What not to do when a reporter contacts you

FocusOnEnergy · Feb 14, 2011

This is a bit of venting, because my editor's going to be really annoyed with me, but I can't spit interviews. It's also a good cautionary tale.

Thursday, she gave me a copy of a book to review and do a feature story on the author. There's a connection with our town because the book is about a man who lived here, and it seemed like something our readers would be interested in.

So, I called the person at the publisher whose card was enclosed. She gave me the author's contact information and told me to email him, saying that he was very responsive to email.

I sent an email to him, with my request for an interview and what my deadline was (about 3 1/2 hours from this writing).

And I never heard back from him.

As a result, I've got a deadline and no story, because my assignment is for a feature and not just a book review, and the author has poisoned a valuable well, because although I will let his publisher know I didn't hear back from him and see if she can get him to contact me for next week's issue, I'm not to well disposed towards him right now. Also remember that reporters often know each other and are inveterate gossips so your failure to respond to an interview request is likely to get shared with others who might have been interested in talking to you as well.

Don't ignore free publicity-it is the best kind. Just remember, that free publicity is someone's job.

Reporters don't always come banging on your door, or filling your inbox with requests for interviews. That book sat on my editor's desk for some time before she gave me the assignment. I have a fairly long deadline because I work for a weekly, but deadlines vary depending on production schedules, and when the reporter gets the assignment.

So please, if a reporter contacts you and asks for an interview, and gives their deadline, respond immediately. Or at least respond at all.

Focus

fireluxlou · Feb 14, 2011

Maybe he just doesn't have access to a computer, or you know is working or is indisposed for some reason either due to kids or what not? I think it's a bit silly to assume that he's being rude purposely. Most authors can't afford to be full time authors.

alleycat · Feb 14, 2011

Unless he's a J. D. Salinger type (which, apparently, he's not), I can't imagine a writer just ignoring a request to talk about his book with a reporter.

There could be all sorts of reasons he didn't or couldn't reply (computer down, illness, out of town, e-mail inadvertently put in the spam folder, etc). I would think "just ignoring it" would be way down the list.

Maryn · Feb 14, 2011

My guess is that he needed more than 3.5 hours' lead time. Depending on what he does for a living, and what his hours are, he might well have been nowhere near a computer from the time you contacted him until your deadline. Or he was at a computer but in a workplace which monitors their usage, so he doesn't check personal email on company time.

Yes, it's a shame he wasn't available, but I don't really think the window of opportunity was anywhere near large enough to assume he'd be able to climb through in time. I hope your non-story doesn't prejudice you against him for next week's edition.

Maryn, with a shrug

Edit: I did misread the original post. Oops! My apologies. (The card reminding me it's time for my eye doctor exam is right on the desk, too!) But it's still possible the author was away from email for days. When people are seriously ill, have a family crisis, have a cable or router failure, go hiking or boating, or any of a number of other normal events, often email just piles up awaiting their future attention. A reporter's email, among literally hundreds of others (Mr. Maryn's typical load is about 100/day), might go unnoticed. Please forgive the poor man.

MacAllister · Feb 14, 2011

Meh. People send me email that never actually shows up, fairly regularly -- especially if it happens to be from someone not in my address book.

And vice-versa.

ResearchGuy · Feb 14, 2011

FocusOnEnergy said:
. . . So please, if a reporter contacts you and asks for an interview, and gives their deadline, respond immediately. Or at least respond at all.

Focus

Just by luck a reporter caught me via my cell phone (left message that I picked up barely in time) while I was out of town on vacation. I was eager to talk with him, but it was mostly luck that we made the connection. And yes, he had a very short deadline. Folks are not necessarily available at the drop of a hat. (Had he emailed rather than phoned, I'd have seen the message in the midst of scores or hundreds of others when I got home.)

--Ken

Parametric · Feb 14, 2011

Maryn said:
My guess is that he needed more than 3.5 hours' lead time.

I also did a slight double-take on reading the original post, but I think it actually says that the poster contacted the author on Thursday and then posted in frustration today with the deadline looming in a few hours. So the author did have several days to respond, including a weekend.

Cranky · Feb 14, 2011

Parametric said:
I also did a slight double-take on reading the original post, but I think it actually says that the poster contacted the author on Thursday and then posted in frustration today with the deadline looming in a few hours. So the author did have several days to respond, including a weekend.

That was my take as well.

Splendad · Feb 14, 2011

Gotta use more than e-mail before passing judgment (phone, letter, etc.) and even then, you just don't know what life has done with what might otherwise be a very energetic and responsible author.

