How to Get Radio Interviews

Do you have a book releasing soon, or one already on the market?

Doing local radio station interviews is a good way to get the word out about your book. These local interviews also help you break into the public speaking arena on a more comfortable level. You’ll gain experience and practice that will help you tackle national interviews later on.

That’s all well and good, but how do you locate possible stations, and what do you do once you’ve found them?

To find radio stations, you can use: http://www.radio-locator.com/

In their words, this website “is the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the Internet. We have links to over 14,100 radio stations’ web pages and over 9600 stations’ audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world.”

Just as you target your manuscript submissions, you’ll want to target radio stations that are a good fit for you and your book. Study the station’s website before contacting them.

Once you’ve developed your list, the next step is to send a pitch letter.

Sarah Bolme, director of the Christian Small Publishers Association and author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace, advises that your pitch letter include

• “the title of your book,

• your credentials,

• how your topic addresses current events, and

• why it is right for the show’s audience.”

Most interviewers won’t have time to read your book, so develop a list of 10-15 questions with answers that you can provide with your pitch letter.

Bolme also says, “Don’t just rely on your press releases and pitch letters . . . You will need to phone station producers after sending your queries to verbally request a guest interview.”

Have you included radio interviews in your marketing plan? Why or why not?