Meet the Author: Matty Dalrymple

When we imagine building a writing career, most of us don't picture building a speaking platform. Today's author invites us to rethink that—and offers valuable advice on how to find the right speaking opportunities!

​Matty Dalrymple podcasts, writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage as The Indy Author. She has written books on the business of short fiction, podcasting for authors, and how to succeed as an author speaker, and her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest magazine. She serves as the Campaigns Manager for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Matty is also the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with THE SENSE OF DEATH; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.

Who should read From Page To Platform?

The book came about because of my co-author, who wasn't the co-author at the time but became my co-author. Michael La Ronn and I were at the Writer’s Digest conference in New York several years ago, and we had gotten together for dinner.

We were chatting about what we had pitched and the approach we had taken, what our plans were for other pitches, and things like that. When we got done with dinner, one of us said, “I think we have enough here for a book.” And the other one said, “Yeah, I think you're right.” So that is how From Page to Platform: How to Become an Author Speaker, came about (affiliate link*).

It is in the spirit of multiple streams of income for indie authors, which I think is important. Becoming an author speaker was important to me and to Michael as part of our business plans, mainly in support of our books, but also as independent income streams.

We pulled together what we think is the most comprehensive guide to becoming an author speaker, and we take it all the way through the process, from consideration as to whether this is the right thing for you to do, what are the kinds of forums or venues or events that are most appropriate to pitch depending on your goals, right through to putting your presentation together and giving it and then making the most of the opportunity with the follow-up.

I would love to have people check out From Page to Platform. You can also go to my website and go to the book page. There's a section called Speaker’s Notes. At the end of each chapter, Michael and I gave readers the opportunity to capture their thoughts about what they had read. You can download the Speaker’s Notes from the website. Even if you don't have the book, you can still take a look at those questions. That can help pave the way to deep thinking about whether you want to pursue this.

What was it like to collaborate on the book?

The personal side of the collaboration was great. I admire Michael so much. He has such great insights. His philosophy about his business is similar to mine, but the strategies and tactics he uses to pursue it are very different. That was a positive because we brought two pretty different perspectives to the endeavor, but with the foundational approach of having a common philosophy. We could both respect the perspective the other person was bringing, because we knew we were both coming from a good place.

It's hard for me to remember all the details about the mechanics of putting it together, because early on, it was such a thrash from a logistics point of view. That was the most challenging part about it, was the logistics. We feel like we learned so much that we're working on a book on co-authoring, which I think is going to be really fun.

We tried all sorts of things. Michael had a presentation on being an author speaker that we pulled some information from. I had been capturing some general thoughts. Like, whenever I have a thought about anything to do with the writing, business or craft, I tend to capture it. Eventually, I noticed that I had enough that maybe there was a book behind it.

One of us would have a particular interest in writing about, say, author readings. I think author readings are a kind of speaking engagement that people don't normally think about. It's something I've done a lot that Michael’s not really interested in. That was easy, because I took that chapter and was able to write it on my own and then give it to him for input. There were parts that were obviously going to be something we both had to contribute to deeply, like, how do you deal with hecklers, for example?

We tried all sorts of things. We tried Google Docs; we tried a Word document that we passed back and forth. Eventually, we landed on passing back and forth the Word doc, which is awkward, but there really isn't a good technology out there for this.

Whenever I have an opportunity to send this message out into the world, I say: Can someone out there with a tech perspective create the tool that others can use to collaborate? Other than Google Docs, which is truly a useful but ugly, ugly system. It's not what I want to be in when I'm trying to be creative.

Over time, we collected all this information. We went through multiple passes of realizing that one chapter might have 2000 words, another chapter 300 words, but they were topics of similar weight, and so we needed to beef one up. Sometimes we would find that we had covered a topic in two different areas.

The book came out under my imprint, William Kingsfield Publishers, so I was ultimately responsible for the final editorial passes and things like that. I took responsibility for cleaning that up.

The other thing that was interesting is that Michael is just hugely productive. He has word counts for a day that I couldn't even match in a week or a month. I was fearful at the beginning that I was going to feel like I wasn't pulling my weight. Over the life of the project, it came out very equitably.

One piece of advice I would offer to people, from a co-writing point of view, is, don't look at what each person is doing day by day or even week by week. Look holistically and see if each person is pulling their weight in a more general sense. It worked out really well that way.

What are the benefits of adding “speaker” to an author’s resume?

Reaching new people. We've already talked a little bit about the financial benefits if you get to a point where you're able to charge for your speaking engagements. We can talk about that more.

A lot of people are either looking for speaking engagements or they've written a book as a calling card. This is very common in the nonfiction world: somebody wants to be an expert on podcasting for authors. I wrote a book on podcasting for authors, and I do talks on podcasting for authors, because they also have a consulting business on podcasting for authors. People are looking to have each of those offerings feed the others.

