Writing and Publishing News

It is common for nonfiction authors to be interviewed on TV, radio and all over the Internet. But did you know that there are also interview opportunities for novelists? I’m providing a couple of sites where novelists can request interviews. Locate others in your specific genre by doing an Internet search.

http://dir.yahoo.com/arts/humanities/literature/authors/author_interviews
http://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Interviews

Who reads interviews by novelists? Your readers, for one. This would be those who love reading mysteries, romance novels, historical fiction or???

Spend some time locating blogs for your readers—blogs related to adventure novels, young adult and so forth. If you find an active site that you love, contact the blogger and ask if she would conduct an author interview with you or, perhaps, invite you be a guest blogger.

What kind of information would you share? Think about the things people ask when you greet them at book festivals, signings and so forth. What do you want to know about the authors you read? Basically, it will be “What made you start writing novels?” “What inspired you to write this particular novel?” “Which of your novels is your favorite?” “Do you plan others?” “What’s it like to be the author of a novel?” “What are some of your most interesting experiences as a novelist?” “Is it hard to get a book published?” “What would you advise others who want to publish a novel?”

You may be asked to participate in the interview via phone or email. Either way, as you respond to these questions, remember to speak to your target audience. Give them more than just a snippet. Get personal. Talk about your worst day as an author as well as your best. Describe some of your struggles and the mistakes you’ve made. Be real and be helpful.

Participating in interviews is an interesting way to get exposure for your books or your other work. It’s an opportunity to talk about your book and accomplishments and demonstrate your level of knowledge within your field or genre. Often bloggers invite authors to respond to interview questions. Sometimes freelance writers or columnists conduct interviews for their publications. And others might do interviews to post at their websites.

There are two ways to get involved in interviews related to the topic or theme of your book. If you have been promoting far and wide, you’re probably becoming known in your field or genre and interviewers will seek you out. But you should also be researching interview opportunities.

When you find an opportunity, contact the potential interviewer and ask to be interviewed. Provide your extended bio and, perhaps, some topics you would like to discuss. You might even suggest a couple of direct questions.

When you become well-known in your field or genre, you’ll be asked to participate in books on your subject. Again, the author will most likely interview you in order to learn more about you and to encourage you to come out with the type of pertinent information and great quotes they are seeking for their project.

There are also oral interviews conducted via podcast, etc. Some interviewers create webinars from your telephone interview, for example.

If you have never been asked to do an interview related to the theme, topic or genre of your book, start searching today for some opportunities. I’ve almost always gained a new client, reader, customer or blog/twitter follower from the interviews I’ve done.

I did an email interview this morning. Some of the questions took a lot of thought and consideration. I’ve been told by some of the people I’ve interviewed for inclusion in my books that they appreciated the chance to do some deep thinking about the subjects in some of the questions. It’s always good to step back from your work occasionally and review—perhaps regroup. And participating in interviews can certainly help you do that.

I’ll let you know when the interview I did today goes live. In the meantime, for more about how to conduct an interview and do personal appearances in order to promote your book, read “Talk Up Your Book, How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences and More.” It’s at amazon.com in print, Kindle and audio and at most other online and downtown bookstores.