My Shy Mind Wants to Know…

For those who don’t know me, I can be extremely shy around people I don’t know.  This is pretty much the main reason why you really don’t see that many authors stopping by Literary Escapism compared to other sites. I love telling people where authors are visiting (as I’m sure you’ve been able to tell), but the idea of emailing an author and asking if they would be willing to stop at Literary Escapism for a guest post completely terrifies me.  I mean, they are either writing or going about their probably busy lives, so I’m not really comfortable interrupting that.

But here I go rambling again.  The reason I’m bringing this up is I’ve been getting quite a few requests from publicists and authors to do guest spots on LE and I’m starting to schedule two months out.  That’s amazing, but only doing the spots on Tuesdays is starting to get a little limited.  I had to turn down a guest post by three newer authors recently because all of November had been filled and I really didn’t like that.  It’s these new authors that I love helping to promote since LKH and Harris and Armstrong and all the other big names tend to get a lot of attention already.  Thankfully, I was able to schedule them in December, but should I start offering spots on Thursdays?

So I guess I want to know….

  1. Would it matter if I didn’t have one every Thursday as I’m trying to have one every Tuesday?
  2. For my author readers, how do you feel about being solicited for guest blogs?  Do you prefer the requests to go through publicists?  How do you like the requests to be worded?  I ask this because of how easy it is to converse with authors via Twitter and Facebook.
  3. For my blogging friends, how do you go about getting authors on your site if I may ask.  Is it all random or do you have a “plan of action”?
About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

10 Comments

  1. I wouldn’t mind seeing them on Thursday too. I visit your site every day so I am always thrilled when there is something new to read (which you thoughtfully provide every day). So if it works for you, do it! :)

  2. I’ve discovered some great authors through blog features, so I say bring it on!

    And hey, if a schedule starts to feel too restrictive – time to change it anyway, right?

  3. i am of the, do what you want to do and feels right for you, the rest of us will probably keep following and those that don’t probably wouldn’t have stayed anyway because they don’t know a good blog when they see it or are not really into books or something. reading reviews is good. getting to know the writers is good. i’ve only done on author interview. i had heard he was good about asking questions and i had things that i really wanted answers to. it was great and probably not the typical q&a. i then asked him if i could publish them as an interview. he was quite happy with it and so was i.

    i find some interviews are so formularic (new word) that i want to scream because they aways ask the same questions in the same order…and if you have read another interview, you already know those answers. oh, i know some questions have to be asked but sometime i wonder if the interviewer has even read the book. i like to see interviews where you can tell the book was read before hand and it brought up questions. i think you can tell when a reviewer really wants to talk to a writer. i don’t think i could do an interview without having a vested interest in the book and author.

  4. First, I love the fact that you’re doing new author guest spots. Secondly, If it were me…I would be honored if someone wanted me to guest post to bring attention to my books (which lord only knows when they’ll be ready for that) but still.

    I enjoy your blog no matter what. So if you add another day or find it’s not consistent with doing author interviews every single Thurs., I don’t see a problem. No matter what I think you’ll keep it fresh and entertaining. (Hugs)Indigo

  5. HodgePodge, that’s one of the reason why I’ve been avoiding doing interviews lately. All of the questions I seem to think of have been asked before and I hate being repetitive. Whenever I come up with questions for an interview, I always try and check to see what has been asked before.

    Alright, let’s do it then. Starting in December, I’ll start doing guest posts on Thursdays as well. But I think I’m going to start saying that all winners will be announced on Fridays that way I have a specific day to do them. It might help me keep up with them more. :)

  6. Jackie, you and I chat often, but I had to chime in here. Go for the interviews. I do email authors and I have had great success. One author did not respond, but I don’t think they got the email. The responce I get from authors is overwhelmingly thankful for the attention and interest in their books, especially new authors.

    I too do my schedule months in advance, I was working on January today. With new authors, I don’t have any old questions to go on or questions about the books because they are not published yet or there are limited arcs. So while some of the questions may be redundant, they are still sharing about the books. How much variation is there on interview questions? Some bloggers such as The Book Resort have very unique formats, but beyond that, questions will repeat.

    I am rambling,again. Go for the interviews, the worst an author will say is no, but like you once said to me, we are free promotion for them. They are glad when we are interested.

    Lastly, I do not see a problem with running more than one interview a week, just don’t overwhelm yourself.
    OK, there’s my two, probably more like three cents.

  7. Hey Jackie,
    I get requests from publishers, authors, but then I also ask my favorite authors of books I’ve previously read, or authors of new books I’m dying to read if they would like to be a guest. And surprsingly I get very few “No’s”. I do get them however, and is always a little disheartening, but like you said they are busy with their lives and their writing.

    I host authors any day of the week when it is convenient for them. If you have a regular post on Tuesday I think that is great, and if you want to open up occasional Thursday as well then that is great too, but honestly as a reader of your site I don’t really care what day of the week you have them on, or the frequency or infrequency. I just enjoy stopping by and reading your posts. Do what feels comfortable for you. If you don’t feel ready to approach an author about guesting, then don’t. Sounds like you have enough interest without it :)

  8. I think it would be great to see more interviews/guest posts from authors. Maybe you could do the interviews/guest posts whenever it’s convenient for you and the author, it really doesn’t have to be a specific day, every week.

    Looking through the comments here, I agree with Elie N. comments. Good luck!

  9. I’m happy to read author interviews whenever they appear. Some folk probably like having a particular thing to read on a particular day, but I prefer the ‘surprise’ factor of jumping onto a website and seeing what the bloggers have in store for me that day.

    Guest posts are a fantastic way of finding new authors, both new to publishing and new to me.

  10. Jackie, I’m with Chris. I’ve been introduced to great new authors and books from your blog posts, so a Thursday author feature wouldn’t bother me in the least! And as a new author myself, I love (and appreciate) your desire to spread the word on our behalf.

    As Elie N said, most authors have no problem being contacted directly about doing guest spots, etc. Rather, they’re usually thankful and thrilled! And if someone is truly busy, usually their assistant or publicist will handle their email requests anyway- so either way, you’ll definitely be in touch and get a response back.

    So go for it! I look forward to reading what you have coming up!

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