If you grew up in Cleveland, you're familiar with one of the local television institutions, Academic Challenge. I was on my school's team, oh so many years ago. One cold Sunday, my family got bundled up in the station wagon and made the drive from Youngstown to Cleveland so that I could make my television debut. The host was Don Webster, who also pulled the daily lottery numbers, and my little brother could not believe that he was in the presence of such greatness.

Although no tape of my appearance exists, I can say this much: I wasn't the person who froze on camera and caused our team to come in second.

Huh? Are you trapped on TV Newser? Not at all. I bring this up because I recently talked to a potential client about writing stories for multi-media presentations, and the writer might have to appear on camera to read them. Would I feel comfortable doing that? Uh, sure, why not?

MBToolbox.com's own Claire Zulkey has sometimes been called up on share her wit and wisdom with the viewing audience. Like my potential client, many modern writing projects use a range of available media, not just words, to tell a story. And, of course, we all dream about having our book featured on Oprah.

The basic advice that I learned on my afternoon at the WEWS-Cleveland studios is this: wear solid colors, apply lots of makeup (or at least use powder), and look at the camera or at Don Webster, not the camera operator, the production team, or your friends in the studio audience. Here's some advice from the producers of GOV-TV in Albuquerque and some advice from a school district in Colorado.

And if you want to be on Oprah? Well, the producers make it easy. Here's the list of upcoming shows. If you have a book or project that fits one of their topics, you can just let the producers know, and you're on your way to West Randolph Street!