The Ezekiel Code Author Tenuta Discusses 2012

Welcome, Gary Val. Please give us a brief bio.
Hi Susan. First I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to do this interview! I’m a writer/artist/book-cover-designer, former contributing writer for Fate Magazine (U.S.) and Beyond Magazine (U.K.) and I’ve been a guest on numerous radio programs (including Dreamland, hosted by best selling author Whitley Strieber and The X-Zone hosted by Rob McConnell). As you might guess, from that bit of background information, I have an interest in just about everything that could be considered “paranormal” as well as cutting edge ideas from quantum physics. I’m fascinated by the mysteries surrounding many of our ancient cultures, the UFO phenomenon, synchronicity, sacred geometry, crop circles, and pretty much anything that resides outside the box or goes bump in the night.
Some readers might be interested to know about my exploration of the possibility that the English alphabet is “encoded” in such a way that it can be used in a manner similar to the system of divination known as gematria. Gematria, for those not familiar with the term, might be thought of as a kind of “sacred numerology”. That is over-simplifying it but does give you the idea that it involves numbers in combination with the alphabet. Gematria was practiced by the ancient Greek and Hebrew priests and mystics. This work, interestingly enough, provided the plot device that propels the entire story of my novel, The Ezekiel Code. The details of the work (including hundreds of examples) can be seen at http://www.secretofnine.com/.

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
The writing bug bit me when I was about 12 years old. That’s when I wrote my first story. It was a science fiction piece called “The Beam From Saucer X”. It was great! Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t so great but, hey… my mom liked it.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
I didn’t really get serious about writing until around the late 80s/early 90s. I started a science fiction novel that was coming along pretty well but I stopped working on it when I was struck with an idea for a different story. That idea kept nagging at me to get it started. Once I got started I couldn’t stop although it took nearly 9 years to complete it. The result was my debut novel, The Ezekiel Code (http://www.ezekielcode.com/).
Yes, there was a message I wanted readers to grasp. The message can be summed up by a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”. There is another quote that works here also. I’ve seen it attributed to Albert Einstein. It goes like this: “The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine”. In writing The Ezekiel Code I wanted to introduce readers to a wide range of ideas and concepts they may never have heard of. As one reviewer said:
“It changes you because it opens a portal to so many fascinating concepts, some of which are right before your eyes, laced throughout our lives and history, and others, which exist just beyond our general understanding, that it will keep you thinking and wondering about what it presents long after you've read it.”

What a wonderful review!

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?
The Ezekiel Code is a blend of fact and fiction based on the idea that the strange object encountered by the prophet, Ezekiel, was actually an extraterrestrial craft, or an interdimensional craft. In other words, it ain’t from around here. That idea occurred to me back in the 70s and I later learned I wasn’t the only person who noticed the similarities between Ezekiel’s descriptions of the object and some of the modern day accounts of UFO encounters. The novel is loaded with conspiracy, codes, secret societies, UFOs, ancient mysteries, the prophetic Mayan calendar end-date of 2012, alternative interpretations of Biblical events, mystifying metaphysics, good guys, bad guys, murder most foul, a touch of romance and a trace of sci-fi.
The book has been out in paperback since 2007 and was selling quite well. I recently made it available also in Kindle format. Much to my surprise and delight, within three weeks of being available on Kindle, the book hit the amazon.com “Best Seller” list in the categories of “Occult” and “Religious Fiction”.

What’s the hook for the book?
The big hook for the book is that it deals with the 2012 phenomenon, the approaching end of the ancient Mayan calendar. There has been a virtual plethora of non-fiction books about the 2012 issue published over the past few years but relatively few novels have approached that theme. Most of those few novels take the “dooms day” approach to 2012. The Ezekiel Code, however, takes a different approach. In my story the end of the Mayan calendar offers an unprecedented window of opportunity for enlightenment and an extraordinary future of the human race. There’s just one problem. Something disastrous is coming that could prevent us from ever reaching the year 2012. Discovering what it is, and how to prevent it, becomes the mission of one man while a highly placed group of conspirators are maneuvering behind the scenes to keep him from accomplishing his appointed task. Here’s a brief synopsis:
(1887 AD)

A fabled "lost scroll", scribed by the prophet Ezekiel, comes into the hands of a secret society, the Order of the New Dawn. Brother Hiram - a mystic priest of the Order - has a vision in which he sees the year 2012 (the end of the ancient Mayan calendar) as an unprecedented window of opportunity for the next step in the evolution of human consciousness. He also sees something coming that would prevent this window from opening; a catastrophic event that, if left unchecked, would seal the fate of humankind forever. He realizes the Lost Scroll and his vision of 2012 have a strange but vital connection. In an attempt to save the future he devises a coded message that he hopes will one day find it's way into the hands of someone who can prevent the greatest natural catastrophe the modern world has ever known.
(1999 AD)

