SUSAN HARROW
PRSecrets.com and SusanHarrow.com
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul™
Print Interview Secrets
6 Ways to Control Your Content in a Print Interview
Susan Harrow Harrow Communications
PO Box 543 Larkspur CA 94977
888.839.4190
www.prsecrets.com
Copyright © 2001-2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
2
1. Put your key points in writing. My brother, Joshua Horowitz, an
acclaimed Klezmer musician in Europe
and North America, knows how to keep his
sense of humor when dealing with out of
control reporters. He has been interviewed
hundreds of times for his group, Budowitz.
Time after time his interviews would be
truncated, edited in such a way as to not
make much sense. At first he was furious.
But there was nothing he could do. He had no control over the editing process
once he spoke. So he learned to speak in such a way that his sentences
couldn’t be edited.
By applying that same skill to his written materials he was able to stop basic
facts about his instruments and their history, as well as his own history from
being mangled beyond recognition in print. First he decided he would embellish
his own (our) family history so enticingly that it roared to be printed word for
word. Then he interviewed himself so all historical and technical information
was ready to be handed to a reporter after the interview.
This allowed the reporter to do two things: focus on questions that Joshua
didn’t cover, and receive the factual information in a clear, easy to read format
so he didn’t need to re-hash it during an interview. Did the reporters always
use his information? No. Did they still make errors? Yes. But it lessened the
frequency and Joshua’s frustration. Plan ahead and put your most important
points on paper (email).
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
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2. Repeat your points. Get in the habit of telling your stories in a variety of ways so you don’t sound
like a merry-go-round. Odd as it may sound, people listen selectively without
knowing it. People hear and remember things that capture their interest. A
reporter may be unconsciously listening for things that support his angle so he
can write his story more efficiently.
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
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3. Ask to verify your quotes. Author Bill Barich describes his first media encounter for his first book
“Laughing in the Hills.” “So I flew off to New York in February with a borrowed
suitcase, feeling for all the world like John Boy Walton, the would-be-writer of
television fame. The magazine (The New Yorker) put me up at the Algonquin
Hotel, directly across from its headquarters, and soon I was seated in the regal
lobby bar and conducting an interview with a journalist from (of all places)
Women’s Wear Daily, who’d been dispatched by The Viking Press for some
advance publicity.
Hardly a pro and suffering from years of isolation, I delivered an impromptu
lecture on the importance of literacy in a democratic society (a surefire topic for
the poor guy’s audience) and forgot to mention my book. When the story ran, I
had my first experience of being misquoted. My entire lecture was boiled down
to a single remark, “If you can’t read, you shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”
To avoid a similar fate, prepare your sound bites well. Offer to have the reporter
call you back to verify quotes before the article goes to press. While reporters
often condense what you say while trying to maintain meaning, something may
get lost or changed in the translation. The exception to this phenomenon is the
New York Times whose editorial and style and usage manual dictate that its
reporters not “doctor” a quote. The surest way to keep from being misquoted is
to repeat your points, then sum them up at the end of your conversation.
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
5
4. Request your contact information be included. Be very clear on how you would like to be identified and contacted. Many
publications have a policy in place regarding how they deal with bylines and
mentions. Before you ask about it request that the reporter include the correct
spelling of your name, title, business, phone number and website and any
other relevant information. Always ask for what you want. Think about what
will bring you the maximum clients, exposure, whatever it is you desire and
ask to list those things first.
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
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5. Find out when the article goes to print. Publicity can generate a huge rush of orders and requests for information. One
of my clients who runs a seminar business and consulting practice got over
one hundred calls over the course of a few days. The results of a one-column
piece packed her schedule for the next year. Be prepared for the best by
alerting your employees, or by hiring temporary workers to answer phones if
necessary. To save yourself any grief have brochures and products ready to
ship. Finding out in advance when the article goes to print could save your
sanity!
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
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6. Invite the reporter to call you back with any additional questions. Once a reporter gets back to his desk he may find that he forgot something he
wished he had asked—but may not want to seem unprofessional or negligent.
He might prefer to leave something out rather than keep it in and make an
error. Another reporter may be one sandwich short of a picnic. To cover all
types of reporters ask if you may call the reporter back in the event that you
think of something you’d like to add. This is a great way to insure accuracy and
save face. Good luck!
Print Interview Secrets Copyright © 2001‐2016 Susan Harrow. All rights reserved
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Join our new 5-week online sound bite course to double or triple your business
You’ll learn how to control print, radio, online and TV interviews so you’re
perceived the way you want that positively positions you and your business in
order to drive the business, sales, partnerships and experiences you want. I
look forward to meeting you soon!
www.susanharrow.com/your-signature-sound-bites/
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About Susan Harrow Susan Harrow is a top media coach, consultant and
marketing expert whose clients include everyone from
rock stars to the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, as
well as entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, speakers,
and authors.
For the past 23 years she's helped clients and seminar
participants shine as guests on CBS’ 60 Minutes,
Oprah, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Fox
News, Bill O’Reilly, Larry King Live, The Food Network,
etc. You may know her as the "Go To Girl" for getting on Oprah. But what you
probably don’t know is that she was almost sold into slavery to a Bedouin
Sheik in Israel for 10 camels and a mule. With her guidance, dozens of people who work with her privately and in
courses, have consistently succeeded in doubling or tripling their income with
PR (and sometimes even without!) by using sound bites effectively.
She also designs pre-publicity programs and strategies to prepare clients for
media interviews. If they don't yet have a website, traffic, products or a
platform she shows them how to get those too.
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Personal Note If you’d like to become a client I’d be delighted to know more about you.
Please let me know how I can help you here:
www.susanharrow.com/consultation
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