The last couple of weeks have given me the chance to experience a whole new aspect of the author’s journey through life. Author interviews. I have had no less than three of them and they have taught me a few lessons.
Journals of a Healer: Unleash Your Hidden Genius with Mary Blake was the first of my interviews to be released. This is a podcast interview and that meant there was an opportunity to have any tremendous gaffs on my part removed. That certainly takes off some of the pressure of being interviewed, which in turns results in a more relaxed and more entertaining event.
What I learned from this interview is the value of having your answers ready ahead of time. Now, you can’t always predict what the host will ask, but it is worthwhile to have a list of commonly asked questions. I’m not suggesting that you read from a prepared sheet of responses because that leads to a lifeless interview. However, you can think of these questions ahead of time so that you have a feel for how you will answer them, or questions similar to them. One of Mary’s questions really caught me by surprise and I am so glad that the horribly long pause I gave was edited out.
Next was The Good Word
podcast with Nick Galieti. This was actually my first interview, but it was placed on schedule to follow all of the other interviews that had already been recorded. The great thing about this interview was that Nick made it very easy to go through this process the first time. I feel sorry for the amount of editing that had to go into it to remove all of my “ums” and “ands”. The important lesson I learned from this particular experience was that the interviewer really makes or breaks the interview. A good interviewer will usually lead to a good interview. Before you agree to appear on a show take the time to listen to a couple of the interviews to get a sense of the host’s style.
Finally, last week I appeared on live radio. KFNX 1100 AM in Phoenix has the Networking Arizona show with Carol Blonder and it proved to be the most educational of the three interview experiences I’ve had so far. Carol is a true professional. Before the show she sat down with everyone who was going to be on her show and went over what they would talk about. This wasn’t a case of her telling us what she wanted. It was a matter of her finding out what we needed to discuss to help us in our individual situations. On the air she was smooth and controlled the interviews in a good way. What I mean by that is if a guest was stumbling with an interview she picked up on that right away and jumped right in. She also has a great online presence. No matter what was being discussed with the guest she sounded interested, which will make it sound interesting to the listeners.
The best part of my experience with Carol Blonder came after the show. She took the time to help me understand what I need to do to successfully to pitch my book. Any book that I write. Believe me, I took notes. Those notes will be helpful for further interviews and even speaking opportunities. I am going back to do a second show with Carol and when I’m done with that I will post it on the website. Until then, feel free to check out my interviews with Mary Blake and Nick Galieti.