Frank McClintock - a self-styled adventurer and researcher of ancient mysteries - comes into possession of the coded parchment. But an unfortunate fate awaits him and the parchment will lie hidden for another six years.
(2005 AD)

Zeke Banyon, a Catholic seminary dropout, is running a homeless shelter in the old waterfront district of Seattle. He and his assistant, Angela, unwittingly stumble upon the code and soon find themselves thrust into a world of secret societies, metaphysics, mystery, and murder. In the process of trying to understand the code – and dodging rogue Jesuit priests and the mysterious Illuminati at every turn – Banyon discovers a disturbing truth about himself and the extraordinary fate that awaits him... and us. No amount of seminary schooling could ever have prepared him for this.
2012 is coming...

The clock is ticking...

The code must be deciphered...

And only one man can save the planet...

If he can just figure out how - before it's too late.

Intriguing, indeed.
How do you develop characters? Setting?
Like many writers I have a general idea of what my main characters are like before I begin writing and then I find that their personalities evolve almost naturally as the story progresses.
As far as the setting goes, I decided to set the story of The Ezekiel Code primarily in Seattle because that’s where I was born and raised. Placing the characters and most of the action in a familiar setting helped me provide an added sense of reality to the story. The characters do, however, leave Seattle and go to a location in New York and then off to a location in the South of France, two places where I’ve never been. Their stay in New York is brief so I only had to do a little bit of research to assure my accuracy of that part of their journey. The location in France was more of a concern because it’s a key part of the story I knew that many of my readers would be familiar with it, some more so than others, but I wanted it to be accurate. It’s a small village called Rennes Le Chateau, a place of legend that has been discussed in several non-fiction books. So I contacted the author of one of those non-fiction books, a man whom I knew had actually been there to do some hands-on research. Although he was in England and didn’t know me from Adam he was kind enough to answer my questions about the location, the climate, the general terrain, and so on. With that detailed information, and a few photographs, I felt comfortable when it came time to write that part of the story.

How do you determine voice in your writing?
I think I like to keep my voice out of it, for the most part, and let the voices of the characters come through.

Do you have specific techniques you use to develop the plot and stay on track?
Some writers like to establish an outline of the story before they begin writing. I didn’t do that with The Ezekiel Code. I thought I knew pretty much how the story would begin, what would happen in the middle, and how it would end. Turned out I was surprised by much of what occurred in the middle and the ending was not at all what I had envisioned. The story became much more complex than I had anticipated so I had to start keeping a legal pad next to me as I worked. I would jot down the various new ideas that were constantly coming to mind as the story progressed and I made notes about how to incorporate those ideas into the story. Another thing I hadn’t anticipated was how difficult it would be to coordinate all the events toward the end of the story as the characters found themselves in a race against the clock. Inevitably, I had to literally diagram a timeline, down to the day, the hour, the minute and the second when the big event would occur. That was probably the most difficult part of the whole thing.

What are your current projects?
I’m working on a new novel, an occult crime thriller, called “Ash: Return of the Beast”. It’s based on a little known but very curious bit of trivia concerning the infamous practitioner of occult “magick”, Aleister Crowley. An excerpt from the intriguing introduction and a short synopsis and the cover art can be seen at
www.ezekielcode.com/ashteaser.html.

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?
Readers can watch three video trailers for The Ezekiel Code (one of which is a visual presentation of the entire prolog from the book), and read some of the reviews and even the first 12 chapters of the book at
http://www.ezekielcode.com/. Authors who want a top quality, original, attention-grabbing book cover at an extremely reasonable price can get all the information and see samples of my work at

http://www.bookcoversandvideos.webs.com/.

Gary Val, thanks for a great interview! Continued success!

