An article in Publishers Weekly says the Hollywood writers’ strike is affecting authors by suspending production of the late night talk shows that publicists rely on when launching a book to a national audience.
Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart, for example, had interviews scheduled this week with Karen Greenberg, author of The Torture Debate in America; Robert Reich, author of Supercapitalism; CNN talking head Lou Dobbs, author of Independents Day; and former UN Ambassador John Bolton, author of Surrender Is Not an Option. Instead, cable shows and the networks are offering reruns.
“It’s not as if our business is going to collapse,” said Paul Bogaards, executive director of publicity at Knopf publishing. “But we publicists are desperate to get our authors in front of readers and these are lost opportunities, especially as we enter the holiday shopping season.”
Another way to get authors in front of a national audience is via National Public Radio, which features hundreds of authors each year on a variety of shows. Lissa Warren, who has booked dozens of her author clients on NPR shows and was a guest on a teleseminar I conducted called “How to Get Booked on National Public Radio,” says NPR is especially kind to authors. That’s because NPR has a more upscale, well-educated audience.
She recommends authors and publicists use the search box at the NPR website to find programs that have featured guests discussing certain topics. If a show is a good fit with your area of expertise, start pitching.
A few authors may lose their fifteen minutes of glory on talk TV shows because of the writers strike, but in the long run authors will benefit by the strike. If producers win in their battle not to give writers a fair share of the profits from their own work, publishers will follow their lead. And authors who sign contracts with movie producers will have a much harder time negotiating residual rights for their work. It’s short-sighted of authors to carp about the writers’ strike when it will eventually help us in our own negotiations.
NPR is an often overlooked source. Great post Joan!