If you’re a book author, a great feature for your professional website is an author interview.
Surprisingly, one of the best approaches is a self-interview.
At first glance, this might seem immodest or an inferior version of a “real” interview with an outside journalist. But done well, it can be as good . . . if not better.
There are some things you can do in a self-interview that you can’t in a regular one.
- Get it done, anytime, on your schedule.
- Control the questions, to highlight the best features of your book or other work.
- Range freely, to bring in any offbeat, auxiliary, cross-marketing info.
- Show your humor, skill with words, insight, and all-around scintillating presence . . . which may lead to additional outside interviews, while impressing web visitors about your book.
Here’s a glimpse of a self-interview, done very, very well. It is by author James Morrow, author of The Philosopher’s Apprentice, The Last Witchfinder (Starred Review, Publisher’s Weekly), Only Begotten Daughter (World Fantasy Award), and other impressive books. He’s been interviewed elsewhere often, but chose to do self-interviews for his books on his website.
It’s a great tip for book marketing for writers of all sorts. The same kind of thing can be done by freelance writers, poets, anyone with a glimmer of moxie (and a creative personality).
For the Morrow interview, I’ll just give some of the questions. To enjoy the fun, interesting answers, you’ll just have to visit the James Morrow website!
James Morrow Interviews James Morrow on
The Philosopher’s Apprentice
Q: Your new novel, The Philosopher’s Apprentice, has an intriguing title. Who is the philosopher and who is the apprentice?
Q: Does Mason succeed in giving Londa a moral compass?
Q: Why is Londa’s mind a blank slate?
Q: So what is The Philosopher’s Apprentice really about?
Q: Morality is a mystery?
Q: It sounds as if you’re a novelist who benefits from interacting with editors.
Q: Is that why you’ve described the book as a cross between Shaw’s Pygmalion and Nabokov’s Lolita?
Q: Your previous novel, The Last Witchfinder — which is quite a good book, by the way …
Q: The Last Witchfinder also centers on a teacher-student relationship. The heroine, Jennet Stearne, is tutored by her beloved Aunt Isobel in “natural philosophy,” that is, science.
Q: Those scenes, yes. What the heck is going on here? On one level, the immaculoids are sympathetic, but I don’t think of you as being in the “pro-life” camp. The Last Witchfinder was a very feminist novel.
Q: You’re avoiding the question, Morrow. By bringing those wretched immaculoids on stage, don’t you end up endorsing the anti-abortion position?
Q: You obviously have a taste for grandiose themes. Where does that come from?
Q: So, for you, novels are a good way to keep experts from impoverishing our minds?
Q: We’ve talked about Shaw and Nabokov as influences. One of your pre-publication critics, covering the book for Kirkus Reviews, notes that The Philosopher’s Apprentice also “tips its hat with style to Mary Shelley.”
Q: It’s always nice to meet a fellow geek.
Q: Somebody once remarked, “Henry James chewed more than he bit off.”
Q: Nevertheless, when you named your main character Londa Sabacthani, you were obviously trying for a symbolic effect. Her name evokes Jesus’s famous cry from the cross in Matthew 27:46.
Q: You’re lying.
Q: I’m afraid we’re out of time.
Tell the Story Behind the Story
April 21, 2009
Every book has a story about itself.
The story of the writing of a book-length work (or a substantial article) – how the work came to be – is grist for your publicity mill. It’s an effective and easy-to-use tool in your efforts to establish Brand You, your personal brand.
Why? Because it tells two stories: one about the work itself, and one about you as a person writing the work. Hearing why an author picked a given topic, how he/she researched it, designed its telling, and populated it with happenings and ideas and and characters . . . is of great interest to many readers.
Here’s a great example:
Clues in the Shadows (A Molly Mystery): The Story Behind the Story
Here, author Kathleen Ernst uses a wonderful batch of photos from the Library of Congress to illustrate and talk (on a page on her excellent, content-rich website) about the research she did in writing this middle-grade reader, Clues in the Shadows, a mystery in the immensely popular American Girl line of books, doll, and zillions of accessories.
In this piece, Ernst shares how she came upon ideas that she incorporated into the story:
Many of the programs urged children to compete against each other, seeing who could collect the most paper or scrap metal. Sometimes children struggled to meet expectations. When I read about that, I decided that was an important idea to introduce in Clues in the Shadows.
Well-researched background like this impresses educators and reviewers. And readers themselves (in this case, kids) always like to see “behind the scenes” . . . to peek behind the curtain, to feel that special sense of privilege when someone takes you backstage and gives you a personal tour.
