wear your favorite suit, tie, shoes, clones, make yourself look good will help alot. and clear speech
After doing hundreds of interviews (mostly over the telephone) for magazine articles and books I’ve written, I’ve learned a few tricks and techniques that might help make your interviews more successful:
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Research your subject and interviewee before your interview. When I interviewed Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, for a magazine article, I did a ton of homework on him in advance, but I missed a few important aspects of his life. He was offended and I had to do some fancy footwork to regain his confidence and trust.
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When you set up interviews, tell the interviewees how much time you will need. If they don’t have that much time, try to reschedule the interviews when they do. If that’s not possible, at least you will know in advance what your time restrictions are, and you can plan accordingly. The last thing you want is to be halfway through your question list, with some of the most important questions left to ask, and hear, “I’m sorry, but I have to go. I only scheduled 20 minutes for this interview. Do you have everything you need?”
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After you’ve done your homework to prepare for an interview, write a list of questions to ask during the interview. Check these off as you ask them, but don’t be rigid. If the interview takes you in a different or unexpected direction, go with it and come back to your question list later. Additional questions will inevitably arise during an interview. That’s okay. Just add them to your question list on the fly.
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Always thank the people you interview for their time. Do this before you begin the interview and again when you are finished. People like to be appreciated, and the people you interview are often taking valuable time out of their busy schedules to accommodate you.
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Ask questions that require explanations. Asking "Do you enjoy being a multimillionaire?” will probably get you a perfunctory “Yes,” or “Of course,” and then silence. What are they supposed to say to such a question? But if you ask, “What do you like most about being a millionaire?” you’ll make the interviewee think and you’ll receive an answer that tells you something of interest.
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Record your interview. Unless you type at superhuman speed, a recording will allow you to capture the actual, word-for-word statements. Using a lot of actual quotes will liven up your written piece and give readers a better feel for the person you’re interviewing. Keep the recording. You may need it after you’ve written the project if there’s a dispute over what was actually said. Recording to a microcassette recorder-transcriber is an excellent way to capture interviews. You can then transcribe the conversation using the transcriber and a foot pedal. Make sure, however, that you have a small gadget (approximately $30 at Radio Shack) that links your recorder directly into your phone line. Recording cell phone conversations is a newer science, and still a bit dicey. Using Skype to converse through your computer and software that will record those conversations is another option nowadays, but you must have a strong Internet connection to make a clear recording.
Researching the company beforehand and telling this to the interviewer can be impressive.
This is great I learn from different tips, but for me, whenever I’m on the inteview stage, I make it sure that I am confident, ready, know what I am applying for, i have my eye contact and always give a great smile and handshake on the interviewer. Just be your self and focus.
Really great information!!! I got information about interview and how to deal with interviews…Thanks to all…
Great tips everyone
The best interviews always come off like a great conversation. Read other interviews or even watch talk shows to see how others do it. You never want your interview to come off as rehearsed or like a Q&A session (which it is), but you need to turn it into something more elegant. Some ways you can do this:
- Do your homework (already mentioned)
- Gather a list of great questions that elicit good responses from the person (also already mentioned)
- Prep the person before hand by letting them know what questions you’ll be asking. This allows the person to get ready and be able to phrase answers to be more elegant and entertaining also.
- Find out if there’s anything they want to talk about. Maybe they’re just dying to be asked a magic question and no one ever asks.
- Be dynamic. Don’t just go from question to question. Allow a conversation to unfold and insert questions in relevant places. Even if the conversation starts out boring or has some dulls spots, you can always edit the interview later.
- Thank them for their time and find out if they want you to include any final stuff in there (links, etc)
good ideas about how to handle clients… i got it. thanks to all.
The replies cover the essentials…
In doing an interview you should be spontaneous on your question but still you have to prepare a basic interview like first the things you want to know about them and much better if you jot down what do you want to know about the person you are going to interview.
In interviewing a person, I think you must act professional and be confident on your questions and no doubt in your mind.
My blog’s contents are mostly the interviews I took of people from different background and from last 6 months I took more than 40 interviews. I learned interviewing people from theadminzone.com interview forum where I used to read lots of interviews.
