Public Speaking Myth Eight: Speakers Should Copy Someone Else Many less-practiced speakers think they need to copy someone else’s speaking style. But audiences can see right through that lack of authenticity. Instead, show your enthusiasm by being more of you. I am not saying bring your “whole self” to the stage. I swear a lot—I […]
Several of my fiction writer friends say they write fiction for one of two reasons: They want to read this kind of book. And/or They want to live in a world like the one they wrote about. These dear writers think that means they have nothing to say to other people. Hello? At the very
This week’s podcast is from a carnival short story. Enjoy! And in my never-ending experimentation, I embedded the video itself into this blog post. Before, I had just used the link to the video. We will see how that goes. The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman
If you follow me, you know I’m running a Kickstarter for the Effective Public Speaking book. Once they fund, many Kickstarters offer stretch rewards. I wasn’t worried about offering a stretch reward. Instead, I worried that the Kickstarter audience would not back a nonfiction book. This entire endeavor is an experiment in product development, product
This week’s podcast is from a short romance story. This part is the meet-cute. The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for January 9, 2026, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress. This is part of a summer romance short
I’m running a Kickstarter for the Effective Public Speaking book. It funded on the first day thanks to all my backers! I am thrilled. Now, I get to think about stretch goals, and finishing the audiobooks, the bookplate stickers, and all that finishing work. Why a Kickstarter? Several reasons: Experiment with new forms of marketing. Invite
I’ve been diligently working on my Kickstarter for Effective Public Speaking. I have learned a ton about graphics, creating an inviting Kickstarter, and organizing rewards. Yes, I am acting as a product manager for my book. (All you product managers—no one respects you enough. No one. Launching anything is quite the challenge.) Here is the
I am so pleased to announce I have a short launch video for Effective Public Speaking: How to Use Content Marketing With Stories to Show Your Value. Len Epp, from Leanpub, interviewed me. We both had a great time. While I love to speak about my books, I find doing a video like this challenging.
My podcast this week is from a fiction story. After I wrote this part, I realized I started in the wrong place. So you get the benefit of reading something I will definitely change later today. Yes, I write fiction exactly the same way I write nonfiction. I start where I think the piece starts.
This week’s podcast is from the Effective Public Speaking book. The cover people are working on a back cover, which means I’m close, close, close to the end of the publication work. Yay! The Podcast: The Transcript: This is 60 Seconds of Writing in Public with Johanna Rothman for September 19, 2025, where I read