The kerfuffle over last week’s Piers Morgan interview with former Delaware Senate hopeful Christine O’Donnell has many communications professionals chatting about publicity stunts and protocol for live on-air interviews. 

Some speculate that O’Donnell and her PR team had planned her hasty exit all along.  If you missed the segment last Wednesday evening, you can catch it on YouTube, which has nearly 400,000 views to date.  The interview got heated when Morgan pressed O’Donnell on the issue of gay marriage.  She agreed to appear on the show to discuss her new book, “Trouble Maker: Let’s Do What It Takes to Make America Great Again,” but clearly became irritated when the topic of gay marriage, an issue which is covered in her book, was addressed. O’Donnell lashed out at the urbane British journalist and accused him of being “a little bit rude.” 

I find it hard to believe that O’Donnell hadn’t anticipated this difficult question.  Is it possible that her seasoned PR team would have secured this top-tier interview and not prepared her with a response should this topic arise?  As with any news program – especially one on an established national cable network – it’s important to anticipate and prepare answers for all potential questions the interviewer may ask.

When one of our clients is scheduled to be interviewed by the media, we prepare them with mini-media preparedness sessions.  The session is critical to test out key messages and responses to difficult questions.  Participants in our media preparedness sessions are familiar with our refrain: an interview is a choreographed exchange of information, not a conversation.  It is critical to anticipate the answers to questions before they are even asked.  Either O’Donnell didn’t heed this advice or her dramatic walk-out was in fact part of the strategy.

Since this particular political commentator is not a media novice, I believe there were other factors at play here.  I think she knowingly went into the interview prepared to exit if the interview made her uncomfortable.  Since she was interviewed via satellite it was easier to walk off the show than if she were on set face-to-face with Morgan in New York City.  Regardless, I don’t think she’ll be booked on another CNN program any time soon.  However, we are still talking about the incident and Morgan devoted a good portion of a subsequent show to O’Donnell’s walkout.

Was this a publicity stunt or poor spokesperson planning?

Seth Godin, the best-selling marketing author, announced on his blog earlier this week that he is parting ways with his publisher, Portfolio, and that Linchpin, his fastest selling book to date, is the last title he will publish via traditional channels.   

A post from Godin’s blog states that the architecture of the publishing industry is broken.  It certainly hasn’t yet caught up with the lightening speed of the Web– it can take 12 months or more to get a book into reader’s hands.  And with the advent of social media, authors are no longer dependent on publishers and traditional bookstores to help them engage with their audience. If you’ve ever read Godin’s blog you know the amount of material he can spew out in a matter of hours, so I’m not completely surprised that he’s exploring direct- to-consumer publishing channels.    

As you might suspect, this move has ignited conversations in book publishing circles and begs the question: Will other high-profile authors follow Godin?  According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, it’s uncertain.   Jeffrey Trachtenberg’s article explains the larger impact of Godin’s departure on the industry,  “With many new titles spending less time on best-seller lists and in bookstores, publishers are increasingly dependent on brand-name authors such as Mr. Godin to deliver significant book sales. “

Even if other well-known authors jump ship, I think publishers will evolve their business models and ultimately survive.   The industry is already increasing its number of e-books and there are many apps underway that will enhance traditional publishers’ delivery methods.   

Maybe the silver lining in all of this is for inspiring authors.  Will publishers will be more inclined to work with lesser known, more middle-tier authors as a result?  For authors that don’t have 70,000 fans on Facebook, the traditional publishing route is undoubtedly still the way to go.

I was reminded of this the other day when I got a call from an old business associate at Kaplan Publishing, (a division of Kaplan, my former employer). Our exchange went something like this:

“We’d like you to take on a project.”

Me: “Great! Do tell.”

“Well, it’s a new book we’re publishing by Sherwin Nul…”

Me: “Dr. Sherwin Nuland?!”

“Yes!”

Me: “Hooray! Tell me everything!”

I’ve always been a big reader and I became a fan of Dr. Nuland’s, a surgeon at Yale turned writer, when I was in college. I returned home from school after my freshman year and discovered his groundbreaking book, “How We Die.” (I didn’t have to look very hard to “discover” it since it won the National Book Award and was on the New York Times bestseller list for 34 weeks.) My dad, a surgeon like Dr. Nuland, and a voracious reader like me, read it that summer as well. I remember thinking the author was a master storyteller and being surprised that I could care so much about science writing – (though it goes well beyond science writing, of course). Plus, I was grateful that the book helped spark some meaningful conversations between me and my father, a man of few words.

Fast forward fifteen years and I’m on a conference call with Dr. Nuland (who has now published 13 books) talking about who we should invite to a media luncheon in celebration of his upcoming book, “The Soul of Medicine,” which is a Canterbury Tales-esque non fiction narrative about humanity, ethics, and the relationship between doctors and patients. He reminds us not to forget his old friend, Charlie Rose. Meanwhile, all I can think is: how GREAT is this job???!!! I don’t get star struck often, but consider me struck.