NICOLA MORGAN |
Inviting me to speakI enjoy public speaking and have done hundreds of talks and speeches of many sorts. I talk in schools and at conferences and festivals; I talk to writers’ groups; I offer guest lectures and seminars in universities; I do in-service training for teachers. My audiences are (in no particular order) school pupils, parents, teachers, other professionals, scientists, authors and aspiring authors. Speaking about my books / writing (At schools, literary festivals, conferences.) Each talk is approx an hour long; any age group from age 10/11 to adults; any size of audience, but normally not more than two year groups together; not normally more than two talks in one day. I choose various of my titles to talk about, depending on audience. Pupils do not need to have read my books but relevant staff should, to generate interest and to follow up, and to check suitability. I aim to inspire and stimulate. I have never had even the most jaded teenager be bored in these talks. I have had them fainting, but I try to keep this to a minimum ... Speaking about getting published (For writers, creative writing students - not for schools or young audiences.) I write a well-known blog which agents and publishers recommend as essential reading: Help! I Need a Publisher! is at www.helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com Until recently, I was Chair of the Society of Authors in Scotland, which gave me insight into many of the problems faced by authors in all genres, whether already published or still struggling to be. Also, for the last few years I have helped run the Writing Business strand at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. As well as overseeing this, I have spoken on and chaired events on the following topics:
I can and do talk about any or all of the above topics to writing groups or creative writing students genuinely looking to break into publishing. Speaking about the brain / teenage brain / teenage behaviour
With regret, I no longer offer brain events except in exceptional circumstances. This is due to pressure of work, other speaking commitments and the fact that it is usually impossible for me to charge an amount that fairly reflects the huge preparation time. For the same reason, I am no longer offering in-service for teachers, unless your budget is sufficiently generous.
COSTS I charge more than some authors and less than others, though my events in Scotland will usually be within Scottish Book Trust guidelines. I charge the fees I do because, frankly, I think I’m worth it - I work very hard to produce the best possible events and after hundreds of events I know what will work. A speaking fee is not an hourly rate. Travelling to do a talk also means using time during which we are not at our desks. Planning and arranging the talk, including all the correspondence beforehand, are also taken into account when setting fees. My fees
Travel, food and accommodation extra - kept to a minimum and agreed in advance. NB - If I am away from my desk for more than half a day, I have a minimum daily charge of £250. Consider asking me to do two short events or team up with a nearby school to share travel costs and avoid the minimum fee. If I have to stay the night, there is an extra charge of £60 to cover my time spent travelling on the day in which I’m not being paid. SELLING BOOKS AT SCHOOL EVENTS There are two reasons why I think selling books is a good idea: If you are willing to sell books at your event: WHAT TO DO NEXT If you think any of these events sounds interesting, contact my assistant for more details or to reserve a date. Don’t be afraid to ask anything. You do not commit to anything by making an enquiry. FEEDBACK COMMENTS "Best talk I’ve heard during the festival - you speak so passionately and clearly. You have a voice that people want to listen to and I never switched off for a moment. Well done for how you dealt with that strange question, too!" "I would like to thank you very much for helping make our first ever Book and Arts Festival a great success. Your talk was great. We have had such great feedback from the children and staff who attended. We have had a lot of parents come into the shop to let us know how much their children enjoyed the session with you. Also our book sales have been great!" "Thank you for your email last week and thank you for participating in the Black Isle Words Festival. The feedback on the event was extremely positive and all sessions were very well received. As to being well organised you are the most organised author I have ever dealt with and that made my job much easier. I would particularly like to mention that both your talk at the school and also the fantastic joint session on Sunday have been the subject of many positive comments I have received over the last couple of weeks. Teaching staff from Avoch have been in touch to say how much they enjoyed the session and talk about how to build on the enthusiasm created. From my point of view your sessions have really helped to raise the profile of books and reading and also enthused me to keep encouraging the pupils (and all our other users) to read On a personal level I was delighted with these events and enjoyed meeting you very much." “You came to my school last week. No offence but we didn’t know who you were till our teacher asked me and my friend to go to your talk so we could write about your visit for the school newsletter and you really got us and everyone else interested in your books. From a new fan”
“I was amazed by the reaction of the pupils to your talk last week. Ever since then, I’ve had faces in this library which I have never seen in my life and all your books now have long waiting-lists! I was worried they wouldn’t ask questions - how wrong I was! Thank you and well done. You made a real difference.” "I came away inspired to write in a more focused way, thinking of my reader. You opened my eyes to things I’d never thought about before."
“Hi Nicola, Please please please please can you tell me what the surgeon did to do that amputation, and i promise i wont faint! Promise!”
“I had heard of you before, but then when you came to my school, you inspired me even more to read your books and I have asked for The Passionflower Massacre for Christmas. It sounds very interesting, well all your books do really!”
“We thoroughly enjoyed listening to you last Thursday at the School Library Service. It was a shame the time went so quickly! I noted from your website that you may be interested in talking to parents and I would love you to come to our school. The comments about pressure on students to succeed were particularly apt. Could you let me know if you would be interested in coming?”
“Thank you very much for talking to the pupils the other day. When I looked at their faces at the end they were really animated, which is no mean feat at the end of term, in the middle of exams. I really liked how honest you were with the pupils, how you engaged them with the synaesthesia experiment, described the background to the stories and read one of the boy’s reviews.”
“You visited *** High School about 18 months ago. Your visit was very well-received, and readership of your books is still high. When examining our library’s loan statistics for S1-3 boys and girls, your books are in the top 20 for both groups (males and females)….I would like to invite you to visit our school again…”
“Hey Nicola, how are you? I bet you are very busy. Merry Christmas!!! Since your visit Mr H*** is setting up a magazine devoted to English and I am a member!”
“I was just wandering how that Dr got people’s legs off in a few seconds!”
“Thank you for coming. We all loved it! My friend was wandering if next time you come that you could bring more "Blame my Brain" books, because they went like wild fire!”
“I hope you write many more books because I found your books really interesting and I am now one of your fans! Thanks for getting me out of English for your interesting talk.”
“My mum is cross with you! I bought Fleshmarket after your talk yesterday and I read it all thru the night so I couldn’t get up in the morning!”
"You are CRUEL!! How could you read that bit from the Highwayman’s Curse when we can’t read the rest till it comes out in November!! I SO WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!! Does Bess survive the snakebite? And WHAT were the words on the paper???" "I loved what you told us about the brain. I didn’t know my brain was so interesting. Your brain must be brilliant cos you know so much! do you eat a lot of brain cake???"
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