Aggie Villanueva's Rightfully Mine

An historical novel by Aggie Villanueva

Originally published by Thomas Nelson, reprinted by Aggie Villanueva

Available in several formats at:
 http://aggiev.typepad.com/rightfullymine/order-rightfullly-mine.html

“Let us enter into an era in Israeli history where anticipation is a palpable hum, where the bedouin lifestyle gives way to the birth of a nation, a promised nation, where men gear up for war: the era between their forty-year wandering and their victories over Canaan.
After wandering in the desert for forty years the Israelites are preparing to move on at last to the Promised Land. But when Moses divides the new land among the men of Israel, it is Rizpah (called Noah in Numbers 27) who has the courage to fight for her family of sisters.” ~~Excerpted from review by Linda Yezak

It was an unexpected blow to realize that the Promised Land was being divided all right, but only between the men. Rizpah must stand against an entire nation of men to earn for her and her sisters what is rightfully theirs.
And into this era of the Bible that is often brushed over Villanueva “seamlessly weaves into the plot a love story of Rhett-Scarlett-Ashley proportions.” (Linda Yezak) This is a women’s equal rights amendment straight out of history, and handed down straight from the throne of God. How much more do we need to understand the great worth of women, and our worth to God throughout history, today and evermore?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aggie Villanueva has been writing since the late '70s. Her first novel, Chase the Wind,  was published before she was 30 and her second, Rightfully Mine,  in 1986. Villanueva freelanced throughout the '80s and '90s, also writing three craft columns and three software review columns for national magazines. Villanueva was featured on the cover of The Christian Writer Magazine October 1983.
After teaching at writers conferences throughout the Midwest, she founded/directed the 3-day Mid-America Fellowship of Christian Writers conferences for four years until 1990. For the past several years Aggie has blogged. She is founder of Visual Arts Junction: http://www.visualartsjunction.com, and is known for her in-depth interviews both in print, podcast and teleseminars.
Photographic art entered in 2007, and within two years Villanueva was critically acclaimed and award winning. Dubbed the "Grandma Moses of the American Southwest" by her artistic peers, Villanueva is represented in several online and walk-in art galleries across the nation.

Aggie, it is indeed an honor to interview "Grandma Moses of the Southwest".

When did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?

My grandparents and mother used to have slips of paper with poems and stories I wrote starting at five years old. The poetry continued though my hippie years and my early marriage. But the write-to-publish bug entered when I was 28 years old.

I pulled a friend, Deborah Lawrence, into the adventure with me and we co-wrote a Biblical novel, Chase the Wind, was published by Thomas Nelson publishing. We were ecstatic. And I was hooked. The house also accepted my next solo novel, Rightfully Mine, which I have now re-published.

When Chase the Wind was accepted I had just signed up to take every course offered at The Christian Writers Institute of Wheaton, IL. I had completed only two lessons from the first course, Journalism. Being so busy writing the novel that was due within the year, I wrote the Institute asking for a leave of absence in my courses. When they read my explanation for the leave they refunded my money.

As to what genre, I read a few Biblical novels at the time, the late 70s. Biblical fiction was a fairly new genre then. They seemed to be no more than ancient romances. But then I read Thieves, by Thomas Noton, a hard hitting, honest book at the thieves who hung beside Jesus. I wanted to write Biblical fiction like that.

One of the impressive aspects of Thieves is the amount of research Noton put into it. I spent a year researching Chase the Wind and Rightfully Mine before I was satisfied. Thomas Nelson publishers send all manuscripts to expert scholars for accuracy before publishing. The historical expert reported only three inaccuracies in mine. But he was incorrect. I sent my research notes to back up my facts and they left them each stand as I wrote them.

What’s the hook for your recently self published book, Rightfully Mine?
I believe it’s the subtitle “God’s Equal Rights Amendment.” That seems to draw much interest, no matter the religious point of view. And it seems the fact that it all took place so long ago (scholars debate, but approximately 1200 to 1500 BC) incites further interest.

Tell us more.
It’s the story of the woman, Noah, in Numbers 27, who was one of 5 daughters of Zelophehad, and only daughters. When Moses was finally instructed by God to divide the promised land between the nation of Israel, he did it according to legal custom, which means only men are allowed to own/inherit land.

With only women in the family, and Zelophehad dead in the wilderness wandering, someone had to defy the law; it was Noah, who the publishing house urged me to rename to avoid the obvious confusion. I nicknamed her Rizpah.

The subplot involves love, actually a love triangle, and greed that murders, and family ties that bind, but the story is of an infant nation finding itself before it can emerge to war and earn what is rightfully theirs. How could the nation inherit the Promised Land when they denied some of their own their rights?

How do you develop characters? Setting?
I develop characters the old fashioned way. I write about them to myself. Staring with basics, I note where they are the from, who are their parents and immediate/extended family, height, weight, physical characteristics, etc..

