put food on the table. But beyond
that, you know, are you going to get your ego in a bunch because
they're paying you $5,000 and not $10,000 or $15,000, about $20,000
or whatever your fees may be or 1000. Maybe they're just flying you
out there. But you know, the gig where I got introduced to Robin
Roberts, who then put me on national TV, which then brought my book
to number 121 of all of Amazon that day, right? I didn't get paid
for that gig. They brought they flew me out there, you know, first
class great, wonderful. They bought 500 books. I had those 500
books purchased through Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue in New
York. I didn't make any money from those book sales, right? Because
I could have made a lot of money from those book sales. I didn't
make any money from those book sales. But if you spend 500, if you
buy 500 500 books, through Barnes and Noble, they'll put you in
their window for two weeks. So all of a sudden, I'm not getting
paid at all for this for this gig. But I go out. Robin Roberts gets
my book. she invites me on national TV I do it through Barnes and
Noble Barnes noble puts me in their window on Fifth Avenue for two
weeks and suddenly I look like I'm the shit right? I look like I'm
everywhere. I didn't get paid for that gig. So people who are in
the early part of the career they're not entirely sure what to do
and they feel like maybe they're not getting where they need to get
to because They're not getting paid yet. I want them to remember
that there are so many ways to get paid, paid for a gig. And they
should think about what are all the ways that I could derive value
from it? Who else am I going to meet? Who's going to hear from me?
What kind of logo Am I going to have behind me on that beautiful
film that I'm going to get that I can put into a real? Are there
corporate sponsors that that have other events is this the, you
know, regional event for, you know, a conference that they have
nationally, and I can get into the, you know, into the deal flow?
There's so many different ways when you're getting started to get
to get paid for gigs.
James Taylor
And I think once again, that goes back to it feels all the time,
kind of going back to your all those times you've spent as in
campaigning, understanding campaigns, that's a classic kind of
thinking how campaigning, you're thinking is like chess moves, how
does that thing then relate to that thing? And how can I get it?
And so you're always thinking in that way, you're not thinking, oh,
I've got something out. I need to just do a quick tweet on it.
There's a tactical way you're not you're not you're not going that
way. So I love that way. So there's some final questions. We start
to finish up here. You talk about traveling and flying, I'm going
to put you on an imaginary long haul flight. And on that flight,
you could be sitting next to any speaker, author, thought leader
living or dead. You could be sitting next to and having a
conversation on this long haul flight. Who would you like to be
sitting next to?
Laura Gassner Otting
Oh, that's such a great question. Um, I would say Richard Branson,
and probably for a couple reasons. First, you know that he's gonna
fly really well. Right? He owns the airline. But also He's like,
they call him doctor. Yes. Right. Like he, I believe that there's
always a way to say yes to somebody. And if you have to say no,
about one thing you can like say no, but I can introduce you to
somebody who might be able to help there's always a way to get to
yes. And I'm, I'm I am an unbridled optimist. And so I sort of I
love his energy. I love what he's done. I think he would like if he
I think he would love my book limitless because I think it really
is. If you if you Richard.
James Taylor
Yeah, nice to meet Richard any virgin? You need to know you need to
be bringing to Necker Island soon.
Laura Gassner Otting
Absolutely. I mean, look, I mean, my book is called limitless how
to ignore everybody carve your own path and live your best life who
has done that better than Richard Branson. So I just I just feel
like I could learn a ton from him. And I think we would just have a
we just have a gangbusters time.
James Taylor
Fantastic. And what if you do recommend one but not one of your own
books by book by another author? Do you think any of our speakers
watching just now you think it'd be a very impactful book for them
to to read? What book?
Laura Gassner Otting
Do people really recommend their own books? Some people do
James Taylor
something, believe me, some people do.
Laura Gassner Otting
Okay, well, I hope the person who does is Michael Port because I'm
gonna recommend his book, which is steal the show, I think, and
here's why. There is the difference between giving a workshop which
most people have done before they get into speaking is there's
workshops or didactic They're earnest. You're teaching and and and
and keynotes are performing, right, they're motivating, they're
inspiring and the difference is playing big and I think what I
learned from reading that book is a there is a difference and be
how to actually onboard that difference so that I could go from
like I need to tell you this information to ah, right it's just
it's a it's a it's a huge difference and I think that's that would
be I think the book I would recommend steal the show by Michael
Porter.
James Taylor
I wasn't your speaker bag wasn't that bag you carry with you to all
of your various speaking engagements you never never leave home
without
James Taylor
a cover up.
Laura Gassner Otting
Pick up
Laura Gassner Otting
um, no I really I'm deodorant. I'm vain. You know I have liked I
really don't have I really don't. I'm pretty I'm pretty easy. I
just get on stage and I'm and I'm me. membership. Yeah, there's
there's usually not any. There's beyond beyond like vanity. I don't
I don't bring anything, because I don't. I don't have like super
technical stuff.
