Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tips for doing radio interviews


Radio show hosts are almost always rushed for time and being creative in their questioning. Combining those two things will help you be a better radio guest.

This is what you do:

List a bunch of questions you would like to be asked or anticipate would be interesting to a radio audience. Remember things are done in very short snippets.

For each question formulate your answer; then orally time how long it takes to answer the question. Once you have that, indicate with the question how long it takes for the question/answer. Having all your questions and answers timed out will help you look good to the host and make their jobs easier because they know how much time they have to fill. So a typical question would go like this:

1. How do you come up with ideas for your books?

Answer: 1 minute.

2. Do you read e-books?

Answer: 2 minutes

3. How does the quality of e-books compare to traditional publishing?

Answer: 2 minutes.

4. What is your book about?

Answer: 1 minute

5. How will reading your novel impact our readers? (How will it better their lives in some way?)

Answer: 2 minutes



Let's say your host has 4 minutes of airtime to fill. He/She can pick and choose from the questions you provide to fill that time without awkward silence and make the best use of the time you've been given.

Stand up it will make you less breathy,

For web radio interviews you will be asked to make sure you call on a land line. Better safe than sorry do not call on your cell. Also you will likely have more time than you would for your morning radio show so be prepared. Have answers to questions like

Who inspires you? Why did you start to write?

In any sort of interview you want to show how reading your work will enhance the lives of the readers. Bonus points if you can tie some aspect of your story into current events