Then come long essays about things that happened in their childhood, whether they like carrots and hate spinach, how they sit, stand, walk, run, what makes them cry/laugh/angry. I write the essays in first person so I can learn the nuances of their speech and emotions. Before long my characters are as real as you, to me anyway.

Developing setting is not so fun, but is so satisfying. Lots of plain old hard research. I remember during my research for Rightfully Mine I read one entire tome, seriously it was over 1200 pages. After reading this reference book, the only thing I learned was how the wandering Israelites handled their, well, toilet duties.

Think about it. A million people with no plumbing. The fact that they were a sanitary encampment is proven by how healthy they remained for 40 years. That step in my research was maximum tedium, but so worth it. It fascinated me so much I wrote an entire scene where my heroin thought out her problems while taking care of their family sanitation. Besides, I wasn’t about to let all the time I invested in that knowledge go to waste!

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
My grandparents, who raised me, were the biggest influence of creative thinking in my life. My grandfather, Reverend Vernon A. Vance, was, believe it or not, a Southern Baptist Minister. But they taught me through word and deed (mostly deed) that if I am true to the Word of God in my own personal life there will be few in line with me, least of all those within the church who need someone else to do their higher thinking.

They both taught me that God is our Source for everything—period. We need no human interpretation clouding his clear guidance. Though he was a preacher, he believed, and lived, that we should “call no man teacher,” and that if we do call a man teacher, we cease to hear clearly from the Bible and from God. He taught me well, apparently. You’ll notice the heroines, and heroes, of my books rarely follow the religious tradition taught in the church/temple.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve ever had.
Here are four.

“Her portrayal of a humanity struggling between safety and destiny is touching, palpable, and memorable. This is easily one of the best biblical novels I’ve ever read.” From a review of Rightfully Mine by K.M. Weiland.

“One of my favorite movies of all time is The Ten Commandments. Rightfully Mine is now one of my favorite books.” From a review of Rightfully Mine by Cindy Bauer.

“…with the economy of words that is the hallmark of a masterful writer. Her characters are full-bodied; her action scenes are tense and exciting; her love scenes are both pure and seductive.” From a review of Rightfully Mine by Linda Yezak.

“This reviewer liked the book so much that she is buying it as a Christmas gift for a family member.

**** 4 stars Carol Langstroth, Manager, Mind Fog Reviews.

Great reviews!


What are your current projects?
I’m compiling two books from my 2009 interviews; one is interviews of photographers/artists, and the other of writers. They will be available at excellent prices and in various formats. Also I’m gathering the courses I teach on rewriting into book format.

Where can folks learn more about your books, other ventures, and events?
JOIN ME FOR A VIRTUAL PHOTO SHOOT: http://www.aggiev.org/aggielogic/join_me_virtual_shoots.html


VIEW PHOTOGRAPHIC ART: http://aggiev.typepad.com/aggielogic/art-collections.html

RIGHTFULLY MINE: GOD'S EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT: http://www.aggiev.org/rightfullymine/

THE REWRITTEN WORD WRITING COURSE: http://www.aggiev.org/therewrittenword/

DISCOVER YOUR NICHE & STYLE COACHING: http://www.aggiev.org/findyournicheandstyle/
VISUAL ARTS JUNCTION BLOG: http://www.visualartsjunction.com/
LANDSCAPES VIDEO TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsQHc6K3Fkk
RIGHTFULLY MINE TRAILERS: http://www.aggiev.org/rightfullymine/rightfullyminetrailer.html
Sign Up For:

VISUAL ARTS JUNCTION NEWSLETTER: http://www.visualartsjunction.com/

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/myaggie2

LINKEDIN: http://bit.ly/RytG9

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/aggiev

Continued, success, my friend.

Morgan St. James Discusses Book

The Silver Sisters are at it again! In Seven Deadly Samovars, two bumbling Russian villains try to recover fancy antique Russian tea pots. They almost get away with murder, but our curvy sleuths, Goldie and Godiva are hot on the trail. They are determined to find out what makes those teapots worth killing for. Their sleuthing leads them from Juneau to Seattle to Los Angeles where everything culminates in a hilarious twist.

My guest today is Morgan St. James, one of the Silver Sisters. Morgan, tell us about yourself.
After many years as an interior designer working with model homes, offices, restaurants and occasionally some celebrities’ homes, I discovered writing. Now I co-author the comical Silver Sisters Mysteries series with my real-life sister Phyllice Bradner. Our series began with the award-winning A Corpse in the Soup. Then Seven Deadly Samovars was released in September 2009. Vanishing Act in Vegas is currently in work. My short stories are in multiple anthologies, including two Chicken Soup for the Soul books and  four Amazon Shorts.

