March 29, 2025 • 38 mins
Pull back the curtain on the fascinating world of media with Emmy award-winning television producer Paula Rizzo. Ever wondered how to land your dream media gig or nail that nerve-wracking TV interview? Paula lays out a roadmap with insider tips on mastering media appearances and becoming a media-savvy author. From her early days as a journalism student to producing award-winning content at Fox News Channel, Paula's journey is filled with passion for storytelling and practical advice for anyone looking to boost their media presence.
Discover the pivotal moment that led Paula from the fast-paced world of TV production to becoming a sought-after media strategist. She shares how winning an Emmy sparked a desire to help authors and experts shine in media appearances. Learn how to tackle common misconceptions about media engagements and the secrets behind answering questions like a pro, even in the most unpredictable live interviews. With Paula's expert guidance, you'll gain the confidence and skills needed to face media challenges head-on.
For authors dreaming of a powerful brand and compelling media strategy, Paula brings invaluable insights to the table. Explore social media tactics that align with your audience, and harness the potential of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn. As you prepare for your media opportunities, Paula’s innovative strategies, such as her accordion method for crafting memorable soundbites, will elevate your on-camera presence. Whether transitioning from nonfiction to fiction writing or learning the intricacies of public speaking, this episode is your ultimate guide to navigating the complex media landscape with flair.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Craft Chat Chronicles, the go-to podcast
for tips on craftingbest-selling fiction.
Here at Craft Chat Chronicles,we bring you expert interviews,
insights and tips on writing,publishing and marketing.
Join the conversation andembark on a new chapter in your
(00:25):
writing journey.
For workshops, show notes andmore information, visit
jdmayalcom.
That's jdmayalcom.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
In this special bonus episode of Craft Chat
Chronicles, we talked to Emmyaward-winning television
producer and media trainer,Paula Rizzo.
Paula offers tips on pitchingyourself to media outlets to get
TV interviews.
She gives you some mediatraining tips to help you do
(00:59):
better once you secure theinterview, and she talks about
her book Listful Living andgives some tips on productivity
for authors as well.
Paula writes a column a monthlycolumn for Writer's Digest that
gives authors tips on becominga media savvy author, and today
she chats with us about exactlythat.
(01:20):
So for some good insight andgood information to help you do
better on camera, tune in forthis episode of Craft Chat
Chronicles.
Let's get chatty.
What inspired you to pursue acareer in television production?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh my gosh, I have always really loved visuals, you
know being able to see things,and of course, I love to read.
But when I was a journalismstudent, you had to take some
classes that were outside ofyour you know, your main focus.
So I was a print journalismmajor for a while and I thought
maybe I would write for anewspaper or magazine and then
(02:01):
they make you take a video class.
And when I took the video classit just felt so much better to
me.
I was like it's quick, it'sfast, it's to the point, it's in
the present tense, it's done,it's over with.
It was just very, I felt verydrawn to it, and so that for me,
ended up being the way in and Igot an internship and then I
(02:22):
worked my way through newsroomsin New York City and yeah,
that's how it, that's really howit, how it really started.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And how did you start your journey to becoming senior
health producer at Fox NewsChannel?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
So I worked for years in local news.
I worked at WPIX and CBS2 inNew York and I would cover all
the news, anything that wouldhappen.
You know news of the day kindof thing.
And then I that gets a littlebit tiring because you're there
day after day.
You know you got to make sureto hit all those deadlines and
(02:57):
get everything done.
And then you become sort ofnumb to the news.
You know things happen and it'sa terrible story for the world
and you think, oh, but that's agood story for us because it
keeps us busy and we get outthere and we do things.
It's kind of a warped thing butit does get taxing on you, you
know.
So a friend of mine, you know,went over to Fox and she was a
(03:21):
health producer and she saidwe're looking for another health
producer, what do you think?
And I was like well, I mean,I've produced health segments
before, you know, in my regularday and I never thought I would
love it so much.
So I ended up staying there forover a decade, becoming the
senior health producer there,helping to run the team.
And you know it was less of theday-to-day news and more
(03:42):
features and more people'sstories and being able to
connect with people.
I got to do a lot of reallycool things go into ORs and
interview doctors and seesurgeries happening and you know
it was a really, reallyinteresting job.
But also, you know, I workedwith some really great people
there and we had our own littleunit.
(04:02):
It was just the health unit.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
All we did was health and wellness and we kind of
just got to do our day-to-daything and it was great Love that
Winning an Emmy is anincredible achievement.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
How did that experience shape your career?
It was very exciting.
It was one of always thosethings that I wanted to do.
It's the pinnacle of that job.
So it was very exciting to benominated and I had actually
gotten to go to the Emmy Awardson one of the previous years
when I was nominated but didn'twin, so that was very fun.
And then the year that Iactually won, I was not working
at the station anymore, I hadleft.
(04:37):
So I literally found out viaemail the next day that we won.
So it was a littleanticlimactic, you know.
It was like oh, oh, that's cool.
I won an Emmy yesterday, that'scool.
You know it would have beennice to be at the award ceremony
with everybody and learn of it.
But still very exciting.
And you know that's somethingthat you know gives you that pat
on the back like you're doingit right and you're with a good
(04:59):
team, and so I won that award.
Oh gosh, I think it was like2006 or 2007.
And it was with the WPIX team.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Awesome.
What motivated you totransition from television
production to media strategy andtraining?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It was pretty natural Because I had written two books
, or at the time I had writtenone book.
Listful Thinking was my firstbook and I wrote that while I
was still working full time as aTV producer and you know, I was
thinking of what was my nextmove, like I knew I didn't want
to be my boss, I didn't wantthat job and so I thought, well,
what do I want to do?
And a lot of the opportunitiesand the doors that working in
(05:39):
television and being, you know,at the forefront of history and
being able to work for, you know, these huge stations, a lot of
the opportunity that it affordedme, also held me back a bit
because I wasn't able to go and,you know, do as many speaking
engagements or, do you know, abig book tour, whatever it was,
because I was working full time.
So I started to do some work onthe side, you know, toe out
(06:02):
there to do some some mediastrategy and training.
And it was great becauseunfortunately I couldn't book
everybody who pitched me when Iwas a television producer,
because they simply weren'tready to be on camera.
You know, and it really for meas a producer, I don't have time
to coach them and train themand teach them how to do it.
(06:22):
It's just a no.
You know, hey, sorry, it's notgoing to work for us and I move
on and I find the expert thatwill work.
And you know it breaks my heartbecause it's like these are
people who have spent a longtime trying to, you know, learn
a specific expertise or have abook or whatever it is, but they
just weren't media ready.
So I was like you know what, inmy next, in my next life, I'd
(06:44):
like to help people a little bitmore to be able to get out
there.
Because, you know, it's onething to get one opportunity,
but if I'm able to help anauthor I work mostly with
authors now but if I'm able towork with an author and help
them to get their message outinto the greater, you know,
media landscape, then I've donemy job.
So it's nice to be able to usethose skills and then to help
(07:06):
people get their books out there.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love that.
So when you're a producer andyou talked about how some people
didn't have the skills, whatskills were you looking for?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So I would always do a pre interview before you know.
I would book them.
They'd always have to have someexperience beforehand, you know
.
So send me a media clip, avideo clip or whatever it was.
Not everyone had that whichdidn't sink, didn't say, you
know, oh, you can't do it.
But then I would do a preinterview.
And being able to answerquestions quickly and succinctly
(07:37):
and on the fly is veryimportant.
And there were a lot of peoplewho couldn't do it, you know.
Or they would say, oh well,I'll find out.
I don't know the answer to that, or I don't know.
You know they weren't really asprepared as they could have
been.
And when you're working intelevision, if you're taping
something and it's live, youcan't say I'll go check it out,
I'll go find it.
You have to come up withsomething on the spot and not
(08:05):
look nervous.
So you know that just couldn'tdo it.
For television it doesn't meanthat they couldn't be on a
podcast or they couldn't do aradio interview or a magazine
interview or something that's alittle bit different, but for TV
it's a totally, it's a very onthe spot medium.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Love that, love that.
So what common mistakes dopeople make when trying to get
media attention?
From your observation as amedia strategist?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, people think that they're gonna be fine, they
think they don't have topractice and that they'll just
show up and the words willsimply come to them.
