No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Lessons for Young Adults

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

HOW TO GET GOOD PRESS AND PUBLICITY

I've been doing book tours and interviews for more than 45 years, and I almost always came away with great results. Even better, many of the people who have interviewed me became friends, setting the stage for easy, not snarky, interviews and callbacks in the future.

I have a friend who has been on the Forbes 400 richest people in America list for years. He has also been very much in the public eye.

“How the hell do you always get good press?” he once asked me. “I get slammed much more than I get praised.” He thought a bit then added, “As a matter of fact, I seldom get a good interview.”

I knew him well enough to say, “That's because it's all about you, all the time.”

“That's a bunch of bull,” he answered. Then a small smile.

“If you want to get good press and have people want to like you,” I told him, “try asking the interviewer, on pauses in the process, about their own lives: where they grew up, do they have children. What was their first job after college? People want that human touch. They want to be valued. In your case, even if you don't give a damn about the person scribbling in a notebook or punching on a recording device, force yourself to think about the person asking the questions. You're going to get better press. And it very well might make you a better person, not just a richer one.”

We all want to be valued as human beings. Don't treat interviewers as if they're robots, only interested in you.

Always interview ...