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Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

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Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Career » Page 27

Career

Interviews Made Easy

By Karen Ballon November 12, 2014
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Writers had a lot of things going for them, but, generally speaking, there is one thing that can work against them when it comes to doing interviews…

Writers tend to be introverts.

So why does that work against you? Well, most interviewers will tell you that the #1 thing they avoid is dead space. You know, those painful moments of utter silence when nobody can think of anything to say. Or when someone gives a one-word response to a question, leaving the interviewer—and the listeners—hanging. So how do you avoid that? Simple, prepare ahead of time.

Whether your book is fiction or nonfiction, published or not, it is helpful to have a list of potential interview questions and plugs. For one thing, thinking these through helps you better focus on who you are as a writer and what your core message is, which will will help you as you craft proposals and as you talk about your books with others. And when you have interview requests, you’ll be ahead of the game—and you’ll make the interviewer’s life easier as well. Always a good thing!

  1. Write 5 topics connected with your book. If you’re writing nonfiction, this is easy. But fiction writers can do this as well. One of the reasons interviewers are hesitant to talk with novelists is they keep thinking they have to talk about the story. You can clear up that misconception by finding the nonfiction topics in your novel. Focus on those for interviews.
  2. Write 5 possible topics connected to you (your background, education, personal experiences, previous work, unusual experiences, etc.) Don’t just think about your writing life, think about all of who you are and do. Hobbies, skills, talents, life experiences…they can all be fodder for discussion and stirring interest.
  3. Write 10 interview questions so that a radio or online host could read them and conduct a well-rounded 30-minute show that would cover the message of your book, your purpose in writing it, and you. Include a brief answer in parentheses for yourself. I can’t count the number of people who have told me they just went blank when the interviewer asked them a question. This way you won’t have to worry about it.
  4. Write down the main points you want to get across. Keep those in front of you during the interview to make sure you make them. Check them off as you do so. What to do if the interviewer doesn’t ask the right lead-in questions? Simple, just take the conversation where you want by saying something like, “You know, something else to consider is…”
  5. Be ready for questions you don’t want to answer. Think about the kinds of things someone could ask that you have no desire to discuss, and come up with responses that redirect the conversation. So if the interviewer says, “Your last book hasn’t sold very well, has it? Why do you think that is?” You can deflect and redirect with something like, “That’s a great question, but I’ve found that understanding the how and why of book sales is right up there with men understanding women. It’s a lot easier, though, to understand <insert your point here>…”

Here are a few sample questions (which are totally fictitious, of course…)

  1. In your previous books you tackled the elements of being a successful writer. Tell us what issue is behind your new book, “Taking Down Grizzly Bears.”  (Answer: After being a writer for more than 30 years, I realized the survival skills I’d learned could work well in most any situation. And wrangling grizzlies is a breeze compared to facing down editors and agents!)
  2. How has your educational or professional training prepared you to deal with this topic? (Are you kidding? My work as an editor, agent, writer, in-house and freelance, taught me how to not just survive, but thrive, in fierce battles.)
  3. Have you faced such an issue yourself? (Every moment of every working day.)
  4. What is the single most important thing someone facing down a grizzly bear needs to know? (Answer: Never let ‘em see you sweat. And make sure you take along someone who can’t run very fast. That way all you have to do is outrun that person, not the bear.)

So there you go! Now that you’re prepared, you can relax and just have fun!

 

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Category: Career, Communication, Craft, Writing CraftTag: Career, Communication, Interviews

Standing for Something

By Dan Balowon November 11, 2014
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Take a Stand

When Al Ries and Jack Trout published their classic marketing book Positioning in 1981, the concept of the book and the single-word title became a white-hot marketing buzzword, much in the same way as “platform” is today. I am not going to dig into that classic business title today or come up with a complicated analysis of positioning, but I can say this, if you want to do a brilliant piece of …

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Category: Branding, Career, Communication, Marketing, Platform, TrendsTag: Career, Marketing

HELP! I’m a Bestselling Author!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 6, 2014
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Are you surprised that bestselling authors need help? Don’t be. While they are in an enviable position, that position is not without its hazards. 1.) Performance: Each book must be as good or better than the last book to keep readers reading. 2.) Sales: In direct correlation to the first item, the readership will result in sales. A bestselling author doesn’t want to see a big drop in …

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Category: Book Business, CareerTag: Bestselling Author, Career

Healthy Brain Food

By Dan Balowon November 4, 2014
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In this social media-saturated world where everyone seems to have an opinion about everything, it is very important to quickly determine those voices you pay attention to and those you tune out. When it comes to the book publishing business, I narrow down who I pay attention to simply because I am convinced my head would explode if I listened to everyone. Probably because the end-product of book …

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Category: Book Business, Career, Marketing, News You Can Use, The Publishing Life, TrendsTag: Publishing News, Sources, The Publishing Life

HELP! I’m a Mid-List Author

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 30, 2014
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Author Sales are Going Down

In the current publishing environment, many mid-list authors have taken hits. Some mid-list authors can and do keep writing, enjoy healthy sales, and have great careers while rarely hitting a bestseller list. This is a great and rewarding path. However, in recent times, market changes and the closing of fiction lines in particular have left some mid-list authors without a home. Or perhaps simply …

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Category: Book Business, Career, Get PublishedTag: Career, Mid-List Authors

Are You Being Too Transparent?

By Karen Ballon October 29, 2014
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Have you seen the show Blue Bloods? Great show—I mean, how can it not be with Tom Selleck? Do I hear an amen??—that focuses on solid family connections and deals with tough, current issues. The most recent episode made me sit back and go, “Wow. I needed that reminder.” So I’m going to share the gist with you, because it’s something we all need to keep in mind. In the show, Tom Selleck plays Frank …

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Category: Book Business, Career, Communication, TrendsTag: Communication, Social Media, Transparency

Returning Lemonade to the Lemons

By Dan Balowon October 28, 2014
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Arrogant Writer

In my opinion, there are too many suggestions to improve things. Ten keys to success, five days to improving something, 12 steps to overcoming something, transform something by the end of the week, etc. An entirely neglected approach to life is how to make it go sour. Messing it up needs equal time and attention. Not enough is written about it and not enough time is spent discussing it. Until now. …

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Category: Book Business, Career, Editing, Get PublishedTag: Career, Entitlement

HELP! I’m a Debut Author

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 23, 2014
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The Debut Author

When considering traditional publishing, new authors may think it’s harder than ever to go from unpublished (or “pre-published” as the popular euphemism goes) to published. However, that’s not the case. The truth is, it has ALWAYS been difficult to become a traditionally published author. When my first book was published in the 1990s, my uncle, a high school history teacher …

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Category: Career, Get PublishedTag: Career, Debut author, get publishied

HELP! I’m a Self-Published Author

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 16, 2014
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Time and time again, self-published authors come to me asking for help. They self-published or published with a very small press and found that doing all of their own marketing and promotion resulted in sales in the three-figure range. Some authors are able to achieve the low four figures but that’s not much better as far as impressing a traditional publisher. A cumulative total of several …

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Category: Career, IndieTag: Career, Get Published, Indie, Self-Publishing

Did I Say That?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 9, 2014
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I think I talk more at a conference in one day that I do in a week at home. (Well, my family might dispute that. Just sayin’.) All that talk means I have plenty of times to say great things, witty things, funny things, and stupid things. Sometimes someone will tell me, “Three years ago you said, blah BLAH blah blah blah blah blah BLAH.” Really? I said that? Well, I probably did. …

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Category: Career, Conferences, Get PublishedTag: Talking, writers conferences
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