Part of your job is to "get" him, so that places some of the burden of effort on you and imo, that can't stop with a sent e-mail. Just my 2. Frankly, if it were me you e-mailed, I would have tripped all over myself to get some free pub. But, life has its little buzz bombs and barbed wires.

EDIT: Related: I got Tommy Moe (Olympic gold and silver medalist, 92ish) by looking in a phone book, calling his mother's house, who was delighted that I wanted to interview him, and she gave me the phone number to George Michael's Sports Machine, which is a show where he was about to be interviewed, and he gave me my little 10-minute phone interview. His mom was so nice; she said, "I think they use this line for faxes, too, so keep trying back if it's busy." It wasn't.) Moral of the story; seek what ye must find.

JoNightshade · Feb 14, 2011

Okay, you sent one email to a complete stranger and asked for an interview. He hasn't responded to your email, and you don't know why. And you're pissed off?

Wow.

Did you know that other people have lives? Sometimes we go on vacation. Or we get really busy. Or email from strangers goes into our spam folder. Or our computer melts down. Or we're in the middle of moving and our internet service has been interrupted.

If you get mad that easily, I'm not sure I'd want you interviewing me. I might open the paper to find myself cut to ribbons because of some mortal insult I'd unknowingly delivered.

fireluxlou · Feb 14, 2011

Also I forgot some people see those kind of emails as hoaxes if they are unprepared for them or don't know they're a possibility. So he could've put it in his junk folder by himself thinking it was just another spam email.

SandraBeckwith · Feb 16, 2011

I interview people for a living so I understand your frustration, but I also know that my e-mails end up in spam folders more often than they should because of some dumb situation with Earthlink addresses. SO...when I don't hear back via e-mail, I call the source.

Also, this sort of things happens all the time, unfortunately. It's not unusual at all. In fact, when editors give me a deadline, I always tell them that I've got the time in my schedule but whether I can deliver on time depends on whether I can reach the people they want me to talk to.

Maybe the author's a knucklehead...but maybe not. But I'm sorry it caused problems for you.

Cheers,
Sandy

colealpaugh · Feb 16, 2011

FocusOnEnergy said:
Also remember that reporters often know each other and are inveterate gossips so your failure to respond to an interview request is likely to get shared with others who might have been interested in talking to you as well.

Nah, reporters wouldn't do something like that because an email might have hit a spam folder. That's just a rumor.

mscelina · Feb 16, 2011

Just out of curiosity, why would an editor have given a reporter a deadline for a story without having an interview scheduled and set in stone first? I mean--a week is AWFULLY short notice for just about anyone with a real life. That seems kind of unfair, not only for the reporter but aslo for the author. I mean--what if there was some real extenuating circumstance like a serious illness or a death in the family? The kind of thing that takes more than a week to resolve?

So I'm thinking the OP was put in a bad situation straight off the bat by their editor. But, I don't think it's fair to assume the author was being an asshole because he didn't drop everything and immediately respond to a request for an interview. Did he know the deadline was in a week? No, probably not. And if this author has some truly terrible personal situation that's keeping him from responding to email, or even some not-so-terrible but disabling problem like a computer that blew up, it's more than decidedly unfair for the reporter to assume--and broadcast--the opinion that the author is just being a prick. Just sayin'... a little forbearance on your part is probably called for, as well as a gentle hint to your editor that slapping a deadline on a story when the interviewee hasn't been scheduled for a definitive interview time is probably not the best way to get results.

ResearchGuy · Feb 16, 2011

mscelina said:
Just out of curiosity, why would an editor have given a reporter a deadline for a story without having an interview scheduled and set in stone first? I mean--a week is AWFULLY short notice for just about anyone with a real life. . . . .

From what I have heard, that is just the way it is with newspapers. Short staff, short deadlines.

--Ken

colealpaugh · Feb 17, 2011

mscelina said:
Just out of curiosity, why would an editor have given a reporter a deadline for a story without having an interview scheduled and set in stone first? I mean--a week is AWFULLY short notice for just about anyone with a real life.

As RG said...

A newspaper feature editor -- in the vast majority of cases -- has an inbox for both regular mail and email. They'll sift through items that might best go into a general "happenings" calendar, or "around the towns" type of short press release story. Some will get kicked over to the city/metro desk, if they have one, or maybe to sports. Then, they'll pick story ideas to develop for their own pages. More often than not, the assignment sheet the reporter gets will have the contact info and it's the reporter's job to schedule the story into their regular shift hours. Either the reporter or editor will then schedule the photographer, if a photo is needed. It's much more infrequent that a photographer do his or her own scheduling.

