Douglas Coupland Quotes

Not long after I published my first book, I quickly found I was terrible at being interviewed.

Many authors hate to go on grinding book tours. But I've always found it a useful way to be a foreign correspondent in America and take the pulse of the country.

I didn't have any media training - I didn't have anybody but myself.

I've never really done any interviews as myself.

People always think I hate doing interviews. I don't. I wouldn't do them if I didn't like them.

Try to meet as many authors, agents, and editors as you can.

I always work with a coach. That's just a personal thing that I like to do. During interviews, you'll hear more of my accent, and I'll stress the wrong words.

I'm a very shy person and find it difficult to ask for work even if I know somebody for ages.

I find it very boring to keep on talking about myself! Which is why I find giving interviews also very boring.

I don't like giving interviews unless I have something to talk about. Why bore people and why bore media?

The best thing about going to a tech conference is that you can tell everyone you're going to a tech conference. But while you're there, it's important you make a smart impression so people will remember you, or at least wait a few days before throwing away your business card.

I have a list as long as my arm but I find those lists sort of self-defeating because you start to name and then after [the interviewer] leaves the room you go 'Ah, I forgot this person or that person.' So I just don't do it anymore. Hopefully if you make work that people like, they'll get in contact with you.

I meet an enormous number of incredible people all the time, people I find very inspiring, and I'm very busy.

I'd rather ride down the street on a camel than give what is sometimes called an 'in-depth' interview.

I'm not good at entertainment. I don't give myself to all the interviews, game shows, or talk shows.

I need talk more, call people out. It's not who I am, but I feel I need to do this more to bring more attention for me.

I do give interviews, but I am generally media-shy because I am an introvert by nature.

If I walk into a room, I'm quite content to sit in the corner and chat with people who walk by. But coaching forced me to come out of my shell.

The biggest direct influence on my career is Ben Edlund, who gave me my first real professional break and, through his friendship and example, turned me into a writer and a more critical thinker in general.

I like to talk to media.

Josh is the guy in the band who's just so friendly and super, wanting to walk up to you and say, 'Hey, I'm Josh. I drum in this band, and I'm a big fan of you, and I really appreciate what you do.' Josh has all these great friends in the industry now.

The Internet is part of my job, so I have to approach it with a level of professionalism. I don't necessarily think it's changed who I am, but if anything, it's impacted the opportunities that have come into my life and the people that I've been able to develop relationships with - which I'm very fortunate and thankful for.

In any field, people want to work with those who they know and trust. It's the same in the Hindi film industry.

A guy playing pool in a pub once said to me that they should put me on the telly. It went in one ear and out the other. But then I started thinking about it. I wondered how it all worked, did you have to be best mates with someone at the BBC who you went to uni with in Oxford?

I normally don't do interviews on the road.