How to get syndicated on CBC radio

I’m making my CBC Radio debut in Nova Scotia! And BC! And Yukon! And Saskatchewan! And…

How is this possible, you ask?

Dr. back POD front cover 5x8 72Through the magic of CBC Radio Syndication. I didn’t know this existed, but when I reached out to Sandy of Ontario Morning to talk about The Emergency Doctor’s Guide to a Pain-Free Back, he suggested syndication.

Through syndication, you’re assigned a producer who submits an open call to CBC Radio shows across the country. The shows bid on you during the day, and then by 3 or 4 p.m., you get a schedule of which shows you’ll speak to from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. the next day.

“But…what if nobody wants to talk to me?” I said.

My producer, Vanessa, laughed. “I’ve never seen that happen.”

Still, I was concerned, until I got my Thursday schedule.

10:00

Gander – Central Morning

Leigh Anne Power – Host

Twitter: @centralmorning

10:15

Ottawa – Ottawa Morning Robyn Bresnahan – Host

Twitter (show): @OttawaMorning

10:30

Kitchener-Waterloo 

Host: Craig Norris

Twitter: @cbckw891

10:40

Ontario AM 

Wei Chen – Host

Twitter: @CBCOntMorning

10:50

Cape Breton (Sydney) – Information Morning 

Steve Sutherland – Host

Twitter: @InfoMorningCB

11:15

Sudbury – Morning North 

Markus Schwabe – Host

Twitter (show): @MorningNorth

Twitter (host): @cbcmarkus

11:45

Kelowna – Daybreak South 

Chris Walker – Host

Twitter: @cbckelowna

12:00

Prince George / Prince Rupert – Daybreak North 

Hosts: Russell Bowers (PG) Carolina DeRyk (PR)

Twitter handle (show): @daybreaknorth

Prince George hosts: Carolina: @rupertsmaven

12:15

Vancouver –The Early Edition 

Rick Cluff – Host

Twitter (show): @cbcearlyedition

12:30

Whitehorse – A New Day 

Sandi Coleman – Host

Twitter (show): @cbcanewday

12:45

Regina – The Morning Edition 

Host: Sheila Cole, Twitter handle: @sheilacolescbc

CBC booth face with ER back smallerMy son Max said, “So, you’re going to be flying for ten days?”

“No, that’s the power of radio. I’m driving to Ottawa, and then I’m going to talk to people from coast to coast about back pain.”

My husband laughed at me. “Miss ‘What if nobody wants to talk to me.'”

Honestly, I didn’t know this was possible. Amazing. I love, love, love the CBC. And then tonight, I’ll be making my debut at Chapters Rideau with Stockholm Syndrome before coming back for more syndication interviews on Friday.

On the weekend, I’ll storm the Cornwall and Area Pop Event.

Then I get a day off before I’m the hospitalist at the Glengarry for the week.

WOOT.

CBC lobby leg up

I asked my host, Alexandre, to take a picture of me in the lobby, using my laptop. He obliged. Ottawa Morning’s Robyn Bresnahan admired my boots! She looked fabulous, even though she only had three hours of sleep. It’s a gift, I tell you.

If you want a chance to win a signed copy, drop me a line in the contact form with CBC as the subject and a message with your address and why you want to win.
Dr. back POD front cover 5x8 72

Screenshot 2016-04-20 21.41.58

Yay! You can buy it on Kobo.

Screenshot 2016-04-20 17.09.26

Yay! You can buy it on Amazon.ca Also available through your local booksellers and other e-tailers.

P.S. I’m writing this on Parliament Hill. A security guy asked me what I was doing. I was standing at wall, typing on my laptop, instead of sitting like your average person. Because I’ve got this book on back pain. And, like I told Markus Schwabe of Morning North, “Sometimes, you have to decide if you’ll do the healthy thing, even if you look weird. I’ve always chosen looking weird, myself.”

Entertainment/Intellectual Property Lawyers

Some people think that writers should hire IP lawyers instead of agents.  This way, we pay them a one-time fee instead of 15% of our earnings on the project for the rest of our lives.  I’m not going to get into that, but because I now have a contract in hand, I researched IP lawyers.