And that does not happen.
Unfortunately, it takespractice, and the people that
you see on television and youknow even on social media now
who are doing these videos, theypractice.
That is not the first timethey've done this.
(08:43):
This is not the first timethey've said it.
Yes, it looks like they did itin one take, but for a lot of
those people they did itmultiple, multiple times.
So that is one of the thingsthat you know I work through
with my clients is to say okay,here's some questions that you
might be asked.
Let's work on the answers thatyou'll give, but also not
pigeonhole you that you have toanswer that way every time,
(09:03):
because if you're trying tomemorize things and you slip up,
you just it ends up very bad,because then you try to
backpedal and try to get back tothe point you were making and
you can't remember.
And I know that from workingwith reporters and anchors for
years, because even reportersout in the field who are doing
live interviews or livebroadcasts, they don't memorize.
(09:25):
You know they have bulletpoints in live broadcasts.
They don't memorize, you know.
They have bullet points intheir head of what they want to
say.
So if it comes out a little bitdifferently, it's still natural
and so that's what you know.
People need to do that, butpractice really it does help.
I mean, you really have toliterally say the words out loud
.
And a lot of times, especiallywith authors, they'll write out
their words, which is fine and Ithink that's a really good.
(09:45):
First step is to write out whatyour answers will be.
But then you have to say them,because if this is something
you're doing for radio or apodcast or television, you have
to make sure that you can saythe word literally.
You know, I had for years Iworked with an anchor who did
not.
We couldn't write especiallyinto the script because he
(10:05):
couldn't say it, so we had tosay particularly or have a
different word altogether.
So these are things youwouldn't know unless you said it
out loud.
So it's little things like thatthat you really need to work
through.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I love that.
How can authors and expertseffectively pitch themselves to
media outlets?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Okay.
So first you have to see whatthe audience wants.
So, looking at the publicationor the broadcast or whatever it
is, to watch it and to see, okay, what kind of segments are they
doing, what kind of articles dothey have on, you know, their
front page or whatever it is,and who are they serving?
Because that is who thegatekeeper cares about, right,
(10:44):
so that's what the producer orthe writer or whoever it is,
that's what matters to them.
So you want to make sure thatyou have that.
And a tricky way to find out isto look at the advertisements.
So if you look and you see,like, who are the advertisers
for that show, who are theadvertisers for that magazine,
you'll know pretty quickly whothe demographic is, who's
reading that magazine, who'swatching that show, because
(11:08):
those advertisers spend bigbucks to know exactly who those
people are.
So you want to know first whothe audience is and then from
there, I have a formula that Iteach people on how to produce
the perfect pitch, and there arethree elements.
It's called the hook, the twistand the takeaway.
So the hook is why now?
Why are we talking about this?
Is it Valentine's Day?
Did something big in the newsjust happen.
(11:29):
Why is it relevant right now?
The twist is how is thisdifferent than everything else
that I've heard on the topic?
Maybe you're going to tell mebacon is amazing for me.
Cool, that's great.
I'd love to hear that one.
And then the takeaway isliterally what do I take away as
the viewer or as the readerthat I can do tomorrow that will
change my life?
Like, how is this going toaffect me?
What can I do?
What are those takeaway points?
(11:50):
So, if you have, you know, thehook, the twist and the takeaway
in a pitch, you're more likelyto start a conversation with a
writer or producer or whoever itis.
That's, you know, looking forexperts.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Love that.
What role does video play inexpanding one's visibility and
reach?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Oh well, video is such a wonderful thing.
I mean I obviously I've spentmy whole career working in video
, but I love it because it doesmake you know you're much more
intimate with the person, in thesame way that if you listen to
a podcast you feel like, oh, Iknow them, they're in my ears.
But when you see that personand you see the faces they make
and you see maybe theirexpressions or how they, you
know, talk about something, ortheir accent or whatever it is,
(12:29):
you feel like you know them.
You know.
I mean it happens all the time.
I'm sure people who are, whoare famous and on TV people,
come up to them all the time andfeel like they know them
because you have that, thatsense of intimacy with someone.
So it's wonderful forespecially writers, because then
the people who would be readingyour stuff get to know you on a
different level and then theyget to trust you and then they
(12:50):
get to like you and then theybuy whatever it is you have to
sell.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Love that.
What social media sites orstrategies are must-dos for
authors to help lift theirprofile and promote their work?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Platform is a big deal for authors, right,
especially nonfiction, but alsonow fiction too.
It used to be the fiction.
It didn't really matter if youhad a platform.
Now everybody cares about aplatform everywhere.
Whatever you write, you have tobe able to promote it somewhere
and get somebody to read it.
And I always encourage people todo the social media platforms
that you like the most, becausethere's so many out there and,
(13:25):
of course, yes, tiktok, booktokreally good, right, you want to
have those out there.
But if you don't want to do itand you show up halfheartedly,
it's not going to really workfor you.
So, you know, I would take onesocial media platform that you
really like, let's say Instagramor something, and put your
whole heart into it.
Really try to build thatcommunity there and then from
there, you know, you can gosomewhere else, like LinkedIn or
(13:48):
something, also depending onwho.
Your demographic is right.
You know, if you're writingromance novels, you know maybe
LinkedIn is not the place to be.
You know putting this stuff upthere, but if you have a
business book and you're anonfiction author, definitely.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So you have to think about you know who is the
audience and who will bestreceive the how do you help
clients prepare if they're goingto do a video for social media
or they're going to be in aon-camera appearance?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Well, we talk through .
You know the intention of thevideo and what it is that you
want to get across.
You know in this video or inthis interview or whatever it is
that you're working on, andthen literally work on what will
you say?
How will you say it?
And I teach people to come upwith their sound bites in a way
that I call the accordion method, and the accordion method is
(14:37):
having a short, a medium and along answer to any question that
you're asked, anything that youwant to talk about, because
then you can condense it orexpand it depending on how much
time you have.
So, if you're doing a videothat's, you know, 30 seconds,
you're going to give the shortanswer.
If you have a video that's alittle bit longer or you're
doing a podcast interview, thenyou can give that big, long
answer, but being able to havethat at your disposal in your
(15:00):
mind to say, okay, I only have15 seconds for this.
This is just the point that I'mgoing to make, so you really
make an impact in a short amountof time.
What other things does a mediastrategist work with their
clients on?
So a lot of things have to dowith the background If you're
going to be doing videos at home.
What does that look like?
What is your lighting?
What are you wearing?
(15:21):
You know, are you comfortabledoing your own makeup?
You know your equipment.
What sort of things you know doyou have?
There's a lot of really greatequipment out there, and we
learned this through thepandemic Right.
Everybody's sort of up to theirgame on video.
But still now it's abouttweaking that and making sure
that it'll work for a broadcastenvironment or, if you're going
to be doing your own videos,making sure that that works
really well, having people becomfortable with their tech.
(15:44):
You know, I've done my job.
If somebody gets a call out ofthe blue or a media place and
says, hey, we want to interviewtoday, and the person jumps in
their chair, it's all set up,all their lighting is good to go
, and they do the interview andthey feel confident, I feel like
then I've done my job.
Because that, I think, holds alot of people back.
Sometimes the tech oh, I don'thave the lighting right or I'm
(16:06):
not sure about this or whateverso that I like to be able to
sort of hold your hand.
Make sure that that is not aconcern, because we just want to
worry about what you're goingto say.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Love that.
I say love that entirely toomuch.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Well, and that's it too.
You get to know your safetywords.
That's it.
I mean, mine is so.
I say that a lot in thebeginning.
Okay so, or because you get toknow and that's part of media
training too is that you'retalking with somebody and then
you're very conscious of it, andthe way that you do it is to
just stop talking, literallygive yourself a breath, and then
just move on.
Don't say anything and justmove on.
(16:43):
It takes training, it takestime.
I still do it, but it does help.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I've seen your YouTube show.
It's very good.
Oh, the production on that isspectacular too.
I love your intro.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I use a platform calledStreamYard and I had a friend of
mine who I worked with foryears.
He was an editor with me at Fox.
Actually, he produced theintroduction for me.
So I have my little intro andall my little things.
But yeah, the StreamYard isreally awesome because it really
it makes it look professional.
