We were lucky to catch up with PatZi Gil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, PatZi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I am a reader. That’s a good thing since my job is to review books. Over a decade ago I created and became the host of a syndicated radio program to promote authors. I’m also a screenwriter, columnist, editor, and writing coach all rolled into one. The written word is my joy, which I used to define my program. The idea came like a flash.

4:15 AM, Wednesday (Day 1) – While driving to the hospital, I got the bright idea to do a radio program to talk to famous authors!

6:15 AM, Wednesday – While sitting beside my husband’s hospital bed, I wondered if I was crazy. I would have asked him, but he had fallen back to sleep after eating my cinnamon rolls.

9:15 AM, Wednesday – After taking a hot shower and grabbing a coffee, I sat in front of a blank computer screen. Where to start? How to start? I was retired. My plan was to spend my days by the pool reading books and sipping lemonade. I had no radio experience. I was very shy. I didn’t know anything about the publishing world. I had no connections to authors.

10:15 AM, Wednesday – In less than an hour I had researched how to develop a webpage, bought a domain name, and found a hosting company that offered free templates.

I was amazed at how everything just fell in place. Brand colors. Check. Fonts. Check. Logo? I knew it would be a microphone. Some strange power seemed to control my fingers as they danced over the keys: Joy on Paper, a radio program for writers and those who dream of writing—and for everyone who wants to know the story behind the book.

In just one sentence, I described the concept. Fully formed. Ten years later it still gives me a thrill when I announce it at the beginning of each program. The only change I’ve made to it is to drop ‘radio’ when I added a YouTube channel.

Why joy? Because reading is joy. Joy because to see your words on paper is a joy. And mostly, joy because books can open your eyes to the joys of the world.

Thursday. (Day 2) I woke up at dawn as it dawned on me that I had to learn something about the radio business. After a quick search I discovered a radio station in my area. That seemed a good place to start. Someone there might give me insights and answer my questions. I called and asked for an appointment with a station manager. I was told to come on Monday at a noon. I spent the rest of the day tweaking the webpage and designing a business card. I even found the music I wanted to use as my theme.

Monday. Noon. (Day 6) I arrived at the radio station eager to learn about the radio business. Once I understood business-model, I would be able to prepare a business plan, do market research, develop promotional materials, investigate legal issues, and establish a financial plan. After that I would tackle the problem of finding guests for my program. I was thinking of a 3-6 month timeline. But lots of things happened during the meeting. Instead of meeting a manager, I met the owner and just over three weeks later I was back in the studio for my first radio broadcast. How it happened is a long and funny story. It involved a misunderstanding, a ring tone that played Whatever Lola Wants, and humongous Newfoundland dog that I thought was a bear rug.

Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 (Day 29) I walked back into the studio wearing all green from head to toe. It was St. Patrick’s Day. It turned out to be a lucky day for me. Everything had moved in warp speed. By some miracle I had my first guest—one of the most important literary agents in New York City. I was terrified, but Big Ed in the control room gave me a thumbs up when my theme music—the Typewriter Song—started playing and I leaned into the microphone and said, “Hi, this is PatZi with a Z! Welcome to Joy on Paper, a program for writers and those who dream of writing, and for everyone who wants to know the story behind the book.”

One Month Later – I interviewed the first of what is now twelve Mystery Writer of America Grand Masters who have been guests on Joy on Paper.

Four Months Later – After publishers started sending me books, I added Thursday to my line-up and five more radio stations.

Five Months Later – I received a call from the Head of the Library of Concert ask if I would like to interview the incoming US Poet Laureate.

One Year Later – I added more radio stations. Among my guests were global bestselling authors Lee Child, Mary Higgins Clark, Daniel Silva, Sara Paretsky, Nelson DeMille, and many others.

Two Years Later – I was syndicated on 47 stations across the United States.

PatZi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is PatZi Gil. I always introduce myself as “PatZi with a Z!”—which helps people remember me.

When I started my radio program, Joy on Paper, I had no experience or expertise in radio. My only claim to fame was that I had been reading since I was three years old and never stopped. My first big book was one of my Mom’s paperback Perry Mason books. I was just starting first grade.

Books were such an influence in my life that at the age of 11 my dream was to move to England to live near where Jane Austen lived. For a girl growing up in rural Northern Michigan that was quite a goal. I started saving my allowance. And got a job delivering newspapers.

When I was 21-years old I bought a cottage in England—a twenty-minute drive from where Jane was born. How I got there is a combination of hard work and determination.

My life took many paths to get to that cottage on the High Street of a little English village.

Reading at a young age created some interesting dynamics throughout my life. We were very poor and I learned to read from comic books. It is not the unusual for a youngster to read early. Beatrix Potter, whose Peter Cottontail was one of my favorites, was reading at three.

At the age of 17, during the first week of as a Junior, I was expelled from of an Advanced Literature class. For the entire semester I was banished to the Vice Principal’s office where I was allowed to sit in a saggy old leather couch and read. (Who knew the young new teacher had the ears of a wax moth? I was not ashamed for calling her stupid when she told the dozen eager students in the class that she had never finished War and Peace. Why would they allow her to teach Advanced Lit?)

Following High School, I went straight into business. I worked for a consulting firm in San Francisco, volunteered for a year in Israel, and joined the Intercontinental Hotel chain. In between everything else, I did reach my dream goal and bought a cottage in an English village. It was just twenty miles Jane Austen’s birthplace.

While in England I became an entrepreneur. I opened eight confectionary stores. When I returned to the States I worked alongside my husband to develop several products. I have four patents.

I became involved in the film world. Three of my spec scripts were optioned and appeared in the Hollywood Reporter. I edited a book about the Vietnam War, which I turned into a script called the Forgotten F-105 Warriors. It is being considered by a major television network. I adapted several books for the screen, including The All American Boys, written by Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham. I wrote a script for Debbie Reynolds, which went into turnaround due to the 2008 Wall Street crash.

I am a columnist for Senior Voice of America newspaper.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I had made a decision to retire. I had been working since my first paper route at the age of seven. Some of my work had been very stressful–particularly the hotel business and franchise business. I never wanted to deal with people again. Hiring, firing, deadlines, and stress.

Then I made the decision to start a radio program. It is unheard of to be on the air in less than a month from coming up with a concept. There is usually a developmental stage. Marketing studies to be done. Branding requirements. Publicity to consider. But when I was unexpectedly given the opportunity to launch in a month, I grabbed it. For a fraction of a second I thought about passing. Asking for more time. Equivocating so that I could measure the pros and cons. It was actually a nano-second. I jumped in believing that I could do it. Determined to make a success out of it. Ready to roll up my sleeves.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The time slot in radio is very important. I have an important time. 11AM is considered prime for a morning slot. But I wanted to be in an afternoon rush hour slot. Six months before the pandemic, I convinced a major radio network to put me in their prime 4pm slot. They did so and if not for the pandemic I would have gotten more stations to pick up my program. Unfortunately, everything changed practically overnight. But for the radio world, it was a great accomplishment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joyonpaperlive.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyonpaperlive
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RadioJoyonPaperLive
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@joyonpaperlive
• Other: On my YouTube channel I have 120 interviews with authors. It is the best place to see my work: https://www.youtube.com/@joyonpaperlive

  My radio webpage is: www.radio-joyonpaper.com