The scoop on Media training

In today’s world, the television, radio, newspaper, and magazine media have a big influence on the sales of most any mainstream consumer product, books included. Books can’t sell unless people hear about them.

While it’s true that word of mouth can sell books, something has to make reader #1 pick up and buy the book to start the ball rolling, and that something is often a review or mention in the mass media.

For the release of Look Me in the Eye, Crown has lined up about fifty interviews with all sorts of media. To maximize my chances of success in these interviews, they also arranged media training for me, yesterday in New York. And those fifty interviews may well lead to a hundred more, so I really need to be ready. It's one thing to tell someone about your book at leisure at a party. Presenting the high points of Look Me in the Eye in a three-minute interview is something else entirely.

At this moment, I’d like to introduce my publicist from Crown, and Melissa Hellen of Clarity Media Group, my media trainer. Crown has really gotten the very best people on Look Me in the Eye, every step of the way. Meet two more of them:




Ava is on the left; Melissa is on the right. We're standing in Melissa's office in Rockefeller Center, a short walk from Crown Publishers, which is in the Random House building on Broadway.

To some people “media training” sounds almost sinister. Rest assured, it’s not. No one tried to make me into anything I’m not. Here’s a brief description of what we did . . .

We started by going over the schedule of interviews and talking about the interview process. Melissa showed me how people sit for TV, and how close they are (hint – it’s a lot closer than you’d expect.) She showed me how the cameras are typically set up, and how to wear the lapel microphones. She told me what to expect for makeup, and why they use it, and we talked about how my clothes will look on camera.

All of that will certainly make me more comfortable when interviewers with cameras come calling next week. I start my television career right at the top, with the Today show. They’ll be taping next week, and the segment will air as soon as my book goes on sale.

Melissa, Ava, and I talked about the questions I’ll be asked. While there’s no way to know all the questions in advance, Melissa was reasonably certain of some “standards” and we talked about them, and how I’ll answer in a clear and concise manner.

Then, we went into a little studio and taped an interview. Playing it back, they pointed out places where I paused, or repeated myself. We looked at places I could use examples from my book in my answers, and we did the interviews over and over with me learning more each time.

After that, we talked about the differences between radio and television interviews, and we covered print interviews as well. Then, it was on to the book tour. We talked about what I’d read on my tour, and she had several good suggestions. In particular, she showed me how reading several short passages from within Look Me in the Eye could be more effective than reading a single chapter.

We taped that too, and looked at the results. I'll be more confident and smoother now, and all of you who come to see me can reap the benefit.

And that, in a few words, is what happens at media training. I am very glad Crown set this up for me. I’ll be a lot more confident now, and I’ll be able to get my points across more effectively. I’m still me, I’ll just do better in interviews now. And the first one starts soon, when I pick up a reporter who’s flying in from London in just a few more hours. So I'm off and running . . . .