Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers

Be interviewed for the new Authors.com Spotlight Interviews series and featured on the homepage!

Good news! As a special feature for Authors.com members, we at Authors.com would like to give all you authors the chance to be interviewed. It will be a simple process and the questions are provided below. We created the SpotlightInterviews handle for this. Here's how it works:

Add SpotlightInterviews as a friend so you can send a PM (private message) to that handle.
PM your answers to the interview questions (see below) to SpotlightInterviews through your Inbox.
Add any single small image of your book you wish included to your PM.

We'll do our very best to feature you all in rotation on the front page of the site as time allows. Your interview Q & A will be included permanently on the Spotlight Interviews blog where we'll build a series of interviews. You can always promote it from that link.

It's easy! Simply copy/paste the questions into the PM and respond to them below each one as clearly and as in as much detail as you like. Take your time. Remember, the more interesting you make it, the more readers and comments you'll get. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to promote yourself and your book(s) free! All we ask is that you monitor your interview thread for any questions or comments and respond if necessary.

All of them can be found on the Spotlight Interview Blog here.

It's your responsibility to check the blog regularly for updates. We don't always have time to notify each and every one of you individually. And it's nice to read and comment on others. The more you do so, the more likely they will return the favor when yours is published.

DO NOT ADD YOUR COMPLETED Q & A TO THIS THREAD OR POST IT ANYWHERE ELSE ON THE SITE. This thread is for any general questions or feedback about the interview process only. We are using the private messaging system to gather interviews together in a structured fashion and to ensure that it's first come, first served. Please comply with that. Responses to the interview questions in this thread will be deleted. Send a PM only. Publicly displayed ones that have not been posted by a staff member on the Spotlight Interviews Blog will be removed. We do not want duplicate content nor queue jumping.

Here are the interview questions. Copy them, answer them and return them by PM.

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Q1: Thanks for participating in our Authors.com Spotlight Interview series! Please introduce yourself and your book to help our readers get to know you.
A:

Q2: Please explain how you came to be a writer, what inspired you to write your book(s) and how long it took.
A:

Q3: What did you enjoy most about creating this book?
A.

Q4: What facets of your life, both personal and professional, are woven into your book, if any?
A.

Q5. How did you get published?

Q6: Did you have any surprises or hiccups along the way during the book writing and/or publishing process?
A.

Q7: What one thing did you wish you'd known before you started this project?
A.

Q8: You're a fly on the wall when readers are discussing your book. What would you hope to hear them say about it?
A.

Q9: Tell us one thing about you that most people don't know or would surprise them.
A.

Q10: What single piece of advice would you give new authors?
A.

Q11: Share a short summary of a typical day in your life with us please.
A.

Q12: Describe where you do most of your writing. What would I see if I was sitting beside you?
A.

Q13: What's your motto or favorite quote you like to live by?

Q14: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us in closing such as your website, an imminent book launch or what you're working on presently?
A.

Authors.com profile:

Thanks for your time! Please share this Authors.com Spotlight Interview with friends and fans by linking to it, Tweeting it, Digging it, sharing it on Facebook and generally shouting about it anywhere you can. We'd ask fellow members to support you by doing the same.

Members, want to be interviewed too? It's free! Instructions are here: http://www.authors.com/forum/topics/be-interviewed-for-the-new

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Hope that's all clear! We look forward to helping you all shine a spotlight on your books. :)

IMPORTANT: PLEASE KEEP YOUR CHARACTER COUNT, INCLUSIVE OF THE FINAL PARAGRAPH WE ADD, UNDER 10,000 CHARACTERS. ANYTHING LARGER WON'T FIT IN A TEXT BOX.

ANY INTERVIEWS THAT DO NOT FOLLOW ALL THE ABOVE GUIDELINES WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. THAT INCLUDES FORMATTING ISSUES CAUSED BY YOUR LAYOUT AND TYPO-RIDDEN CONTENT. WE DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO PROOFREAD AND CORRECT YOUR INTERVIEW! COPY THE QUESTIONS INTO A SIMPLE PROGRAM LIKE NOTEPAD WHEN ANSWERING THEM AND DOUBLE CHECK IT PRIOR TO SUBMISSION. PUBLICATION DATES WILL VARY. INTERVIEWS ARE PUBLISHED ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by kjforce on May 13, 2011 at 3:51am

Wow how cool...I thought I had to wait til I became Stephen King for an interview..I am nervous but willing to face another challenge..Look forward to working on this Q&A soon..weed by choice..kjforce

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Permalink Reply by SpotlightInterviews on May 25, 2011 at 11:43am

Keep those interviews coming! It's wonderful to see such interest in this. :)

Our latest author interview is with Cody Toye, author of The Adventures of Zorza the Alien: Book 1 The Journey and now live at the link below. Thanks Cody!

http://www.authors.com/profiles/blogs/spotlight-interview-with-3

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Permalink Reply by SpotlightInterviews on June 10, 2011 at 2:31am

Our latest interview, this time with Borislava Borissova, is now live! Please check it out, and comment and like if the mood strikes you too! :) Thank you Borislava.

http://www.authors.com/profiles/blogs/spotlight-interview-with-4

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Permalink Reply by Dvorah Lansky on June 30, 2011 at 4:54pm

What a great idea! I'm wondering of the timing works out so that we can add Authors.com to the official 16-20 blog virtual blog tour. That will get some great attention for the community as new authors would need to register as members to view my virtual tour here.

Here's my tour schedule - I'll off to fill out the interview questions.

Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Who do we submit our completed interviews to?

I'm also wondering if it would be helpful to share book tour tips as I'm documenting my effort and results.

All the best,

D'vorah

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Permalink Reply by SpotlightInterviews on July 1, 2011 at 1:19am

D'vorah, all the information you need is on how to submit it is in the original post.

Here's how it works:

Add SpotlightInterviews as a friend so you can send a PM to that handle.

PM your answers to the interview questions to SpotlightInterviews through your Inbox.

Add any small image of your book or yourself you wish included to your PM.

We'll arrange to feature you all in rotation on the front page of the site. After you've been featured your interview Q & A will be included permanently on the Spotlight Interviews blog where we'll build a series of interviews.

I'm afraid the July tour timing wouldn't work with our schedule as the interviews are posted first come, first served. Your interview would be added to the queue and there are several ahead of you. It's the fairest way to do it.

I'm sure sharing the book tour tips would be appreciated by the members. Thanks for offering and good luck with the tour. The Free Book Marketing or Promotion and Marketing Group would be an excellent place for those tips. :)

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Permalink Reply by SpotlightInterviews on July 1, 2011 at 1:25am

Apologies to everyone for being a week behind in posting the latest interview. My husband's been very ill and I hadn't done it until today. Thanks for your patience. We'll get back to our usual schedule of two a month from now on.

Please check out our latest interview featuring Cleveland W. Gibson!

http://www.authors.com/profiles/blogs/spotlight-interview-with-5

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Permalink Reply by SpotlightInterviews on July 16, 2011 at 5:22am

Please stop by and see our newest Spotlight Interview with Rusty Blackwood. Remember, comments are always welcome on these interviews! Thanks.

http://www.authors.com/profiles/blogs/spotlight-interview-with-10

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Permalink Reply by Matt T. Schott on July 16, 2011 at 12:08pm

Greetings D'vorah Lansky, I would love to hear about your tour. From first contact to the end on the RED Carpet at the end. Best wishes

Matt T. Schott

Dvorah Lansky said:

What a great idea! I'm wondering of the timing works out so that we can add Authors.com to the official 16-20 blog virtual blog tour. That will get some great attention for the community as new authors would need to register as members to view my virtual tour here.

Here's my tour schedule - I'll off to fill out the interview questions.

Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Who do we submit our completed interviews to?

I'm also wondering if it would be helpful to share book tour tips as I'm documenting my effort and results.

All the best,

D'vorah

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by SpotlightInterviews on August 3, 2011 at 6:52pm

Please stop by and check out our our newest Spotlight Interview with Beth Mahoney. Remember, Likes, comments and questions are always welcome on the author's interview threads! Thanks.

http://www.authors.com/profiles/blogs/spotlight-interview-with-59

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Permalink Reply by Amy Manemann on August 7, 2011 at 5:04am

What a wonderful opportunity, thank you so much!

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Permalink Reply by Amy Manemann on August 8, 2011 at 1:50pm

I'm pretty sure I'm doing this wrong but how do I send you a PM? Every time I try to click send a message it says I can't until you accept my friend request. Thanks!!