ask a scatterbrain: setting up talks

So, now that the book is coming out soon, a bunch of people have said, “you should set up talks.” Here’s the thing: I don’t know what this means, or how to do it. I mean, it’s not like I can show up in LA, drop by UCLA, and say, “hey there! here to give a talk.” I understand that “getting talks” this is something not-so-uncommon that people try and do. But how do they do it? Do you tell your friends you want to give a talk? Is that tacky? Is there an assumed quid pro quo? I’ve noticed that some people seem to do mini tours when they have work coming out. Any idea how they manage this? What’s the etiquette here? I realize posting this on scatterplot is a not-so-subtle way of “doing this.” But I’m not simply trying to use my bully pulpit. I’m curious about how people organize things like this…