Nailing a Radio Interview

These great tips are from bestselling author Tricia Goyer.


Radio interviews are fun. The interviewer calls your home and you get to chat about your book. And then lots of people hear about it and go buy it. How easy it that?!

For radio interviews:
Do ... put it on your calendar.
Do ... check your calendar the night before, in case it's an early interview. (I've almost missed a 6:00 a.m. interview once!)

Do ... get the dogs out of the room.
Do ... get the kids out of the room.
Do ... get them both far enough away so their complaints will not be heard by the radio interviewer.

Do ... turn off call waiting on your phone.
Do ... confiscate every other phone in the house.
Do ... turn off your cell phone.

Do ... call the emergency number included with your confirmation IF you do not hear from them within 1-2 minutes of the scheduled time ... especially if it is LIVE. Sometimes they have the wrong number. Or maybe your home phone line is dead. (Something that happened this week that I didn't realize it until I called the station on my cell to check on why they hadn't called.)

Do not ... check your email at the same time.
Do not ... have any other distractions except the voice on the phone.
Do ... tell them if you cannot hear them clearly.
Do ... have the volume turned up on your phone, because sometimes they are hard to hear.

Do ... have your favorite statistics (for non-fiction) printed up and sitting next to you.
Do ... have a copy of your book with you. (So when they say, "On page 93 ...)

Do not ... ask your assistant to call in for a call in show ... unless she is already prepared with a REALLY good question :-)

Do ... come up of "key phrases" ahead of time. Things you want to get across.
Do ... have a copy of your publishers' suggested interview questions and know how to respond.
Do ... have short stories or illustrations that can sum up the principles you want to share for your non-fiction.
Do ... have the same stories ready for your fiction. Interviewers love them.

Do ... have a smile on your face.
Do ... laugh and enjoy yourself. You'll come across well.

Do ... listen to your interview when you're done (if possible) and see what worked and what didn't.
Do ... have a professional critique your interview, if possible.
Do ... listen to their suggestions for improvement.

Do ... send a thank you card to the station when you are done.
Do ... add them to your contact list, and make a note of what type of interviewer they were.

Do not say ... "in my book" 50 times. Let them rave about you.
Do ... be ready for any question. And if you don't know that answer either 1) do your best or 2) say "I wish I knew the answer for that, but what I can say is ..."

Do not ... worry about this before your book is published, just enjoy the writing ... which is what writing is all about!