By Julie Kramer
Once upon a time I used to produce local television newscasts and talk shows. Authors and their publicists were always trying to get air time. I ducked many of their calls. But we were always glad to feature a live studio interview with President Carter about his latest book or get the inside scoop from a local author who’d written about the state’s most famous murder. Novelists were our nemesis.I’ve decided to share how these decisions are made. Not because I feel any guilt, but because readers might find it entertaining and writers might find it educational.
The truth is, It’s a much tougher sell to get publicity for fiction vs. nonfiction. But there are exceptions:
Your novel becomes topical. Let’s call this THE KITE RUNNER exception. In this case the United States invaded a country few of us understood. With his heartbreaking story, Khaled Hosseini became the voice of Afghan culture and turmoil.
Your novel becomes controversial. Let’s call this The DA VINCI CODE exception. Instead of ignoring an entertaining, but outlandish novel, the Catholic Church’s very vocal objections drove it to the top of the charts. So if anyone stages a protest about your book, dry your tears and call the TV stations and newspapers in that city.
You are a celebrity. Let’s call this the Madonna exception. Enough said.
You are already a mega-bestselling author. It also helps when you have pivotal books coming out. Remember the mania with JK Rowling and the final Harry Potter? Brace yourself for another round when Sue Grafton hits the letter “Z.” But don’t begrudge them their media frenzy, they’ve earned it.
That doesn’t leave the rest of us without hope, but as debut novelists we need to accept that we’re unlikely to be interviewed on the Today show.
But there are other options. Your first pitch should be your hometown paper. If you’ve moved around, you might be fortunate enough to have several papers consider themselves your hometown paper. Hometown newspapers love Local Girl Makes Good stories. Admittedly, my hometown paper is very small and has a low threshhold for news, but I’ve already been on the front page twice. First for getting a book deal. Second, for alerting them that Doubleday has announced my cover design and release date. So write a news release and send it in. Hometown readers represent a strong pool of potential book buyers. Don’t underestimate the thrill your old babysitter will feel when she hears the tot whose diaper she changed has grown up to become a novelist.
Local cable access television stations are often looking for interesting guests for their hosts and tech crews to feature. Check with them. The ratings are not huge, but the shows get repeated frequently.
Radio slots are easier to land than television slots. Radio simply has more time. The upside is a radio interview can go much longer than a television interview.
Sometimes authors are afraid to do interviews. They worry about trick questions. Don’t be. Unless you’ve been accused of plagiarism, or you’re glamorizing something repugnant like pedophilia, questions directed at novelists are generally softballs.
Novelists always want to know why nonfiction authors get more media coverage. It’s because with nonfiction, television news producers can usually convince themselves that they are giving their viewers valuable News They Can Use even if it’s unrealistic promises like How to Find Mr. Right or How to Raise a Baby Genius. Other times it’s a hidden truth like What Did the President Know and When Did He Know It? Or focusing attention on a little understood disease or obscure corner of the world.
When it comes to fiction, news producers are terrified the author will spend the entire three minute interview talking about the book’s plot. Which is the kiss of death for live television. It’s like listening to paint dry. This is a particularly grave fear when it comes to debut novelists, because nobody knows or cares about their characters yet. It’s an entirely different game for Janet Evanovich. Viewers are delighted to hear her discuss whether Stephanie Plum will end up with Ranger or Joe Morelli. And if your character ever takes on the stature of Dumbledore, no interviewers will object if want to out him on their shows.
If you are a novelist, find and pitch nonfiction elements in your book. You might be able to pass yourself off as an expert in something. Because my thriller, STALKING SUSAN, features a television news investigative reporter and I’ve lived and died by the ratings myself, I’ll be concentrating on how TV news works in my pitches.
As a published author, you might even be featured in industry magazines discussing tips for writing a book. Your success story could be someone else’s inspiration, so it might not be much of a stretch to pass yourself off as an expert when it comes to writing. It’s also possible your work might be topical one day a year. If you’ve written a thriller about D-Day and research has made you knowledgeable, pitch yourself for June 6. WWII veterans are dying off rapidly. Soon there won’t be any eyewitness guests left. If your novel stars a cat, let the cat magazines know. If your thriller is based on a true story, use that in your pitch.
