The Dibs System at NPR

Issue #815 May 6, 2014
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

1. The Dibs System at NPR
2. The Jargon Generator
3. Your Book is a Calling Card
4. Hound Video of the Week

This Week in the Hound House:

I bet they’re still laughing at what happened on Saturday night during the banquet at the Author U Extravaganza in Denver. I was horrified when I overheard a woman at my table tell the woman next to her that she makes her girls sleep in the barn “whenever they start to drive me crazy.” She lives in Seattle, for crying out loud, and it’s cold there this time of year! About 10 minutes later, I asked her how many children she has. “I don’t have any children,” she said. When I said I overheard her saying her girls sleep in the barn, I thought she’d fall off her chair laughing. “Those are my dogs!” she screamed.

1. The Dibs System at NPR

The Dibs System, created by National Public Radio, settles arguments among programs that want first “dibs” on an author or a musician.

It’s been around for almost 30 years and it works fairly well. Programs can plan a number of stories around a popular artist or author. Or if two programs want to interview the same person, they can co-coordinate so the interviews remain substantially different.

The Dibs System also stops publicity-hungry authors and artists from playing one NPR program against another. For example, if Weekend Edition Saturday gets “dibs” on an author, the author can’t call a program with a larger audience such as “All Things Considered.” ATC would be obliged to declined.

The system can derail your best publicity campaign, however, especially when news breaks or when producers who had scheduled you for a slot on their show suddenly lose interest in your topic.

The confusing labyrinth of NPR makes it difficult to know how to pitch. Start by reading “How to Get Your Friends to Say, ‘I Heard You on NPR’.”

It includes a link to the contact form you should use when pitching.

If you’ve scheduled a media interview but you’re not confident you can do well, reserve an hour of my consulting time and I’ll help. An author I met over the weekend at the Author U Extravaganza in Denver had an interview with an NPR station scheduled for yesterday afternoon. We did a mock interview on Sunday, and I threw in some questions she didn’t expect.

She did well, but my coaching helped her smooth out some of the rough spots.

Don’t go to an interview unprepared. I’m a phone call away.

2. The Jargon Generator

If you grew up in the nonprofit world, jargon has infected your writing.

Nonprofits love long words with multiple syllables because it makes them sound intelligent. They love to string these words together and create long, rambling sentences for their websites, press releases, blog posts and on marketing materials.

The Philanthropy Generator, a free tool lets you create your own jargon and laugh about it afterward. Click the “create jargon” button. The site chooses a random verb from the first column, a random adjective from the second column, and a noun or phrase from the third column.

I clicked five time and created these phrases:

–co-create regional fellowship opportunities

–restructure philanthropic policy recommendations

–reconceptualize authentic microfinance

–ramp up back-of-the-envelope values education

–morph affinity-based perceptions

Do you know what readers do when they see that? They stop reading and go elsewhere.

I’m working with a client who grew up in the nonprofit and academic worlds and joined The Publicity Hound Mentor Program because she must learn how to write all over again. After only one coaching call yesterday, she rewrote a press release quickly. It bears no resemblance to the convoluted mess on the first draft.

If you need a coach to review anything you write–press releases, pitches, marketing materials–you could be a good fit for the mentor program.

Or take advantage of phone consulting time if you have a small writing project and don’t want to commit to a long program.

3. Your Book is a Calling Card

During the 62 interviews I conducted with Publicity Hounds recently, many authors had the same frustration.

They can’t sell enough books to cover the cost of publishing.

Most of them don’t have plans to spin their books into other products that can create multiple revenue streams. They see the book as the end product.

Rich authors don’t.

They use the book as a calling card that leads readers to other products and services. Successful authors have things like coaching programs, board games, wall calendars, membership sites, and more. That’s the key differences between rich authors and poor authors.

Learn the other six at a free 75-minute telephone seminar hosted by Steve Harrison, at your choice of two times: 2 or 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, May 8. The call is free.

Register for the free call, “How to Achieve a Lot More Success as an Author by Discovering the Seven Things Rich Authors Know That Poor Authors Don’t”. I promote it as a compensated affiliate because I’ve seen hundreds of authors miss this important distinction between how to publish the hard way and how to publish the smart way.

Attend live or miss it. You won’t be able to listen to the replay afterward.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Can your dog smile like this? Way too cute.