If you’re trying to get onto radio talk shows to promote your book, product, service, cause or issue—and you’re on a tight budget—a series of inexpensive ebooks will help you locate the contact information for shows in specific niches. Talk radio advocate Francine Silverman has based the ebooks on her book, Talk Radio Wants You:… Read More
TV & Radio
Oprah’s producers blog & drop clues about what they like
If you’re dying to get onto Oprah, stop sending unsolicited books, press kits and other junk. Instead, spend some time reading the blog posts from the show’s 14 producers. Yes, they blog. Is it OK to contact them? You bet! Check out the invitation: If you read just one week’s worth of posts from producer “Caroline,”… Read More
Learn how to pronounce names of radio/TV hosts, journalists
With so many international reporters and editors, TV producers and radio show hosts, it’s more important than ever that you pronounce their names correctly, particularly if you are appearing on their shows or pitching them by phone. Ditto for potential clients and bosses, or for audience members who you call on from the platform if you’re a speaker… Read More
Pittsburgh nonprofit needs help getting onto local TV
John and Bobbi Robinson of Vanderbilt, PA write: “Unity, a Journey of Hope, is our nonprofit that grants wishes to adults with a life-limiting illness. “We take them to concerts and sporting events, introduce them to people they want to meet, send them on vacation with a friend or family member, or send them on… Read More
NPR host says pitch your idea to one show at a time
National Public Radio, with its hundreds of shows, offers opportunities galore for people to pitch a story about their product, service, cause or issue. But here’s an important caveat: Don’t pitch to more than one show at the same time. That was one of several tips from (Ms.) Alex Cohen, a reporter and local host for… Read More
Author needs a good ‘hook’ so she can repitch Oprah
Jennifer Louden of Bainbridge Island, Wa. writes: “I’m a best-selling author and my last book, The Life Organizer: A Woman’s Guide to a Mindful Year, got a call back from an Oprah producer in March 2007. They called us saying, ‘We love the book but don’t know how to use it. We will be in touch.’ “Nothing since,… Read More
Which of these author TV-interviews-from-hell is the worst?
I love showing you clips of TV interviews that are perfect examples of how NOT to act on camera. This week, you get not one, but two videos. Each can best be described as, uh, a “teaching moment.” Both authors start stumbling, right out of the gate. In the first video, author Uri Man’s comments… Read More
Writers, pitch your idea to TV producers, agents on Tuesday
If you dream of writing for TV—comedy, drama, reality, or alternative—but you’re not sure you’ve got what it takes, you can pitch your idea to a literary agent and TV producers next week and hear their feedback on your pitch. And it’s all free. Chad Gervich, author of the book Small Screen, Big Picture: A Writer’s Guide to… Read More
Want your own radio show? Discover how on Thursday
If you write books, or you want to write one, don’t even think about catching the attention of a major publisher unless you have what’s called platform. The bigger your platform, the greater your influence and following. It’s that simple. You can build your platform dozens of ways online and offline. One way is by having your own… Read More
Happy Birthday, Oprah! Here’s how we’re celebrating
Oprah, make your 53rd birthday your best ever today! To celebrate, many of my Publicity Hounds will be devoting 90 minutes to learning what they must do to land a spot on your show as a guest WITHOUT pestering your producers. They’ll be participating in a call that Steve Harrison is hosting with Michelle Anton, your former guest booker.… Read More