If your book contains universal lessons that others can learn from, relate that during your interview. Struggling with grief. Never giving up. Realizing there are worse things than being alone.
If your book addresses current social issues like national security, religious fanaticism, or the ethics of medical research, run with that.
In case you are asked to do a live broadcast interview, here are some nuts and bolts about what to expect and how to behave.
Rules to being a good author guest:
#1 Don’t talk about your novel’s plot unless you are asked about it.
#2 Make sure you can sum up the plot in ten seconds. Practice. If the interviewer wants to know what happens next, they’ll ask. But they probably won’t. Unless you have some special expertise that allows you to relate your plot to real life.
#3 Keep your answers short during live interviews unless you know you have a 15 minute radio slot. Most commercial television news interviews run about three minutes. The interview isn’t all about you, either. When it comes to live radio or television, your success as a guest will be judged on how well you interact with the host. Did you make them look glib and knowledgeable? Or did you ramble on and on so that there wasn’t much time for them to say anything? Did they finally have to cut you off mid sentence and look like a jerk because the producer was yelling in their ear for them to wrap? If you are doing a print interview, don’t worry about time. If you are doing a taped TV interview that will be edited down, don’t worry about time. If you are doing a taped TV interview for a “look live” slot, worry.
#4 Play up local angles. Is the book set in places the listeners are familiar with, based on people they know, crimes they’ve heard of, or local gossip that’s just one step above libel? The best local angle is that you are a local author who has made good.
#5 Share behind-the-scene stories about your book. How easy it was to get your book deal. How hard it was to get your book deal. Either version can make for an interesting tale. Did you overcome any special adversity to write your book? Are you allergic to paper? Did you write the Great American Novel with a pencil in your teeth? While in prison? In that case, the very act of writing your book becomes an interesting news story.
#6 Don’t expect makeup. Even most anchors are doing their own these days. Make sure you have a glass of water nearby. Don’t look at the camera during your interview, look at the person asking the questions, except if you and your interviewer are in different locations and you are hearing their questions through an earpiece. In that case, look at the camera. Also don’t wear all white or a herringbone pattern for television studio interviews.
#7 Figure out your talking points ahead of time. This might be the most important thing for an author guest to work on. You’ll be able to anticipate many questions. What are your best lines? Make notes. Print interviewers are looking for good quotes. TV interviews want good sound bites. Practice. Figure out how you can transition to get good material on the air. When doing telephone interviews, keep your cheat sheet handy. And if it’s for radio, find a land line, don’t call from your cell phone.
#8 Always carry a copy of your book to TV interviews in case it’s needed as a prop. Many times the review copy gets misplaced and there’s a wild scramble to find it so the host can hold it up on set. Sometimes it’s not found in time. Remember to take your prop copy home with you.
#9 If you have a book signing or speaking engagement coming up in the viewing or listening area, be prepared to give that information at the end. Succinctly. Practice. Or have it written down for the host to give. Show producers generally don’t mind including that (if they know it exists) because it can make the content seem current and fall under the category of News You Can Use. But don’t even think about giving out phone numbers or web addresses over the air without checking with the producer first. You may also ask whether it’s possible for the station to post them on their own web site.
#10 Be prepared to be strung along. Unless you fall into one of the exception categories (topical, controversial, celebrity or bestseller) you probably won’t be booked until the last possible moment. That’s because the show’s producer is waiting to see if anything better comes along. For broadcast news and entertainment shows, the producer may want to talk to you ahead of time on the phone. This is known as a pre-interview. That doesn’t mean you’ve been booked to be on the show. You’ll be told the producer just wants to get a feel for what might be good questions. That’s true, but that’s not all. In many cases, the pre-interview is an audition. If you flunk it by being boring or long-winded, you or your publicist will get a rueful call that there’s no time for you because one of the dolphins at the zoo had a baby.
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Julie Kramer is a freelance network news producer and a national award-winning television investigative producer. Her debut novel, STALKING SUSAN, will be released by Doubleday July 29, 2008.