Live Interviews

The whole marketing thing is still a mystery to me- how to catch the attention of the book buying public. There are so many books out there to choose from, in every genre imageable. During this pandemic, most author events and book signings are non-existent. I am trying a variety of avenues. This post is about radio/podcast interviews. My admiration for TV anchors who appear each night in front of cameras, speaking live in front of a TV audience, has increased ten-fold.

I don’t really have any advice to authors, but I can share my experiences with this approach. I now have had four interviews and the one thing I can say, is it does get easier. The first one was in the studio of a local radio station, WHUP. The set up was a bit intimidating. Who am I kidding, it was really intimidating but Bob Burtman, who did the interview was very experienced and kept it going by prompting appropriate comments from me for twenty minutes. What I learned from listening, after the fact, is that my recorded voice doesn’t sound like the one in my head. Clearly the polish I imagine does not come out my mouth!

The second one was with Chat and Spin, a British radio broadcast and was for 10 minutes. This was via Zoom and I should have been more at ease sitting in front of my own computer, but I hate the way I look on my computer camera. Am I really that old? Again, Ron Clark, the interviewer, was great. Are you getting the picture that the amateurish is about me?

The third one was with Impact Radio. Paul Reeves was more interested in me and my life than the book. Maybe listeners are too. I did enjoy that chat since we have a history of Michigan to share. The final one was with The Authors Show. This broadcast is all about books. Linda Thompson said the interviews are designed from a marketing perspective to present the book to the book buying public. I hope she is right because I need all the help I can get with that. .

Does any of this help sell books? I’m not sure yet. I’ll keep you posted.