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| Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
I recently did a radio interview for a
US-based blog radio site. It’s a monthly program with four interviewers chatting
to four authors in different genres. I filled the speculative fiction spot for
the month chatting about Angelguard, spiritual warfare and a little about
Australia.
This was my first experience and I learnt a
lot as a result. I thought I’d share four of them with you as a means of
generating some dialogue amongst us all. I’m very much the novice and I expect
there are many amongst our group who have some valuable insights to share.
1. Take responsibility for communicating your
message
I had requested some questions prior to the
interview but Carla, my host, indicated she wished to simply make it a
conversation. I was okay with that but prepared specific messages to
share. Carla was very good guiding
the conservation and I didn’t feel I had to force it to share a little about
Angelguard’s key themes.
Like all aspects of marketing our novels,
we should be the most passionate advocates of our work. Make sure that passion
comes across in your delivery and messages.
2. Give short responses and don’t fear moments
of silence
It was tricky because of a time delay and
not being able to see the person I was speaking to. It’s just like having a
chat over the telephone; well in fact that’s what I was doing. Carla and I talked over each other a
couple of times, which was a bit awkward.
Short sharp responses help both yourself
and the host. Try to finish each
response definitively as this helps the host know you’re ready for the next
question.
3. Make sure you plug where you can be found
on the net
This is really important so listeners can
find you after the interview.
4. Listen to the interview afterwards
This is important so we can learn what we
did well and what we can improve on.
It’s funny how we get surprised hearing ourselves, isn’t it? “Really, is
that what I sound like?” Yep, that’s how everyone hears you.
I was a little disappointed on listening to
it. I think I got my messages across okay but there were too many “ticks”, that
is, “Ums, Ahs, you knows”. It took away from the punchiness of the chat. I’m a
slowish thinker on my feet and much prefer a prepared talk as I’ve done my
thinking prior to it. I’ll have to work on ways of better managing this in
future.
It was good fun and I hope I get other
opportunities in the future.
Now over to you. What tips do you have for
doing great radio interviews?
Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter
