Article on interviews

In WritersWeekly, there was an article by C. Hope Clark (whose Funds For Writers newsletters you might have heard of) on writing and selling interviews.

Clark gives a couple of tips on how to actually conduct the interview — send the questions ahead of time, and see what interview method works best for you (recording the conversation, taking notes in shorthand, etc.) — but most of the information in her article has to do with choosing topics, pitching the article to the interview subject and the editor, etc.

In many ways, conducting an interview is something you learn best by doing, rather than reading about it. Still, some things you don't want to learn by trial and error, so here are some interview tips I blogged about nearly two years ago. I personally prefer recording interviews, so that I can focus on the conversation and pull quotes later on, so here is another post I wrote on recording phone interviews. (Though I do have to say, if I can't do an email interview, I much prefer conducting the interview in person. I hate telephones!!)

Do you have any tips for aspiring interview writers?