During Week I, we talked about assumptions and irrational expectations new authors usually have about book sales. We then discussed the dire need for an author to have his OWN website (not a URL controlled by someone else!) and a periodical (ezine/blog) to market their book.

During Week II, we discussed how important it is to offer a free excerpt of your book. We also shared URLs to “free article” websites where you can post your excerpt as an “article.”

During Week III, we talked about posting your book excerpt on FreeBookExcerpts.com, a free service for everyone, including book lovers. Authors can post excerpts and readers can discuss them.

During Week IV, we cozied up to websites that have a good Google ranking.

During Week V, we asked websites, ezines, blogs and magazines to publish an excerpt from our book.

During Week VI, we subtly marketed our book to online discussion groups.

During Week VII, we subtly promoted our book on other people’s blogs.

During Week VIII, we subtly promoted our book on major news sites.

During Week IX, we listed our ebook for sale at some ebookstores and also took advantage of a few of free ebook directories.

During Week X, we pitched ourselves as an “experts” or interview sources to news services/syndicates.

This week, we’re going to pitch ourselves as interview sources to online radio shows.

I am not a fan of traditional radio shows as a marketing medium. Potential readers usually need to hear your marketing message several times before they’ll buy your book. When you do a traditional radio show, it gets heard once (or replayed if you’re lucky) and then it’s all over. Furthermore, if someone is listening in their car while driving, they can’t click their computer instantly to buy your book, or even write down the name of your book – unless they’re a very dangerous driver.

I’ve been a guest on traditional radio shows and I can honestly say they generated almost zero sales and were a complete waste of my time. I solicited feedback from authors when researching an article for WritersWeekly on this topic and the responses from them were almost overwhelmingly in agreement with me. If you’re interested, the responses are here:
https://writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004279_09262007.html

However, I have done two taped online interviews that have generated quite a bit of business. The first, with Tom Antion, was an audio interview created as part of a teleseminar series back in 2000. I still get new subscribers and book buyers from that interview today even though it is not a free broadcast. See #12 here: https://www.antion.com/telesemtapes.htm

The second one I did was with The Publishing Insiders on blogtalkradio.com. Since the interview is online, it can be heard over and over again for as long as the website keeps the interview archived. Furthermore, it’s listed in the Internet search engines – something traditional radio shows can’t do unless they are later posted online.

So, while I don’t recommend spending time and effort trying to land traditional radio interviews that won’t be posted online, I do recommend participating in online radio shows. While you won’t be able to land an interview with all the shows you contact, it’s worth a shot to approach them and offer yourself as an interview subject.

BlogTalkRadio is “the leading social radio network.” While you can create your own live talk show, which can be heard around the world without the need for special equipment, you can also contact hosts already using their service to offer yourself as a guest.

Go here: https://www.blogtalkradio.com/Categories.aspx

Click on Books (or any of the categories that might fit your book) and you can see recently recorded shows, along with the host of each. After registering, you can click on the contact button to contact the host and offer yourself as a future guest. Hint: If the show has multiple ratings, it indicates the show is more popular than a show that has no ratings.

You might also find online radio shows hosted by other services by searching your favorite search engine for:

online radio show [keyword describing your book]

Remove the brackets when searching.

Is there a specific topic you’d like Angela to write about? Contact her at: angela – at – writersweekly.com