On the fiction front, people are looking to reach the readers that might be interested in their books. Some people want an opportunity to travel. There's a whole host of goals people have that can be met through a career as a professional speaker, and none of them are right or wrong. Paying it forward is often a big driver for people who are looking for speaking engagements.

It's a matter of whether the plans you put in place, the strategies you follow, align with what your goals are. If your goal is to have an opportunity to travel, then don't go for virtual events. If your goal is to have a stream of income that you can juggle along with family responsibilities or day job responsibilities, only go for virtual events. Match up what you pursue with what you're trying to gain in the long term.

What should authors know about finding speaking opportunities?

If people are interested in virtual events, then there's lots of easy research one can do, and lots of opportunities one can find just by searching. I'm going to use writers' events as an example, because a lot of our readers are going to be sympathetic to that venue. Go on there and look for the conferences you're attending yourself.

Pitching yourself to any venue, any event, any forum where you have experienced it as a participant, as a consumer of the content, gives you a leg up. You'll understand what the organizers are looking for their presenters to deliver.

Writers’ groups often have events on any topic you have, even if it's outside the writing world. Let's say you've written a book about urban gardening, and you're looking for audiences for that.

Well, there are going to be plenty of podcasts where you can probably find guest opportunities to talk about urban gardening, and you can start out very specific. I bet that if you went on the podcast platforms and searched for urban gardening, you'd find plenty of podcasts.

Weed through the ones that actually have guests, so you're not wasting the time of a podcaster by pitching yourself for podcasts that don't host guests. Over time, you can expand your reach by expanding how you think of your topic.

Maybe it's not just urban gardening. Maybe it's gardening in smaller spaces, or maybe you start getting interested in natural fertilizers. Talk to chambers of commerce, which are interested in what people and businesses are doing in their community. There are lots and lots of opportunities.

If you're looking specifically for speaking engagements that pay, look on a conference website. They will have a separate part of the website where you can go if you're a speaker that describes whether they pay or not.

Well-funded organizations can usually pay more than small nonprofit organizations. You could use that to prioritize the opportunities you go after, and always remember that even doing free events can sometimes lead to paid events.

Libraries are a perfect example. You might agree to do a free event for a library because they're libraries and you want to support them, but also because having that on your resume could pave the way to paid speaking engagements.

There are lots of ways people can find opportunities out there. It's just a matter of, we only have limited time, so don't go after all of them. Go after the ones that are the best match for what you want to do.

How can writers (especially introverts) get comfortable speaking professionally?

A great way to start is with podcast interviews. I mean, I'm a podcaster myself, so maybe I'm a little bit biased here. The benefit of a podcast interview is that it gives you an opportunity to hone your message, to hone the information you want to share, to hone the stories you want to tell, which is a key part of any speaking engagement.

Yet you're doing it like you would be sitting down over a cup of coffee, having a little chat. It seems much less intimidating than getting on a stage in front of 100 people at a conference and having to speak there.

You can work your way toward standing on a stage in front of 100 people, but starting out smaller and in a more intimate venue can be helpful.

Sometimes pretending you're someone who feels comfortable in front of people helps. This sounds kind of silly, but I've actually spoken to a couple of people on my podcast lately who have mentioned this, independently.

One person mentioned it in terms of going to a conference, being an effective attendee at a conference, and said, “Just pretend like you're someone who loves going to a conference. Play that part for an hour, play that part for a day.”

That can help, if you can remove yourself from that situation a little bit and say, “Oh, now I'm playing this part where I'm someone who loves to speak in front of people.” It can actually help.

Working your way up from smaller groups to larger groups helps if you want to talk in in-person settings. Also, just realize that there are very, very few people who feel completely comfortable getting up in front of an audience. Even the most extroverted people still have butterflies in their stomachs, so having butterflies in your stomach shouldn't deter you. That’s just part of the gig.

What would you tell someone who wants to give the best talk they can?

First, make it personal. The more you can include personal examples, personal stories, reveal something about yourself to the people you're speaking with, the better.

Another key element is making it personal for the other people too. Nobody wants to watch a presentation where they feel like this person gets up on stage, flicks the on button, and says the same thing they've said 100 times before to 100 different audiences.

You want this sense that you understand the people you're speaking to, which might mean changing the language you use. If I'm speaking to a group of experienced indie authors, I can talk about the publishing process in a different way than if I'm speaking to a bunch of people who are still working on their first novel and haven't pursued publishing. Make sure you understand who you're speaking to.

Make sure you understand your host’s goals. I just spoke at a conference where the rule was: No selling from the stage. It would not have been acceptable to go up there and tell people I had a consulting service, for example. You want to make sure you don't get any black marks against you by violating a rule.