I was so happy when I found itbecause you can do it from home.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Let's talk about your workshops and your public
speaking engagements.
What topics do you cover?
If someone were to bring you into do a public speaking
engagement?
What are your go to's?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
of your go-tos.
Okay, so for media training, Ido you know how to?
Uh media training for authors?
Uh, also, how to get and keepmedia attention.
So those are the two topicsthat I typically talk about, and
I also have started to talk alot about productivity for
authors as well.
So the two books that I havelistful thinking and listful
living are both productivitybooks.
So up until this point I'vealways sort of kept things
separately, you know.
But now I'm kind of bringingeverything together because it's
(17:55):
all me and I end up teaching alot of my clients productivity
tips on how to produce bettervideos or how to consistently
create an editorial calendar,Like these are all things that I
used as a producer to makemyself more efficient, that I
can teach, you know, to anybody,but also to, especially to
authors.
So I do have some productivitytrainings that I do to
(18:17):
productivities for authors, andthen you know how to, how to use
lists to be more productive andsuccessful, better strategies
for working from home, workingfor yourself, for entrepreneurs,
and things like that.
And so, yeah, I love to be ableto put all that, all that
knowledge and all that stufftogether to help people be less
stressed out At the end of theday.
I just don't want people to bestressed about things.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Tell me a little bit about your online course Lights
Camera Expert.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Okay, so that course has been retired, but I have a
new course.
Oh, I'm sorry, that's okay.
I have a new course.
It's called media ready author,and that course is what it
sounds like.
It helps authors to get mediaready and we um dive into.
You know your soundbites andwhat you're going to talk about
how to, how to answer thequestion what is your book about
(19:06):
?
Which is like the hardestquestion that authors can be
asked.
Uh, and then you know setting upyour background, making sure
all your light is good, makingsure that you feel confident on
camera, and then talking throughhow to be your best self while
you're selling your book,because it does.
It's not natural to sell, youknow, for some people to sell
something, so to talk about howto genuinely get your book out
(19:28):
there, how to do book events andall of that.
And the course is self-study,so people can buy the course and
then go ahead and take it on attheir own pace.
But it comes from all of mytrainings with clients,
one-on-one, so I found myselfdoing the same training from the
beginning, you know, and then Iwas like you know what?
(19:49):
I should systematize this and Ishould put it in a course,
because not everyone can, youknow, hire you one-on-one, and
so to make it accessible to morepeople.
I've put it in this courseMedia Ready.
Author.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Love that.
Can you give us five quick tipsfrom that that can inspire
people to want to sign up?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Sure, of course.
So I think one of the one ofthe best things that people get
out of that is to really justpush themselves to do it and to
do it before they think theyneed it.
And a lot of times people willsay, oh, I'll do media when my
book comes out.
(20:26):
And I always say, well, it'stoo late actually, and I mean
it's never too late, you canstill do it.
Obviously you want to, but youwant to have done it before, and
the reason is is because youwant to learn yourself what are
those filler words that you'resaying, what is the best
lighting that you have?
You want all of this worked outbeforehand so that you feel
(20:47):
really confident and collectedand also so that you can do it a
few times.
You know, pitch yourself a fewplaces or do a podcast interview
or do something, so thatdoesn't, it's not as scary when
the stakes are super high.
I started doing media for a blogthat I wrote about list making
when I was a producer.
That's how this all started,that's how my first book came
(21:07):
about and all that.
And I thought you know what, ifI don't start doing media
interviews, I won't.
I won't be legitimate.
Honestly, you know you wantpeople to think that you are the
best expert for that, so thatwould be.
You know, a big one for me isto start before you think you're
ready, even with your platformand all of that, to really get
yourself out there.
(21:28):
But yeah, you know, the coursedives into what to say, how to
say it, how to practice, how toprep, you know.
And also a big one is whenthings go wrong, because it
happens, you know.
Somebody asks you a questionyou don't know the answer to.
Something happens, to theconnection, something happens in
the studio, whatever it is, andso it's nice to think through.
(21:49):
I'm always like let's think ofthe worst case scenario and go
through what, what you would saythere, and so it's nice to
think through.
I'm always like, let's think ofthe worst case scenario and go
through what you would say there, and even thinking and
preparing for, okay, here'squestions.
I actually don't want to answer, but if I am asked these
questions, how will I address it.
(22:11):
Very good, very good.
What advice do you have foraspiring public speakers?
Well, I would say, you knowit's very different speaking in
person than it is speaking to acamera, and you do need both
skills, you know.
So I would say, try to do asmuch speaking in person, at
least at first, because I findit actually to be a little bit
easier, because you do get awarm, fuzzy environment with
people, you know.
You get to see their facialexpressions, you get to
(22:33):
hopefully see if your jokesconnect.
You know, when you're doingvideo or you're doing your own
webinar, you're like oh man, Idon't know, did anybody think
that was funny?
I don't know, I can't seeanybody because it's a webinar,
you know.
So you really have to just beyour own audience for that.
So that can be a little bithard.
So I'd say, you know, startsmall, start, you know doing
in-person stuff and then go fromthere.
(22:55):
But look, I love video, I lovewebinars and all of that too.
So people can embrace that andit's nice because people can do
things from anywhere.
Now, you know, it used to beespecially for media or things
like that.
You had to be in New York oryou had to be in LA.
Now it doesn't matter where youare.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
See, I stopped myself from saying it that time.
I wanted to really bad.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
I know I saw, but you did it Well done.
You're a good student.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
What should authors avoid saying or doing during a
media appearance about theirwriting?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Okay.
So you should never say, oh,it's in the book and not answer
the question, because thenyou're leaving the person
hanging and a lot of timesauthors will think, oh, but then
they don't want to buy the book.
It's not true.
Give it away.
Tell them everything about thebook They'll want to.
A lot of times people think, ohwell, they might not want the
(23:51):
book.
There's already another booklike that out there, or whatever
it is.
It's like look, people who buybooks don't just buy one book,
they're not buying one diet book, they're buying all the diet
books because they're interestedin that topic, you know.
So really, give away your beststuff.
And then they'll say, hey, ifthey're giving all this stuff
away for free, I'm just dying tosee what else is in the book.
So never say, oh well, it's inthe book.
(24:12):
You have to read the book.
I mean you can tease thatthere's more in the book or that
you have a case study in thebook or whatever it is, but
answer the question.
Give them something.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I love that.
How can authors effectivelyconvey the heart of their book
in a short on-camera segment?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Oh my gosh right.
So this is the hardest part.
And on-camera segment oh mygosh right.
So this is the hardest part.
And it comes from practice.
It really is that accordionmethod coming up with that
headline and thinking like ajournalist and thinking, okay,
if I only have 10 seconds totell people what this book is
about, how will I structure that?
So think about what a headlinelooks like in a magazine or what
it looks like in a newspaper orwhatever it is, and convey that
(24:50):
.
Get that out there as fast aspossible, because a lot of times
what happens is, especiallywith writers we're used to
writing, you know, write thewhole thing and then write a
conclusion at the end.
What I want you to do is takethat conclusion and stick it at
the front.
That is the headline.
Have that start and then, ifyou have more time, you can go
through and answer and give alittle bit more, give an example
or whatever it is how does anauthor identify the most
(25:19):
newsworthy part or the mostcompelling angle of their books?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I don't think most authors think like media
strategists, so how do they knowwhat their headline is?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Very interesting.
No, and sometimes there's ablind spot there, which is why
it's helpful to work with otherpeople or have somebody
basically tell you like this isthe most important or most
interesting part, and you'relike, oh, you're kind of blind
to it, right?
It's like beware the curse ofknowledge.
It happens a lot with expertsbecause they think, oh, doesn't
everyone know that?
No, not everyone knows that.
That's actually very surprising.
(25:49):
So part of it is havingconversations or beta readers or
people that you know, to say,hey, actually this was really
compelling.
And sometimes you get sosurprised I mean, this happened
to me also as a journalist tooI'd be like, oh, people are
going to love this segment, it'sso, and no one cared.
And then this other segmentthat I was like, eh, let's see
what happens.
People loved it.
(26:10):
So sometimes you get surprised,you know, but you just have to
try and work it out and do youknow, testing and see how people
react to different things anddifferent parts of the book or
different themes and things likethat.
