How to Present About Your Book

First a list of things NOT to do:

Do not read the jacket copy of your book.
Do not read blurbs of your book or reviews of your book.
Basically, don’t read anything, even something you have written about your book.
Don’t spend your precious presentation time thanking people for help in getting to the publication of your book. This is not an awards ceremony. It is a promotional opportunity.
Don’t apologize for not preparing something in advance and ramble.
Don’t tell your life story (I’ve done this). Again, this is about your book, not about you. You can say a sentence or two about why you wrote this book, but that’s it.
Don’t give some of your time to other presenters. Use it all yourself. Be selfish.
Don’t apologize. And don’t spend the whole time talking about how long it has taken you to get published and how many books you wrote before this one.
Don’t tell people you have copies of the book available to sell.
Don’t say the name of your book title and your own name repeatedly. Once should be sufficient, especially if the information has already been written down for them to look at (which should happen).
Don’t hold the book up in front of your face and talk behind it. You are not in fourth grade, giving a book report.
Don’t eat or drink while talking.
Don’t speak in the voice of a character from your book. You may think you are good at this, but just—don’t.
Don’t curse in your presentation, even if there is cursing in your book and you feel it is “authentic.”
Don’t dance or sing or otherwise ham up your presentation even if you dreamed something up in the bar the night before.

Now, what do you do?

Practice. A lot. If you have a time limit, practice over and over again to make sure that you can keep within it easily.
Look at the audience. You are a person, not a book.
Speak your own words about the book. Give yourself a few points you want to get to.
Pretend to be confident even if you are shaking like a leaf.
If you get tongue-tied, just move on. Don’t waste time making a fuss about having said the wrong word.
Stick to the time limit. Once the bell has sounded (or whatever), finish your sentence. Ideally, you would be finished before then, but don’t keep going just because you feel like you have more you want to say.
Be courteous to other presenters. That means staying through all of the other presentations, even if you think you’re not interested.
Say thank you to the organizers, either after you’ve finished or in an email later.
Be available to talk to people after the event is over about your book if they have further questions. Sound interested in their questions and eager to talk. Don’t look or act like you have far more important things to do.
Be prepared to be asked to do this all over again. It’s a compliment and you should take it as one. (Though if you’re simply not available, you are simply not available).