Let’s start with getting a book deal.  Yes, this is highly competitive process, especially in the current economy with publishers issuing fewer titles and focusing on proven authors.  The good news is you no longer need a traditional publisher to get into the game.  As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, self-publishing has gone digital.   It is now possible to write a book and arrange (for a fee) to have it made available as an e-book.  Sell a copy to an iPad user and Apple will give you 70% of the sale price.  Amazon offers a similar deal.

Of course, traditional  commercial print publishing still dominates in sales and prestige.  But many self-published authors eventually get deals with major publishers.  Among those writers: WTKK/Boston host Michael Graham, who self-published two books before scoring his first book contract.  He has since had two book published, Redneck Nation and the recently released That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom.

If time or writing experience are an obstacle, give us a call at Talk Frontier Media. We have assembled a group of experienced writers and editors who can help you get that book out of your head and into the marketplace.  We can do everything from helping you organize your thoughts to editing your drafts to full ghostwriting.  (You think the Big Names in talk radio write their books alone?  Please.)

Successful talk show hosts in markets of every size are ideally positioned to write and sell books.  They have their own media platform, excellent communication and promotion skills, and a built-in market of loyal fans.  If you think you’re ready to reap the rewards of writing a book, let’s have a conversation.

If you are interested in supporting the cause with interviews, please contact me and I’ll arrange some powerful guests.  Of course, you don’t need to be a CC station to support Fisher House — just one that wants to connect with a cause that will really resonate with its audience!

Dems need to get in there and fight

Boston Phoenix blogger Adam Reilly offers an insightful post-mortem on talk radio’s role in Scott Brown’s election to the U.S. Senate. The bottom-line: Relationships and engagement matter — a lot.

True, most Beantown talkers were ideologically pre-disposed to support the Republican Brown.  But Brown also benefited tremendously from his long-time courtship of  the radio crowd.  Even before the U.S. Senate campaign, then-State Senator Brown would often call local shows unannounced just to share an opinion or bit of news. Conversely, Democrat Martha Coakley’s campaign typically didn’t even bother to return calls from shows they deemed hostile.  The result: hosts who were inclined to disagree with Coakley came to dislike her. (Coakley is not unique in this attitude.  I’ve seen it many times, including at WMAL/Washington, where we were never able to get Democratic candidate/Congressman Chris Van Hollen (MD-8) on the air — not even with our easy-going morning guys.

The lesson Reilly offers is the same one we learned in the climactic scene of Top Gun: You can’t win the dogfight unless you overcome your anxiety and engage your opponent.  Of course, you need the skills necessary to mix it up with a professional talker, but most hosts aren’t that daunting.

While a liberal politician may not “win” every talk radio encounter, their very appearance can help blunt the harshness of future criticism.  As WTKK-FM/Boston personality and former political activist Jim Braude observes in the Phoenix post: “Democrats should start dialing. Most if not all conservative talk-show hosts are paper tigers. It’s also hard for any human to completely eviscerate someone who talks to them, and most talk-show hosts are human. And in my experience, after I called a show, I’d get e-mails saying, ‘You know, I hate everything you stand for — but I gotta give you credit for having the courage to come on.’