Ready, Set, Talk!

A Guide to Getting Your Message Heard by Millions on Talk Radio, Talk Television, and Talk Internet

A Must-Have Resource for Campaigns of All Kinds

"Ellen is the queen of all media"

—Bill Shine, VP of Programming, FOX News Channel

"Want your project to hit the big time? Read this book and it will!"

—Rick Frishman, author of Ten Clowns Don’t Make a Circus and Guerilla Publicity, president of Planned TV Arts

A complete handbook on using talk media to promote an issue, a product, or a candidate—a guide to success in campaign 2006.

Ready, Set, Talk! will help anyone—from the novice activist to the sophisticated public relations professional—develop a talk media message, prepare a campaign, and roll it out. The authors demystify the process of identifying and analyzing potential media targets and opportunities, and show readers how to develop media events for maximum attention and continuing exposure on talk media.

Rich with real-life examples and anecdotes on how to—and how not to—execute a successful campaign, this revealing media manual pulls no punches. Ratner and Scarrah analyze the conservatives’ success on talk media and explain how anyone can do the same, not just by creating their own show, but also by going head to head with others on highly successful existing shows.

Ready, Set, Talk! is a roadmap to putting the internet, podcasting, and videocasting to work for ideas, causes, and candidates. It includes guidelines for print and television interviews; a step-by-step guide to selecting, booking, and preparing a spokesperson; a comprehensive idiot-proof promotional checklist; and advice on how to manage crises in the media.

Proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to the Mt. Zion Education Center Project.

About the Authors

Ellen Ratner, political editor and Washington bureau chief of Talkers Magazine (the industry trade magazine for the talk media), is bureau chief of Talk Radio News Service, which covers the White House, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the Supreme Court. Since 1997 she has been an analyst on FOX News, where she does a weekly segment called The Long and Short of It with Jim Pinkerton.

Kathie Scarrah is an independent television news producer for Associated Press Television, Voice of America Television, and others. Over the past twenty years, she has worked as Senator Joe Lieberman’s media director, as a member of Bill Clinton’s state department and most recently as Representative Dennis Kucinich’s press secretary.