Sometimes it takes a little bitof that.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
What inspired you to write Listful Thinking and
Listful Living?
How did your publishing journeystart I'm sorry and what
inspired you to write this?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
My love of lists, I did not realize that not
everyone loved them as much as Idid.
No, that's not true.
But everyone loves lists.
I feel like it's a very niceconnector.
Um, but people were notnecessarily using lists the same
way I was.
So, as a producer, I was usingthem constantly.
You know, I couldn't, Icouldn't meet my deadlines
without them.
And then I realized that Iwasn't using them at home as
(26:57):
much and things were fallingthrough the cracks, surprise,
surprise.
And I thought, well, I didn'twant to use them because it felt
like work, it felt like toomuch structure.
But the truth of the matter isthat actually helps you to be
more creative and helps you toget more things done.
And I started a blog because Ihad a friend who's a very
accomplished writer and I hadsaid oh, I think I'm going to
(27:17):
write a book about lists.
And she said why don't youstart a blog first, write down
50 topics and if, after the 50topics, you're still interested
in this topic, then you canthink about writing a book
proposal or something.
And I was like, okay, that's agood, that's a good plan.
And so that's what I did tostart.
And then I still have the blog.
Now it's 10 plus years laterand that became the book later,
(27:42):
and that became the book.
Listful Thinking was my firstone, which will be 10 years old
in January 2025.
And then the second book cameout about five years ago in 2019
, is Listful Living.
And Listful Living is more of aworkbook, so it's more of
something where you can sort ofcreate your less stressed life
and use your own productivitystyle.
Because what I found is thatpeople often are looking for the
(28:05):
answer what's the right pen touse, what's the right paper and
I'm always like it doesn'tmatter, it's what works for you.
So you have to figure out yourown personal formula for that.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Can you share a productivity tip that people can
learn?
Well, one of the many they'lllearn from your book.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Sure, well, I again.
You know I look at everythingas a journalist and how things
worked for me in news, and Istill use these tactics to this
day.
So I make my list at night.
It is my shutdown strategy.
It's the last thing that I dobefore I leave my desk every
night and I look through thefollowing day and everything
that I have the time and theresources to do goes on the list
(28:44):
.
So this is important because alot of times we'll put
everything on the list and we'llthink, okay, well, this has to
get done, this has, but do youhave the time and do you have
the resources to actually dothat?
Because otherwise you'resetting yourself up for failure
and at the end of the day you'regoing to look at that list and
be like, oh, I didn't getanything done.
So I like to make a daily listthat is very targeted.
I basically am setting myself,I'm giving myself a boost right
(29:05):
from the beginning.
I know I can get these thingsdone, and a lot of times it's
also about altering how youwrite it.
So sometimes you know you'renever going to write right book.
You can't do it in one day.
It's not going to happen.
So to be very specific about.
You know, write the outline, orwrite chapter one or interview
so-and-so for this or whateverit is.
That's really helpful too,because it does help you to feel
(29:27):
, get that sense ofaccomplishment and move
something forward, especiallywhen it's something big like
writing a book.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Love that.
What are you currently workingon?
What are you currently working?
Speaker 3 (29:41):
on.
So I just finished a novelactually, and I am in the
process of querying agentsbecause I do have a nonfiction
agent, but she only doesnonfiction.
So I've started that processwhich is, you know, I hadn't
pitched an agent in many yearsso, as things have changed, I
had to sort of learn thatprocess.
(30:03):
So that has been fun and alsointeresting, because then it
gives me new perspective for myown clients.
I do work with nonfiction andfiction authors, but just
thinking through sort of like,okay, so how could you get media
for fiction?
How is it different?
How do you position yourself alittle bit differently?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So it's been a good what have you learned so far
about the differences?
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I mean it's.
It's just much harder.
You know, fiction is much moredifficult unless you have some
sort of nonfiction hook in therethat you can, that you can pull
from, uh, you know, and thatyou feel comfortable talking
about a lot of authors.
I just did something forWriter's Digest.
Actually, I spoke at theconference and there's a lot of
fiction authors there and Italked about media and what to
(30:46):
talk about and actually a bunchof them came up to me afterwards
and they were like we're soglad that you told us to start
before.
We had the book, which wasnumber one, but number two went
through and tried to figure outfor some of them what were some
of the nonfiction topics thatthey could talk about within the
book.
So even if you're like afantasy writer, you could, if
(31:08):
you were interested enough, doresearch and find out what
reading fantasy novels does forsomeone you know, for their
psyche, for their soul, fortheir stress levels, like
whatever you know.
You could find that out andthen talk about that and that is
a good way to sort of segueinto.
Oh, also, I'm a writer of thisgenre, you know, because you're
(31:30):
getting people interested inthat topic.
It just is a different way ofthinking, but it takes a little
bit more.
It's not the same like if youwrite a health book.
It's like, oh good, you cantalk about matcha green tea and
you know better ways to whatever.
Like that's.
It's a kind of a slam dunk.
It makes it a lot easier.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
How did you like doing the conference?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I loved it.
So I had done the one the yearbefore, but it was I'm in New
York, so it was in New York.
So it was easy, you know, forme.
Uh, this year I I went to um,they had it in Ohio and it was
great.
It was just a very differentvibe than New York.
I know they usually have it inNew York, but it was I don't
everybody like connected so well.
(32:09):
It was such a like reallyreally good group.
All the speakers were werereally awesome and I couldn't.
I was like I love this, I wantto stay here forever.
It was really nice.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Awesome, awesome.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour fiction piece that you're
working on.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
This is the hard question what is your book?
What genre?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
It is commercial fiction and it is the unlikely
store, unlikely friendship of aman at close to 90 and a woman
in her twentiess.
And the way that they meet isbecause she accidentally pushes
him off a train platform whenshe's trying to steal his wallet
.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Oh, that is good I love that.
You know they kind of go onthis little journey together
because they realize that theyboth maybe could use the other
one's help with some things itmakes me think of and they're
not similar, but so I don't knowwhy but it makes me think of
that sandra bullock movie wherethe guy was like in a coma and
(33:09):
she pretended to be his fianceebut then she fell in love with
his relative.
Yeah, for some reason I don'tknow why it makes me think of
that oh my god, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
I loved that movie.
I haven't seen that movie in solong.
Yeah, while you were sleeping.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I love it Exciting, exciting.
How's the querying processgoing for you?
Have you started yet?
Are you about to start?
You're still researching.
I started.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
You should see my spreadsheet.
It is a work of art.
It's pretty beautiful, uh, butit I started in April.
So now here we are, in December.
I've had no offers yet, but Ihave gotten 11 requests, 11 full
requests for the book.
So you know I've had a lot ofagents express interest.
Um, of those 11, there arestill two who have it.
(33:53):
So I'm like my fingers and toesare crossed.
That you know, maybe, but Istill do send every once in a
while to some others.
You know, it's just like a, aresearch project.
I'll I'll see a new author andI'll be like, oh, I wonder who
their agent is.
Let me look them up and see ifthey're open to.
You know, do you, do you writeas well?
Fiction, nonfiction, yes, media, it's the same thing.
It's like you have to be veryspecific about what you who's
(34:14):
doing.
You know, young adult, it'snever going to work for them.
You know it's like a waste ofeverybody's time.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Very true, very true.
How can someone contact you tobook a speaking engagement or a
private consultation?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So if you are interested in media training,
you can go to speakwithpaulacomand fill out the questionnaire
there and if it's a fit, I canreach out and we can talk about.
You know what it looks like towork together.
I'm on social media LinkedInand Instagram are the two that I
(34:56):
work with the most, and thenwhat else?
You can just email me.
You know, paula atpaularizzocom is also a good one
.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Where can people find your books and your classes and
workshops?
I guess that'd be on yourwebsite.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Yes, on my website.
And then I do have a freegiveaway for authors.
It's the 10 media questionsevery author needs to answer and
that's at PaulaRizzocom, slash10Q, and that is literally the
questions that I go through withmy clients and I'm like, okay,
here's what they're probablygoing to ask you, let's go
through them and make sure youhave an answer for these.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Is there anything that you wanted to promote or
anything that you wanted to talkabout that we haven't covered?
Speaker 3 (35:38):
No, you did a great job.
There's everything's in there.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Awesome, awesome.
