Tag Archives: radio show

Media interviews? Yes, please!

golden_mikeIf you’re ever invited to be interviewed by a journalist, TV or radio presenter, my advice is always to say “yes, please”. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said it’s better to be talked about than ignored. And it is rare that the interviewer is out to trip you up, though be prepared for the personal angle. They love to know why you wrote the book you did and what has happened as a consequence, rather than you rabbiting on about the story.

Lately, I’ve given two radio interviews. The first was for my non-fiction book: Seller Beware: How Not To Sell Your Business. The presenter was the lovely Sian Murphy, and the programme is called Women in Business Radio Show. Sian’s aim is not for me to sell lots of books (darn it!) but to give businesswomen as much information as possible about every aspect of running a business. However, she kindly repeated the title of my book a couple of times. It was an hour’s live show which might sound nerve-wracking but was the greatest fun. These presenters know how to put you at your ease.

Denise on Women in Business radio showThe bonus for me was that she was very interested in my novel, Annie’s Story (published 2015) and the way it had saved my sanity whilst writing it, when I was going through the nightmare of having sold my precious business to a couple of charlatans. I explained the reason I sold the business was to write full-time, and my dream was to write the novel.

She has since asked me to write a blogpost about growing a business, and would I give another talk about self-publishing but using a professional service provider (I used SilverWood Books) as opposed to DIY. She says so many people in business are writing non-fiction, and if the book is published it gives them real credibility for their knowledge.

Of course I said yes, I’d be pleased to.

My second interview was on Talk Radio Europe by another charming presenter, Hannah Murray. The listeners are ex-pats over the whole of Europe. The conversation was conducted on the telephone in my writing cabin – subject: Annie’s Story. It lasted 25 minutes where she wanted to know the reason why I chose the period (1913), and loved the story of my grandparents emigrating to Australia that inspired me to write this trilogy. She also asked what research I’d done to ensure the accuracy, and I was able to tell her I’d gone to Australia where my heroine went, and had come across an authentic journal of a family who had made the same trip as my grandparents only months before on the same ship, the Orsova.

Talk RadioEuropeHannah wants to invite me back when Juliet’s Story, Book 2 of The Voyagers trilogy is out (25th January 2016).

So you see, interviews are a wonderful opportunity to bring your books to the public’s attention, and the audience can often be wider than you might normally reach through the ‘normal’ channels. Do give it a go and please let me know how you get on. I always love to hear.

Now where are all those TV presenters?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How NOT To Sell Your Business – radio star!

Denise on Women in Business radio showLast month I was delighted to be asked to appear on the  Women in Business Radio Show at Channel Radio.

I loved every minute of it and here’s what Sian Murphy, the presenter, said:
Well this episode probably had almost everything in it. For one thing, if you get bowled over by the gorgeous sales agent for your business, and take your eye off the relevant ball, then you end up with the sort of crummy job that costs you thousands and thousands.

You’ll be pleased to know, I certainly was, that it is possible to come back from a total cock-up and end up back on top again.

It was great fun recording this episode and thanks so much to Denise for being a great sport and really sharing it all – and of course to Laura Burton Lawrence for keeping it all on track.

http://thewomeninbusinessradioshow.com/denise-barnes/

Radio Star!

pauldenisemartinWhat an exciting day I had last Tuesday. Paul Andrews invited me to be one of the two guest speakers on The Business Bunker Show, which is a weekly event on Tuesdays from 1 – 2.30pm. Oh, and it would be live!

I took the scenic route from Tunbridge Wells, and as the sun came out I bravely put the top down on my Mini. Maybe summer had really begun. It was the first time I’d ever been to the Marshes (the studio is in Burmarsh, near New Romney), and as I got within ten miles of my destination it struck me as a different world – flat areas of countryside as far as you could see on both sides of the small road I was driving along, and infinitely more peaceful than the mayhem on the roads in and around Tunbridge Wells.

Paul and his vivacious and rather beautiful co-producer, Jules Serkin, immediately welcomed me. Paul explained that it would be as though we were having a friendly chat rather than a formal interview with thousands of listeners.
‘How long will I be speaking?’ I asked him, thinking I’d be lucky to get much more than five minutes.
‘About twenty minutes,’ was his answer.
That’s a long time on radio. I only hoped I wouldn’t let him down.

The other guest was a very nice man, Martin Feaver. He was a consultant coach, mainly for people who owned businesses but somehow had let things get on top of them. He was introduced first, and spoke fluently and confidently. I found it so interesting I quite forgot to be nervous that I’d be next!

‘And now for our second guest, Denise Barnes – businesswoman, entrepreneur and author!’

Help!

Martin swung the microphone over to me. I leaned forward, trying to remember to lower my voice a couple of octaves and not gabble. ‘So, Denise, tell us about yourself, your business and your book.’

This was obviously where my twenty minutes came in. I started by giving some background about how I got into estate agency, then opened up my own company, and finally put it on the open market to find a buyer. And that when the business agent introduced two gentlemen who eventually bought my company, I found to my utter dismay they were not at all what they had seemed. And so after three years of misery trying to extract the money they owed me, and seeing the business go downhill, I knew it was only a matter of time before they went bust. As a kind of cathartic exercise, and at the insistence of my sister that I should write about my experience so as to warn others thinking of selling their business, Seller Beware: How Not To Sell Your Business, published by Biteback Publishing, hit the shelves in April this year.’

Even though I was wearing headphones I often forgot I was live on radio, and made a few jokey remarks at which Paul laughed heartily and came back with a few himself. When I told him I used to work in Atlanta, he shot out: ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ By now, I was really enjoying myself and was sorry when it came to an end. Paul gave me some extravagant praise about being a fun guest and said he will definitely be having me back in a few weeks. He said this when the red light was still on, so I shall hold him to it!

If you fancy listening to the recording which they always make for people who don’t get a chance to listen live, then go to their website and you’ll find the ‘Listen Again’ button.

You’ll hear some music, some banter between Paul and Jules, then Martin, and finally you’ll hear my dulcet tones (much lower than usual, but just as rapid). Happy listening!