Paula Rizzo and author Tracy McCubbin discuss launching a book. They cover building a media reel before launch, sharpening your message, taking every interview you can get, and how to prepare on camera with styling and rehearsal.
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Hey, Paula Rizzo here with my friend Tracy McCubbin. And guess what? Her new book is out. Yay!
Oh my God, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Clutter Free: The Last Book on Decluttering You'll Ever Need. I love it.
I love it. I know, it's great. And you know, for your list-making productivity people, there's a lot of stuff about how to make your life run smoothly, how to make decisions, how your stuff gets in the way of being productive. So I think a lot of people who are interested in this topic are going to be interested in this book.
Are gonna love it, absolutely. And Tracy and I know each other for a long time because I quoted you in my first book, Listful Thinking. And if you remember, the first time we met was I was a producer at Fox News Show.
I remember exactly. It was my first press trip to New York. And I was like the country girl in the big city. And we met at the— Yeah, it was great.
We met in the offices, remember in the cafe, and we became quick friends and the whole thing. And we've stayed in touch all of these years. And, um, you know, I, I've been so impressed with the launch of this book and, you know, this is your first book, so congratulations. It's very exciting to get it out there in the world. Um, you know, but when I work with people on media strategy and training and, you know, I work with a lot of authors and they always say, oh, okay, when the book comes out, then I'll do media. I always say that's too late. It's too late. And you, my friend, have mastered this. So you went through the— take me back. Like you want— so you wanted to write a book, right? You wrote a proposal.
Yes.
And when you got to the proposal state, talk to me about like your strategy behind it because you'd been doing media for a while and then the book is out and then you're doing more media, which is very smart 'cause you want producers and editors and people to know you already.
Yeah, so I, a little bit instinctually and a little bit of good advice came my way. I, when I got an agent who signed me based on the proposal, we made a decision to do about 4 to 6 months of press before we took the proposal to auction, which is out for sale. And it was a couple— there were a couple thoughts behind it. One, it was to really hone the message. And two, it was be able to go to publishing houses and editors and say, look, she already has this experience. She can talk about the book. She's been on camera. So I, I mean, I hoofed it. I was like, yes. Yes, I did it. Every, like—
Noble thing, because you know what? When you're showing it to these publishers, they wanna see that you have the chops, you can do the thing that you're saying you can do. Oh, 'cause she's already done it.
Exactly, my favorite story is I got up at like 4 in the morning to drive 2 hours to do a local radio station, and I was like sandwiched between the kitten rescue and the Oktoberfest.
But— You gotta do what you gotta do.
You gotta do it. And so that when we went to auction, I had a reel of, you know, 12, everything from podcasts to local TV to, you know, and it was, it really helped. It really, really helped because they knew that I would be able to go out and support my book. So then when the book's, when the proposal sold and we started, and I started writing the book and we started working on the book, I took a break. So if I got requests, I would do it, but I wasn't out there pushing myself out there. And then—
Flurry, flurry first, get the interest, get people knowing who you are. And you, I mean, I would imagine too, just knowing from, from doing media and telling people to do it, that honing your message, as you said, being able to, hey, I need to practice this stuff too, right? Yeah. Nonfiction authors write a proposal. They don't write the entire book. So you sell the proposal and the proposal is not the full book. So you're still working out the idea as you're going.
Absolutely, absolutely. And also, I mean, this sounds so silly, but it's such a huge part of it. I was like, okay, never wear yellow on camera. Like, you learn. For instance, today is a perfect example. I did not pay attention to my schedule. I am straight on here from spin class. So it was like, you know, you gotta be ready for anything. You gotta be ready. You know, this is such a simple thing, but I had to learn that I've got 6 outfits, pressed and ready to go in my closet so that if I get a call, like local TV, it could be the next day. I can't be running around and buying something. You know, I worked with a stylist to get some TV outfits so that now that we're in the big push for the book, I'm ready to go.
You're ready. See, I love it. I love doing it before. I mean, this is part of the planner in you, right? And the being organized, but it is very true. You know, as somebody who has been in media her whole life, being able to have people who can do that. If a producer calls you and you show up and you're ready and you look look good and you speak well and everything runs, I'm gonna call you again and again and again.
Absolutely. Look, I always— exactly, I always think that, you know, I'm being invited to their party and they want to know that I'm going to show up with ice. Yes, exactly.
That's a good way to put it.
