Thought this email—which I’ve copyedited a little—was interesting. Clearly Brian Lamb of C-SPAN, a fellow Hoosier, loves Tavis.

streetroachpics.com

10/26/06

Tavis Smiley was at the world-famous Karibu Bookstore last week. He was there to promote his new book. The book talks about Tavis on a personal level, detailing his family history. Tavis had a troubled past as a youth and he talks about how he overcame it.

Tavis says he was upset with Oprah and Larry King. As everyone knows, if you go on “Oprah” or “Larry King,” this normally helps with the success of your book, movie or album. Neither Oprah nor Larry have invited Tavis to their shows for any of his books, as Tavis pointed out. Tavis pointed out that although he has not been on any major (national) talk show, one of his books was on The New York Times bestseller list and the current book is three spots away from reaching that list.

He thanks both his fans and supporters for the success of the books and the outlets that allowed him to promote his books.

Of course, one could say that Tavis himself is a media outlet and may not need the help of Oprah or Larry King to support his book. 

Here is a small video clip of Tavis speaking on these issues.