PARASOL PUBLICATIONS

How To Read Your Work Out Loud in Public

Reading for performances, book events, and audio recordings

Photo by Product School on Unsplash

Picture yourself all alone in front of a live audience. Is this image enough to make your temperature rise with anxiety? Now, add into the mix a personal essay or a passage from a book that you’re expected to read from.

For some people, reading aloud to others is torture. It can be problematic if you’re promoting a book, participating in a personal essay show, reading from a script, or recording an audio version of your book.

Not to brag, but reading aloud is one of my talents, and I’ve been doing it for decades. In high school, not only did I do the plays and musicals, but I was also on the speech team. No, I didn’t debate, I did oral interpretation, which was reading from written material.

In college, I studied Theatre and often read scripts in front of a crowd. After I graduated with a Theatre Arts degree, I briefly pursued acting as a career and performed sketch comedy, stand-up, and improv.

But it was when I discovered personal essays shows that I felt like I had found my thing.

Personal essays differ from storytelling shows in that the performer reads their story or essay. Essay shows celebrate writing and encourage writers to take their time creating their pieces.

Writing out their thoughts in advance means fewer filler words are used, and the language tends to be more thoughtful and beautiful. This lack of just winging it is why I prefer spoken word shows.

I’m not saying there aren’t amazing storytellers out there — but if good writing is what you want with an element of storytelling and performance, try an essay show.

After ten years of producing my essay show, Piñata, I learned how to make your writing come alive when reading it in front of an audience. There’s nothing more boring than someone reading in a monotone as if they’re an animated corpse. You want to keep your audience engaged, not put them to sleep.

These tips for reading aloud in front of others are helpful whether you’re reading in a spoken word show, doing a book event, or recording an audio version of your latest book.

Don’t read it off your phone

I know saying this immediately ages me, but hear me out. I have never seen a seamless read when the performer uses their phone—something gets messed up.

Always.

Please do yourself a favor and print your material, put it in an old-school binder, and read from it. If a music stand isn't provided, hold it like a normal person.

Practice reading it out loud

The more you read it out loud, the better you’ll learn the material and the more comfortable you’ll get with it. Also, you’ll hear things that don’t sound right and should be fixed. It’s much better to catch these mistakes before you’re in front of an audience or the booth recording your book.

The more you rehearse, the more comfortable you become with the material, and when you know it so well, you can improvise if need be.

You can read some of the text very fast, then very slowly, and finally, try singing it.

Another thing, make sure you know how to pronounce everything because when you’re on stage or at the podium and the anxiety is rising, things can fly out of your brain.

Knowing the material lets you control your nerves and deliver a fantastic performance.

Engage with the audience

Once you know your material, you can make eye contact without worrying about losing your place. When you include the audience in your presentation by looking at them, the experience becomes deeper for everybody.

Remember that you’re communicating not only with your voice but also with your body language. If you’re used to talking with your hands, don’t stop just because you’re reading. Have fun and relax, because if you look uncomfortable and miserable, the audience will be, too.

Keep going

I have a friend who co-hosts a very popular podcast. It’s funny, smart, and engaging. Sometimes, they record the podcast in front of an audience, which is fantastic. The problem is that they repeat the segment when my friend or his co-host messes up. They start over again, even though they’ll do pickups when the show is over. People listening to the recorded episode won’t hear him starting again, but it’s tedious for the live audience.

Rewriting as you go along is rarely a good idea, as you can get stuck going over the same line repeatedly. This is why many writers do a zero draft, where they note what they want to change, but keep going until the end.

There’s no room in any performance for course correction, unless you have the comedy chops to turn it into a funny bit — then go ahead, but watching someone get increasingly frustrated at not being perfect on the first take is boring.

Don’t apologize

When you are in front of an audience and you make a mistake, don’t apologize. The truth is, most people won't notice unless you call attention to it.

Act like you know what you’re doing, and the audience will be on your side. You don’t have to be perfect — that’s not relatable, but don’t fall to pieces if you say something wrong.

No one knows what you should have said, so why point it out?

Find levels

You don’t want to get into a sing-songy or flat pattern when reading out loud. If your voice remains in the same pattern or at the same level, it can put people to sleep or make them lose interest quickly.

You need to work your material as if it’s a script, especially since in many ways it is one. Find different levels and places where you get louder or softer. If there’s dialogue, come up with different character voices. Find the various emotions and tones for the different sections of the material, and look for nuances — not every moment has to be operatic.

Lastly, think about places where you can take a breath or a drink of water.

Warm up vocally and physically beforehand

Although reading isn’t as all-encompassing as performing Hamlet or starring in a musical, it does require focus, energy, and skill.

Before the show, find somewhere you can be alone, or at least some place where no one will bother you, and take a few moments to prepare for your reading.

I like doing simple stretches and vocal warmups, such as tongue twisters, humming, and trills. I also stretch my jaw, pucker up my lips, and blow raspberries. You want the audience to hear and understand every word.

Some people chant while others may do an exaggerated yawn — find what works for you.

Preparing for a reading can make the difference between something that you and the audience wish would end quickly and everybody having a great time.

When reading your essays, excerpts from books, poetry, or scripts out loud, you add another layer of depth to your words. Words are powerful, as is the sound of the human voice; together, they are magical. Preparation is the spell that unlocks the magic.

Next time you have to read out loud in front of the audience, you can smile to yourself and know you’ve got this.

Thanks for reading!