As a prolific author—I’ve had over 100 books published since 1993—I understandably have a number of different publishers, of which Roundtable is one. And as an author who wants to sell the books she writes, I do what I can to promote them, including going on various radio shows—mostly podcasts (internet radio)—to talk about my books. Just last week I was extolling the recipes in STEALTH LEFTOVERS, one of my cookbooks (cookbooks are just a small part of my output), which was published a few years ago by Roundtable.
So by now I’m an old hand at guesting on radio shows, but recently I found myself “on the other side of the microphone.”
It started last summer, when one of my other publishers, which has an internet radio show, asked me to substitute as host over the summer. Although I’d never hosted a radio show before, I have hosted two TV shows, SOLO PARENTING, which ran for almost two years, and YOUNGER EVERY DAY, which ran for a short season. Both were aired in the South Florida viewing area, where I live.
My summer-long stint as substitute host of “In the Spotlight” led to my being tapped to sit in as host on a few subsequent occasions when the regular host couldn’t do it. And then, recently, she asked me if I wanted to take over permanently—or as permanently as I wanted to make it.
Of course I said Yes. It’s as much fun for me to “sit in the host chair” as to “sit in the guest chair.” (Where I’m literally sitting, of course, whether I’m hosting “In the Spotlight” or guesting on someone else’s show, is in my own chair in my own in-home office. These shows are all done either by phone or by Skype.)
Although “In the Spotlight” is the production of a publishing company, we welcome authors whose books are with other publishers as guests. (We also welcome non-authors. The show is not only about books and writing.) I reached out to the owner of Roundtable when I became the show’s permanent host and asked him which of his authors wanted to be on the show. One, who is a friend of mine, had already been on. Thus far, nobody else from Roundtable has shown up.
And, even more amazing, only three or four of the many authors published by the company whose show it is have responded to my solicitations for guests.
WHAT?! Don’t they want to get on the radio and publicize their books? A few have admitted to suffering mic fright. The others just haven’t answered at all. I don’t understand it.
It’s tough for me to even understand mic fright, though I do recall “blanking” on TV many years ago when I snagged an interview on a local TV show and then couldn’t remember a thing about the book I was pushing. Still, this is RADIO, not TV. You can do the show with copious notes in front of you. You can do the show in the comfort of the familiarity of your own home. Hell, you can do the show stark raving naked if that puts you more at ease!
But no—the authors published by the company whose show it is are “staying away in droves.” And the Roundtable authors seem to be doing the same. What are they afraid of? Mics don’t bte. But mic fright “bites”—big-time!