Everyone loves to see their favorite celebrities in magazines. If you are a new publication or just a small niche magazine, don't think that you can't interview and feature celebrities on the cover of your magazine too! It could be easier than you think if your niche is specific enough. Here are a some tips to help you secure that interview!
1) Have a good reason as to why you want to interview a particular celebrity. That means having a commonality between the person and your magazine. For my first celebrity interview, the singer Kelly Price, grew up in Far Rockaway which is where my magazine was based. There aren't many people from Far Rockaway. It's also known to be a rough and hopeless town (beautifully situated by the beach ironically) so that was already a strong factor in common.
2) Ask at the right time- When a person has an album, movie or book they are promoting they are much more receptive to interview requests.
3) Do your research! Find out what the person likes, what volunteer work they are involved in, what their passions are outside of their career. That means you should be reading previous interviews. This way you can ask new questions.
4) Prepare your questions. You don't know how quickly you will get the interview so it's important to know what you will be asking. Your questions should be open ended and again, different from what they've been asked before. You can also mention things they've said in previous interviews because you want to show you've done your research.
5) Have your people call their people. When you have established who you'd like to feature in your magazine and why, you should contact their PR firm or management company. This information can usually be found on the persons official website. It will say something like "For media inquiries contact: ( person )
Be prepared to send some information about your magazine if they ask, such as copies of previous issues or your website. If you don't have any previous issues, you may be able to tell them and see what happens. I would personally wait until you have something to send.
6) After you contact them it is a bit of a waiting game. You can be contacted right away or might take a while. If they said they'd follow up in a week and don't it's OK to reach out to see what happened but don't be a pest. Be ready for them to set up the interview right away. That's why I said to have your questions ready.
During the Interview: I know you will be super excited when the time comes to interview the celebrity but try to be calm, cool and collected, this is business after all. Don't talk too much, let them talk. Try to be as normal as you can and show interest.
7) Show appreciation when it's complete. Tell the celebrity thank you but also send a thank you note to their PR person that set it up.
8) If they have not already brought it up, ask the PR or manager for pictures you can use to publish along side the article. They should have some high res images ready for just this sort of occasion.
9) Send them copies of the interview when it's published. You can also send an electronic copy so they can see it before hand.
Some other things to keep in mind. You will have better chances getting an interview with someone who is independently managed verses a big company. This applies particularly to music artist. Those with independent backing have more flexibility than those backed by really big labels.
There you have it, with these 9 tips you should be able to secure a celebrity interview, if not right away then eventually. Don't be discouraged if they say no. Just move on to the next person that you may think would be a good fit to be featured in your magazine.
1) Have a good reason as to why you want to interview a particular celebrity. That means having a commonality between the person and your magazine. For my first celebrity interview, the singer Kelly Price, grew up in Far Rockaway which is where my magazine was based. There aren't many people from Far Rockaway. It's also known to be a rough and hopeless town (beautifully situated by the beach ironically) so that was already a strong factor in common.
2) Ask at the right time- When a person has an album, movie or book they are promoting they are much more receptive to interview requests.
3) Do your research! Find out what the person likes, what volunteer work they are involved in, what their passions are outside of their career. That means you should be reading previous interviews. This way you can ask new questions.
4) Prepare your questions. You don't know how quickly you will get the interview so it's important to know what you will be asking. Your questions should be open ended and again, different from what they've been asked before. You can also mention things they've said in previous interviews because you want to show you've done your research.
5) Have your people call their people. When you have established who you'd like to feature in your magazine and why, you should contact their PR firm or management company. This information can usually be found on the persons official website. It will say something like "For media inquiries contact: ( person )
Be prepared to send some information about your magazine if they ask, such as copies of previous issues or your website. If you don't have any previous issues, you may be able to tell them and see what happens. I would personally wait until you have something to send.
6) After you contact them it is a bit of a waiting game. You can be contacted right away or might take a while. If they said they'd follow up in a week and don't it's OK to reach out to see what happened but don't be a pest. Be ready for them to set up the interview right away. That's why I said to have your questions ready.
During the Interview: I know you will be super excited when the time comes to interview the celebrity but try to be calm, cool and collected, this is business after all. Don't talk too much, let them talk. Try to be as normal as you can and show interest.
7) Show appreciation when it's complete. Tell the celebrity thank you but also send a thank you note to their PR person that set it up.
8) If they have not already brought it up, ask the PR or manager for pictures you can use to publish along side the article. They should have some high res images ready for just this sort of occasion.
9) Send them copies of the interview when it's published. You can also send an electronic copy so they can see it before hand.
Some other things to keep in mind. You will have better chances getting an interview with someone who is independently managed verses a big company. This applies particularly to music artist. Those with independent backing have more flexibility than those backed by really big labels.
There you have it, with these 9 tips you should be able to secure a celebrity interview, if not right away then eventually. Don't be discouraged if they say no. Just move on to the next person that you may think would be a good fit to be featured in your magazine.