Two new novels, Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due, written under the pen name Arliss Adams, are scheduled for early to mid 2010 publication, along with three short stories in anthologies. I am active in many writers groups: Sisters in Crime/LA, Henderson Writers Group, Las Vegas Writers Group, Public Safety Writers Association, and am a founding member and Vice President of Sisters in Crime/Southern Nevada. I edit “On The Prowl”, the Sisters in Crime/SNV newsletter, and write columns for www.examiner.com and www.perpetualprose.com . As if that wasn’t enough, I am a frequent speaker and panel member.

Morgan, when did the writing bug bite, and in what genre(s)?
When I was a partner in an interior design firm, a prestigious design magazine named Designer’s West, asked my partner and I to write an article for them. We said “yes” and then realized that we weren’t writers. Well, Mom always said I could do anything I put my mind to, and this was no exception—but I did have my doubts. The deadline was rapidly approaching, and we had nothing. This was to be an article about creating a unique wood floor. Around midnight the day before the article was due, tired and slightly giddy, we put together a spoof with all of the information. It was written like a noir mystery and the editor loved it. My partner didn’t continue to write but I did, and wrote many published magazine articles on different subjects after that.

When you started writing, what goals did you want to accomplish? Is there a message you want readers to grasp?
Like many writers of magazine articles, I dreamed of writing a book someday. I actually started what eventually became Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due almost fourteen years ago. It was rewritten so many times it would make your head spin, and my characters have had so many different names, I’ve actually forgotten some of them. In the meantime, Phyllice and I hooked up and created the Silver Sisters and I wrote several short stories. But as I learned more and more about my craft, I’d keep taking whatever the latest manuscript was for Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due out of mothballs so to speak, and rework it yet one more time. It took fourteen years, but this year they will become reality. The paperback, e-book and Kindle will be published by L&L Dreamspell, and the audio books by Books in Motion.

The message here is twofold. Don’t be resistant to listening to helpful advice and critiques, and believe in yourself.

Briefly tell us about your latest book. Series or stand-alone?

The latest book is Seven Deadly Samovars which was released in September 2009 by L&L Dreamspell. It is a comical Silver Sisters crime caper involving seven antique Russian samovars (fancy tea dispensers) that conceal a secret worth killing for. Silver Sisters is a series.

Also, Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due will be released either together or one soon after the other within the next few months. As Paul Harvey used to say, The Devil’s Due is the rest of the story.

How do you develop characters? Setting?
That actually varies, depending upon the project, but several things are quite consistent in concept. For Silver Sisters we draw heavily upon our own personalities and some of the quirky family members and friends we grew up with. The characters in Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due are composites of people I knew in many different stages of my life. In all cases, I strive for rounded characters, each with their own voice, rather than the cardboard characters we sometimes encounter.

As for settings, I try to draw from businesses or cities I know something about first hand unless it is a minor reference in the book. For Silver Sisters we basically place them in Juneau, Alaska, the Los Angeles area, or now in our third, Las Vegas. They do have the ability to go to other places such as Seattle in Seven Deadly Samovars. I have traveled a great deal both nationally and internationally, so I have personally visited many cities and countries. Phyllice lived in Alaska for over thirty years, and I split my time between the LA area and Las Vegas.

Who’s the most unusual/most likeable character?
I love working with Flossie Silver, the Silver Sister twins’ eighty year old mother. She and her brother-in-law are former vaudeville magicians, and Flossie is so much fun. She’s feisty, always ready for adventure, loves to dress in disguises and always manages to get Uncle Sterling, the voice of wisdom, to go along with her goofy plans. I also love the friendly bantering between Goldie Silver, an over the hill flower child from Alaska who owns an antique store, and her manipulative twin Godiva Olivia DuBois, a wealthy widow from Beverly Hills who writes the advice column “Ask G.O.D.” Of course, why wouldn’t I? Those two characters are based upon Phyllice and myself.

Do you have specific techniques to help you maintain the course of the plot?
I don’t outline per se, but I work with detailed timelines to make sure the events take place in the right sequence. I’ve also developed what I call chapter sheets for more complex projects. There is a sheet for each chapter that contains the chapter number, whose POV, location and date or time of events in the chapter, pertinent points to cover, and any special passages or thoughts I want to incorporate in that chapter. These have proved to be very helpful and can assist in solving some of the difficult challenges when a scene is in development.

