According to CNN's "Showbiz Tonight," infamous author Ann Coulter may be the worst talk show host ever. Click here to watch her alienate the cohosts of "The View."
It isn't pretty, but it's instructive. Behaving badly on talk shows may help get your name out there, but it's also a sure-fire way to burn bridges. How many book promotion opportunities do you think you'll score if every talk show host cringes at the mention of your name, and every producer shudders to remember the last time he/she booked you on the show?
Book promotion opportunities, even for someone with Coulter's notoriety, are hard won. Some day -- after Barbara Walters of "The View" and all the other talk show hosts -- have been confronted by the antagonistic Coulter on the air -- book promotion opportunities may not be won at all.
To paraphrase an old truism: Book promotion is a privilege, not a right. You have to earn the privilege to have book promotion opportunities every time you sit down with an interviewers -- by phone, in studio, or via the Internet. If you don't earn that right, and you don't prove yourself with humor, grace, respect, and hard work -- then forget about having any book promotion opportunities in the future.
Behave now. Your book promotion campaign will benefit for all time.
And, anyway, is it really so hard to be appreciative of book promotion opportunities? You wouldn't think so. You really wouldn't.
