Interview Preparation
Have a interview for your book? Nervous? Relax!
These tips can help calm your anxieties and encourage you to concentrate on your book.
When you submit press releases to media outlets, it is common for the company to request an interview. This sounds intimidating and many writers quake when they have their first few, but it helps if you already know what to expect. In all actuality, an interview for a book shouldn't’t be any more difficult than a job interview. The difference primarily being you are promoting a book and not vying for a position. This should make the event even more relaxed and fun.
While this tip sheet is directed towards interviews from magazines and newspapers, the same principles apply to both television and radio interviews.
Tips on Preparation:
1. Don’t panic. When you let your fears race, your mind will be cloudy and distracted. Keep you mind on the situation in front of you, not what might go wrong in a few minutes.
2. Imagine yourself there. This may take as much as an hour. Place yourself in a quiet room away from others and concentrate on what they may say. The more you "rehearse," your lines, the better you will be in the actual situation.
3. Very nervous? Don’t tell anyone, aside from those you live with, about the interview until it is over. If no one knows, you will not be bombarded with telephone calls and e-mails as the day draws near. If anyone acts offended when you tell, simply explain you wanted to give them a pleasant surprise.
4. Memorize everything about your novel. If there are areas in your book which aren’t committed to memory by the time you are informed about the interview date, learn them. There may be a few surprise questions thrown in by the interviewer.
5. What do you want to say? Know what you want to say about your novel before you go into the interview. It will go much more quickly if you aren’t desperately searching for the right words.
6. Decide where you want the interview to happen. Most interviews will take place where you request them, which should ease your anxieties. You should be able to have the interview in your home, if you like.
On The Day Of The Interview:
1. You are a professional, dress like one. Jeans and tee-shirts are not appropriate. Muscle shirts or mini-skirts are equally improper unless you have a non-fiction book on bodybuilding, dieting, or the latest fads in fashion.
2. Don’t wear clothes too tight or too formal. You don’t want to be grabbing your collar or waist during the session. Likewise, you want to comfortably get around. If you go to the offices of the publication, it will be difficult to maneuver around a crowded office in uncomfortable clothes or shoes.
3. Don’t chew gum during the interview.
4. Keep your breathing under control. As long as you control your respiration and don't allow it to become fast, your anxieties will fade as the interview progresses.
5. Understand that the interviewer wants you to relax and say what you need to. The more information they receive from you, the better their article will be.
6. Be confident, not arrogant. Just as with query letters, don’t brag or boast to the interviewer. They’ve most likely interviewed a great number of people, and will show you equal respect. It is difficult to make someone likeable if they simply talk of how wonderful they are for an hour.
It isn’t intimidating or frightening to be interviewed after the session, keep that in mind. It can be fun and refreshing to talk to someone curious about your novel from a professional perspective.
©2001, Laura Wright. All rights reserved.