I figure I should go with a Canadian firm and I like a few things about this one, Stohn Hay:

–they have a website (seriously, most of the ones on the Writers’ Guild website do not)

–they were recommended by Lexpert (http://www.lexpert.ca/500/Ranking.aspx?pa_id=E2)

–they have a 2 day wait because they’re busy with existing clients, which is probably a good thing

–their secretary, Lydia, was intelligent and helpful.  As a doctor, I’ve noticed that your staff reflects on you.

Since I am cheap, I had to guesstimate how much this would cost me.  Currently hourly rates range from $310-$600–seems like ouch (I don’t get paid that much as a doctor!  I save lives!  I went to school for 25 years!), but I guess that’s normal.  Lydia pointed out that it all depends how long they spend on it, and someone more expensive can take two seconds on it and it’s cheaper than someone cheaper per hour who pores over it for days.  Plus, see above about a one-time fee instead of 15% indefinitely.  YMMV.

If I didn’t choose them, I’d choose someone off of the Lexpert website.  This is the Ontario page, but I live in Ontario, so that’s good.

http://www.lexpert.ca/500/Ranking.aspx?pa_id=E2

Toronto
Most Frequently Recommended
Dhaliwal, Ken- Heenan Blaikie LLP
Hay, Ronald G.- Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP
Russell, Jim- Heenan Blaikie LLP
Stamegna, Carolyn P.- Goodmans LLP
Steinberg, David A.- Heenan Blaikie LLP
Stohn, Stephen- Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP
Zitzerman, David- Goodmans LLP

It seems to be based on data submitted by the firms themselves, but that’s better than nothing, which is what I knew about IP lawyers in Canada before now.

UPDATE

Sandra Richmond called me back ~24 hours later, beating the 2 days waiting period.  She said that the CBC contract is standard and that all she or I should do is contact the WGC to make sure the rates were correct.  (They were.)  If I did want her to assess it, it should take less than an hour, but she pointed out that sometimes what they don’t put in the contract is as important as what they do put in, so you have to know contracts, which I obviously do not.

She also used to be a book editor and felt confident assessing book contracts, but said that she’s licensed for Ontario law and I should keep that in mind.  If LA calls, I need a Hollywood lawyer.

BTW, they bill in 6 minute increments, but not everything is billable.  For example, I didn’t end up hiring her to go over the contract, so the time with me didn’t count.  But I’m trying to pay it forward by saying that she seemed like an intelligent and honest entertainment lawyer.  (Not IP lawyer.  And I didn’t make a lawyer joke.  See?  I learned a lot already.)

One of my clever university friends went into law.  She contacted me after reading this note on Facebook and recommended two IP lawyers.  I will check them out in hopes of a book deal in my lifetime.  They are

John Koch (www.ktbarristers.com)

and

Mark Hayes (www.hayeselaw.com).

She also said that Lexpert is all self-promotion by the big companies.  It basically sounds like drug companies funding their own research.  Still, if I get a film deal, I now know Sandra.  I hope to say hello to John and Mark as well.  And one of my elementary school friends friended me after seeing this note.  Ah, the much-lauded power of social networking!

Zen Marketing 101

One thing all successful writers have in common:  a stomach for failing.  Repeatedly.  Perhaps for years on end.  –Larry Wilde, Chicken Soup for the Writers’ Soul

Plant a tree  –Geri Larkin

I recently joined a writers’ group.  One member had written a story for a market that paid one PDF copy and two percent of royalties.  Translation:  bupkes.  That’s fine if you just want to practice and get some sales under your belt.  But why not aim high?  You might not sell, but a) on the other hand, you might, and b) you’d probably force yourself to work harder, playing up to the game.

The real reason why not?  Rejection hurts.

You have to be able to stomach that, to develop what Karen Joy Fowler called the _pachydermal skin_ of writers.

Let’s start with some basic tools.  You have to know where to send your work.  You already know that you should read the book imprint or magazines that you submit to.

Duotrope lets you search by genre, length, electronic vs. postal submission–a stroke of brilliance.

Ralan covers a lot of speculative fiction markets.  I always check the “pro” and “anthology” sections.

For books, I pay $20 U.S. a month to Publishers Marketplace so I can search deals and cull email addresses and figure out who’s buying what.  Publishers Weekly is great, but I don’t have easy access to it.  In Canada, the equivalent is Quill and Quire.

