Prepping Authors for Talk Shows: Part 1 - Booking

This is the first of a series I'll be doing this week on prepping authors for nationally syndicated talk shows. One of our authors, Wendy Kays, author of Game Widow will be taping a segment this week on the Dr. Phil Show, and I thought I'd walk everyone through the process of booking, soundbyte prep, networking, and segment follow-up.

Booking a national talk show

Since so many authors rightly dream of being on shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil, the latter reaching 6.4 million viewers daily, it's important to clarify how these bookings come about. Many authors assume these shows are pitched just like other national TV spots, with their publicist calling or emailing the producer with a segment idea. In most cases, this actually couldn't be further from the truth. Since anyone can email or phone in a story idea to these programs if they have a producers' contact info, these producers are getting bombarded with completely original, wholly inspired, absolutely exclusive pitches every day - so pitching alone, you see, is not what seals the deal. A helpful step yes, but authors, don't get mad at your publicist if their pitches to Oprah go unanswered - this is the most difficult booking to get, period. Even for celebrities. Even for politicians.

Ok, so how do authors get on those shows? Here are some tips that worked for Wendy Kays.

1. Have a hot topic.
Wendy Kays wrote a book on video game addiction - a huge story right now, especially since games like Second Life, World of Warcraft, and soon Spore are slowly seducing whole legions of gamers out there. Moreover, the title of her book in itself is not only punny and clever, but comes up frequently on Google searches when other game widows are looking for a resource. Never underestimate the power of the buzzword.

2. Start small and work up.
If you follow talk shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil, you'll probably notice that these shows don't often break news stories, but follow popular trends. This is why it is vital for new authors to get a platform established by allowing their publicist to start small (i.e., local) and work their author's name and book up through the media outlet ranks. Our own publicity efforts for Game Widow had just gotten underway when this opportunity arose, and one of those publicity events was with a small college newspaper who wanted to interview Wendy - which she promptly and enthusiastically responded to.

3. Have your website up and running well before the pub date.
Wendy's website was a crucial part of securing this booking. After hearing about the book, a producer from Dr. Phil found Wendy's site, which directed her to Wendy's publicist. She then called our office to invite Wendy to the show.

4. Make your website as informative and credible as possible.
There are two things that Wendy did especially right on her website.

First, she had links to her press materials, which help producers find out more about a prospective guest. These press materials also provided her publicist's contact info, making it easy for the producer to track us down.

Secondly, Wendy had done plenty of work on the front end to secure key endorsements for her book, and listed them on her website. This boosted her credibility, and also connects her to a wider network of experts on this topic whose names will now come up on Google searches for video game addiction. (Remember - TV producers are just like us, putting on their pants one leg at a time, and using Google). So while your publisher or publicist may help you with the endorsement process, it's always a good idea to start contacting prominent authors or experts with a similar field / book genre early on, ideally 3-6 months before your book pubs.

5. Clarify the nature of the interview.
If you're a book publicist, it's important to know just what role your author will be playing in the segment when a talk show producer comes calling. As you can well imagine, getting counseled on Dr. Phil for poor decision-making is not exactly the same thing as offering an expert opinion. Fortunately, Wendy's expert thoughts were just what Dr. Phil's producer wanted, so we were able to quickly establish everything Wendy needed to know to prep for the segment.

Hopefully this clarifies some of the mystery behind those elusive talk show bookings. It's a lot more back-to-basics than you'd think, no?

Stop by tomorrow for the next in our Prepping Author for Talk Shows series: Soundbyte prep.

Rosie tells media, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Don’t get any ideas!

For many authors, an appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show is the ultimate media booking. As we wrote a few posts ago just about everything Winfrey touches turns to gold. Rosie O’Donnell hasn’t been quite so lucky in recent years; her magazine folded after a three-year run, she left her hosting gig on “The View” earlier than expected because she couldn’t play nice with her co-hosts, and who can forget her war of words with The Donald?

O’Donnell’s second book, Celebrity Detox, is set to hit stores October 9th. The tell-all autobiography details O’Donnell’s reasons for walking away from her award-winning talk show in 2002, her decision to return to television in 2006, and how fame and celebrity has become an obsession in this country. Internet gossip hounds are also reporting that she dishes her issues with former “The View” co-host Barbara Walters.

O’Donnell is devoting very little time and energy to publicizing the book. She’s turned down not one, but two interviews with media mavens Diane Sawyer and Oprah Winfrey, both of which would undoubtedly boost sales of Celebrity Detox. On her official blog, Rosie writes (in her typical e.e.cummings style,) “i do not feel ready to discuss or defend the things i shared on those 209 pages.” She goes on to assure readers that she appreciated Winfrey’s invitation and that her decline doesn’t mean there’s any bad blood between them.

Luckily, O’Donnell has a name and reputation that’s recognizable enough to make word-of-mouth publicity work for her. In fact, this blog post is evidence that when you are as well known as Rosie, you get media attention for turning down the opportunity to get media attention. Even with just one interview and nothing more, Celebrity Detox is sure to sell quite a few copies.

As a new or relatively unknown author, you do not have the luxury of being able to turn down media opportunities. One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing authors say that they don’t want to heavily promote their book because they “want the book to stand on its own merit.” That’s fine if you’re Stephen King or Tom Clancy, but if you are releasing your first book, no one will know if it has any merit in the first place unless you promote it.

There is an old publicity urban legend that talks about an author who was heading to New York City (the world’s most competitive media market) for a book signing. Of course, the author wanted his publicist to deliver coverage in the NY Times, NY Post and other high profile opportunities. The publicist worked her contacts but was only able to deliver a few radio opportunities, one of which was in upstate New York. After giving the publicist some grief, the author took her advice and made the decision to go ahead and do the upstate interview. It just do happened that while the author was interviewing a NY Times feature reporter was driving through the area, heard the interview and attending the book signing when he got back to NYC. Because the author decided to do the interview, he ended up with a feature story in The New York Times.

The moral of this story? You never know who is listening when you interview. Be willing to work with your publicist and take advantage of every opportunity you get to talk about your book.