It was great talking to you,great you too.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Getting to know all about what you're up to and, if
there's, anything I can do tohelp or you know your books out
there.
Whatever it is, I'm alwaysexcited to help authors.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
You have a great day.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
That wraps up today's Craft Chat Chronicles with JD
Mayer.
Thanks for joining us.
If you liked the episode,please comment, subscribe and
share.
For show notes, writingworkshops and tips, head to
jdmayercom.
That's jdeyercom.
That's JDMeyercom.
(36:22):
While you're there, join JD'smailing list for updates,
giveaways and more.
Welcome to Craft Chat Chronicles, the go-to podcast
for tips on craftingbest-selling fiction.
Here at Craft Chat Chronicles,we bring you expert interviews,
insights and tips on writing,publishing and marketing.
Join the conversation andembark on a new chapter in your
(00:25):
writing journey.
For workshops, show notes andmore information, visit
jdmayalcom.
That's jdmayalcom.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
In this special bonus episode of Craft Chat
Chronicles, we talked to Emmyaward-winning television
producer and media trainer,Paula Rizzo.
Paula offers tips on pitchingyourself to media outlets to get
TV interviews.
She gives you some mediatraining tips to help you do
(00:59):
better once you secure theinterview, and she talks about
her book Listful Living andgives some tips on productivity
for authors as well.
Paula writes a column a monthlycolumn for Writer's Digest that
gives authors tips on becominga media savvy author, and today
she chats with us about exactlythat.
(01:20):
So for some good insight andgood information to help you do
better on camera, tune in forthis episode of Craft Chat
Chronicles.
Let's get chatty.
What inspired you to pursue acareer in television production?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Oh my gosh, I have always really loved visuals, you
know being able to see things,and of course, I love to read.
But when I was a journalismstudent, you had to take some
classes that were outside ofyour you know, your main focus.
So I was a print journalismmajor for a while and I thought
maybe I would write for anewspaper or magazine and then
(02:01):
they make you take a video class.
And when I took the video classit just felt so much better to
me.
I was like it's quick, it'sfast, it's to the point, it's in
the present tense, it's done,it's over with.
It was just very, I felt verydrawn to it, and so that for me,
ended up being the way in and Igot an internship and then I
(02:22):
worked my way through newsroomsin New York City and yeah,
that's how it, that's really howit, how it really started.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And how did you start your journey to becoming senior
health producer at Fox NewsChannel?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
So I worked for years in local news.
I worked at WPIX and CBS2 inNew York and I would cover all
the news, anything that wouldhappen.
You know news of the day kindof thing.
And then I that gets a littlebit tiring because you're there
day after day.
You know you got to make sureto hit all those deadlines and
(02:57):
get everything done.
And then you become sort ofnumb to the news.
You know things happen and it'sa terrible story for the world
and you think, oh, but that's agood story for us because it
keeps us busy and we get outthere and we do things.
It's kind of a warped thing butit does get taxing on you, you
know.
So a friend of mine, you know,went over to Fox and she was a
(03:21):
health producer and she saidwe're looking for another health
producer, what do you think?
And I was like well, I mean,I've produced health segments
before, you know, in my regularday and I never thought I would
love it so much.
So I ended up staying there forover a decade, becoming the
senior health producer there,helping to run the team.
And you know it was less of theday-to-day news and more
(03:42):
features and more people'sstories and being able to
connect with people.
I got to do a lot of reallycool things go into ORs and
interview doctors and seesurgeries happening and you know
it was a really, reallyinteresting job.
But also, you know, I workedwith some really great people
there and we had our own littleunit.
(04:02):
It was just the health unit.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
All we did was health and wellness and we kind of
just got to do our day-to-daything and it was great Love that
Winning an Emmy is anincredible achievement.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
How did that experience shape your career?
It was very exciting.
It was one of always thosethings that I wanted to do.
It's the pinnacle of that job.
So it was very exciting to benominated and I had actually
gotten to go to the Emmy Awardson one of the previous years
when I was nominated but didn'twin, so that was very fun.
And then the year that Iactually won, I was not working
at the station anymore, I hadleft.
(04:37):
So I literally found out viaemail the next day that we won.
So it was a littleanticlimactic, you know.
It was like oh, oh, that's cool.
I won an Emmy yesterday, that'scool.
You know it would have beennice to be at the award ceremony
with everybody and learn of it.
But still very exciting.
And you know that's somethingthat you know gives you that pat
on the back like you're doingit right and you're with a good
(04:59):
team, and so I won that award.
Oh gosh, I think it was like2006 or 2007.
And it was with the WPIX team.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Awesome.
What motivated you totransition from television
production to media strategy andtraining?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
It was pretty natural Because I had written two books
, or at the time I had writtenone book.
Listful Thinking was my firstbook and I wrote that while I
was still working full time as aTV producer and you know, I was
thinking of what was my nextmove, like I knew I didn't want
to be my boss, I didn't wantthat job and so I thought, well,
what do I want to do?
And a lot of the opportunitiesand the doors that working in
(05:39):
television and being, you know,at the forefront of history and
being able to work for, you know, these huge stations, a lot of
the opportunity that it affordedme, also held me back a bit
because I wasn't able to go and,you know, do as many speaking
engagements or, do you know, abig book tour, whatever it was,
because I was working full time.
So I started to do some work onthe side, you know, toe out
(06:02):
there to do some some mediastrategy and training.
And it was great becauseunfortunately I couldn't book
everybody who pitched me when Iwas a television producer,
because they simply weren'tready to be on camera.
You know, and it really for meas a producer, I don't have time
to coach them and train themand teach them how to do it.
(06:22):
It's just a no.
You know, hey, sorry, it's notgoing to work for us and I move
on and I find the expert thatwill work.
And you know it breaks my heartbecause it's like these are
people who have spent a longtime trying to, you know, learn
a specific expertise or have abook or whatever it is, but they
just weren't media ready.
So I was like you know what, inmy next, in my next life, I'd
(06:44):
like to help people a little bitmore to be able to get out
there.
Because, you know, it's onething to get one opportunity,
but if I'm able to help anauthor I work mostly with
authors now but if I'm able towork with an author and help
them to get their message outinto the greater, you know,
media landscape, then I've donemy job.
So it's nice to be able to usethose skills and then to help
(07:06):
people get their books out there.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love that.
So when you're a producer andyou talked about how some people
didn't have the skills, whatskills were you looking for?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So I would always do a pre interview before you know.
I would book them.
They'd always have to have someexperience beforehand, you know
.
So send me a media clip, avideo clip or whatever it was.
Not everyone had that whichdidn't sink, didn't say, you
know, oh, you can't do it.
But then I would do a preinterview.
And being able to answerquestions quickly and succinctly
(07:37):
and on the fly is veryimportant.
And there were a lot of peoplewho couldn't do it, you know.
Or they would say, oh well,I'll find out.
I don't know the answer to that, or I don't know.
You know they weren't really asprepared as they could have
been.
And when you're working intelevision, if you're taping
something and it's live, youcan't say I'll go check it out,
I'll go find it.
You have to come up withsomething on the spot and not
(08:05):
look nervous.
So you know that just couldn'tdo it.
For television it doesn't meanthat they couldn't be on a
podcast or they couldn't do aradio interview or a magazine
interview or something that's alittle bit different, but for TV
it's a totally, it's a very onthe spot medium.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Love that, love that.
So what common mistakes dopeople make when trying to get
media attention?
From your observation as amedia strategist?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, people think that they're gonna be fine, they
think they don't have topractice and that they'll just
show up and the words willsimply come to them.
And that does not happen.
Unfortunately, it takespractice, and the people that
you see on television and youknow even on social media now
who are doing these videos, theypractice.
That is not the first timethey've done this.
(08:43):
This is not the first timethey've said it.
Yes, it looks like they did itin one take, but for a lot of
those people they did itmultiple, multiple times.
So that is one of the thingsthat you know I work through
with my clients is to say okay,here's some questions that you
might be asked.
Let's work on the answers thatyou'll give, but also not
pigeonhole you that you have toanswer that way every time,
(09:03):
because if you're trying tomemorize things and you slip up,
you just it ends up very bad,because then you try to
backpedal and try to get back tothe point you were making and
you can't remember.
