I’ve had two interviews in the space of a week, and I’m headed to a conference next month to speak on a panel—so I thought that a post on interviews might be timely. :)
Radio—I’ve done a couple of radio interviews. I had a great interview with Sheila Redling from WKEE yesterday…and she’s a writer, herself, so all the better!
For some reason, I seem only to be able to do radio interviews when the children are home. :) Yesterday was a snow day because of icy conditions. Here’s a tip for parents who do interviews while the kids are home: explain everything. Explain that a radio interview means that the phone will ring and they don’t need to get it, that they only need to interrupt you if it’s a true emergency (and clarify what a true emergency is), and explain that if the dog starts unexpectedly barking, to put her outside in the back yard. Trust me. It’s better to be over-prepared. Put a sticky note on your closed door to remind them you’re on the radio/on the phone…they’ll forget. They were very good yesterday. I’ve had problems in the past, though. :)
Other tips for radio:
Emailed Interviews
Most of the interviews that I do are emailed interviews…which, of course, I love. Easy peasy for writers to do email interviews. And they turn out so well!
Telephone Interviews with Newspapers
I’ve done a couple of phone interviews for the newspaper and those make me a little anxious because they usually don’t submit the questions in advance…and because I don’t like being on the phone. And because sometimes news people (not all news people…maybe just the reporters that I happen to have dealt with) are a little more challenging to talk to. I’ve found, though, that you can be really thoughtful :) and, when you get the interview request from a newspaper, you can offer to provide them with questions or with ideas for questions. You’re only thinking of them, naturally. The reporters are frequently short on time and are grateful for the help…and I’m grateful to prepare in advance.
My radio interview is going to be playing Friday on WKEE 100.5 at 8:35 and 8:50 EST and as soon as it uploads on their website as a podcast, I’ll link to it. :)
My Skype interview for Joanna Penn’s new Mystery TV show is here and I talk about writing mysteries (and you can see a summary of the interview below the video player.) As a note to women writers out there—y’all, I wore a ton of makeup (enough for my husband to blink at me when he came in from work and wonder who the heck I was), but you can’t even tell. So definitely make up more.
I’ll add the proviso that it’s difficult for me to see and hear myself on video and audio, but I take comfort in the fact that so many of you said that you didn’t like to see or hear yourselves, either! There’s room for improvement for me, but thank goodness for video and audio editing.
Tomorrow I’ll post a little on panels and preparing for those. I lumped everything together in this one post and it was too long, so I’ll tackle that topic tomorrow. :)
Anyone with any additional tips for interviews? Which type of format do you like best?
Your interview gave me some great tips for an upcoming interview. You came across as articulate, genuine, and a likable person who loves what she does. Good job!
I’m bookmarking this in hopes that I’ll need it soon! But I’m also thinking this advice is great for vlogs which I plan to do a few of this year.
Elizabeth – Thanks so much for this perspective! I’m actually going to be interviewed, too, by Joanna Penn early next month. Your ideas are going to be really helpful.
One thing I’ve learned from radio interviews and other interviews I’ve done. You’re going to forget words, use “fillers” like “um,” etc.,. It’s going to happen, and it’s better to just relax and allow that to happen once or twice than to sound nervous and labored because you’re anxious. You sound more natural if you let one of those natural conversation slips to happen.
I guess the point of explaining what an emergency situation means is important here, that for instance “I want an ice cream right now” would not considered emergency >:)
Cold As Heaven
Elizabeth, I’m like Heather, I’m keeping track of this one…hoping that I will need this advice one day. :)
Great advice, Elizabeth! For newspaper interviews, try to get them to meet you in person. One of the things reporters are taught is to be silent–let the subject do the talking and wait a long time after they stop talking, b/c they might talk some more! Most people don’t talk in sound bytes, but ramble on. So we have to give them lots of room to do so. You never know what you might hear them say! So, try to meet them in person, or be prepared for lots of silence–but only way what you mean to say!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
Good tips – I don’t have kids at home anymore, thank goodness, but I’d be freaking out enough at doing an interview. I did a phone one for a print magazine once – we talked for about 45 minutes; then she told me she had 3 authors she was interviewing, and about 500 words for the entire article. That’s when you hope she doesn’t print the dumb stuff.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Thank you, Elizabeth, for the wonderful advice and tips. One thing about the phone interview is that you don’t have to dress or put on makeup.
Heather–Same advice, except add lighting, make-up, and an un-patterened outfit in any color but white. :)
Travelin’Oma –Thanks so much! It’s a little nervewracking for me, but I’m hoping the practice is making me better.
Cold As Heaven–Or like when my little one needs to tell me she got the high score on the wii? Because that was an interruption that came up last year. Sigh.
Margot–I knew you’d be a good person with tips, being a DJ! Thanks. :) I think I did use some filler words. Yes, I’m sure I did! Ha! Best wishes for your interview!
Teresa–Hope you will, too!
Michele–Ha! That’s what the police detectives in my books do! Good technique. I think when someone is silent on their end of the phone, the natural thing for the other person to do is just to babble to fill the silence. Unfortunately for reporters, I usually just cough nervously and ask if I answered their question.:)
Terry–Exactly. I always want to know in what kind of context the interview is in, too–am I one of several authors? Is it supposed to be tied into a holiday piece? And I need to know how much time I’m allotted. For me, longer is harder than shorter because my natural tendency is to clam up.
Helen–That is a VERY good point! And about the only upside I can see about doing a phone interview. :)
Holy cow–I’m getting heart palpitations just thinking about it. LOVE thoughtfully providing them with questions! HA! I have saved this link though, so when I need it, I can look… I’m going to go listen to the interview now! YAY!
I like the emailed ones best. Really don’t want to hear myself on the radio!
Thank you for this post on interviews! Great advice that I’ll have to come back to.
I couldn’t agree more–my favourite are email interviews. I can’t wait to read what you have to say about panels–one of my future goals.
Hart–It seems like it gets a little easier with practice. Hey, if I can do it, anyone can…I’m definitely not the most outgoing person in the world. :)
Alex–Oh I know. I feel the same way. I’m trying to get over it, though! It’s hard.
The Golden Eagle–Hope it’ll help! :)
Leanne–Actually, I think I’ve been on more panels than anything else, promo-wise. That’s probably because I like *doing* panels the best…so I accept the opportunity when I’m asked. :)