Meeting the Press and Making Press Kits from Teri Sprackland
February 2003 HODRW Meeting Recap
by Lesli J Lent
UPI reporter Teri Sprackland is one of our newer members. At our February meeting, she spoke to us about "Meeting with the Press." We are fortunate to have Teri, and she gave the other side of the interview; the side that wants to lull you into saying something you might later wish you never said.
Teri has been a business journalist for over 20 years. But she has been a closet Romance reader for years. She even has a partially completed historical novel manuscript. This past summer, she found out the RWA national conference would be in Denver and asked her editor if she could have the assignment. She nosed around, met Merline Lovelace, Debbie Macomber, and Julia Quinn, obtained sample press kits, and hooked up with our own Barb Zukowski. A surprised reporter from the Los Angeles Times remarked to her that the members seemed to all be helping each other. The multi-published were actually giving tips to their competitors. It seems the journalism world is very cutthroat.
Teri's article on the conference was longer than she could have hoped they would print, flattering to us (that's new), and gained her a lot of new friends. Barb invited Teri to our October awards ceremony. The rest we'll say is history. Well, at least in the making.
Teri explained to us that Journalism may also be about writing, but it has a different focus. There are different deadlines and different expectations.
One thing similar is that it is about the "story." Writers for the press work on a "story," too. They are concerned with many of the same things that concern us. They need interesting characters, interesting events, and they want an interesting conclusion. This may mean the innocuous comment you made may need to be placed in a more interesting setting.
"Hey," you say, after reading the article. "That's not the way it was! That is totally out of context."
There is much the same process involved as in writing a novel. It is important to keep the reader reading. Reporters need to be ruthless, may need to cut dialogue, cut facts. But reporters also have copy editors that cut and change things and have little or no control over the title on an article. She shared with us some ways to ask a reporter to make a correction on something in an article. But she says sometimes it is better to look at the long term and not make enemies.
So why, you ask, would you want to agree to an interview? It can increase your visibility, help your career, help with sales, and even show your editor you can handle yourself in the spotlight. It can establish your public persona and may even persuade your editor to aid with more publicity.
Why might you not want to do an interview? Things can go so terribly wrong.
It can be an invasion of your privacy. The press is partly about entertainment. You will need to be prepared for the stock questions all Romance authors hear. Depending on the interviewer, you will probably be asked, "How do you do your research?" Wink, wink. "Have you written any other smut?" They may read passages from another book and ask you to comment.
So let's say you've decided to take the plunge. Do you want to read quips about your home office work area? Maybe it's less than neat or has piles of chocolate and funky-hunky calendars. You might want to consider neutral ground. How about meeting at a local coffee spot? Terri says radio interviews are fun. Think ahead about what you will say. Don't cut off the interviewer. Try to speak in complete sentences.
If you know you're going to be interviewed:
Press Kits
Teri had kits from Merline Lovelace and Debbie Macomber. Both had photos, business cards, and lists of upcoming books, along with partial backlists. Also included were copies of other articles in which they were featured. Teri reminds us to have a sort of cover page with our own biography written in third person. This qualifies you as a writer. You'll want to include relevant or interesting education or experience. There is always the chance a reporter will get lazy and just use the information you provided. Merline has several articles about her military career. So, of course, she is the perfect person to be writing military thrillers. They both have covers for current books.
This will be harder for new writers, but your press kit will grow. It does not need to be professionally done. If you have the opportunity to pass through the pressroom at Nationals, take a look at what other authors have done. Most are in a pocketed folder from the local office supply store. Interesting stationary, or you own color printer, is fine for the information pages. Then you can update them regularly at little cost.
We ended the session with a few anecdotes. Teri related some funny experiences, as did some other members. We were all reminded it is wise to have a few stock replies in our repertoire. You do not have to be a published author to be interviewed. You may be sitting next to someone on a plane, in an office, anywhere. And it was driven home by several members that we are representatives of our industry. We want to be supportive, not make derisive remarks about other authors or books, and be positive even in the face of dwindling sales figures. As Teri's mother used to tell her, "You may be the only (Romance writer) they ever meet."