I take care following things before taking interviews
- Detail information about the person I am going to ask questions.
- I do bit research on the person’s professional background.
- I try to hold interview in my hand with questions related to the person’s background.
- I keep in mind 3 most important people who is going to be involve in the interview or after the interview. That’s me myself, the person who is interviewed and the readers who are going to read it. I have to keep the interest alive in all 3 people.
- I have to make the person comfortable with my questions.
- I should not go too personal in asking questions.
Can you guys show us some examples for successful interviews?
However, I’m wondering whether there is a “one size fits all” interview, or whether interview questions and answers ought to be carefully tailored according to whether the majority of those likely to read the interview are readers who want to know more about the author, and some insider secrets behind the writing of the book, or writers who want to know what works for other writers in the sfr genre.
I’ve just had the privilege of being interviewed by our Heather of Galaxy Express, who asks the best and most insightful questions ever! Also by Mandy Roth and Michelle Pillow, who ask a mean (in a good way) question or six.
Almost every interviewer, whether for a craft site or a review site, asks which authors I believe have influenced me. My answer to that never changes. Now, I don’t mind in the least being asked a question I can answer on autopilot.
However, I cannot help wondering whether readers are interested. If so, why?
Another question which I completely understand for writers’ groups and craft blogs is which How-To-Write-Science-Fiction books I recommend. But, do you think readers who are not writers are interested?
How much of a list is appropriate before a bibliography becomes boring?
Don’t we all list the same --mostly Writers’ Digest published-- books and authors? The Physics of Star Trek - L. Krauss
How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy - Orson Scott Card
Conceiving the Heavens- M. Scott
The Science of Star Wars- J. Cavelos
World Building - Stephen L. Gillett
Aliens and Alien Societies - Stanley Schmidt
Writers Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe–George Ochoa and Jeffrey Osier
If I have overlooked some superb resources, please do add other recommendations as Comments, and a brief word why they are tops in your opinion. I’ll add them to a Listmania and give commentators credit.
By the way, last evening, I made a Listmania list on Amazon.com because it is so much more fun to show cover art, and I did the same thing with a Top Ten list on Chapters.Indigo.ca
(If anyone takes a look and likes my list or lists, a “Helpful” click would be much appreciated!)
Moreover, if the authors on this list would like to put a “being interviewed tip” in the comments, maybe I could assemble a Listmania with their cover and their tip, and we’d have something helpful and promotional on Amazon etc.
Be interested in them (and their products or services), you will soon come up with plenty to write about from what they say.
I’m sorry if I had to skip several posts but when I read this I was immediately taken back to my first few interviews. As an intern I’ve always been told that I should “ask the right questions” and I was always so confused as to what “right questions” are. If I already got the facts, what else is there to ask? When it comes to non-entertainment issues, looking for the right questions is easy but when it comes to entertainment it becomes more difficult because I have to be reminded that the questions have to incite interesting answers too.
And when it comes to asking the questions I usually fall victim to talking too much too, thinking that the person I’m interviewing would have a hard time answering my question. So as preemptive measure I elaborate the question. bad move, I know.
I agree. One thing to note is not all interviewees are thrilled at the thought of talking for really, really long. There are also some people who have a pathological dislike of questions being asked of them. To get around this, try to formulate your questions [if you have many] in such a way that one question will allow you to ask another that is seemingly still connected to the previous question, but may be already touching on a different aspect altogether. It gives a seamless transition that will make the interviewee feel that you have asked less questions than you really did.
My advice would be to try to ask things from an innovative point of view. Almost all interviews sound and look the same. Trying to go deeply to interviewed´s psychology always gives you good results. Public appreciates the human side of characters.
Regards,
There are several things that make good interviews. I have a bit of a list based on bad interviews I have seen. I have seen the opposite of this list and it was not pretty.
1)Know some good background material about who you are interviewing. You don’t, you will look like an idiot
2)If you decide to ask more controversial questions, make sure you know how to reign it in.
3)Let the interviewee do most of the talking, people are listening/watching to hear you.
4)Don’t be rude…its harder to get the person to respond in a positive way.