Interviews.
They can be enlightening and entertaining. But all too often they're thoroughly
irritating for everyone involved. I know about this from personal experience.
After producing radio shows for a number of years, I've heard more bad
interviews than I'd like to count. So, in an effort to improve the situation
for everyone, I've put together a list of thoughts and recommendations
specifically tailored for authors being interviewed on radio:
•
Prepare and submit 6-8
specific talking points for the interview. These should be the core ideas of your book or article. For
the record, talking points are not the same as "suggested interview
questions" publishers typically provide. Instead, submit bulleted talking
points that concisely convey unique ideas or concepts from your book. They
should be as short as possible. No more than one sentence is necessary.
Ideally, talking points should tease ideas, but not completely give them away. They
should compel the interviewer to WANT to ask their own questions, rather than
robotically read questions that have been provided.
•
Keep your responses to
interview questions to about 1 minute in length. A little less would be even
better. Think of it as a conversation over coffee with a friend. If you
dominated the conversation by droning on and on, your friend wouldn't invite
you to have coffee with them again. If you do that to us, we probably won't
invite you back either. Treat the interview like a conversation, and you'll
sound great.
•
Don't respond to every
interview question with "That's a great question!" This is a verbal crutch that
often lacks sincerity, and always lacks creativity. The interviewer doesn't
need your encouragement. The best interviewees understand that no transition
phrase is needed after being asked a question. Simply launch right into your
answer and you'll sound much more competent.
•
Don't mention the title of
your book during the interview. You wrote a book. Congratulations. Now stop incessantly
wrenching-in the title of your book into every answer. The more you say things
like, "In my new book, ____", the more you sound like you're the host
of a cheesy infomercial. Let the interviewer mention your book at strategic
points in the interview. Prove your book is good by talking about the IDEAS in
it, not by saying the title over, and over, and...
•
Don't mention chapter titles
or chapter numbers from your book either. This also makes you sound like you're hosting an
infomercial. Plus, no one listening can see your book or reference a particular
chapter. Let your ideas dominate the conversation. There's no need to mention
chapters by name or number.
•
The interviewer likely didn't
read your book. Don’t be shocked by this. On some programs, two to three
authors are interviewed per day. That means it's not humanly possible for a
host to read the books that will be featured on a particular program. So, don't
EVER ask on-air whether an interviewer has read your book. Expect that they
didn't.
•
Yield to the interviewer. The interviewer is in charge – you aren’t. That means you need to
yield to them throughout the interview whether you like it or not. Don't make
on-air suggestions, such as taking listener calls. Don’t tell the interviewer on-air what you want to talk about
"after the break". Don't ignore a question and respond to a different
one that you'd rather answer. Get the point? Always let the interviewer lead.
•
Provide at least one viable
backup number for the interview. Why? Because if you accidentally miss the interview you'll
embarrass yourself and the radio station. You'll also force the host to say
something on-air to explain why you're not there. No matter how you slice it -
it's not going to look good for you. And if you miss an interview you probably
won’t ever be invited back on the
show again. I don’t care who you are, how ‘important’ you may be, or how many books
you’ve sold. You MUST provide a
viable backup number!
•
Get yourself to a landline
phone if at all possible.
No matter how good your cell phone signal is, your call will likely have
hiccups and momentary drops. This makes you sound like an amateur. If you can't
find a landline phone, look for a place with strong cell service and stay put
for the duration of the interview.
•
Get to a quiet place for the
interview.
There's nothing more distracting for the host or a listener than hearing
background noises. Car horns, loud music, and other people talking should be
avoided at all costs.
•
Be conscious of how you're
holding the phone during the interview. If you smash your mouth against the receiver, you'll sound
distorted. If you hold it up by your nose, we'll hear you breathing loudly. If
you're yelling (like so many people do when they're talking on the phone),
you'll distort your voice as well. There's no one-size-fits-all solution here,
as everyone's voice and speaking style are different. Just take time to think
through it so you can sound as good as possible.
•
Have fun! Even if this is the fiftieth
interview you'd done on the subject, it's the first time most of the listeners
are hearing about it. Find a way to get yourself re-engaged in the topic.
Providing the talking points I mentioned earlier can help with this, because
you won’t hear the same set of
questions in every interview. Remember - If you don't sound interested in what
you're talking about, the odds are that no one else involved will be interested
either.
What would YOU add or subtract from this list?
