My Smashwords Interview

Hello all!  This is just a short post to say that my Smashwords interview is now up and running over at https://www.smashwords.com/interview/viviangwynn.  For anyone who wants to know more about me and my writing, that's a great place to find out a little more. (Or you can contact me via this blog, facebook, or twitter and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.)

Smashwords made it very easy, and actually quite fun to fill out the interview.  They had a series of questions to choose from, or the option to write in one's own questions.  I only answered the pre-selected questions, because it was a lot easier than making up my own ones.  Sometimes I find it difficult to just come up with what I want to tell people about myself, and the questions Smashwords provided gave me a very useful, easy to follow formula for talking about myself.  It was also nice that there was a number of pre-written questions that I could cycle through.  Not every question was interesting to me, so it was nice to be able to just get a new question with the click of a button (it'd be great if real interviews were like that!).

The Smashwords interview had room for ten questions and answers.  I ended up answering eight.  I'll probably go back later and answer the last two questions a little later.

Why Have a Smashwords Interview?

A Smashwords press release says that Smashword Interviews help "readers learn the story behind the author" and go on to say that "a good interview helps the reader develop a multidimensional understanding of who you are as a writer and a person."  It also says that on to say that an interview is an opportunity to convert prospective readers into readers, and turn fans into super-fans."  That sounds nice, of course.  I hope my interview can help people to find my writing and develop a connection with me.

How to Make a Good Interview?

The same press release gives instructions regarding creating a stellar interview.  It says that the people who read an interview will generally be one of four different groups of people:

1. They’re already a fan of your writing, and they’re curious to learn more about you as person. Your interview can help them appreciate you and your work on a completely new level, and will help solidify your brand in their mind. 
2. A fan of yours, or possibly even a complete stranger, enjoyed your interview and shared it with their social media friends on Facebook, Twitter, or on their blog.  Be sure to promote your interview to your fans, and encourage them to share it with their friends!
3. You’re a new author to them, they’ve never read you. They’re looking for a good read and they’re curious to learn more about you before they take a chance on your book.
4. They stumbled across your Q&A by accident, possibly via a search engine like Google because your interview addresses a topic that matches the keywords they were searching on.  They didn't know they were looking for your book, but after reading your interview, they might think differently!

A good interview will have something for each of these groups of people.  If you include some information for each sort of person, your interview is bound to be a success.