I love interviews! Both being interviewed and interviewing others. It is a great way to get to know people and I learn so much from other authors. It is one of the best ways to learn what others are doing that might impact how I do things.
I have been interviewed more than 200 times on TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and at speaking engagements. I usually try to capture the event in audio, video, .jpgs or worse case scenario a link to someone’s website. The reason it’s worse case is if their site goes down or they drop the page, you won’t be able to recover it.
One way you can retain control of the interview is to take a screen capture and paste it into a Word.doc then print it to a .jpg or with Quicktime upgrade you can right click on audio files and download them to your own computer. That will at least give you control of the files.
There are a few steps to do prior to an interview and if you post these tips to the ones you are interviewing, it will save you from having any major problems crop up during the interview.
Here’s some helpful guidelines:
1. Send 15-18 questions to me 3-5 days prior to interview
2. Post your interview on Skype and Facebook
3. Sign up for Skype- make sure host has your Skype address
4. Keep answers to 30 seconds to 2 min max
Answer one question at a time, avoid giving multiple answers to one question
(some times it’s hard to stay on the question when you want to cover all the bases)
5. Be sure to use a land line – not VOIP as weather patterns interupt the quality of calls
6. Be sure to watch your Skype during your interview
7. Turn off all other phones
8. Turn off call waiting (*70 on AT&T)
9. Have a room temperature glass of water (with lemon is best)