I've not read any of her books yet, but one of them is all about Marketing for Indie Authors, and is definitely worth checking out.
Find her on the Interwebs:
Author Interviews
By
Kathryn Jones
Promoting your book(s) through author interviews is a little like making a terrific recipe like seven layer dip or chocolate fudge alamode. Once your guests have eaten your creation, and like it, they ask for the recipe.
A great interview segment for authors on your blog does just about the same thing.
Because readers like to meet authors, and authors like to find out what other authors are doing to perfect their craft, bring in readers and make more sales, they will more than likely be interested in the interviews you provide.
As with most interviews, whether live, on a podcast, or printed on your blog, you will want to begin your first question generally and move through your list of questions, making them more detailed and thought provoking as you go on.
For example, you might not want to start with a question such as: "Tell me why you market including the particular places that help you most." Instead, start with, "Why do you enjoy writing?"
In my author interview segment, I like to get to know the author a little before I tack on the harder to answer questions. Even though my interviews are not live, I think the order of the questions naturally fall from one to another and expand.
I keep my questions to nine - the last question is one that I ask the author to ask of me; something other authors have asked them, and I answer this final question at the end of the interview.
Other than my own author interviews, I do character interviews on my blog. What reader doesn't want to know what their favorite character does in their spare time? What author doesn't enjoy getting into the head of this same character and answering for them?
I also enjoy doing author interviews on other blogs and have found them valuable, not only in sharing my work, but in connecting with readers.
Promoting yourself can take a lot of work, but author interviews - especially those like mine which are merely printed on site - take less time than you might imagine. After the writer receives the questions, they answer them and return their answers along with an author photo, book cover and links. On their scheduled day I send the author the direct link, and both of us get busy promoting the interview on social media.
The best recipe for success.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful advice with us, Kathryn! I agree that author interviews are great for promotion (I've interviewed a few authors on my own blog), and this post was great fun to read ;).
ReplyDelete~ Savannah
scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com
Thanks for sharing this post! I'm going to have to come back to it in the future- while I'm not marketing anything myself right now, I do take part in blog tours when I get the chance, which sometimes involves interviewing authors. So, again, thanks!
ReplyDeleteKathryn - I am assisting my husband in all aspects of his first book. It is a non-fiction educational motivational book for middle-graders. I also have a book in the works, but at this point the focus is completing his book. It is our hope that we are finally about 6 months away from self-publication. My question is, do you interview only the authors that you work with or are you open to interviewing any author? We have been working on the book for about 3 years, but are just getting started on the promotion end, so we don't have a blog or a website yet. Thanks. God Bless - Linda Brownell
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