Author Tips: How to Prepare for a TV Interview

You get a call from your  publicist with the exciting news that you’ve been invited to talk about your book on a TV show.  If this is your first interview, you’re thrilled and also probably a little nervous. Here are tips that will help you to ace the interview and sell books.

1.  Find out as much as you can about the interview. Your publicist will provide you with all the details, but what if a producer calls you directly? Here’s some basic information you need to know. The station and the name of the show.  What are the demographics? Who is doing the interview? Is it live or taped? If the latter, ask for the air date.  How long is your segment? Are you part of a panel discussion? If so, ask for the names of the other panelists and do some research.  Confirm studio address, including which entrance to use and floor number, contact person at the studio and their cell number. When do you need to arrive at the studio and what is the time of your segment?
2. Inform your publisher. If you’ve arranged the interview tell your book publicist as soon as the interview is confirmed.
3. Use social media to spread the word. If you’re booked on a national show share the good news prior to the interview in your e-newsletter, website, and across your social media platform such as Facebook and Twitter. If it’s local, let your local business associates, clients, and friends know.
4. Develop your talking points. Most TV interviews are short, about 5-7 minutes, so it’s important to prepare your soundbites. Think of what you want to share with the audience about your book and include interesting anecdotes or stories that will engage them. Know what’s happening in the news that pertains to your book.
5.  Prepare for the interview. Find out if the interview is a general discussion about your book or if you’ve been asked to be on the show as an expert to discuss breaking news. Often the producer will do a pre-interview so you will know in advance what to expect.  Discuss your talking points with the producer and let her know if you have graphics or illustrations for the interview. Offer the producer an excerpt from your book for their website. (Remember you need to get permission from your publisher first.)
6.  Arrive on time! Confirm address and arrival time, and allow enough time for traffic and bad weather. Call the producer if you’re delayed.
7. Wear what you wear to work. Don’t wear loud colors and avoid small print patterns such as hounds tooth that can appear blurry. Don’t wear flashy jewelry, rather keep it simple and only wear one or two pieces.
8. Bring a copy of your book.
9. Turn off your cell phone and other devices. You can have your cell phone in the green room but once in the studio turn off anything that could ring, buzz, or vibrate.
10. During the interview. Don’t slouch; sit with your feet firmly planted on the floor, and lean toward the interviewer slightly. (Tip: If you’re wearing a jacket, sit on the end of the jacket so it doesn’t bunch up on your shoulders). Smile when appropriate.Think of the interview as a conversation with the interviewer so look at your host, not at the camera.
11. Answer the questions. Let the host complete the question. Pause and think before answering a difficult question. The host will mention the book title at the beginning and at the end of the interview, and most likely there will be caption on the screen with your credentials. So no need to hock your book though it’s ok to refer to your book once or twice such as “and in my book…”
12. After the interview. Send an email to thank the producer and the host for having you on their show, and let them know you would be available to come back.  Once you have a link to the completed interview,  share it on your website, e-newsletter, and across your social media platform such as Facebook and Twitter.

Do you have other suggestions or funny stories to share about  your first TV interview?

Earlier:
Author Tips: How to Prepare for a Radio Interview
Ask a Business Book Publicist, Part 1
The 12 Step Business Author’s Facebook Page Cheat Sheet
The 12 Step Business Author’s Twitter Cheat Sheet

Webcast: The Enemy of Engagement, HR.com

HR.com will be hosting a webcast with Mark Royal and Tom Agnew with the Hay Group and authors of The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration–and Get the Most from Your Employees, to help participants uncover the hidden impediments to performance—excessive procedures, lack of resources, overly narrow roles, and more—and outline best-practice solutions for eliminating them.

The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration – and Get the Most from Your Employees
February 23, 2012
1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Price: Membership required.
Register HERE.

This session will help you: – Understand workplace frustration and the negative consequences it has on individuals and organizations – Diagnose workplace frustration and its root causes within your team – Identify strategies for taking effective action to promote higher levels of employee enablement – Adopt techniques to facilitate a leader’s ability to understand, identify and address workplace frustration – Unleash the full potential of your people.

Webcast: Leadership Presence

Our American Management Association New Media Team will be doing a webcast with Kristi Hedges, author of The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others, next month. She will be discussing how to build personal influence in your organization.

Leadership Presence: How to Build Personal Influence in Your Organization
February 22, 2012
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EST
Fee: Complimentary
Meeting Number: 17494-00001
REGISTER HERE.

Presence is the corporate “it” factor. It’s directly linked to your ability to get noticed, forge trusting relationships, and get others on board with your agenda. In increasingly distributed companies, managers are often left alone to translate a vision and galvanize cross-functional teams.

Influence is the primary means for getting work done.

The Wall Street Journal recently weighed in, stating that “presence plays an increasingly important role as companies grapple with a weak recovery and fewer management layers.”

Presence is an amorphous concept with a defined impact in our success. We’re experts at reading others’ presence, but it’s remarkably hard to understand and shape our own without the right approach.

The good news is that anyone can strengthen their presence in a way that’s authentic, natural, and influential whether they’re an introvert, extrovert, aspiring or seasoned leader.

Click HERE to sign up for Kristi Hedges’ AMA Webcast.

Click HERE for more information about Kristi Hedges’ The Power of Presence.

