Conducting an interview? Would you like a more 'live' feel to it than an ordinary 'Question and Answer by Email' Interview? Set up a chat room to give that interview that 'live' feeling! Here's how to go about doing it!
As editor of a writing ezine, it is my job to scour the internet for informative up-to-date information on the writing industry. While reading through the many writing magazines, I come upon articles by
authors whose books are lying in the basement
waiting for buyers. I found that by writing these
articles, authors are self-promoting in a
nondescript way. They are dying for interviews
to get their books known and into the hands of
those waiting, information-hungry audience. On
the other hand, there are people who want to
know how these authors got where they are
today. It's called the "You feed me and I'll feed
you" approach. This is where I come in. In order
to tap into the secrets of how these authors got to
where the have today and give this information to
the masses of waiting, information-starved, readers,
I will offer pointers on how you, too, can give the best interview ever!
The ideal setting for giving and receiving author interviews would be live. Of course, for those of us who cannot be at the same place and at the same time, it makes this nearly impossible. The simple solution would be to conduct the interview using a chat room.
A chat room is the ideal place to dig out information where email interviews come short. I do many interviews by email and while it is good for those of us on a time schedule, I find they lack that 'one on one' that a chat interview provides.
SETTING UP THE ROOM
There are many places you can go to obtain a chat room specifically for your needs. If you have a website, you can set up one right on your site. One place to go to obtain a chat room for your site is:
Network 54
PRIVACY
It helps to provide a place where others cannot bother you; for after all, this is an important interview! Stay away from 'public' chat rooms such as Yahoo chat. Sure, you can go into a private room, but having your own chat room provides advantages you would not be able to have at a chat room where millions have access.
1. No one can intrude and the flow can be easy flowing and steady.
2. You can 'save' the interview by highlighting, 'save as', and copy and paste in a word doc.
3. You can obtain 'personal' details about your interviewee whereas a public chat room wouldn't allow this to happen.
PRE-INTERVIEW
Make arrangements with your 'interviewee' as to the time, place, and date of your chat. Compromising on this makes for a better interview. If one or the other is rushed for time, the interview will not be obtained under relaxed conditions and the feel to 'rush' through it prevails throughout.
Do a background check beforehand. Know what books or articles the author has had published. Try to find out any personal information by studying their websites. Gather any questions as you go along. You may forget them later when you are heavily engrossed in the interview.
THE INTERVIEW
Just let the conversation flow. It helps beforehand to have a few questions handy. As mentioned above, always do a background check on your 'interviewee' before going on so you can ask more in-depth questions.
After you ask the questions you feel the reader needs to know about their books, articles, etc, dig deeper. Find out what is 'inside' the interviewee. What is their passion? What lies below the surface? A few sample 'in depth' interview questions might be:
1. What's one thing about your life that you think is important, but nobody ever asks?
2. Why do you write?
3. What is the hardest part of writing for you?
4. When did you know you had arrived as a writer?
5. What is your advice for up and coming authors?
6. Describe your feelings when you got your contract from your publisher?
7. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?
8. Who has been your biggest influence or mentor in your writing career?
9. What is your best and worse aspect of being a writer?
10. Would you share an experience that may or may not help other writers take the publishing world by storm?
SAVING THE CONVERSATION
After you have finalized the chat and everyone goes home, now is the time to 'save' it in a file. Highlight the whole conversation, save, and transfer to your files. That way you can go back and delete the 'chit chat' that is inevitable in any chat.
That's all there is to it! Once you discover this great form of giving interviews, you'll find you'll never go back to email interviews again!
