You’ve been invited to give an interview. How exciting! Let’s get you ready, my little Key Lime Pie!

Besides being a children’s book author, I’m also a PR specialist. (15 years and counting!) Allow me to pass along the tips I share with the people I schedule for interviews.

Practice and apply these basic tips and you’ll become more polished, poised and professional with each experience. Why, you’ll feel cooler than a watermelon slice on ice. Your audience will think you’re cool too. This may be crazy talk, but hey, you may even learn to enjoy being in the hot seat!

TV interview

• Watch prior interviews the host has conducted, if possible. Take note of their style, tempo, the types of questions they typically ask, and their sense of humor (or lack thereof!). Now, imagine yourself chatting with them.
• Unless directed otherwise, look at the interviewer, not the camera.
• Avoid wearing checks or stripes. Simple, solids are your best option.
• To give yourself a chance to make any necessary wardrobe adjustments, practice sitting/standing in the clothes you plan to wear.
• Arrive 10 – 15 minutes early to give the station crew time to attach your mic and run through anything they’d like you to know or expect before it’s your turn.
• Speak up if you have concerns or nagging questions before the interview so that you can feel confident, and both you and the interviewer you can have a positive, upbeat experience.
• See tips for radio interviews.

Call-in radio interview

• Use a landline, if available, to avoid being dropped mid-conversation.
• Smile as you speak, if appropriate to the topic.
• Have a mirror in front of you so you’ll have “someone” visible to talk to. It will remind you to smile.
• Ask how long the interview will be so you can pace yourself. Note, if an interview is very brief (e.g. 2 minutes or less), don’t let that pressure you into speaking too fast.
• Prepare a cheat sheet of answer prompts to anticipated questions, but not a word-for-word script. You’ll be too tempted to read it and you’ll come off sounding stiff or rehearsed.
• Have a glass of water handy. (A bottle takes too much time to open.)

Zoom/Skype/Web interview

• Make sure you have the technology loaded to your device prior to the interview.
• Set up a professional, clutter-free background.
• Position your device so that the interviewer can see you square on, as if you are seated across a table from one another. Avoid looking down at the screen.
• Adjust the screen so the interviewer sees more of you and less of the background.
• Have your notes, pen, phone, etc. within easy reach.
• Look into the camera when you are speaking. You can look at the screen otherwise.
• Speak slowly and clearly.
• Pay attention to the mute button.

For any interview

• Thank the interviewer at the top of the interview and at the close.
• Be your authentic, wonderful self. If you misspeak, quickly correct yourself, and move on.
• Prepare a “cheat sheet” with basic information for easy reference, such as:
  • Street address/date/hours/details – for an upcoming book signing, workshop or event you’re promoting. It’s better to have the information ready and ignore it than to have your memory go POOF! mid-sentence.
  • Your web site URL, social media handles and/or how to contact you. (Who knows. Someone listening may want to invite you to your next interview!)
• Provide your interviewer with a synopsis of your book, your headshot and image of your book cover to use for pre-interview promotion.
• Offer the interviewer a signed copy of your book to use a giveaway to their audience.
• Practice with a friend.
  • Give your friend/interviewer a list of the questions you’re likely to asked, then give them the okay to throw in a few unexpected questions.
  • Record your interview. Count on not liking the sound of your voice. It’s a hang up we all have.
  • Ask your friend for honest feedback and record that too.

You’re going to be fabulous!

I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying. ~ Oscar Wilde

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson