When you are starting out in the speaking world it’s important to build a following of people and a good portfolio of engagements that you can leverage into future speaking work.
Word of mouth is a great way to build your fan base. Share news of your new endeavor with your friends, family, and co-workers. Ask them to spread the word about you to all the people they know. You can also reach out by networking at every single event you host or attend. Going to a chamber of commerce meeting, an event for a professional association, or a gathering of your writing group? Mingle, meet people, ask what they are working on and SHARE what you are working on, including the fact that you are planning future speaking engagements. Then… give them your business card, which you should ALWAYS have on you. Do the same at readings you attend, panels you present on, church groups you participate in, and so forth. Make sure the business cards have your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts on them, as well as your website and blog addresses. Also make sure your website includes information about you being available for speaking engagements and list any speeches you already have planned or have already completed.
With social media Word of Mouth is even easier to leverage! Learn about and participate in social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Set up your own blog, and share updates and events where people can see you. When you have an engagement planned, make sure you announce that on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook… and ask the event venue to re-tweet/repost the announcements to their network. Also, create flyers that the event venue can post for their visitors to see and create an event page on your website, which is like a virtual flyer. The link to that page is what you share when you post about the event on your networks. Also, remember to post more than once. A good rule of thumb is to post when the event is confirmed and then again at 10 days, 3 days, and 1 day before the event. Vary the posts… you can say you are excited to be presenting or that you are looking forward to networking with the people of [venue/organization]… maybe you say that you are thrilled to be discussing [topic] with [organization], and so forth. After the event, publicly thank the venue/organization for hosting you and note how happy you were to speak to them. Include a link back to your website’s page about your availability for speaking.
No matter what avenue you take to get speaking engagements, it is important to market yourself. If you don't do that, people will never get to know you are available and awesome!