And I know that from workingwith reporters and anchors for
years, because even reportersout in the field who are doing
live interviews or livebroadcasts, they don't memorize.
(09:25):
You know they have bulletpoints in live broadcasts.
They don't memorize, you know.
They have bullet points intheir head of what they want to
say.
So if it comes out a little bitdifferently, it's still natural
and so that's what you know.
People need to do that, butpractice really it does help.
I mean, you really have toliterally say the words out loud
.
And a lot of times, especiallywith authors, they'll write out
their words, which is fine and Ithink that's a really good.
(09:45):
First step is to write out whatyour answers will be.
But then you have to say them,because if this is something
you're doing for radio or apodcast or television, you have
to make sure that you can saythe word literally.
You know, I had for years Iworked with an anchor who did
not.
We couldn't write especiallyinto the script because he
(10:05):
couldn't say it, so we had tosay particularly or have a
different word altogether.
So these are things youwouldn't know unless you said it
out loud.
So it's little things like thatthat you really need to work
through.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I love that.
How can authors and expertseffectively pitch themselves to
media outlets?
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Okay.
So first you have to see whatthe audience wants.
So, looking at the publicationor the broadcast or whatever it
is, to watch it and to see, okay, what kind of segments are they
doing, what kind of articles dothey have on, you know, their
front page or whatever it is,and who are they serving?
Because that is who thegatekeeper cares about, right,
(10:44):
so that's what the producer orthe writer or whoever it is,
that's what matters to them.
So you want to make sure thatyou have that.
And a tricky way to find out isto look at the advertisements.
So if you look and you see,like, who are the advertisers
for that show, who are theadvertisers for that magazine,
you'll know pretty quickly whothe demographic is, who's
reading that magazine, who'swatching that show, because
(11:08):
those advertisers spend bigbucks to know exactly who those
people are.
So you want to know first whothe audience is and then from
there, I have a formula that Iteach people on how to produce
the perfect pitch, and there arethree elements.
It's called the hook, the twistand the takeaway.
So the hook is why now?
Why are we talking about this?
Is it Valentine's Day?
Did something big in the newsjust happen.
(11:29):
Why is it relevant right now?
The twist is how is thisdifferent than everything else
that I've heard on the topic?
Maybe you're going to tell mebacon is amazing for me.
Cool, that's great.
I'd love to hear that one.
And then the takeaway isliterally what do I take away as
the viewer or as the readerthat I can do tomorrow that will
change my life?
Like, how is this going toaffect me?
What can I do?
What are those takeaway points?
(11:50):
So, if you have, you know, thehook, the twist and the takeaway
in a pitch, you're more likelyto start a conversation with a
writer or producer or whoever itis.
That's, you know, looking forexperts.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Love that.
What role does video play inexpanding one's visibility and
reach?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Oh well, video is such a wonderful thing.
I mean I obviously I've spentmy whole career working in video
, but I love it because it doesmake you know you're much more
intimate with the person, in thesame way that if you listen to
a podcast you feel like, oh, Iknow them, they're in my ears.
But when you see that personand you see the faces they make
and you see maybe theirexpressions or how they, you
know, talk about something, ortheir accent or whatever it is,
(12:29):
you feel like you know them.
You know.
I mean it happens all the time.
I'm sure people who are, whoare famous and on TV people,
come up to them all the time andfeel like they know them
because you have that, thatsense of intimacy with someone.
So it's wonderful forespecially writers, because then
the people who would be readingyour stuff get to know you on a
different level and then theyget to trust you and then they
(12:50):
get to like you and then theybuy whatever it is you have to
sell.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Love that.
What social media sites orstrategies are must-dos for
authors to help lift theirprofile and promote their work?
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Platform is a big deal for authors, right,
especially nonfiction, but alsonow fiction too.
It used to be the fiction.
It didn't really matter if youhad a platform.
Now everybody cares about aplatform everywhere.
Whatever you write, you have tobe able to promote it somewhere
and get somebody to read it.
And I always encourage people todo the social media platforms
that you like the most, becausethere's so many out there and,
(13:25):
of course, yes, tiktok, booktokreally good, right, you want to
have those out there.
But if you don't want to do itand you show up halfheartedly,
it's not going to really workfor you.
So, you know, I would take onesocial media platform that you
really like, let's say Instagramor something, and put your
whole heart into it.
Really try to build thatcommunity there and then from
there, you know, you can gosomewhere else, like LinkedIn or
(13:48):
something, also depending onwho.
Your demographic is right.
You know, if you're writingromance novels, you know maybe
LinkedIn is not the place to be.
You know putting this stuff upthere, but if you have a
business book and you're anonfiction author, definitely.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So you have to think about you know who is the
audience and who will bestreceive the how do you help
clients prepare if they're goingto do a video for social media
or they're going to be in aon-camera appearance?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Well, we talk through .
You know the intention of thevideo and what it is that you
want to get across.
You know in this video or inthis interview or whatever it is
that you're working on, andthen literally work on what will
you say?
How will you say it?
And I teach people to come upwith their sound bites in a way
that I call the accordion method, and the accordion method is
(14:37):
having a short, a medium and along answer to any question that
you're asked, anything that youwant to talk about, because
then you can condense it orexpand it depending on how much
time you have.
So, if you're doing a videothat's, you know, 30 seconds,
you're going to give the shortanswer.
If you have a video that's alittle bit longer or you're
doing a podcast interview, thenyou can give that big, long
answer, but being able to havethat at your disposal in your
(15:00):
mind to say, okay, I only have15 seconds for this.
This is just the point that I'mgoing to make, so you really
make an impact in a short amountof time.
What other things does a mediastrategist work with their
clients on?
So a lot of things have to dowith the background If you're
going to be doing videos at home.
What does that look like?
What is your lighting?
What are you wearing?
(15:21):
You know, are you comfortabledoing your own makeup?
You know your equipment.
What sort of things you know doyou have?
There's a lot of really greatequipment out there, and we
learned this through thepandemic Right.
Everybody's sort of up to theirgame on video.
But still now it's abouttweaking that and making sure
that it'll work for a broadcastenvironment or, if you're going
to be doing your own videos,making sure that that works
really well, having people becomfortable with their tech.
(15:44):
You know, I've done my job.
If somebody gets a call out ofthe blue or a media place and
says, hey, we want to interviewtoday, and the person jumps in
their chair, it's all set up,all their lighting is good to go
, and they do the interview andthey feel confident, I feel like
then I've done my job.
Because that, I think, holds alot of people back.
Sometimes the tech oh, I don'thave the lighting right or I'm
(16:06):
not sure about this or whateverso that I like to be able to
sort of hold your hand.
Make sure that that is not aconcern, because we just want to
worry about what you're goingto say.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Love that.
I say love that entirely toomuch.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Well, and that's it too.
You get to know your safetywords.
That's it.
I mean, mine is so.
I say that a lot in thebeginning.
Okay so, or because you get toknow and that's part of media
training too is that you'retalking with somebody and then
you're very conscious of it, andthe way that you do it is to
just stop talking, literallygive yourself a breath, and then
just move on.
Don't say anything and justmove on.
(16:43):
It takes training, it takestime.
I still do it, but it does help.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I've seen your YouTube show.
It's very good.
Oh, the production on that isspectacular too.
I love your intro.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Thank you.
Thank you.
I use a platform calledStreamYard and I had a friend of
mine who I worked with foryears.
He was an editor with me at Fox.
Actually, he produced theintroduction for me.
So I have my little intro andall my little things.
But yeah, the StreamYard isreally awesome because it really
it makes it look professional.
I was so happy when I found itbecause you can do it from home.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Let's talk about your workshops and your public
speaking engagements.
What topics do you cover?
If someone were to bring you into do a public speaking
engagement?
What are your go to's?
Speaker 3 (17:33):
of your go-tos.
Okay, so for media training, Ido you know how to?
Uh media training for authors?
Uh, also, how to get and keepmedia attention.
So those are the two topicsthat I typically talk about, and
I also have started to talk alot about productivity for
authors as well.
So the two books that I havelistful thinking and listful
living are both productivitybooks.
So up until this point I'vealways sort of kept things
separately, you know.
