What I Do To Prepare an Author Interview-- by Naomi

Recently I've felt like I've done a lot of Author Interviews... and I know I've only done two, so far but I have possibly a few more in the works. So, for a little bit there I was a little paranoid I was overloading you...

Now that I've pretty much reassured myself I'm not I'm going to offer advice on how to do an author interview. (Noted: These are my suggestions, things I do, not necessarily the only thing you can do to have a successful author interview... Haha! :) )

1. Email them-- and if you have it-- use a professional email address.
Usually, I just email them to say hello, introduce myself, offer to do a blog interview (say I liked their book if I read it and liked it. If I read it and didn't like it... well, I might not want to do an author interview for them. :) ) and give them a brief sum of what I do on the blog.

2. Usually they email back and say yes, to which I return an email thanking them and saying that I'll give them an the interview questions shortly, but in the meantime I ask them for some things... a lot of things. Their author bio (and picture if they want/have one), their back cover copy and cover, and some endorsements, if they have some. Usually, as I'm telling them everything I want, I tell them, "if you want too"... and, honestly, I could find all of these things myself, but.... besides the fact I'm lazy, I point out (to myself) that I am doing them a favor. :)

3. During the time it takes them to send everything that I asked for, I usually try to think about what questions to ask them. I'm still trying to figure out how many I should ask them, but the last few interviews I did I think I had ten.

4. Around this time, maybe a little before, is when I figure out if they are actually going to follow through with the interview. If they never respond, I get the hint. They aren't interested, and that's okay. I don't really mind.

So, that's what I do. :) Do you like my interviews? Is there any advice you have?