You booked a guest in a chat. Then you sent a drive folder, a release, a tech sheet, and "any topics you want to avoid?" They have not opened the folder. The record date is in six days. You are writing a fourth nudge that still does not contain the one thing you need: confirmation they will be there, and a bio line you can read out loud.
A guest is doing you a favor on a clock they do not own. Prep that takes an hour of archaeology gets a late maybe. Prep that is one page they can answer from a phone gets a yes.
One thing you need back
Decide the shape before you write. Decision, opinion, or info are different letters.
A decision: "Can you still record Thursday 10–11am your time, remote, forty minutes on the air, yes or no by Monday." An opinion: "Which of these three topics do you want to lead with." Info: "Send the bio line you want me to use, one or two sentences."
Do not stack them. The date is the one that dies first. Get the date. The bio can follow. The release can follow. A pile that asks for all three is how you get a bio and no confirmation.
Write for someone who has not heard the show
They are a cold reader even if they have been on other shows. Give the show name, the length, whether it is live or recorded, the topics you will stay on, and what you will not ask. That last line is a kindness and a boundary. It is not a legal document.
Cut the history of how you found them. Cut the recap of their book. They know their book. A checkable sentence about why this episode is this person belongs in one line — a chapter, a talk, a thing they said — not a paragraph of praise that would fit anyone.
No media kit file. Write the three topics. If a release already lives on a page, name the page. A typed address in the note is not a live link they must click.
Your private nickname for them stays off the package. Use the name they publish.
They answer from email
They may never connect an assistant. They can still reply from the mail or the page. You approve the wording first. The assistant drafts; it does not invite people as you.
If you prep in Claude and they live in ChatGPT, nothing is shared except the briefing. That is enough. Their notes stay on their side.
Set a default. "If I do not hear by Monday noon, I will release the slot and write you once with later dates." That is cleaner than a calendar hold nobody confirmed.
A follow-up is allowed once, and only if it carries a fact the first message did not — a moved clock time, a dropped topic. A bump with nothing added is a second interruption.
What this is not
It is not the interview. If you cannot yet name three topics, you are not ready to book. Do that work in your own session. Then send the page.
It is not a blast to a guest list. One person, one episode, one ask.
If your assistant already has the booking chat, let it draft the confirmation. You read the times. Then they can answer without opening a folder.