Why I Participate in Author Interviews

Shine a Light on You

On Mondays, I enjoy spotlighting author interviews on this blog site. To a recent request for an interview, I received an interesting response. The author was eager to participate if I could explain how an interview would be of benefit to the author.

My initial reaction was, “Don’t all authors wish they knew in advance how a given marketing tool would be of benefit to them?” Then, stepping back, I analyzed the question from a personal viewpoint. What were my reasons for participating in author interviews, as interviewee and interviewer?

As the self-published author of a first novel, my introductory role in an interview was as interviewee. A bit of research had revealed that interviews were a good marketing tool for promoting a book. Several kindly bloggers offered or agreed to interview me, including:

Sandra “Jeanz”  http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.com/p/home.html

 A.F. Stewart: http://afstewartblog.blogspot.com/ 

Laurie Hanan: http://westoftheequator.wordpress.com/

Coral Russell’s radio interview: http://alchemyofscrawl.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/btr-show-gail-baugniet-for-every-action/

Faced with the question of how an interview would be of benefit to the author, I rephrased the question for myself, “How had I benefited from participating in interviews?”

• First, I wanted to introduce people to my writing and direct them to sites where they could learn more about my novel and purchase the book. Aside from bringing the book to the attention of the interviewer’s readers, I was able to disseminate the information to people on my social media sites to introduce myself and my writing through an interview.

• Second, I learned a lot about myself while formulating answers to the varied questions presented by interviewers. While all my thoughts weren’t put into words, it was interesting to solidify my ideas about research, writing, and marketing. Writing in a vacuum doesn’t spur an author to mine these thoughts. As a first-time published author, there is so much yet for me to learn, and I am always eager to implement new ideas, both in my writing and in marketing. Interviews fit into this learning curve.

• Third, characters within my novel came into renewed focus. Writing a Pepper Bibeau mystery series makes it imperative for me to stay on top of my recurring personalities. For authors who write non-series books, understanding the characters in one story will build a foundation for creating characters in the next one. After the manuscript is in print and the marketing process begins, however, it is easy to become fuzzy on some of the basics. If you give interviews, you can remain sharp and maintain interest in your writing process.

• Finally, and most important for me, I met some fantastic people: the interviewers. The interaction stimulated my desire to continue writing. It occurred to me that by interviewing authors on my blog site, I could meet any number of fantastic authors, further motivating me to move forward.

My novels feature a strong female protagonist, Pepper Bibeau. Originally, my interviews focused on independent/self-published authors whose protagonists are strong female characters. I soon extended that scope to include people who are strong females in their own right.

Why narrow the field, especially to female protagonists? It was a matter of control. I felt that a broader base would distract me from getting to know the individual authors. I like to check out an author’s work, visit social media sites on the internet, and submit reviews of books I’ve read when possible. My blog site revolves around #mystery #suspense #crimefiction. For April’s A to Z Blogging Challenge, my 26-post theme was “A World of Crime.” This covers a lot of territory, by no means excluding the male half of the world’s authors.

If you’ve participated in an author interview, how has the interview process been of benefit to you?