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Saturday, July 21, 2007

Fox and Friends Recap and WRBS Radio

You all are the most excellent prayer warriors. I cannot thank you enough for hitting your knees on my behalf. National TV was not to be taken lightly, and I was seriously nervous. If you watch the video of the last day of the Tour, you can actually see me getting the phone call from my agent when he told me that I was going to be on Fox and Friends, National Television. I turned sheet white, and my mouth dropped so wide open you could have flown a jet in there.


Here's a recap on what it was like to go on Fox and Friends. Fox sent a car to pick me up. Dropped at the Studio in the middle of Rockafeller Square downtown. Several levels of security--including the coolest glass doors I've ever seen--later and I was met by a producer. She led me to a small room filled with chairs, monitors, and muffins. There were two other guests in this room. I didn't recognize either, but my first thought was "Holy Cow, they're wearing a lot of make up!"

The producer told me that someone would be along to mic me in a few moments, and in the meantime, I could watch Fox and Friends on the monitor. Geraldo Rivera was the guest on at that time. A few moments later, he walked right into the waiting room. Nice guy, turns out. He introduced himself and offered his hand. I promptly shook and introduced myself. And then off he went.

Geraldo, huh? Who would of thought?

Next thing I knew, I was ushered into a little closet of a room. I sat in a kind of barber chair surrounded by mirrors, lights, and hundreds of different types of makeup. A kind lady (who kept calling everyone "sweetie") said, "I'm just going to put on a little to make you camera-ready, sweetie."

Then she went to work. A little tan stuff on her fingertip, right under my eyes. Then powder applied with a paintbrush thingy. She'd look at me and frown, then she'd get something else to layer onto my face. One time, she took out a tube of some clear gel that smelled vaguely of peaches and rubbing alcohol. She daubed that on my face too. One more final layer of some powdery substance and apparently I was ready for TV. lol

Btw, after the interview, I called my wife. She said, "Next time you go on TV, make sure you get some makeup on those bags under your eyes." I replied, "They DID put makeup under my eyes!" Where's the love?

After makeup, a nice fellow named Brian came in and put on my mic. Suddenly, it was time. Down a shadowy hall, stepping over cables and wires, then through a door that read "On Air." I found myself on the set. Three chairs and a coffee table on a dais raised from the floor about a foot. The commercials were on. During that time, Steve and Gretchen, the hosts of the show, introduced themselves. They had cue cards in their laps and ran through some of the questions with me.

Someone off camera said, "Clear set." And then began the countdown. On in 10, 9, 8, {Cue stomach flipflops} 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...The Camera rolled. The questions came in a blur, and whoosh, it was over. I came to find out later that they never showed the artwork of any of my books--major bummer. I was also bummed because they never brought up the Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour--which was part of the preInterview the day before. Nonetheless, it was national exposure for Christian Fantasy, and apparently, some folks were watching.

Amazing the power of TV.
Since 2005 when The Door Within first came out, the lowest any of my books have ever been on Amazon's Sales Rankings was 1200. That number indicates that, out of all 3-4 million books sold on Amazon, The Door Within was selling 1,200th. Anything under 100,000 means your book is selling fairly well.

After going on Fox and Friends, ALL of my books (The 3 Door Within books and Isle of Swords) went lower than they've ever been before. Here are the numbers:
The Door Within Hardcover #741
The Door Within Paperback #933

The Rise of the Wyrm Lord Paperback #638

The Final Storm Hardcover #509

Isle of Swords 10, 212 (And this book is still a PreOrder!)

It'll be interesting to see how long the wave lasts.

Radio Show Appearance Monday!
Not sure how many of you are in the Washington DC, Baltimore area, but I will be on WRBS Radio for an hour--8 to 9 am, Monday 23rd. (The time is Eastern Time).

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I can stop wishing you Congratulations. But I'll do it again, congrats. Good luck on your radio interview Monday! God bless! Never alone!

Unknown said...

Sweet. Too bad I don't live near Baltimore anymore. And I won't be able to listen online at that time cause I have to work ... such is life.

I'll be praying, m'lord!

P.S. I'm loving TDW!

everlastingscribe said...

LOL Now that, that I can listen to. it would actually be nice to pray and listen in 'real time' for once. And the radio is much more dependable than the VCR.

Lyn said...

What fun! The interview process sounded exciting but yeah, quick and never comprehensive enough. Thanks for the updates. Lyn from Bloggin' Outloud

Leathel said...

Congrats on the Amazon rankings. I had been curious what the publicity had done and my mouth dropped when I saw them on Amazon.

Mirtika said...

Well, I was praying for you DURING the Fox&Friends appearnace. I"m such an introvert, that the idea of being on camera...well, I would have simply passed out or have run screaming out of the studio with a sweater over my head or something.

I think you looked great--but tired, which is understandable. And I wish they'd given you a few more minutes to talk about the tour, to show the books, but hey...this was a GREAT opportunity, and I'm so glad you got it.

bTW, you're much handsomer than the pic on your blog. You need to get a fresh pic, bro.

Mir

Roheryn said...

aw... I wasn't home to listen... but that's again, great!