Of course, this is great stuff for any published (or soon-to-be-published) writer’s blog. Here’s another example (from a project I’m working with), the story of writing a historical novel for young readers, by two sisters, Hilda and Emily Demuth, centered around a historic plank road that ran by their childhood home in southern Wisconsin:
Why does this behind-the-scenes storytelling work so well?
Because at the core of storytelling is the desire to be connected with each other. This goes back to the roots of oral storytelling, where the story never existed without the teller.
So take the time to create and share the story behind your major pieces of writing. It will draw in the reader and extend your personal brand, presenting you in a most-favorable light: how you (as a skilled, thoughtful pro writer) take raw ideas and turn them into literature.
Don’t just serve the dish. Let them see and appreciate the making of the dish. As brand-meister Martha Stewart would say . . . “And that’s a good thing.”
Create a Rev/Test Page (reviews & testimonials)
February 4, 2009
For a writer’s website, one item I recommend is a single page of reviews and testimonials. This is sometimes referred to as a “rev/test” sheet (or web page).
Besides creating this online compilation of many brief blurbs of praise as a part of an online press kit (for a single book or for overall professional services), it’s also helpful to have a formatted version to print or email to interested contacts as needed.
(In general, “reviews” come from published sources, and “testimonials” are bits of personal praise or endorsement from individuals. A “blurb” is just a brief, often excerpted version of either type.)
A page of collected praise often leads with: “Read what people are saying about . . .” or “Praise for [you and your writing]” or “Testimonials from satisfied customers/clients” or something in that vein.
This page compiles your best blurbs from the most influential sources. It’s nice to have perhaps six to ten great quotes, short and sweet, praising your work. I recommend excerpting liberally with ellipses (. . .) to highlight the best phrases. Let the reader fill in the blanks. You want to give the impression that this is just a fraction of an immense pile of praise.
There’s a bit of an art to this. First, I usually skip a review (even if well-meaning) that hints of too-faint praise. Ditto for blurbs that are purely descriptive without any sense of the work being good and recommended. (Unless sometime notable is mentioned, like “includes an appendix of resources for . . .”). But better is a blurb that at least says “good” or “useful” (or better, “great” or “essential”) or some statement of real quality.
You need more than one or two blurbs to make it worth doing a rev/test page. At least one, especially a lead quote, should come from an impressive, influential source. A sheet of praise citing only minor sources looks weak.
However, minor sources are great to fill out a page once you have one or two big-time reviews. “Minor” means sources unlikely to be known or impressive to most readers. (Minor ones often can offer details not covered in the main reviews, or come from sources significant to a particular segment of your audience.)
For most blurbs, I like short and punchy. Why? Because this emphasizes the words you want people to remember. Think of the blockbuster novel described as “spellbinding” or “a real page-turner.” Do you really need to hear more?
For instance, for The New Writer’s Handbook, I often use this:
“Surprising and satisfying.” Library Journal (Starred Review)
A slightly longer version can work:
“. . . from the preface by Erica Jong to the closing piece by Mary Pipher, it surprises and satisfies.”
– Library Journal (Starred Review); Sept. 15, 2007
But keep it short and sweet. Often it’s the source as much as the exact text. For librarians, the Library Journal name and the “Starred Review” phrase is as important a selling point as the review text itself.
Here’s an example of a rev/test sheet as a web page. (It’s from an occasional blog I maintain for odd bits of lore and literature about old-time music & fiddling. It’s a low-key spin-off from a book I wrote years ago, Farmhouse Fiddlers, from interviews with older fiddlers, mostly around rural Wisconsin, about the role of homemade music in community life.)
That’s seven blurbs, an award or two, book specs, where the book is available. It’s the essential rev/test page.
Publishers often do this for a book’s press kit. However, as an an author, you should create and maintain your own version. Reviews and praise might come in long after a publisher has lost interest in updating a press kit or their website.
It’s an important part of your resume. It should be on your professional website or blog.
Marketing for Writers 101, dude! The “long tail” effect.
Here’s another version, from Trevor Corson’s website (for two books on lobsters and sushi). This is a great website, by the way. It illustrates how to develop an impressive site, reaching out long after a book’s pub date to collect news, photos, and far-ranging stuff on the book’s topic.
Praise for Trevor Corson’s books
Yes, you can repeat the best blurbs, sprinkled throughout your site. But a single page, with a long list of praise, has special impact.
Why is a rev/test page (and in general, any good review or testimonial) so important?
Let’s face it: You or your publisher can say your writing is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But that’s obligatory and obviously self-serving.
But if a third party (with some prestige) says that voluntarily, it suddenly becomes more believable!
Show me a half-dozen diverse sources that agree, and you’ve got a pretty good case that it’s actually the truth.
You, Mr. or Ms. Amazing Writer (on branding)
March 14, 2008
For a while, I’ve been sorting through ideas about business development for writers, and I wanted to share some thoughts.
