2007 Author Interviews: A Reminder

Posted on January 9, 2007    Posted by John Scalzi      2 Comments

I just want to remind authors and editors and publicists that I will be firing up the 2007 round of author interviews, which will be given a loving spotlight on my AOL Journal By The Way, and also promoted here on Whatever, thus harnessing the insanely ginormous publicity power of two — two! — blogs (and, uh, anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 readers). Previous interviewees include Charles Stross, Jo Walton and Nick Sagan; upcoming interviewees include Duane Swierczynski, Joe Hill and Tim Pratt. You know you want a part of this sort of action.

The interview consists of six questions which are sent by e-mail and which can be answered at any length (although, you know, don’t keep blathering on just for the sake of blather).

Here’s what I’m looking for:

1. Writers who are writing in any genre — I’ve interviewed primarily SF/F writers, but it’s open to genres, and to non-fiction as well as fiction. I’m hoping for a nice spread of authors.

2. Writers whose books are coming out in 2007 — Ideally I like to put up an interview within a couple of weeks of a book coming out. I have occasionally highlighted a writer whose book came out a couple months earlier, but in general I try to time the interviews for useful sales effect.

3. Writers whose books are not self-published or published through vanity presses (this includes presses like PublishAmerica). I’ve interviewed authors with books from major publishers and those from small presses, but simply as a matter of necessity I have to draw the line somewhere, and this is where the line gets drawn.

If you are an author who fits the description above (or an editor/publicist with an author who fits the above description), here’s what you do:

1. Query me via e-mail at “john@scalzi.com” about two months before your book comes out. You are free to ping me earlier, but it’s likely my response will be “that’s a great idea, do me a favor and remind me a couple of months before the book comes out.”

2. Send along a copy of the text (ARC or finished product is fine; try to avoid unbound manuscripts or galleys) to the address you’ll find here.

That’s it. If I have space on the schedule, I’ll try to fit you in. My plan at the moment is to do an interview a week (more or less), so that’s 52 interview slots to fill (well, 51, since I skipped the first week of the year). No reason you shouldn’t try to get in one of those slots.

If you have any additional questions about the Author Interview thing, drop them in the comments or send me an e-mail. Thanks!