A Cautionary Tale About the Media

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

 

The media (like Talk Radio) is an important element for authors to reach readers. As a journalist, I've interviewed many bestselling authors and published their stories. As an author, I've been interviewed on numerous radio, magazine and podcast shows. Here's one of the facts for you, I've never paid for any interview or paid to appear on any media program. If someone is charging, then your internal alarm bells or red flag should sound.

 

Because of my years of work in publishing and my activity, I have thousands of connections on LinkedIn. Last week someone invited me to make a connection (a common practice). I looked at this person's profile and accepted the invitation. Almost immediately, this person began to email me about appearing on his radio show, the millions of listeners. He had a slot for me to appear this week and it would only cost me $250 which paid for his producer and other people involved in the broadcast. I responded that I had done numerous interviews and never paid for such an opportunity and I asked him to waive the fee. The timing (the next day) sounded suspicious because from my experience these types of opportunities are booked several weeks ahead.

 

He responded that he could drop the price to $200 and if I returned as a guest (which according to him many people do) it would only be $100. He continued to push for payment and my internal alarm bells were sounding. After several exchanges, I wished him the best and passed on the interview. At that point, he  began to belittle me and my book (more alarm bells). In the end, I blocked this person on LinkedIn so I will not interact with him again. It was a money-making scam and I wanted no part of it.

As I think about it further, anyone can create a LinkedIn profile and this one may have been fake. The person's photo was someone with sunglasses could have been anyone. I'll never know but the alarm bells in my mind were sounding with my exchanges.

 

As authors, we have to use our common sense with such “opportunties” along with our past experience. I've hired publicists who are connected to media opportunities. These professionals read my book, create media kits and book interviews. Their role is a common one within the publishing community. Also they book me on programs where I don't pay for such opportunities to reach their audience.

 

I'm telling you about this experience as a cautionary tale with the hope it will help someone avoid the expense and pain of being scammed. There are many working journalists who have a well-established audience and reputation.  Several years ago, to promote my biography about Billy Graham I flew to Tampa, Florida and appeared on the HomeKeeper's program. You can see my interview here. (The interview begins at about 10:11.) This program reached millions of people and I didn't pay anything to the program for this opportunity.

 

Have you had media experiences where your internal alarm bells sound? Let me know about it in the comments. 

 

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Show Up In Unexpected Places

With the large number of new books releasing every day, authors need to show up in unexpected places with their books. While I acquire books for Morgan James Publishing, I also attempt to follow my own advice and model this principle of my books appearing in unexpected and new places.

In this article, I want to tell you about two places my book, Billy Graham, A Biography of America's Greatest Evangelist has shown up in recent days—yet I'm giving the details about how this happened—and you can take similar action with your books.

Five days ago, I got a random email from Jeff D'Alessio, an editor at The News-Gazette in Champaign/ Urbana. Jeff told about putting together a story on well-known people from Illinois in celebration of the 200th birthday of the state. He asked, “The question (just need a few sentences — or paragraphs, if you’re so inclined): What’s one not-so-obvious/overdone remarkable fact, figure or anecdote about Billy Graham’s brief time in Illinois that you find particularly fascinating or interesting? Take it wherever you’d like. If you can’t pick one and want to send multiples to choose from, that works, too. Details are great for this. Anything that reveals why you find it so interesting.”

Billy Graham had some significant milestones in his life in Illinois—meeting his wife, Ruth, and pastoring his first church. This request came on a very busy day for me—but I took a few minutes and pulled a brief excerpt from my book—in fact one that people normally had not seen—and sent it off to this editor—on the same day. From my years in publishing, I knew newspapers move quickly and you have to be responsive to have any possibility in this area. I received no response from D'Alessio.

Yet today, a portion of my excerpt was at the top of his article along with my name, and the title of my book. The News-Gazette has a circulation of about 25,000. Normally I would not know about this article, but months ago, I set up a TalkWalkerAlert (FREE) for anything with my name “Terry Whalin.” The alert about the article showed up in my email. From my newspaper experience, I know these articles can fade quickly. I created a PDF of the article and uploaded it to my own website where it will never disappear (yet still gives credit to the publication). When you have these types of articles, I encourage you to take similar action to preserve the article.

On Monday, December 18, Homekeepers on the Christian Television Network ran an interview about Billy Graham. You can see it here:



Yes I flew to Tampa, Florida for this 20–minute interview. I was grateful for the opportunity and show it to you here.

Here's the age-old question that every author wants to know: Will this exposure help you sell more books? My answer is yes. Buying studies have shown that someone needs to hear about your book seven or eight or ten times before they buy it. Each exposure is a part of that process to tell others about your book. I'm continuing to promote a book which has been out over two years. 

As I interact with people, I encourage them to write reviews and received my 66^th  review yesterday. Many authors give up too soon on their book promotion then wonder why their book isn't selling.  It takes an on-going effort.

Is your book appearing in unexpected places? Give me some of the details in the comments below.

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