First, let’s take a quick look at your basic web presence. When someone looks for you on the web, can they find you? And if they do, does what they find properly and positively present your brand?
For more on personal brand, you might skim this article on the concept of “Brand You” as extolled by Tom Peters. In a nutshell: brands are everywhere, brands are influential, you are the CEO of your own business, you need to think about your brand.
Your brand is less how you perceive yourself; it’s more how (quickly, clearly, positively) others perceive you. What do they think of when they think of you – in our case, as a workers in a literary field. Prompt? Reliable? Do you deliver the goods in a friendly or fun or folksy or cool professional manner? How do others decribe you if they are recommending you to another person?
With a few easy steps, you can improve the quick, clear, positive attributes of how others see you. To stand out, to be seen as different (in a good way), as a writer, take a few moments in the coming month to work on your brand.
A brand, says Peters, is “a promise of the value you’ll receive.”
Peters suggests: “Start by identifying the qualities or characteristics that make you distinctive from your competitors – or your colleagues. What have you done lately – this week – to make yourself stand out? What would your colleagues or your customers say is your greatest and clearest strength? Your most noteworthy . . . personal trait?”
Let’s look at a few ways to check your brand online.
- Do you have a clear brand identity; is it easy to find online?
- Do you have a website (and/or blog) that presents you and your work?
- Have you asked someone (other than a close friend who knows you well) to look at your website to give feedback about what sort of image it presents?
- What comes up in a Google search if someone’s looking for you? In a Yahoo search?
- Do you have an online “resume” in places other than your own website?
When I created this basic list, I had to ask myself if I’d answered them well in my own literary business. While I think I have a reasonably good brand and web presence, I realized there were some things I might need to tackle.
One big issue for me is my common name. If you web-search for me as Philip Martin, you’ll have a hard time finding me, a single tree in a forest of Philip Martins online.
For instance, one Phillip Martin (two Ls in the first name, and African-American; but search engines don’t necessarily care) is “a unique, soulful musician . . . Phillip ‘Doc’ Martin; preferably known as ‘Doc Martin,’ a rising saxophone stylist whose heartfelt, humble melodies are wooing live audiences on stages across the country.”
Or “businessman Philip Martin, with a criminal past,” one of four campaign co-chairmen for the defunct Fred Thompson presidential campaign.
Then there’s the Irish pianist, the ag professor in California, the infantry “grunt” in Iraq, the screenwriter for the Doctor Who show . . . all not me. I don’t show up for quite a few pages.
Okay, my approach has been to use Great Lakes Literary as my main brand, with The New Writer’s Handbook (book and now this blog) as a secondary brand. My name, honestly, comes in third in my branding. But I can and should improve that . . . in case people want to look for me online by name.
Some things for a writer like me (and you) to consider:
1. Post a Wikipedia entry, to cite significant publishing credits and professional history.
2. Consider adding a middle name or other identifier. (For the record, mine’s Nevin. An old British Isles name, given to me to honor some obscure relative. Never was all that keen on it, but now I’m rethinking. I started writing as Philip Martin before the web was such as key tool. Now, I need to think about being more distinctive, namewise.)
3. Register your profile on LinkedIn. I’m getting a listing this weekend. Why? Because it’s an important place to put your profile; from there, it gets discovered (and given some extra ranking significance) by search engines.
Here’s a bit on that from a good recent post on the LinkedIn blog (by Jack Chou):
LinkedIn is all about letting you control and promote your brand identity as a professional. We want to help you be found by others in ways that will help you professionally – whether it’s reconnecting with old colleagues, getting contacted by business leads, or hearing about that next great career opportunity.
A key part of that is allowing our members to maintain customizable public profiles that are indexed by the top search engines – thus making sure that anyone looking for you via Google or Yahoo! search will find you.
And because you can control the details included in your public profile, you’re in complete control over the information that shows up here.
4. Contribute an article or two to a free online article repository, such as Ezinearticles.com.
Why? In my case, I have my own website, with recent articles for writers posted there for my monthly newsletter. But contributing an occasional article to a free article database online can put your profile out there in a powerful, well-ranked, searchable way.
The goal is to establish a number of clear paths – an online web presence – that present your professional profile in a consistent, brand-conscious manner. It’s not hard; it only takes a few steps. But establishing your web presence (and looking beyond your own website), putting your brand out there in several visible places on the World Wide Web, is an important part of your writing platform.
You don’t know who might be looking for you and can’t find you. Or who might stumble across you by chance and want to know more.
Hey, I might be interested in the music of a saxophone stylist who plays cool jazz. And didn’t know about Phillip “Doc” Martin . . . until a search engine put his website in front of my eyes. Now that’s cool.
