Recommendations for Authors on Presenting a Public “Reading”
1. Look at your
audience and acknowledge them. If you greet them warmly, they will probably
treat you warmly. They will overlook any little glitches you might make in your
reading, and you probably will make them. Your mouth will go dry. (Don’t ask
for a glass of water, it will annoy your moderator, distract your audience, and
won’t help your dry mouth. Just lick your lips, swallow and carry on.) 2. Wear a watch and check it frequently or carry a time. Set it for twenty minutes. You should be prepared to read that long. Time yourself at home. Don’t let a reading go longer than twenty minutes, the audience gets antsy. If they want to listen to you longer, they will have questions or will make comments.
3. Give a little background info on the selection you are going to read, particularly if it is an extract from a novel or other prose work, or if it might be confusing to the audience. Often a poem needs no more than a title, but occasionally it, too needs a bit of background to set the mood for the audience.
4. If possible, learn about your audience prior to the reading. Reading poetry at a soccer game? No. Reading a politically liberal essay at a Republican Women’s Organization? No. Reading a chapter from a literary novel full of polysyllables and long sentences at a meeting of the Rotary? No. If not possible to know the audience, have more than one work ready to read, or be ready to talk mostly about your work and why you write, than you actually read. Even if it is probable that they won’t like your work, the audience might like you. If they like you, they may mention you to their families and friends, some of whom might like what you write.
5. Project your voice to the LAST row. Header than it sounds. Easier for teachers than librarians. But people get really bored if they can’t hear what you are saying.
6. If you are being paid to read for an hour, which can happen, at the half-hour mark, ask your audience to stand up and stretch for a few minutes. You stretch too, take some deep breaths. At this time, asking for a glass of water is okay.
7. When the reading is over, you can interact with the audience, thank them, or ask if there are any questions or comments. Hopefully, there will be. And don’t forget to mention where your books are available, your website, blog, etc.
Good Luck.
Sylvia Ross is
the author of Acorns and Abalone, a
book of art, poetry and short stories; Acts
of Kindness, Acts of Contrition, East
of the Great Valley, and Ilsa Rohe,
Parsing Vengeance, fact-based historical novels; and Coming to Completion, a book of essays. She now lives in rural
Exeter, California. Born in Los Angeles, she attended parochial schools and
later, worked for Walt Disney Studio as a cell painter. After she married, she
and her husband settled in the Central Valley where she and her husband raised
their four sons. She earned an honors degree from Fresno State University and
taught in the Porterville Public Schools for many years. Her books are
available at the Book Garden in Exeter as well as on Amazon.com.