Kristi Hedges is an executive coach, leadership development consultant, and author of Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others (AMACOM). Her proprietary presence coaching model has been utilized by clients spanning Fortune 500 corporations, global professional services firms, entrepreneurial businesses, national associations, and the U.S. government. She’s a leadership contributor to Forbes.com and Entrepreneur.com, and a speaker for Vistage International and The Founder Institute. She writes about leadership at kristihedges.com and tweets @kristihedges.

Lead With Purpose Named a Best Leadership Book of 2011 by LeadershipNow.com

In their annual roundup, LeadershipNow.com has provided a list of the best leadership books of 2011.

We’re excited to share that Lead with Purpose: Giving Your Organization a Reason to Believe in Itself by John Baldoni was selected as one of the best leadership books of 2011.

LeadershipNow explains the purpose of their list:

We have more recorded information about leadership now than at any other time in history. Most of it deals with the surface turbulence, which is important but not complete. In all of this information there is the sense too, that perhaps we have lost the wisdom we need and that maybe some new thing will help us to avoid what we already know and don’t want to do.

For the most part, it’s still business-as-usual within the same framework—control. It’s hard to give up fundamental beliefs even though they really aren’t working for us anymore. These books speak to our need to rethink our core thinking, beliefs and motivations—to do the uncomfortable.

We could all benefit from daily reflection. Reflecting on what we believe, who we are in relation to those we serve, and what it means to do what we do. It’s time to rediscover true leadership—to rethink our fundamental assumptions. Leadership matters now more than ever.

More about LeadershipNow.com:

At LeadershipNow, we want to change the way you think about leadership. It is not about position. Leadership is everybody’s business. It is for men, women and children. It is for families, business and communities. It is for you.

We need leadership now. Increasingly, people must influence without formal authority. Changing our lives and thinking from where we are. We need people of all ages from all backgrounds to take advantage of the myriad of opportunities that exist to make a difference.

We all possess the capacity for leadership, but only those who cultivate it will ever become truly effective leaders. With the resources provided on this site, we would like to encourage you to develop the leader in you — to become an active participant in shaping your future and the future of others.

Life doesn’t happen to us, it happens through us. Leaders don’t have all of the answers, they know the questions. They create an environment where the questions can be answered. The world needs you to live up to your potential. Imagine yourself leading. Where is your leadership needed — now?

Ask any leader: What would you give to have an entire company full of committed employees willing to go the extra mile? For all your people to work together as a unified force, knowing exactly what they do, and why they do it?

Featuring illuminating stories, interviews, and profiles of leaders from a variety of fields, Lead with Purpose shows readers how to take their organizations to the next level with renewed focus and improved direction. It’s a leader’s job to provide his people’s work with meaning. Lead with Purpose shows you how it’s done.

JOHN BALDONI is an internationally recognized leadership educator, coach, speaker and author whose many books include Lead by Example, Lead Your Boss, and 12 Steps to Power Presence. In 2011 John was named one of the world’s “30 Most Influential Leadership Gurus” by www.LeadershipGurus.net for the third time.

Find more of AMACOM’s award-winning titles on this blog.

List of Business Book Publisher Blogs

We recently posted a list of business books publishers with links to their websites, which inspired us to do a little more digging. What are these publishers blogging about? So without further ado, here is our list of blogs from traditional, trade business book imprints and houses who release non-specialized and non-academic business books.

AMACOM Books Blog: AMACOM is the book publishing division of the American Management Association, specializing in business books on management, leadership, human resources, career, workplace, marketing, project management, finance, supply chain, sales, customer service, training, and professional development.

Berrett-Koehler

• Author Blogs
• Berret-Koehler Internship: Digital Community Building Intern Michelle Evans reports from the field.
• Bonnie Blogs: Digital Community Builder & Editorial Associate Bonnie Kaufman shares her thoughts on all things editorial, digital, and publishing-related.
• EditEd: Former Editorial Intern Sam Calios shared her experiences while at BK.
• Editorial Intern on the Loose: Former Editorial Intern Nicole Richards.
• Life as a BK Intern: Former Editorial Intern Holly Jarrald documents her days at the Editorial desk.
• Pondering at the the Berrett-Koehler Office: The thoughts of former Editorial Intern Chloe Park.

Business Plus Blog: Learn more about Business Plus and be sure to check out our 2011 titles! Visit us at the Hachette web site. Follow us on Twitter: @businessplus. Friend us on Facebook.

FT Press Blogs: Topics include Advertising, Author Interviews, Author Tips, Business books, Finance & Investing, General Business, Geo-politics, Global Business, Human Resources, Ideas, Management & Strategy, Politics, Publishing, Sales & Marketing.

Jossey-Bass on Leadership: Jossey-Bass publishes the top names in business, leadership, and management … The goal of Jossey-Bass on Leadership is to provide a forum in which leaders …

Harvard Business Review Blog Network: Business bloggers at Harvard Business Review discuss a variety of business topics including managing people, innovation, leadership, and more.

Learn More Business (McGraw-Hill): More Experts. More Insight. More Answers.

The Portfolio Javelin: Portfolio was established in 2001 as the first dedicated business book imprint within Penguin Group (USA). It publishes distinctive books in the fields of management, leadership, marketing, business narrative, investing, personal finance, economics, and career advice.

Simon & Schuster’s Tips on Career & Money: Get tips about money, investing, personal finance, and other topics important to you. Read our articles on money and career.

Did we miss any blogs? Which do you like reading?