Proven Techniques for Getting
Talk Radio Hosts Talking to You
About Your Book

Many successful authors and publishers know that talk radio is the perfect place to promote almost any non-fiction title. In particular, authors of how-to books, financial advice books, self-help books, travel books, medical books -- even history books -- all make attractive guests.

Why? Because talk hosts like to present their listeners with useful information from an expert.

True, fiction authors face more of an uphill battle when it comes to talk radio interviews -- or any major media exposure, for that matter. It’s not impossible, but not that easy, either.

So, yes, the challenge you face as an author is in getting hosts and producers interested in you and your topic…then interested in having you as a guest on their show.

Fortunately, over the past 18 years we’ve developed several innovative and tried-and-true techniques for promoting both nonfiction and fiction authors. Here are three:

1. The first thing we look at when putting together a talk radio pitch is the author’s profession, background and/or experience. Is there anything fascinating, glamorous or downright interesting about the author and his or her background or interests? If so, we present this information in a way that gets hosts wanting more.

Take one of our clients, a former judge on the Arizona Supreme Court. Even though his book was nonfiction, and a great read about what goes on in the judicial system, we knew the angle “had just so many legs.” We played it for as long as we could keep the media’s interest, but knew eventually we had to come up with some new angles.

Because our job requires having a good pulse on what the public is thinking, we knew that his profession alone would make him a compelling guest. So by positioning him as a judge who was able to comment on legal issues in the news (and there were a lot of them going on at the time) we were able to generate a great deal of interest for him as a guest. When all was said and done, he appeared on well over a hundred shows all over the country. And, during the course of these interviews, the hosts gave him ample time to discuss his book and plug it.

2. Secondly, once we’ve scoped out our author’s background, the next thing we look at is the author’s key message and how it might tie into current events or hot news. For instance, we had a client who had written a book instructing people on how to get their “estates” in order… at the same the Terri Schiavo controversy happened to be raging. So we were able to tie our author’s book into the ongoing national debate. Needless to say, this author was a hot commodity on talk radio and got a huge amount of media attention for himself and his book.

3. If we can’t focus the pitch around the author or a current event, we’ll try to find something in the book that people can relate to. In fact, this is our “secret” for promoting fiction authors. Here’s an example: We once had an author come aboard with an interesting fiction title, but the story didn’t tie into anything that was current in the news. Nor was our author a celebrity of any sort. But we found a storyline we knew people could relate to and that our author could talk about: “Is it possible to outgrow sibling rivalry?” The subject struck a chord with so many hosts and producers that we ended up surprising the client with the number of bookings.

As experts in talk radio, people often ask us how we can book 50 to 100 interviews a week while staying within the strict guidelines of stations and markets we use. The answer is simple: It’s the close relationships we have with hosts and producers. Even more basic than that, though, is we know what the media is looking for in a guest… and, that’s what we give them. And now you know what they’re looking for, too!