407: Building Your Speaking Platform as an Author (Even If You're an Introvert!) with Tiffany Hawk

As a speaker, writing a book gives you additional authority and credibility.

Event organizers love speakers who have books because it shows that the speaker understands their material.

But, how do you know what's a good idea for an entire book?

On the flip side, if you're an author and public speaking isn't something you're jumping up and down to do, how can you build your platform to include speaking, even if you're an introvert?

My guest is my book coach Tiffany Hawk, who is a published author and who runs the Breakthrough Book Proposal Program.

Tiffany and I talk about:

• Her journey from reluctant to charismatic speaker as a result of attending our in-person retreat
• What makes a good idea for a book
• Why you shouldn’t write the book that you can write in your sleep
• How authors can build their platform, particularly around speaking, even if you’re an introvert (like us!)
• How speakers can build authority for their book proposal to attract agents and publishers
• A sneak peek of the online workshop this fall and an in-person retreat in the spring that Tiffany and I will be hosting together

About My Guest: Tiffany Hawk is an author and book coach who helps leaders write agent-ready books and book proposals. Her clients have landed literary agents, traditionally published with big New York Presses and small literary presses, self published, won awards, and seen their stories in places like Harper’s, the Los Angeles Times, Narratively, McSweeney’s, and The Atlantic.

Links:

Show notes at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/407/

Tiffany’s website: https://www.tiffanyhawk.com/

Get Tiffany’s free resource “How good is your book idea?” = https://www.tiffanyhawk.com/idea/

Discover your Speaker Archetype by taking our free quiz at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/quiz/

Attend our 1-day Speaking for Impact in-person workshop in Orlando on October 10th: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/workshop/

Enroll in our Thought Leader Academy: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/academy/

Connect on LinkedIn:

• Carol Cox = https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolcox
• Tiffany Hawk (guest) = https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanyhawk/

Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 257: Writing a Book Gives Your Ideas Depth and Longevity with Tiffany Hawk
• Episode 363: From Burned Out to Lit Up: How Cara Houser Turned Her Signature Talk into a Best-Selling Book
• Episode 400: Why Introverts Make Great Speakers and Leaders

Become Bookable Live Online Workshop - April 15, 2026
If you want to speak more but you’re not sure where to start or your efforts haven’t produced the results you want, I’m hosting a live online workshop called “Become Bookable: How to Get Speaking Invitations” on Wednesday, April 15th.

A lot of brilliant women assume they just need to pitch themselves more. But the real reason speakers get invited isn’t because they pitch harder — it’s because they’re positioned as bookable.

In this 3-hour interactive workshop live on Zoom, I’ll show you how speakers actually get invited — and help you clarify the positioning that makes event organizers say yes.

As a podcast listener, use the coupon code “Podcast100” to save $100 on your registration.

Learn more and register at https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/bookable