Email or Live Interviews? Preferences?

[Kelli Wheelwright]

I am thinking of doing my first Author Interview.

 

What is your preference and why?

 

Interviews Via Email, in person, or by phone?

 

Thanks for your input!

 

KW

http://www.ekfamilybooks.blogspot.com

 

[Kelli Wheelwright]

Thanks for the response! I also would LOVE to just sit down and chat with an author... after the book signing and Q&A with Room author Emma Donoghue, I wanted to just sit and pick her brain for hours on end. It would be a thrill to have that time!

 

KW

[Gareth Wilson]

Both can be good and it depends on the interveiw's skill as well as the responses from the interviewee.  When I've done live, I tend to record them so I can pay attention to the responses.  Having a set of questions available is good for reference but you'll sometimes hear something you jump on.

 

In that respect the E-Interview isn't as good as you don't get the chance to bounce on answers, but it can be a god send as you can formulate your interviews so that multiple authors answer the same questions so people can get to know thier personality.

[Kelli Wheelwright]

Great idea in recording the answers... that way you dont miss too much!

 

KW

[Simcha Lazarus]

I conduct all of my interviews by email though I would love for the opportunity to do an in-person interview if the chance ever came up. I've been tempted a couple of times to do a phone interview just because I would love to actually get to speak with the authors but I'm concerned that I won't be able to take notes quickly enough. But it could work if you have a way of recording a call.

[Kelli Wheelwright]

Maybe a chat session interview? Don't know if its possible, but that would be awesome!

 

[Sharon Stogner]

Email interviews if done right can seem like they were in person. We do that kind over at I Smell Sheep. We have done some in person interviews. You need a audio recorder, which you can get for about $30 at Best Buy. But...you do have to write it up later and that can be tedious and sometimes hard if the background noise is loud.

 

Authors do interviews all the time and I am sure they have cut and past answers for the most common questions. The key is to come up with some original questions that give insight into the author's personality. Humor is always good.

[Kelli Wheelwright]

That was something that irritated me when I went to the Q&A of ROOM... a lot of the questions that she included answers to in the back of her book were asked! Do your homework, is certainly great advice!

 

KW

[Nikola S]

Well emails are the easiest and most practical, I think. That's how I've always done it.

 

I guess the author could also respond via video, but it depends on him/herself. :)

[Kelli Wheelwright]

that would be awesome!

[Lena Sledge]

I like email. Because you can get more interviews that way. The authors don't feel like they are under pressure, they can return the answers at their leisure and give more thorough answers. I did a live interview with Nikki Giovanni, and it went very smoothly, but we talked so quickly, I wish it had lasted longer. It was like 15 minutes. But I loved it. The other side is when you do a live interview, you have to transcribe the interview from the recorder, so not liking that part. But it's good to be able to say, you actually talked to so and so.

[Kelli Wheelwright]

I haven't done any interviews yet, its great to get some insight of what has worked and whats a pain

 

KW

http://www.ekfamilybooks.blogspot.com

 

[Millicent Ashby]

I think too it depends on the person you're interviewing. Some like email. Others like talking over the phone. My first interview with an author was over the phone and it seemed we'd talked for hours although it was only one hour. I recall trying to transcribe everything and it was hard. I also had to send her the email for her approval as well.