Book Your Guests includes 1,500 radio talk shows, 1,200 magazine resources and more than 600 TV programs that are all looking for the next run away best seller by an unknown author.

They are hungry for new content and it is the easiest method of selling your books. There is a talk show for every topic imaginable: from pets to parties; from kids to knitting; and from the Law of Attraction to Literacy in our schools.

It would take you about two years to work through the lists and about that time, they begin to call you. In fact most of the interviews I do now are from producers I’ve already worked with. It’s great when they call me: I’m already a proven commodity so I don’t have to work hard to convince them they should interview me!

It also works to their benefit because they’re not taking a chance on someone new who might not know how to handle the interview gracefully.

First of all, the talk show host wants the author to be entertaining and able to banter cleverly well enough to generate interest from their listen audience. There is nothing worse than either a one word answer or one that is three minutes of long drawn out mundane minutia.

However, being clever is not always an author’s forte. So it is vitally important to practice, practice and then practice some more. I typically put my authors through their paces. We will do at least one practice run and then record the interview so they are able to hear what they sound like and help them make the appropriate alternations to their interview content and style until they are able to be entertaining while sounding like they are having fun!

It’s called Edutainment! Plain and simple, the audience wants to be entertained, not lectured. It is also important for the author to question the producer as to whether they host prefers controversy or more of a dialogue style.

Both the author and the host want a good product that will have the listeners calling in and making the advertisers appreciate the exposure they are getting through the show.