The old adage “write what you know” gets a lot of flack now. Maybe it’s, “Know what you write. Especially if you plan to blog about it.”

Blogging aside—you really got me thinking twice about the story elements and amount of research I put into my next novel. It should be something I could talk about with some authority. Hmmm. Back to those author bios where we asked, “What am I an expert at?” and weaving it into our writing.

Darn right! I can’t speak for others, but I’m prepared to wager good money that I will pick up a ghostwriter within 47 words at the very most. I didn’t come here to praise you Randy, and most certainly not to bury you, but it is that very goofball style I enjoy very much. Not only the blog, but also the e-zines and articles.

As for the current topic, I’m afraid I can’t submit intelligent comments, as I know even less about HTML and PHP than I know about time warps and wormholes.

I can do html, am getting to grips with css but the php still trips me up. Someday soon. I suspected that you fiddled your code yourself. I do it the other way round. I take somebody else’s code and then fiddle with the colours and pictures and things.

There are lots of free webiste and blog templates about which you are free to adapt. Change a colour here and a line thickness there and you have your own unique template in a jiffy.

1. In large markets (NYC, LA) it’s sometimes more advantageous to contact a show’s producer direct rather than the Program Director. The PD often has a lot on his/her plate, and will just pass you off to the producer anyway. Show producers on news/talk format stations especially are often scrambling to find guests, and will accomodate you if you’re anywhere near what they’re looking for. (The flip side of this is that if you do get the ear of the PD, he/she will know which show of theirs they can slot you into. So that’s still a good route, regardless.)

2. Since deregulation of the industry in the 90’s, more and more individual radio station are parts of “clusters” owned by a single company. Go to a station’s website and look to see who the owner is (Clear Channel, Westwood One, etc.). Contacting the programming department of the parent company can sometimes result in having multiple interviews scheduled at their various outlets in one fell swoop. It’s worth a shot.

3. If you do wrangle an on-air appearance, especially if you’ve never been on the radio before, PRACTICE FIRST. Write down questions you think an interviewer might ask, then answer them out loud into a recording device. Play it back and listen to your answers. You want to be conversational but succinct, without stammering or sounding like the question caught you off guard. On large stations with a heavy spot load you may only get 4 or 5 minutes to pique listeners’ interest. If you ramble on about every twist and quirk you encountered while trying to find the perfect agent (for instance) you’ll have less time to sell numerous other points. Don’t be brusque of course, but being overly expansive can be even worse. If you’re being pre-recorded the producer might chop you down later anyway - better to self edit beforehand so YOU can control content.

Whew. Talk about “do as I say, not as I do”. In my defense, I’m not normally overly expansive with blog comments. But this is one of the few subjects I can expound on with any authority at all, and I seem to have lost all self control. Not that I have much to begin with….

Thanks Randy, for sharing such great stuff.

Randy, I took the Simpleology course on blogging, but I must say that what you have said here is so much more helpful! Part of it is what you say is specific to fiction writing, and I can’t expect Simpleology to make a course specific to that topic. Maybe we’ll see one from you? That would be great.

Thanks for the tips! Timely and useful.

-Mark
http://www.writedamnnow.com