The successful Speaker, by Grant Baldwin is a step-by-step guide to pursuing a career as a public speaker. The author guides the reader through five steps covering choosing an area of focus, developing and giving talks, marketing yourself and getting and expanding paid speaking gigs. The wide range of skills covered make for a helpful handbook. While a developing speaker would probably want to go further with books focused on specific skills, The Successful Speaker provides sufficient detail to get someone started with a solid foundation and a broad understanding of what is involved. Although the book at times feels like an advertisement for the author’s online course, I would recommend it as an obvious place to start for anyone interested in how to break into speaking at conferences and events or for someone with solid speaking skills needing an understanding of how to make connections and get gigs.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Baker Books through the Baker Books Bloggers www.bakerbooks.com/bakerbooksbloggers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.