Comments on: How to be quoted by the press

By: Best of the Web Book Marketing Tips for the Week of Oct. 7, 2013 | Author Marketing Experts, Inc.

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 02:50:05 +0000

[…] http://buildbookbuzz.com/how-to-be-quoted-by-the-press/ […]

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 20:35:34 +0000

In reply to Rivka. Excellent tip, Rivka! Thanks so much! Sandy

By: Rivka

Rivka — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 20:33:15 +0000

I would add in addition to getting to know the media outlet at large, know the reporter who is interviewing you. Building rapport with these key contacts and getting a reputation as someone who is helpful and takes the time to understand how to help the reporter (rather than constant focus on self-promotion) is huge.

Great article Sandra!

By: Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:32:20 +0000

In reply to Larry Constantine (Lior Samson).

Thanks for pointing out yet another issue, Larry, and you’re so right, of course. I was recently interviewed by e-mail and in spite of that paper trail, there was an error in the resulting online article that was big enough that I had to request a correction so that readers weren’t misinformed. It was an easy process, though.

That said…one of my regular assignments is to write short event-related pieces for a magazine. Sources often provide inaccurate information (usually in writing, and I save it), then complain when it appears in print. For example, someone I worked with last week on one of these pieces gave me a “for more info” URL that ended with .com. I tested it and reported back that it didn’t work. Turns out — and it took a week to get this info — that the correct URL ends in .org. So, sometimes, we’re only as good as our sources. (Sigh.)

Thanks for stopping by … please come back! I think you can add a lot here!

Sandy

By: Larry Constantine (Lior Samson)

Larry Constantine (Lior Samson) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:16:28 +0000

The problem is not always how to get quoted but how NOT to be MISQUOTED. By openly recording every interview yourself (with an app, a digital recorder, or a smartpen, as I do) you encourage your interviewer to get it right and also not to quote out-of-context. Decades of experience being interviewed has taught me that just the knowledge that you have your own verbatim copy is usually inducement enough for extra editorial care. On the rare occasion where statements are completely garbled or even reversed in meaning, you have backup to help get a retraction or follow-up–which can also be bonus PR.

–Larry Constantine (pen name, Lior Samson)