If a story idea doesn't pan out, that's just the way it is. News holes never go empty. There's no tragic loss of life if a story isn't covered. Every feature editor in America has hundreds of inches of filler stories at their fingertips. Shrinking news holes are the problem (meaning that advertising has taken over what was once editorial space), not finding stuff to fill them with.

It varies from paper to paper, of course, but this is generally how it works.

Goldenleaves · Feb 20, 2011

Wow, couldn't you even get hold of one of his relatives or something?

BunnyMaz · Feb 20, 2011

I agree with what everyone said above. I know you had a week to deadline, but the author doesn't work in the same business as you. They could have a job, or 2 jobs, to keep them alive while waiting for writing to pay off. They could be ill, or away on a holiday, visiting family, or dealing with a family crisis. They could have any number of reasons why they were unable to reply beyond the most negative assumption of "too lazy".

And even if the writer had received your email in good time - if they are like most people on the planet they may have struggled to give you the interview you wanted within the deadline. Life stuff happens.

That book sat on my editor's desk for some time before she gave me the assignment.

There is also this. If the writer is fairly new to the game they might not understand how your side of the industry works - if they've not heard from your company in a long time, they might not have any reason to expect there to be any urgency in their reply. I know I regularly have to put replying to all sorts of stuff on the back burner sometimes. Did you state the deadline in your email?

Jettica · Feb 24, 2011

I might've missed this but did you try calling? Email is so unreliable that even if you didn't have the author's number you should've got in contact with the publisher if you hadn't had a reply in a day or so.

I'm a journalist and even on a monthly magazine there is always something to be done at the last minute. It's annoying when people don't get back to you but you definitely shouldn't just rely on email.

shaldna · Mar 2, 2011

a lot of people take the weekends off, maybe it's not a personal email account and so only gets checked on work days.

Maybe it got stuck in a spam filter

Maybe it never got there at all.

Maybe the author was busy.

Maybe the author was on holiday.

Maybe the author just hasn't read it yet.

It could be anything and nothing.

EwanG · Mar 19, 2011

I would be more than willing to be interviewed if you need something to put in your paper.

See, writers can be very responsive!

On a more serious note, did you try contacting the editor again to explain the situation and see if the editor could provide an introduction (so the writer knew who you were), or possibly contact the writer to see if there is a problem? I know you don't have a lot of time to chase down someone who you are essentially trying to do a favor for, but on the other hand, sometimes it is all in the presentation.

BenPanced · Mar 20, 2011

Jettica said:
I might've missed this but did you try calling? Email is so unreliable that even if you didn't have the author's number you should've got in contact with the publisher if you hadn't had a reply in a day or so.

I'm a journalist and even on a monthly magazine there is always something to be done at the last minute. It's annoying when people don't get back to you but you definitely shouldn't just rely on email.

This. If I hadn't gotten a response in 24 hours, I would have called the publisher and said, "Hey...", then asked for an alternate point of contact. I'm not a journalist but I do work in a job with tight deadlines and we're encouraged to look beyond the stated methods of contact if we're having trouble contacting somebody. ("Have they answered the phone messages? Try faxing them a short note. Can you #/*/0 out of the phone message menu to speak to somebody else? Can you find an email address?")

Baryonyx · Mar 22, 2011

I've missed important emails before because the Hotmail Goblins LOVE shifting emails from agents/publishers into my spam pile for some reason and emails that I've sent have likewise ended up in people's spam box.

So yeah, I can't see the reason being the guy been rude and deliberately ignoring it, especially with how dodgy some emails can be.

johnnysannie · Mar 22, 2011

Long before I was a writer and an author, I was a reporter in both print and broadcast media so I have some sympathy both directions.

In my more recent experience however I have to say that authors have busy hectic lives - I work at least 12 hours a day and a good portion of that is in promotion when a new book comes out. I've been interviewed by local and regional reporters who call me, not email me. I've been featured on area television programs because the reporters were persistent.

We do have things like deadlines, rounds of edits, writing, and sometimes we go out of town whether it's for business, pleasure or some family event.

It happens.

Ali B · Mar 24, 2011

Twice I've had people agree to do an interview with me and then never answer any of my emails again. So, it does happen. If you've never been in contact with the guy, though, I would assume he just never got the email.

What not to do when a reporter contacts you

Empirical Storm Trooper

Still around

I Tried

Tired and worried.

Resident Curmudgeon

Correcting a man? Be right.

has finally arrived

Helping authors promote

"Bear trumps Elephants!"

Teh doommobile, drivin' rite by you

Resident Curmudgeon

"Bear trumps Elephants!"

Benefactor Member

Ruining your porn since 1984

Superfluously multisyllabic

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

Author of Camp Handiba Series

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Just Hanging Around