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Expanding Your Storytelling Audience

© James Foster Robinson

You have learned how to tell stories and have told them to your family, friends, relatives and neighbors. They have enjoyed them and you have found that you get a real rush in telling stories. Now you feel you are ready to hit the big time. Just imagine! Telling stories to an audience of complete strangers! Kind of scary but you are willing to take the jump. How do you go about it?

First thing you should realize is that you are not going to get rich telling stories. But you can get much satisfaction that people are listening to your stories and enjoying them. Also it is hard work with periods of storytelling followed by long periods of boring preparation, practice and research.

Next you have to decide who your audience is going to be ... young, old, male, female, ethnic background, economic and social conditions? The type of story you tell must be geared to your audience. You would not tell a particularly scaring story to a group of seven year olds or a fairy tale to a group at a business luncheon. Give your target audience some thought and perhaps design several venues of stories for different folks.

Now you have to have your "baptism under fire". Where should that be? My first outside audience was a class of Grade Four students at a local school. I knew their teacher and she had heard me tell stories one night at a party. She asked to visit her glass and tell them a story or two. They enjoyed the session and I was hooked on storytelling.

Other places you might consider volunteering your storytelling - remember that you can not just start charging fee until you have built up your credentials - would be libraries, day care centers, Sunday schools at your local church and kid's parties. Schools and libraries sometimes offer an small honorarium for your visit. Keep track of where you tell stories, the stories you told, your audience's composition and response and your expenses such as gas, food, books etc. This information comes in handy when you have to report your storytelling income on your income tax. You may be able to claim those expenses to reduce the income tax you have to pay.

After you have built up a portfolio of your storytelling experience, you can start advertising your skills. Up to now, you have probably relied on word of mouth and networking. Now you can try advertising in the local paper, print and distribute flyers, and set up a web site. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and resourcefulness.

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