The Best Interview Is The Self-Interview by Philip Martin

Today, it's my pleasure to introduce our guest for today, Philip Martin of Great Lakes Literary and Crickhollow Books. He will be giving us a tip that has helped him and other others market their books. If you are curious about how to pull off a successful "self-interview", then we have a treat for you.

Before we get to Philip's post, I wanted to let you know about a guest post that I did yesterday on the BookBuzzr blog called, Book Marketing: Don’t Go At It Alone. I hope you enjoy it!

Now, on to Philip's post...


The Best Interview is the Self-Interview
by Philip Martin

As writers and creative professionals, we all know that our professional website or blog site is a great place to present ourselves. Often, those sites include a look at you through a portfolio, bio, links, etc. You want to develop your own brand, your voice, your online presence.

Here's a tip for a simple, fun feature for your site that I don't see used that often... but I always enjoy when I see it. And it can help you set yourself apart from the ordinary.

Why not interview yourself?

The self-interview may seem, at first blush, odd and inherently goofy. But it is curiously engaging. Why? Think of the advantages:

• You get to ask (and answer) the questions you really want to address.
  
  
• The format is appealing to readers as conversational dialogue, rather than a narrative bio (sometimes dry and dense, sometimes too brief).
  
  
• The inherent humor in the self-interview (hey, you're talking with yourself!) is a fun way to connect with readers.
  
  
• Besides offbeat asides, you can touch on important insights into aspects of your work that the average outside interviewer might never thing to ask you about.
  

I don't recommend it for everyone (you might need to have a certain sense of humor). And it's probably best done as a bonus info link (you still should offer a standard professional bio, with the self-interview as bonus material.

But if done well, it's actually a good way to move from a run-of-the-mill bio to offer insight into your real passions ... rich with your voice, and offering a select number of little-known tidbits about you and your work... things that people often find appealing.

For instance, consider why Facebook is so popular. People are surprisingly interested in less formal, more conversational, more offbeat or minor details about other people. It gives a sense of being an insider, of getting to know a person better.

And in comparison, think about the interview done with you by outsiders. As one who's been interviewed many times for radio and print, I know that the typical outsider interview, even a good one, often strays from what you'd like to say into areas that are not as on-target for your purposes. I would say that the typical outside interview ends up being about half-focused on what's important to you and half-focused about what the interviewer thinks or wants to talk about. And sometimes, let's face it, they just get factual things wrong (slightly or considerably).

Interview yourself, and you can craft the flow of the piece so that it all contributes to whatever image you want to build and promote.

The amazing thing is that, since you are a gifted wordsmith and storyteller, you can probably do a whiz-bang job of this interview.

Here are two quick examples:

James Morrow interviews himself about a novel, The Philosopher's Apprentice.

Philip Martin (that's me) interviews himself (myself) about what his small indie press, Crickhollow Books, is looking for in a submission.

One obvious caution (well, it should be obvious...) Run an editorial filter on what you say to make sure you aren't too goofy. Or pretentious. If you don't feel confident in your own judgment, ask a professional colleague with good taste who's familiar with your field to comment. And don't share too-personal info; avoid stuff that is too odd or improper or off-putting; avoid sounding desperate to be liked or to justify what you're doing.

In short, keep a mind what will attract people in a positive way. This extra insight into your creative mind might well help you attract fans and followers.

It's not the silver bullet for all. But it's a good and effective tool, in the right hands.

Maybe yours?

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BIO Philip Martin has been a book professional for several decades. As a consultant to authors, he directs Great Lakes Literary, where his main services include editing and book doctor work. He can also can help authors figure out how and when best to self-publish, work with a small press, or pitch to an agent or larger press. He loves to help emerging writers with editing or marketing for any worthy project, to help develop, polish, and present your best ideas and most powerful stories. To devour any free time, he also manages a small indie publishing house, Crickhollow Books. He is a past acquisitions editor for The Writer Books, where he worked with many prominent authors on books of advice for writers on craft and career. He is also the editor of two recent anthologies: The New Writer's Handbook, Vol. 1 and 2. You can find more advice for emerging writers at his blog, The Writer's Handbook Blog.