Use the opportunity for things like Q and A to solidify that personal connection, instead of it being the one-way firehose of information. Understand that the questions you get from people are that opportunity to make it more personal, to solidify the relationship you're building with them, and also to understand how your presentation was received.

What part are you getting a lot of questions about that maybe indicates you weren't as clear as you could have been? What questions are you getting that indicate people are really excited? Maybe that's a whole presentation unto itself.

How should writers build on the opportunity after the talk?

This is the most underutilized opportunity among people pursuing a speaking career. People will go to all the effort to put together their presentation and their material, research the venues, and research the audiences and the organizers. Maybe it's thousands of miles away. They get up there, give the best presentation of their life, and then they're done, like, “Whoa. What a relief.”

If you do that, you are so under-capitalizing on the benefits everyone can get from it. If you're at a conference, be an active participant throughout the event. Don't just show up for your talk and then disappear back into your hotel room. Pay attention to the people that you interact with. Get their business cards.

Business cards really still have a place, even in this virtual world. If you can hand something, a little reminder of yourself, and especially if it's a non-glossy finish, people can make a little note on it, like, “Oh, this is the person who spoke about podcasting for authors” or whatever.

Then follow up with those people whose cards or contact information you've gotten. Use those notes to remind them about your interaction. “Oh, I had such a nice conversation with you when we were talking about becoming a professional author speaker. I'd love to help you if an opportunity ever came up.”

Some of them are going to be what Michael calls fly-bys. You're going to get the fly-by cards, where people are indiscriminately handing out their business cards, and at the end of the day, throw those away. Some people you don't want to have a personal connection with.

But for the ones that you do, follow up. Same thing with the organizers. The organizers have gone to a tremendous amount of trouble to give you a platform to speak from. Make sure you express your thanks to them. Make their lives as easy as possible throughout the whole process, because you're much more likely to get a return invite if the experience is good for them.

The logistics of a return invite are like a quarter as difficult as getting the first opportunity. Make use of that, and always be looking for places where you can make it a mutually beneficial relationship, because you don't want to go into this just saying, “What am I going to get out of this?” There are ways to do this so it's a great experience for everybody involved.

What are the similarities and differences between writing and speaking?

The thing that's common is the organizational side. I'm very much a plotter or a framer, as I like to say. I like to frame out my stories in my fiction world. I spoke earlier about how my nonfiction tends to come about because I've collected all the little pieces of information, and I find ways to organize them so they are hopefully coherent and compelling for other people.

I was a project manager in my corporate life for many years. Carrying forward this organized approach is helpful. I have a tickler list of all the conferences I'm interested in pitching myself to that rotates depending on when it's opening for pitches. It will bubble to the top of my list.

Having information that's appropriate to repeat from pitch to pitch, and being ready to personalize it where appropriate means I don't have to rewrite the description of podcasting for authors.

Every time I give a pitch, it's the surrounding information that's going to be specific to the forum and the organizers I'm pitching to. It's a matter of finding out what your strength is and then capitalizing on that regardless of what effort you're involved in.

What advice would you give to writers about writing or speaking?

I'll use one of the points Michael and I return to often in From Page to Platform: the importance of professionalism. That encapsulates many of the things we've been talking about. If people are going after speaking engagements because they're interested in the financial benefits, then we provide some tips about negotiating a fee.

We emphasize that in the ideal world, the agreement is one that both parties are happy with. You don't want to be chiseling away for the last dollar because you're going to shoot yourself in the foot long term.

You're not done when you step off the platform. You need to continue to be professional, as Michael says—every interaction you have is like an interview for the next opportunity that's going to come your way. Don't be the Prima Donna who makes people feel silly during the Q and A period, or who ignores people who clearly want an opportunity to talk with you about your topic.

If you behave with professionalism, you open opportunities for yourself and other people, and you pave the way for more good things to happen.

What is the best book that you've read recently?

​About the Author, by John Colapinto (affiliate link*)—it’s kind of a murder mystery, mystery suspense book written from the point of view of an author. It's so funny.

He really nails every weird, angsty thing we authors have about our work and letting other people see it and dealing with criticism. It's a very fun thriller book, and it’s super fun to read. That's the book I'm recommending to everybody I know, especially writers, because I think they'll get the biggest kick out of it.

Meet the Author interviews are lightly edited for clarity.

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Matty offered so much good advice in this conversation—if you're considering pursuing a speaking opportunity, give From Page to Platform a read!

Are you ready to take your storytelling to the next level? Learn how to weave compelling romantic subplots into any genre. (Affiliate link*)

The workshop with Gala Russ is at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET on April 30!