How to be Interviewed and Live to tell the Tale

Successful interview feedback is great. One hopes for scintillating results, but putting a great interview together is as much art as science. After having a week to consider things, a recent interviewer sent me a wonderful note. "Frank: I've done probably a couple hundred interviews between the podcast and during my brief tenure as a radio talk show host in Missouri. Our talk was one of the most interesting of them all." Derek Gilbert of PID Radio, and the Voice From the Bunker show. http://www.pidradio.com/?p=434

The hard part is duplicating what one did right. The secret to a good interview? Artistic elements must simply be there, but other parts are an interviewer's skill. Can a guest do any more than buckle-up and hold-on tight?

Last week the marketing inevitable arrived--the first interview about my novels. It's not typically something to which authors look forward, but seclusion in an A-frame with our muse is a movie concept, not marketing reality. My own approach? I try not to think about it until the dreaded hour arrives.

The Derek Gilbert call came. I used my patented seat-of-my-pants approach that risks a village idiot result. The problem with the SotP approach is one can never immediately tell if they escaped fate, or it just body-slammed you. The important thing was that the interview was over. Thankfully for me, Christians who are spec-fic fans have much in common, and I remained pretty relaxed throughout--my specific thanks to Derek for making me feel very comfortable.

Then Came the feedback from a few friends, and my brother . . .
"Good interview" Well, what else are you gonna say? "Hey, thanks. I thought I babbled."
"No really it was good."
"Well the interviewer saved me a few times when I'd have rambled."
"No, I thought it was interesting."
Translation: could have been worse, like dishes or laundry. "Well thanks. How about them White Sox?"

The Queen of Christian fantasy, Donita Paul, even commented on the PID Radio site! Oh man, I hope I didn't sound like an idiot!

Finally the clincher-feedback arrived. A member of the Lost Genre Guild and fellow Christian writer wrote me:
"I have a long commute into Boston - minimum one hour when there's little traffic, usually an hour fifteen or twenty, too often even longer. It drags on my soul, some days. So I rely on my little Sansa e250 mp3 player to keep my mind off the road (okay, more accurately, off the other drivers on the road). Usually music, occasionally audiobooks.

Last week I put a couple of podcast interviews on it, then I forgot I did so (you know how that can happen sometimes, I'm sure). Well, today Derek's interview with Frank came up in the random playlist. I'm here to tell you the rest of this morning's commute is absolutely gone from my head. I honestly don't think I swore even once at any of the other drivers, don't even recall a single brake light, completely ignored every tail-gater, so intent was I listening to Frank and Derek speak. I enjoyed Derek's widely-varied questions (covering the range of topics from gaming to God :) and Frank's insightful and open answers. Very interest-keeping.

What a great interview! Derek, I'm a fan now. Frank, I'mpushing Flashpoint to the top of the buy list. :) (Okay, actually, it was already there, just awaiting funds, but now it's awaiting with impatience. :)" --Tony Lavoie


Yehaw, I did sumpin' right! I'm not sure how much of it I could duplicate in another interview, but personally, staying relaxed seemed to be the key. Tony wowed me with his feedback, and credit must go to the skilful interviewer for his planning, casualness, solid questions, pacing control, and other skills I'm sure I don't even appreciate.

For those who'd rather snag a talk-radio interview, I close with a PODcasting advantage from Derek Gilbert, whose done both: "The podcast format allows for a more conversational, long-form interview. An afternoon talk show has to move forward in small bites to account for the short listening span of commuters(especially in a smaller town like Columbia, MO) and to hit thebreaks for news, traffic, and commercials- -especially commercials."
Thanks,
Derek Gilbert
www.pidradio. com http://www.pidradio.com/
www.derekpgilbert. com http://www.derekpgilbert.com/
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Available now: The God Conspiracy http://derekpgilbert.com/?pageid=2953
Iron Dragons: Book 1 ofthe Saramond Quests <http://www.derekpgilbert.com/?page_id=>