Interviews, interviews,

As both a traditionally and self-published author, I have experienced a range of author interviews throughout my hybrid writing career. Technology is also changing rapidly and that may be one of the factors in how things have changed.

My first publisher (traditional) didn’t arrange a single interview. Perhaps that was normal for 2010 and the UK.

The US publisher worked hard and even though I wasn’t in the US, they found me two radio interviews there and one in Australia. I’m fairly sure I did all those via telephone.

Now I’ve self-published. If I want opportunities to be interviewed, I have to find them myself.

Finding interviewers

Since self-publishing is new to me, I’ve had to learn how to do this. I read a lot of author interviews online and find out who interviews writers of Christian fiction. Then I prepare a letter to each (every one different) including the book cover, blurb and short author bio. I ask if they do interviews and offer to send them a free ebook copy of my novel. After all, why should they interview someone they do not know and whose fiction might not be up to standard? The interviewers seem to appreciate the opportunity to turn me down and most have agreed to look at the book. If an interviewer has read and enjoyed a book, they are much keener to do an interview.

I haven’t aimed for the top interviewers. I want to gain experience in the whole process first. Maybe one day the bigger audience blogs will approach me!

Two main kinds of interviews

This year, the main kind of interviews is written interviews on blogs. These have many advantages. Not only does each blogger have a different style but it is easy to include links to websites and social media. They can also include clickable links to sales channels. Many interviewers like to run a giveaway for the novel.

Here is an example of a written/blog interview.

The other kind of interview – my personal favourite – are podcasts/radio/youtube and much more rarely, TV, interviews. For someone like myself who likes oral communication these are fun. They are often more free ranging. Some authors might find that stressful but I like it. The other advantage is that they are much faster to prepare. A big plus when you’re doing several a month on top of normal life.

Here is an example of a podcast.

This interview was done using Skype. It involved no special preparation apart from scheduling the time, a quick explanation and time to pray beforehand.

For more interviews go here.