13 Ways of Talking to An Author

Trying to make interviews more engaging.

I’m Jeff O’Neal, co-founder and CEO of BookRiot.com. First Edition is my new podcast “exploring the wide bookish world.” A a couple of people have referred to it as a Bookish Variety Show, which though there isn’t any singing and dancing, I like the sound of. Check it out here. This newsletter is a sort of director’s commentary on the show.

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When I moved to New York in the Fall of 2000, the first place I went post-luggage drop-off was The Strand. I got lost along the way and only managed to make it there about a half-hour before closing time. I didn’t make it much deeper into the store than the front area because I was transfixed by a poster of upcoming author talks. These were names that I knew, heck names I thought everyone knew, and they would be talking, for free, right here over the next couple of months. These were not the kind of names that came through my Kansas town, and I was truly thrilled.

And then I went to a few of them. The events were warm; the interviewers well-prepared; the authors generous, self-deprecating, and seemingly quite happy to be there.

I was bored out of my mind. I was perplexed at the time, assuming I wasn’t getting it somehow (my grad-school imposter syndrome followed me downtown). Maybe I needed to have read the book already or at least have read most of the author’s previous work to get the most out of 45 minutes of “here is where I got the idea for this book” and “some of the ideas I was exploring” followed by a Q&A where most of the people asking a Q (if it was indeed really a Q and not more of a C) didn’t deserve an A.

Twenty-some years later, I still rarely read, attend, or perform interviews with authors. A long profile? Yes please. A personal essay from an author on some aspect of their new book? Generally not bad. But an interview with X on their fourth novel? Keep scrolling. If you love this sort of interview, I mean it sincerely when I say that I envy you.

The damnable piece is that I am interested in hearing from writers. But if I, or the people I am writing or recording for, haven’t read the book (which 95% of them haven’t and probably won’t), it makes for a tough hang.

Reading Lives, which I produced for several years, was a way out of this contradiction. Getting writers to talk about their lives as readers told the listeners something about that person that was relatable and illuminating. Recommended, which Jenn Northington produced, came at a similar idea from a different angle: get writers to talk about some book they loved, and their enthusiasm and advocacy generally was more interesting than hearing them talk about their own work, if only because it is uncouth to show unbridled admiration for oneself.

For First Edition, I am still searching for modes of engagement that capture the excitement, interest, and expertise of writers in a way that listeners will be eager to hear. Discussions that they won’t just endure, but anticipate.

So far, I have tried two structures, both pretty successfully I think. “Reading stories” is a shorter version of Reading Lives, with just a single anecdote. (I hope to do full episodes in the shape of Reading Lives as both time and guest allow). “Insta-buys” is sort of like Recommended, but rather than have guests recommend a single title, it asks them to tell listeners what authors they will buy instantly when a new book comes out. (look for Recommended-like segments to appear before too long as well). The episode with Khaled Hosseini on the 20th anniversary of The Kite Runner I am calling a “bookography,” and while it is less generally usable, is probably the format I am most excited about.

In each case, the job is this: to make something that the audience is glad to have heard, even if they will never read the book. Of course I and the author would love them to give it a try, but unless the content stands in some way on its own, then it is just publicity, which has its place, but is hard to get excited about making or hearing.

What else is there, then? Here for your consideration and feedback are nine more ideas, some more seriously presented than others.

1. Anatomy of a Scene. Could we take one scene from the book (and maybe even have an audio excerpt of it included?) and talk about it? Would this be substantial enough for a conversation, but also provide listeners with enough material where the discussion would be stimulating?

2. Five Sentences. What if I selected five sentences, perhaps in collaboration with the author, to read closely and discuss. Maybe a sentence I thought was especially sharp or provocative? Maybe one I didn’t understand? Maybe the author could offer one they weren’t sure of or of which they were especially proud?

3. How Well Do You Know Your Book? What if I created 5-7 trivia questions about the book (what did this character eat or what time of day did this thing happen) and asked the authors to try to answer.

4. Recommend the Author a Book. Once after recording a Reading Lives episode, I had a guest ask for specific reading recommendations. It wasn’t the kind of book I knew well, but I thought that maybe there could be an audience participation angle to it. Say an author came on and explained the kind of book they were looking for, and then I asked listeners to email their recommendations. The trick here is that you do want to hear the recommendations, preferably with the author’s reactions to them as well. So maybe this is a two-parter: in one episode the ask and then a few episodes later, the answers. This involves getting the author on the horn twice, which can be something of a lift, both for them and for me. Need to workshop this a little more.

5. Inside the Writer’s Studio. I am no actor, but I loved the format of Inside the Actor’s Studio. A meander through the actor’s working life, taking stops at notable performances and moments, was revealing without being invasive. Could this work with an author? They would need to have a number of books under their belt and be well known enough that a meaningful slice of the listenership would be invested in hearing about their writing story. Worth trying, but not generally usable and would require quite a bit of work on my part. James Lipton’s little blue cards didn’t write themselves. And neither did he.

6. Character Study. Retellings and reimaginings are so common now that I wonder if taking the opportunity to talk to an author about why a particular literary character endures might be interesting. Could walk through theatrical depictions or other cultural references as well. Again, not generally applicable, but I bet there are a few books each year that this would be the right format for.

7. I’ll Read Your Favorite Book. What if I offered to read an author’s favorite book and then talk with them about it? Like a book club of two, performed for the audience. Is this better than just reading their own book? It feels like it might be, but not entirely sure why.

8. Scratching It Off. A twist on the previous one: what if an author had a book they have always wanted to read (or at least have read), and the conceit here is that they read it to discuss it with me. Did it live up to their idea of it? Why or why not? Could let the listeners know ahead of time and they could be prepped if they wanted.

9. The Debrief. In most cases, sometime after publication, perhaps a year, perhaps longer, the story of that book settles. Was the author happy with how things went? What surprised them about the publication and reception? What were the stories from the making of the book? How do they feel about the book now? Very few books will warrant a “bookography,” but quite a few more have a story worth hearing, even if it is smaller.

And so with Reading Stories, Bookography, Recommended, and Insta-Buys, that makes thirteen ways of talking to an author.

Do any of these seem markedly better or worse than the others? Do they make you think of other possibilities? All feedback welcome either via email or in the comments.

Thanks for reading and listening,

Jeff

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