But now I'm kind of bringingeverything together because it's
(17:55):
all me and I end up teaching alot of my clients productivity
tips on how to produce bettervideos or how to consistently
create an editorial calendar,Like these are all things that I
used as a producer to makemyself more efficient, that I
can teach, you know, to anybody,but also to, especially to
authors.
So I do have some productivitytrainings that I do to
(18:17):
productivities for authors, andthen you know how to, how to use
lists to be more productive andsuccessful, better strategies
for working from home, workingfor yourself, for entrepreneurs,
and things like that.
And so, yeah, I love to be ableto put all that, all that
knowledge and all that stufftogether to help people be less
stressed out At the end of theday.
I just don't want people to bestressed about things.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Tell me a little bit about your online course Lights
Camera Expert.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Okay, so that course has been retired, but I have a
new course.
Oh, I'm sorry, that's okay.
I have a new course.
It's called media ready author,and that course is what it
sounds like.
It helps authors to get mediaready and we um dive into.
You know your soundbites andwhat you're going to talk about
how to, how to answer thequestion what is your book about
(19:06):
?
Which is like the hardestquestion that authors can be
asked.
Uh, and then you know setting upyour background, making sure
all your light is good, makingsure that you feel confident on
camera, and then talking throughhow to be your best self while
you're selling your book,because it does.
It's not natural to sell, youknow, for some people to sell
something, so to talk about howto genuinely get your book out
(19:28):
there, how to do book events andall of that.
And the course is self-study,so people can buy the course and
then go ahead and take it on attheir own pace.
But it comes from all of mytrainings with clients,
one-on-one, so I found myselfdoing the same training from the
beginning, you know, and then Iwas like you know what?
(19:49):
I should systematize this and Ishould put it in a course,
because not everyone can, youknow, hire you one-on-one, and
so to make it accessible to morepeople.
I've put it in this courseMedia Ready.
Author.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Love that.
Can you give us five quick tipsfrom that that can inspire
people to want to sign up?
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Sure, of course.
So I think one of the one ofthe best things that people get
out of that is to really justpush themselves to do it and to
do it before they think theyneed it.
And a lot of times people willsay, oh, I'll do media when my
book comes out.
(20:26):
And I always say, well, it'stoo late actually, and I mean
it's never too late, you canstill do it.
Obviously you want to, but youwant to have done it before, and
the reason is is because youwant to learn yourself what are
those filler words that you'resaying, what is the best
lighting that you have?
You want all of this worked outbeforehand so that you feel
(20:47):
really confident and collectedand also so that you can do it a
few times.
You know, pitch yourself a fewplaces or do a podcast interview
or do something, so thatdoesn't, it's not as scary when
the stakes are super high.
I started doing media for a blogthat I wrote about list making
when I was a producer.
That's how this all started,that's how my first book came
(21:07):
about and all that.
And I thought you know what, ifI don't start doing media
interviews, I won't.
I won't be legitimate.
Honestly, you know you wantpeople to think that you are the
best expert for that, so thatwould be.
You know, a big one for me isto start before you think you're
ready, even with your platformand all of that, to really get
yourself out there.
(21:28):
But yeah, you know, the coursedives into what to say, how to
say it, how to practice, how toprep, you know.
And also a big one is whenthings go wrong, because it
happens, you know.
Somebody asks you a questionyou don't know the answer to.
Something happens, to theconnection, something happens in
the studio, whatever it is, andso it's nice to think through.
(21:49):
I'm always like let's think ofthe worst case scenario and go
through what, what you would saythere, and so it's nice to
think through.
I'm always like, let's think ofthe worst case scenario and go
through what you would say there, and even thinking and
preparing for, okay, here'squestions.
I actually don't want to answer, but if I am asked these
questions, how will I address it.
(22:11):
Very good, very good.
What advice do you have foraspiring public speakers?
Well, I would say, you knowit's very different speaking in
person than it is speaking to acamera, and you do need both
skills, you know.
So I would say, try to do asmuch speaking in person, at
least at first, because I findit actually to be a little bit
easier, because you do get awarm, fuzzy environment with
people, you know.
You get to see their facialexpressions, you get to
(22:33):
hopefully see if your jokesconnect.
You know, when you're doingvideo or you're doing your own
webinar, you're like oh man, Idon't know, did anybody think
that was funny?
I don't know, I can't seeanybody because it's a webinar,
you know.
So you really have to just beyour own audience for that.
So that can be a little bithard.
So I'd say, you know, startsmall, start, you know doing
in-person stuff and then go fromthere.
(22:55):
But look, I love video, I lovewebinars and all of that too.
So people can embrace that andit's nice because people can do
things from anywhere.
Now, you know, it used to beespecially for media or things
like that.
You had to be in New York oryou had to be in LA.
Now it doesn't matter where youare.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
See, I stopped myself from saying it that time.
I wanted to really bad.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
I know I saw, but you did it Well done.
You're a good student.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
What should authors avoid saying or doing during a
media appearance about theirwriting?
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Okay.
So you should never say, oh,it's in the book and not answer
the question, because thenyou're leaving the person
hanging and a lot of timesauthors will think, oh, but then
they don't want to buy the book.
It's not true.
Give it away.
Tell them everything about thebook They'll want to.
A lot of times people think, ohwell, they might not want the
(23:51):
book.
There's already another booklike that out there, or whatever
it is.
It's like look, people who buybooks don't just buy one book,
they're not buying one diet book, they're buying all the diet
books because they're interestedin that topic, you know.
So really, give away your beststuff.
And then they'll say, hey, ifthey're giving all this stuff
away for free, I'm just dying tosee what else is in the book.
So never say, oh well, it's inthe book.
(24:12):
You have to read the book.
I mean you can tease thatthere's more in the book or that
you have a case study in thebook or whatever it is, but
answer the question.
Give them something.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I love that.
How can authors effectivelyconvey the heart of their book
in a short on-camera segment?
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Oh my gosh right.
So this is the hardest part.
And on-camera segment oh mygosh right.
So this is the hardest part.
And it comes from practice.
It really is that accordionmethod coming up with that
headline and thinking like ajournalist and thinking, okay,
if I only have 10 seconds totell people what this book is
about, how will I structure that?
So think about what a headlinelooks like in a magazine or what
it looks like in a newspaper orwhatever it is, and convey that
(24:50):
.
Get that out there as fast aspossible, because a lot of times
what happens is, especiallywith writers we're used to
writing, you know, write thewhole thing and then write a
conclusion at the end.
What I want you to do is takethat conclusion and stick it at
the front.
That is the headline.
Have that start and then, ifyou have more time, you can go
through and answer and give alittle bit more, give an example
or whatever it is how does anauthor identify the most
(25:19):
newsworthy part or the mostcompelling angle of their books?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I don't think most authors think like media
strategists, so how do they knowwhat their headline is?
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Very interesting.
No, and sometimes there's ablind spot there, which is why
it's helpful to work with otherpeople or have somebody
basically tell you like this isthe most important or most
interesting part, and you'relike, oh, you're kind of blind
to it, right?
It's like beware the curse ofknowledge.
It happens a lot with expertsbecause they think, oh, doesn't
everyone know that?
No, not everyone knows that.
That's actually very surprising.
(25:49):
So part of it is havingconversations or beta readers or
people that you know, to say,hey, actually this was really
compelling.
And sometimes you get sosurprised I mean, this happened
to me also as a journalist tooI'd be like, oh, people are
going to love this segment, it'sso, and no one cared.
And then this other segmentthat I was like, eh, let's see
what happens.
People loved it.
(26:10):
So sometimes you get surprised,you know, but you just have to
try and work it out and do youknow, testing and see how people
react to different things anddifferent parts of the book or
different themes and things likethat.
Sometimes it takes a little bitof that.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
What inspired you to write Listful Thinking and
Listful Living?
How did your publishing journeystart I'm sorry and what
inspired you to write this?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
My love of lists, I did not realize that not
everyone loved them as much as Idid.
No, that's not true.
But everyone loves lists.
I feel like it's a very niceconnector.
Um, but people were notnecessarily using lists the same
way I was.
So, as a producer, I was usingthem constantly.
You know, I couldn't, Icouldn't meet my deadlines
without them.
And then I realized that Iwasn't using them at home as
(26:57):
much and things were fallingthrough the cracks, surprise,
surprise.
