How to Prepare for Your First Author Interview: Questions That Go Beyond the Book
Your first author interview rarely goes wrong because you did not read the book. It goes wrong because you read it in only one direction. You know the plot, the themes, the dedication, the passage on page 214 that made you put the kettle on — and then twenty minutes in, you have nothing left to ask and the author is politely wondering why they agreed to this.
Preparation is not about memorising more of the book. It is about building a conversation that could only happen with this person, on this day, and knowing what to do when a question lands awkwardly.
Read the book twice, for two different reasons
The first read is for you. Read it the way any reader would, and mark the places where you paused, laughed, flinched or got annoyed. Those reactions are your raw material, and they are the one thing you can bring to the interview that the author has not heard a hundred times before.
The second read is for the work. Go back with a pen and note three or four specific moments: a scene that surprised you, a sentence you had to read twice, a decision you would have made differently. Specifics beat themes every time. "How did you approach the structure?" invites a shrug. "The middle section jumps back twelve years without warning — was that always the plan?" invites an actual answer.
Research beyond the book
Spend an hour away from the novel. An hour is usually enough, and it will change the quality of every question you ask.
- The author's own site, especially any news, journal or blog pages, where people often say things they would not say to a publicist.
- Two or three long-form interviews from different outlets. Note what gets asked every single time.
- The acknowledgements, and any afterword or author's note. These are frequently the most revealing pages in the book.
- Reviews, including the unfriendly ones. Not so you can quote them, but so you notice which questions they raise.
- The publisher's press sheet, so you get names, dates and job titles right.
If the same anecdote turns up in every interview the author has given for a year, it is not your job to prompt it again. Knowing what has already been said is how you find the gap.
Check the small facts
Spellings of character names. The town the book is set in. Whether this is the author's fifth novel or their sixth. Getting one of those wrong in your opening question costs you the room, and you will spend the rest of the conversation earning it back.
Building questions that go somewhere
A useful interview has three kinds of question: ones that open a subject, ones that dig into it, and ones that step back and look at what it all means. Write them in that order and you will always know where you are.
Good questions to have in your pocket:
- Process: "Which part of this book did you write first, and what changed after that?"
- Choice: "What did you decide not to include?"
- Friction: "Which character gave you the most trouble, and why?"
- Craft: "Was there a scene you rewrote more than any other?"
- Reader: "What do you want someone to be thinking about on the last page?"
- Context: "How did where you were living shape the way you wrote this?"
Write down eight questions. You will use four, and the best part of the conversation will come from something you improvise at minute forty. That is normal, and it only happens if you have left some room.
Give the conversation a shape
Plan a loose arc rather than a script. Open with something easy and factual so the author can settle — a question about the title, the cover, the first sentence. Move into the work itself: choices, structure, revision. Then widen out to what the book sits alongside: other writers, a place, an argument. Finish with what comes next, and one last chance for the author to say the thing they most want readers to hear.
Leave gaps. Silence is a tool, not a failure. Count to three before you fill it, and you will be surprised how often the author says something better in the fourth second than they did in the first.
Handling sensitive topics
Some books touch on grief, illness, addiction, trauma or politics. The rule that serves you best is simple: ask about the work, not the wound. If a memoir deals with a parent's death, you can ask how the author decided what to include and what to leave out. You do not need to ask how the hospital corridor smelled. That is theirs to offer, not yours to extract.
You can ask a difficult question without asking an intrusive one. The difference is usually whether the question serves the book or serves your own curiosity.
Say at the start that the author can pass on anything, and mean it. If they decline a question, move on and do not circle back to it later. If they become upset, wait rather than rushing in to fill the pause, and offer to stop or to pause the recording. Ask permission before you record, and be clear about where the file will end up.
The practical details people forget
- Confirm the time in both your time zones, and say which one you mean.
- Test your recording setup the day before, and run a second device as backup.
- Ask for permission to record in writing, and confirm how the interview will be edited.
- Prepare a short spoken introduction you can read out without stumbling.
- Keep water nearby. Talking for an hour dries the throat.
- Send two or three broad themes in advance if the author prefers to prepare.
Before you press record
Read your questions aloud. Anything that sounds stiff when spoken will sound worse in the moment, so cut it or reword it. Cross out every question you already know the answer to. Keep one you are genuinely unsure about, because uncertainty is what makes an interview worth listening to.
Then close the notebook, look up, and listen properly. The questions are there so you can relax into the conversation, not so you can work through them like a shopping list. Your first interview will not be your best one. It only has to be a good conversation about a book, and that part is entirely within your control.
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