“Good Morning and Happy New Year once again!  My name is A. K. Buckroth, author of “My Diabetic Soul – An Autobiography.”  Thank you for inviting me here this morning.  IHOP (International House of Pancakes) sure is a different place to host a speaker.  You all go ahead and eat your breakfasts while I talk at you.  My topic, as some of you many know, is diabetes….”

I use a a version of that line when promoting my book during a Book Speak/Book Signing.  As an Independent Author, marketing this item is not only constant but quite difficult with little tangible reward.  I do it alone.  I do not have a team of people routing for me and selling the item nor collecting payments.  I do that.  As a sole-proprietor, I do it all, down to cleaning the toilet.  That is just the way it is.  I am cost-effective and efficient, personable and candid; a realist and an idealist; humorous and sarcastic.  

An upcoming speaking engagement needs your review.  I am to present myself and the book in front of 20 – 30 other published or unpublished authors.  The setting is literally in a local IHOP restaurant.  It’s  a writers club.  This certain club has been in existence for over 90 years, having obtained elite and highly respected credentials.  I am honored to have been invited.

I am not naive to public speaking engagements.  I have participated in many over a course of seventeen years.  However, this particular scope of concern is not the topic of my purpose – diabetes – but presenting the subject matter to people while they are eating some of the most highly carbed and saturated fats available to mankind.  Visualize this: while the 20 – 30 people in the audience conference room literally eat breakfast, I’ll be standing at the head of the table discussing the whats, wheres, whys, whos, hows, how tos, and how muches that is involved with this disease.

I’m nervous.  The date for this event is two days away.  After a self-introduction, I’ll begin with a biref definition of diabetes: “In the plainest and  simplest of difinitions, diabetes means a person cannot digest food.  I am not a medical professional in any way, means, shape or form.  I am a diabetic.  I am proud to report that I have successfully lived with this disease for over fifty years.  I need to stress to you that diabetes does not have to be a death sentence.  It is up to you – non-diabetics and diabetics alike – to learn about the intricasies of your bodies.  This book is a blueprint for not only your health, but for everyone around you.  It is full of knowledge, references, and hints for your well-being.” 

Sound good?  I don’t know. 

The demographics of the audience are middle-aged and older.