I also search for editors’ conference bios, interviews and blogs to get more of a feel for what they like.  I read book acknowledgements, noting the editor or agent being thanked.  I like the movers and shakers, but if they’ve got a little spark to their personality–they buy books that push the envelope, or they say something that makes me laugh–that works better for me.  I’ve had at least one editor tell me straight that she wasn’t sure her readers would connect with my voice.  That means she didn’t like my voice.  Which is fine, but it means I have to find the people who do.  (Just like I enjoy wearing my Fête Montreal leggings with one black leg and one white leg.  A guy in the grocery store glanced over me and I could see he thought, “Freak.”  But it didn’t bother me.  He is not my tribe.  If he were an editor, he wouldn’t buy my books.)

Contests.  I generally don’t pay to enter contests because, as Kris Rush and Dean Smith emphasize, money should flow to the writer.  I made an exception for the CBC and Golden Heart–basically, if I think the benefits outweigh the pain of forking over the money.  I prefer free contests by generous souls like Brian Agincourt Massey and the Glass Woman Prize, individuals who take their own time and money to foster the arts.

Education.  I attend Kris and Dean’s workshops as often as I can to force my writing craft to a new level, to learn about the business, and to meet a ton of dedicated, hilarious fellow writers.

Finally, if you are at all serious about making your living through your work, read Kris Rusch’s Freelance Survival Guide.  She covers everything from the nuts and bolts of negotiation and when to quit your day job to how to deal with mental mind traps.  If you can’t afford their workshops (or even if you can), read these as an excellent roadmap on how to deal.

Now I hear you asking, where’s the Zen buddhism?

A lot of people think Buddhism means aspiring to nothingness, but the tenet I apply here is that clinging causes suffering.  So if you are stalking editors at conferences while they try to use the bathroom, you are clinging.  If you are beating yourself up (Why didn’t I start writing seriously when I was 16?  Why don’t I submit more?  Why did I eat a bag of chips and watch _What Happens in Vegas_ instead of writing tonight?), you are clinging.  In fact, you are practicing mental violence against yourself.

C’mon.  We’ve all been there.  If I’d been a risk-taker, I would’ve skipped medicine and arguably university altogether and started writing seriously out of high school.  I never market as much as I want to.  And I just watched _What Stays in Vegas_ as a reward for finishing my novel.  I ate chips, too.  I could cling endlessly about that and many other issues.

Buddhism doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive.  It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write or try to achieve publication.  It just means you should do your best every day, in this moment, without attaching yourself to the outcome.

Will I become a bestselling author with my fans sending whatever I fancy, including embroidered Korean toilet paper a la Diana Galbaldon?

Who knows?  All I know is this:  I set a daily goal for writing and marketing and then I try to just enjoy whatever I’m doing, whether that’s playing Thomas the Tank engine with Max or cleaning up the kitchen with my husband.  I know that makes my life sound super glamourous, but that’s where I find joy every day.

I can’t redo my life.  And when I’m honest with myself, I like the intellectual challenge and economic security of medicine (my father called it my “iron rice bowl,” meaning it was a solid way to earn my living).  Plus the whole life-saving thing is pretty cool.  Even if I don’t achieve as much as a writer or doctor or a mother as I would if I’d concentrated on one job, overall, I am happy.  And that is what matters.  See Anna Quindlen for more about figuring out your own measure of success.

I keep writing.  I market.  I plant my trees.  Even if the world is heating up.  Even though we are all going to die.

I’ll end with two Geri Larkin stories.  I can’t find her books, so I’m paraphrasing.  The first is from _Plant Seed, Pull Weed._  She’s agonizing about global warming and what to do.  An enlightened guy keeps responding, “Plant a tree.”  “But what if it’s your absolute day on earth?”  “Plant a tree.”  “What if we get hit by meteors?”  “Plant a tree.”  In other words, keep going.

The second is from _The Chocolate Cake Sutra_, I think.  Geri’s teacher sends her out with a difficult problem and says, “You have 24 hours to solve this.”  She meditates, she prostrates, she tears her hair out for the next day, but she can’t figure it out.  In the morning, she goes to see her teacher and says, “I’m sorry.  I failed.”  He looks at her with great compassion and says, “You have 10,000 years.”  Her whole body relaxes, just knowing that she has time.

This is what I’m trying to do.  I’m planting trees.  I’m sending my stories out.  And whether I have 10,000 seconds or 10,000 years, I’m putting one foot in front of the other.