James Taylor
Yeah, it was funny. I was just I was speaking earlier this week I
was speaking in Rome in Italy. And the speaker was talking before
me. She's really she was very good. But she was using some very
interactive type of app technology at the same time. And she was
getting the audience to do it as well. And when that stuff works is
great. It's fine. But when it doesn't, when it doesn't work, and my
heart was reaching out, oh, no, because it was just and it wasn't
it really wasn't our fault. It was the internet connection in the
hotel venue was being held. And so sometimes, yeah, simple can
be
Laura Gassner Otting
so easy. I've only really started using slides in the last six
months, like the big keynote I get from this talk, and my slides
are like big, beautiful photos. They're not like lots of words and
there's no bullet points. There's none of that because I'm not a
teacher. I'm a, you know, motivator. And but I gave this the very
first time I gave this talk. I gave it in Switzerland at St. John's
University in Switzerland. And I was sort of like my trial to see
if I could do it. And I'm literally three slides into the talk. And
it's like, everything breaks like the battery's dead. I don't know.
It's just not working. So I'm on stage. And I'm trying it. And I'm
trying it. I'm trying and finally I just went, and I curtsied
Hello, I, I actually, I went away. And I walked over to the to the
stool, and I put the little slide remote down and I did a little
curtsy. And then I went, and I kept going. And somebody came up to
me afterwards. And he was like, That was amazing. I've never seen
anybody so fluidly handle a technology problem. And you gave the
talk so well without your slides. That was incredible. And I didn't
have the heart to tell him. I actually don't normally use slides.
It was easier for me but
James Taylor
most speakers will use the slides as their crutch they and they and
once if it goes for whatever reason, they've got their last and
then You'd like Michael talks about this a lot about really just
knowing your what you do back and forth thinking about the
blocking, like in like an actor would when you're doing and so so
that was a great suggestion on the book as well.
Laura Gassner Otting
Well though I used to actually I'll tell you one thing I used to
actually keep breath mints in my bag because I would vomit before I
gave any talk ever. But to Michael's point, like I went from I need
to teach you this information to this is the thing that I know in
my soul and I believe so deeply that you have to understand it. And
that was the difference. I don't get nervous before I speak
anymore, because I'm actually speaking from my soul from my core
rather than speaking from just my my brain.
James Taylor
Yeah, well, but any apps or online tools you find any particularly
useful you're traveling a lot obviously as well but and you're
doing a lot of social media. Are there any ones that you find
particularly useful?
Laura Gassner Otting
Um, I mostly I use notion a lot and notion is just sort of like
it's it's basically the way that I communicate with my assistant
who lives you know, in a different state who I I've only met once.
It's really just sort of like the board that we have. So every
every speaking gig gets its own little you know, each column of
like, you know, what dates are held and what's what's there. And
it's a place to just put all this stuff so that I get everything
out of my email box. And I don't miss, I don't miss the details.
Um, so I use that that also has like a beautiful little social
media calendar. So I can like put the posts that I want to have up
and I can write them while I'm, you know, sitting on an airplane,
and then the people who do the social media posts can go in and
link to that and see it. And so it's just, it's, we just need one
place where every would sort of come together. It's like the staff
meeting sight. It's the big whiteboard in the conference room that
we don't have, because we're a virtual company. So that's really
the one that I can't live without
James Taylor
motion. And then let's imagine you woke up tomorrow morning, Laura,
and you have to start from scratch. You have all the skills or the
knowledge you've acquired over the years, but no one knows you, you
know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart things.
Laura Gassner Otting
So I would probably restart things exactly how I restarted how I
started them when I was 21 years old and ended up in the White
House, which is take the Salt Lake, the smallest job you can
possibly take in the biggest office, you can get to, like, we have
this idea that we have to walk in as like the highest paid speaker
and the top line person in the head of the agenda. And the truth
is, you just need to be in the green room, you just need to be in
the door, right? So like, if you're there, and you can, you know,
you're like doing a workshop and you're not getting paid for but
you can be in the same green room as Richard Branson, who was
keynoting, you have an opportunity to talk to them, but even more
you have an opportunity to listen to them, to observe them to hear
from them to actually get to see how they do what they do. And you
can learn and so I think I think that's why what I would do, I
would just try to get my I would I would, you know, get coffee,
just to be in the room where things happen. Laura,
James Taylor
thank you so much for coming out today. It's been fascinating.
Watching your journey which feels like it's happening in a really
short compressed period of time. I know. You've all the things
you've done in your past which have helped you get to this point
where the That experience and that knowledge of campaigning, but
what you're sharing today about how you launch your book about
getting the big the big momentum in your in your career, and also
about the idea of moving from just being a teacher to being a
motivator and it will be a huge value for everyone watching So
thank you, Laura, thank you so much. And I'm looking forward to us
hopefully sharing a stage and and maybe chatting over that cup of
coffee in a green room together somewhere in the world.
Laura Gassner Otting
And that would be fantastic. Thank you so much.
James Taylor
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