Interview? Me?! What a Surprise!

Every week for more than five years I’ve been putting out an episode of “Now Hear This Entertainment.”  I interview guests who are having success in entertainment, primarily music.  As you can imagine, I am contacted regularly by potential guests looking to get booked on an upcoming episode of NHTE.

There are a number of ways that potential guests make contact, as you might imagine given this day and age of platforms, providers, and resources.

While it’s true that the submissions vary from one to the next in terms of what they contain or don’t contain, or what they say or what they don’t say, the bottom line with all of them is that they are looking to get heard.  They have a song (or songs) they want played and they have a story that they want to tell.

Obviously, this is a BIG part of operating as an independent artist.

So, I am amazed when I get guests who, after reviewing their submission, I write back to in order to start the process to book them on the show, and they are surprised!  This is where I repeat that I’ve been putting out a new episode every week for more than five years.  I know the difference between the type of surprised that I see/hear and the type of surprised that you might be thinking of.

Why would someone be surprised that I do want to book them?  Did you forget that you even sent something in?  Did you automatically assume you weren’t going to get a Yes?  Are you not confident enough in your music and/or your story to think that someone would want to interview you and play your music?

That last one is a biggie.  If you’re in any way conveying a lack of confidence in your own product, how can you expect people to want to pay for it?

Just because you might feel that you’re “just starting out” doesn’t mean (a) that you should operate from that posture, and (b) that everyone out there sees you that way.  If you’re doing things right, it should look like you’re someone who deserves to be heard, regardless of if you think you’re small potatoes.

If you give an interviewer the impression that you’re surprised they want to talk to you, there’s also a risk that they could change their mind!

Send your emails.  Make them look great.  Feel confident about your music and your story and your brand.  And then give a fist pump when you get one or more Yes responses.  My audience wants to get to know you and the music you’re creating, not how surprised you were that someone wanted to have you as a guest on their show.

By the way, on June 26th I’m putting on an 8-day challenge, online.  Drawing on all that experience from podcasting for more than five years, I will be teaching everything you need to know to go from concept to launch.  If you or someone you know has wanted to start a podcast, here’s the nudge you’ve been waiting for.  It’s only going to be 18 bucks to get all that learning over eight days.  Keep watching social media posts and/or the e-newsletter that you can sign up for on this website for details on how to register.

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