Do you have a specific writing style? Preferred POV?
I always used to write exclusively in third person and actually was intimidated by first person. After all the rewrites of the romantic/suspense novels Devil’s Dance and The Devil’s Due—in a moment of clarity I realized the only way to write the story of Jen Connor and involve the reader was to attempt first person. So I rewrote it once again, and then a few more times, with Jen’s POV in first person and the other main characters in third person. I’ve since written short stories in first person, like “Trust No One” which will be in the anthology Mystery of the Green Mist, to be published soon by L&L Dreamspell.

How does your environment/upbringing color your writing?
In living Technicolor! Every situation or location in my books or stories is inspired by something that really happened or a place I’ve been. Phyllice and I grew up in a zany family, so we have lots of built-in material. One project I’m working on with another writing partner was inspired by a job we held for four years. After we both left, we were reminiscing and realized that we had the makings of Nine to Five meets The First Wive’s Club. The first two chapters became the basis for a short story entitled “Anything But Paradise” that will be in the anthology Dreamspell Revenge. The rest is still in work with the working title “Welcome to Paradise.”.

Share the best review (or a portion) that you’ve even had.
This is the last paragraph of a review of Seven Deadly Samovars by Sid Weaver of www.mainlymysteries.com. Sid reviewed A Corpse in the Soup and gave it an eight on his Weaver Scale, so imagine our delight when Samovars got a nine!

"Seven Deadly Samovars is the best Silver Sisters mystery yet and that is saying something. Morgan and Phyllis manage to incorporate just the right mix of tension and humor to keep it lively and interesting page after page. If you like the warm, friendly amateur detective mystery then this is one you should get and read right away. Don’t miss it!! I give this one a 9 of 10 on the Weaver meter."

Where can folks learn more about your books and events?

Our books are available through many online bookstores and we are working on getting into some brick and mortar stores, but we’re not there yet. Also, visit my websites or my columns. The websites are www.silversistersmysteries.com and www.morganstjames-author.com plus the blog I started for my alter ego Arliss Adams, http://allaboutarliss.blogspot.com. My columns are at www.perpetualprose.com and http://www.examiner.com/.

Congratulations on your success, and we look for many more books from the Silver Sisters in the future.

Radio Interviews

This is the second part of a book publicity series. Again, Lynda O'Connor of O'Connor Communications gives tips on how to get a radio interview and get the most out of it.

Lynda, tell us how to get those interviews.

When you want to get on the radio, you can go to www.radiolocator and put in the city you want and then check on all of the websites of the shows that come up. You can also go to the library and ask for a media directory called Cision. Get the directory called Radio. If you would rather, you can buy this directory. Try going online to see if there are other radio media directories. You local public relations association may have a media directory you can buy. In Chicago, the Publicity Club of Chicago has a directory like this. Call them to inquire how to purchase it.
 

After you determine what talk shows have guests that discuss books, contact producers of these shows by email and then call them see if they are interested in having you on their show. You need a press release on your book, a photo of the cover, and your bio. Tell the producer why he should have you on the air - what his listeners will learn if you are on the show, and how your book is unique and worthwhile. If the producer is interested, he will want you to send him your book.


What tips can you offer us for an effective radio interview?
1. Have two or three key points you want to make, and listen for questions that you can answer with a key point or two.

2. When the producer or host calls, ask how long he expects you to be on the air. This will guide your pace and let you know if you need to make your points early.

3. Before you go on the radio, send the producer your book, your photo, a summary of the book, and some questions that you would like to be asked by the host of the show. Include the answers you would say on the show.

4. Ask the producer for the host’s name, and use his first name at least once in your conversation. Listeners will assume you are friends with the host and that he has read and enjoyed your book.

5. Radio hosts are good about mentioning the book at the beginning and end of the conversation, but any time you can mention the book, say the title, not just “my book.”

6. Listen for opportunities to refer to your book. For instance, “If the host says he understands Dr. Snow believed strongly in doctor-patient relationship, say, “Yes, there are examples of this throughout my book, "Snowblind: The Life and Times of Dr. Don Snow". Then related a short but excellent anecdote about this.

7. Let people know that you will be on the radio. Put it on your Linked in, Facebook and Twitter sites. Try to link the interview to your own website and to your social media sites.

Readers, you are invited to ask questions and make comments.
_______________


Lynda O'Connor
333 Warwick Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045

Phone: (847) 615-5462 , Fax: (847) 615-5465

E-mail: lyndao@oconnorpr.com

Find me on: Speaker Site, Linked in, Facebook, Twitter

Website: www.oconnorpr.com