Yeah, and it sounds— it's such an important part, but to know that if I get a call, I can go to my closet, I can get dressed, you're just going to show up confident. You're not worried, like, is my hair— like, I've worked out what my hairdos look like, I bought glasses that work, like, I really and all that part. And it just makes you more confident. It makes you, you know, I know what size heels I look good on camera and I'm comfortable to walk in. And it really informs you as a media person in a holistic way. So then the next—
It's also like when you're throwing a dinner party, you're not gonna try out the recipes that day. You know what I mean? You're gonna work it out before. You're gonna test it out on people, you know? And so now that we're further along, right? So you did the prep before. Exactly. The book went out, you got it sold, and now you're doing the push. You know, the book is out in the world. And so now talk to me about what the strategy is.
Exactly. So we basically, uh, started writing the book and my agent, my publicist, we all decided to take a break. And then as soon as we got the hard launch date, um, we worked backwards 6 months. So, and the great thing about, again, having done that pre-period is that I wasn't a cold pitch.
Totally.
Local TV, people knew I could perform.
People knew— Yes, they were like, oh great, now she has a book, let's do it.
Now we can talk about something.
Producers get so many books. I mean, I had a stack like this at Fox. Every day I get more books and more books and more books. And it was like, if I didn't know the person or if I didn't care so much about the topic or whatever, I would never even see it, you know? But when you're able to say, hey, oh yeah, Tracy, we love her, she was so good last time. Okay, yeah, yeah, bring her in, let's talk about her book.
Exactly. And then you got the freedom also for people to say, we want to talk to you closer to the book. We, you know, you're not. And, um, it's just, just having that was so fantastic. So it was very methodical. It was very like, here's who we want to reach out to, you know, here's the amount of podcasts. I think I'm at the halfway point of our goal of podcasts. And I will also say this, do everything. Yes, do everything.
Don't be a snob.
Don't be a snob. First of all, if for me, I want my message, I have something very important to say to people and I don't know what podcast I'm going to listen to. This is a great example. I got a call and it's a quite popular podcast called the Mental Illness Happy Hour. And my publicist said, "Oh, he'd like to have you on." And I was like, is that, I mean, like, yeah, I guess depression, but is that really in line? And I was like, I was like, okay, okay. So I had a bit of a doubt. I did it. First of all, the best interviewer I've ever been interviewed by.
Terrific.
More people, like I've had people, I've had like a waiter say to me, oh, I heard you on this podcast. Like it more. So say yes to everything, especially if you don't, first of all, you never know who you're going to reach in the audience that you're trying to get your message across to. If you don't have a ton of media experience, it's practice and it's going to get you comfortable and say yes, say yes to everything.
I can't agree more, you know, and then media begets more media, you know, where do you think producers and editors are listening and they're, they're consuming so much media, you want to be found there, you want to be the resource, you want to be the expert, so definitely do whatever you can do. So that's—
and I, I think I, you know, and I'm sure you hit up against this, I, I was telling you I had Meeting with somebody who sort of had very lofty goals, and I was like, okay, you know, that. And I think that people are, I think that you definitely have your, what you're shooting for, but I think you need to be realistic. If you're a first-time author, if you don't have— Yeah, you're not going on Oprah's Soul Sunday. Like, you're just not.
No, exactly. And today everyone's like, oh, I wanna be on Today Show. Great, but you have to work your way up. You gotta do the local news, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, you know. And you don't want to, I mean, they're not gonna book you, but you don't want to do Today Show right out of the gate. To begin with. You won't be ready.
Oh no, and you've got to learn. I mean, I did, I did a show the other day that I've done 3 or 4 times, and it's great, and I love them, and they're so nice, and, and, and just, I don't know what happened. It was the one day that they, there was no cue cards. I was like, okay, and, and it was like, camera's on and here you go. And you just, the more you practice, the more that stuff doesn't threaten.
You can be, right, you can be more off-the-cuff, and you don't have to worry about, oh gosh, what am I gonna say? You just, it becomes ingrained. So So it's awesome. But Tracy, I'm so proud of you and so excited. Oh, it's so good.
It's so good. It's so good to talk to you and I just love everything that you do and you know, you, you're, you're stuck with me.
So for sure. Well, thank you for sharing this. I'm sure people are going to get a whole lot out of it and definitely go check out the book. Check out Tracy for sure. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Paula. Go to paularizzo.com/checklist and you can download my free checklist on how to become a go-to media expert.