And I thought, well, I didn'twant to use them because it felt
like work, it felt like toomuch structure.
But the truth of the matter isthat actually helps you to be
more creative and helps you toget more things done.
And I started a blog because Ihad a friend who's a very
accomplished writer and I hadsaid oh, I think I'm going to
(27:17):
write a book about lists.
And she said why don't youstart a blog first, write down
50 topics and if, after the 50topics, you're still interested
in this topic, then you canthink about writing a book
proposal or something.
And I was like, okay, that's agood, that's a good plan.
And so that's what I did tostart.
And then I still have the blog.
Now it's 10 plus years laterand that became the book later,
(27:42):
and that became the book.
Listful Thinking was my firstone, which will be 10 years old
in January 2025.
And then the second book cameout about five years ago in 2019
, is Listful Living.
And Listful Living is more of aworkbook, so it's more of
something where you can sort ofcreate your less stressed life
and use your own productivitystyle.
Because what I found is thatpeople often are looking for the
(28:05):
answer what's the right pen touse, what's the right paper and
I'm always like it doesn'tmatter, it's what works for you.
So you have to figure out yourown personal formula for that.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Can you share a productivity tip that people can
learn?
Well, one of the many they'lllearn from your book.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Sure, well, I again.
You know I look at everythingas a journalist and how things
worked for me in news, and Istill use these tactics to this
day.
So I make my list at night.
It is my shutdown strategy.
It's the last thing that I dobefore I leave my desk every
night and I look through thefollowing day and everything
that I have the time and theresources to do goes on the list
(28:44):
.
So this is important because alot of times we'll put
everything on the list and we'llthink, okay, well, this has to
get done, this has, but do youhave the time and do you have
the resources to actually dothat?
Because otherwise you'resetting yourself up for failure
and at the end of the day you'regoing to look at that list and
be like, oh, I didn't getanything done.
So I like to make a daily listthat is very targeted.
I basically am setting myself,I'm giving myself a boost right
(29:05):
from the beginning.
I know I can get these thingsdone, and a lot of times it's
also about altering how youwrite it.
So sometimes you know you'renever going to write right book.
You can't do it in one day.
It's not going to happen.
So to be very specific about.
You know, write the outline, orwrite chapter one or interview
so-and-so for this or whateverit is.
That's really helpful too,because it does help you to feel
(29:27):
, get that sense ofaccomplishment and move
something forward, especiallywhen it's something big like
writing a book.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Love that.
What are you currently workingon?
What are you currently working?
Speaker 3 (29:41):
on.
So I just finished a novelactually, and I am in the
process of querying agentsbecause I do have a nonfiction
agent, but she only doesnonfiction.
So I've started that processwhich is, you know, I hadn't
pitched an agent in many yearsso, as things have changed, I
had to sort of learn thatprocess.
(30:03):
So that has been fun and alsointeresting, because then it
gives me new perspective for myown clients.
I do work with nonfiction andfiction authors, but just
thinking through sort of like,okay, so how could you get media
for fiction?
How is it different?
How do you position yourself alittle bit differently?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
So it's been a good what have you learned so far
about the differences?
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I mean it's.
It's just much harder.
You know, fiction is much moredifficult unless you have some
sort of nonfiction hook in therethat you can, that you can pull
from, uh, you know, and thatyou feel comfortable talking
about a lot of authors.
I just did something forWriter's Digest.
Actually, I spoke at theconference and there's a lot of
fiction authors there and Italked about media and what to
(30:46):
talk about and actually a bunchof them came up to me afterwards
and they were like we're soglad that you told us to start
before.
We had the book, which wasnumber one, but number two went
through and tried to figure outfor some of them what were some
of the nonfiction topics thatthey could talk about within the
book.
So even if you're like afantasy writer, you could, if
(31:08):
you were interested enough, doresearch and find out what
reading fantasy novels does forsomeone you know, for their
psyche, for their soul, fortheir stress levels, like
whatever you know.
You could find that out andthen talk about that and that is
a good way to sort of segueinto.
Oh, also, I'm a writer of thisgenre, you know, because you're
(31:30):
getting people interested inthat topic.
It just is a different way ofthinking, but it takes a little
bit more.
It's not the same like if youwrite a health book.
It's like, oh good, you cantalk about matcha green tea and
you know better ways to whatever.
Like that's.
It's a kind of a slam dunk.
It makes it a lot easier.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
How did you like doing the conference?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
I loved it.
So I had done the one the yearbefore, but it was I'm in New
York, so it was in New York.
So it was easy, you know, forme.
Uh, this year I I went to um,they had it in Ohio and it was
great.
It was just a very differentvibe than New York.
I know they usually have it inNew York, but it was I don't
everybody like connected so well.
(32:09):
It was such a like reallyreally good group.
All the speakers were werereally awesome and I couldn't.
I was like I love this, I wantto stay here forever.
It was really nice.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Awesome, awesome.
So tell me a little bit aboutyour fiction piece that you're
working on.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
This is the hard question what is your book?
What genre?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
It is commercial fiction and it is the unlikely
store, unlikely friendship of aman at close to 90 and a woman
in her twentiess.
And the way that they meet isbecause she accidentally pushes
him off a train platform whenshe's trying to steal his wallet
.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
Oh, that is good I love that.
You know they kind of go onthis little journey together
because they realize that theyboth maybe could use the other
one's help with some things itmakes me think of and they're
not similar, but so I don't knowwhy but it makes me think of
that sandra bullock movie wherethe guy was like in a coma and
(33:09):
she pretended to be his fianceebut then she fell in love with
his relative.
Yeah, for some reason I don'tknow why it makes me think of
that oh my god, that's so funny.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
I loved that movie.
I haven't seen that movie in solong.
Yeah, while you were sleeping.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
I love it Exciting, exciting.
How's the querying processgoing for you?
Have you started yet?
Are you about to start?
You're still researching.
I started.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
You should see my spreadsheet.
It is a work of art.
It's pretty beautiful, uh, butit I started in April.
So now here we are, in December.
I've had no offers yet, but Ihave gotten 11 requests, 11 full
requests for the book.
So you know I've had a lot ofagents express interest.
Um, of those 11, there arestill two who have it.
(33:53):
So I'm like my fingers and toesare crossed.
That you know, maybe, but Istill do send every once in a
while to some others.
You know, it's just like a, aresearch project.
I'll I'll see a new author andI'll be like, oh, I wonder who
their agent is.
Let me look them up and see ifthey're open to.
You know, do you, do you writeas well?
Fiction, nonfiction, yes, media, it's the same thing.
It's like you have to be veryspecific about what you who's
(34:14):
doing.
You know, young adult, it'snever going to work for them.
You know it's like a waste ofeverybody's time.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
Very true, very true.
How can someone contact you tobook a speaking engagement or a
private consultation?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
So if you are interested in media training,
you can go to speakwithpaulacomand fill out the questionnaire
there and if it's a fit, I canreach out and we can talk about.
You know what it looks like towork together.
I'm on social media LinkedInand Instagram are the two that I
(34:56):
work with the most, and thenwhat else?
You can just email me.
You know, paula atpaularizzocom is also a good one
.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Where can people find your books and your classes and
workshops?
I guess that'd be on yourwebsite.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
Yes, on my website.
And then I do have a freegiveaway for authors.
It's the 10 media questionsevery author needs to answer and
that's at PaulaRizzocom, slash10Q, and that is literally the
questions that I go through withmy clients and I'm like, okay,
here's what they're probablygoing to ask you, let's go
through them and make sure youhave an answer for these.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Is there anything that you wanted to promote or
anything that you wanted to talkabout that we haven't covered?
Speaker 3 (35:38):
No, you did a great job.
There's everything's in there.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Awesome, awesome.
It was great talking to you,great you too.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Getting to know all about what you're up to and, if
there's, anything I can do tohelp or you know your books out
there.
Whatever it is, I'm alwaysexcited to help authors.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
You have a great day.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
That wraps up today's Craft Chat Chronicles with JD
Mayer.
Thanks for joining us.
If you liked the episode,please comment, subscribe and
share.
For show notes, writingworkshops and tips, head to
jdmayercom.
That's jdeyercom.
That's JDMeyercom.
(36:22):
While you're there, join JD'smailing list for updates,
giveaways and more.
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