I despise Internet petitions and am sick to death of being asked to “sign” my name for whatever and pass it along “to everyone in your address book.”
Then along comes this post at book marketing guu John Kremer’s blog about a petition being circulated by an author who wants to get onto “Oprah.” In at least one case, apparently, nagging Oprah has worked.
That goes against everything I’ve ever heard about getting onto any TV show. You pitch. You maybe follow up a few times. But you don’t nag.
You particularly don’t nag Oprah’s producers, who have been so pestered to death that their names have since been removed from the trailer at the end of each show.
Susan Harrow, who recently recorded an interview with me on “How to Get Booked on Oprah,” suggests following up no more than three times. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to have the direct phone number or email of one of the producers.
Nagging, petitions and other odd strategies for tipping the scales in your favor seldom work.
What does? A story pitch and a pre-interview that promises producers a great show. Getting onto “Oprah” is all about one thing and one thing only.
Ratings.
Gosh, didn’t mean to encourage people to nag. Just wanted them to be persistent. You can contact any TV show as often as you want as long as you provide new information, new inspiration, new connections to news stories, or new background details that might make your author or book more newsworthy.