4 Tips to Help Add an Interview to Your Research

by Sue Bradford Edwards

A friend recently recommended a mystery with an FBI profiler as the detective. I turned it back into the library largely unread not because I didn’t have time to read but because the author butchered her setting. The murder took place at a well-known museum in the city where I live. When she described what the FBI agents could see from where they stood beside the body, I cringed and then closed the book. There was no way this author had ever seen this museum herself, but an interview with someone who had been there would have provided the detail she needed to create an accurate setting.

I faced a similar problem when trying to describe the relationship between a pipeline and the river it crossed. Instead of hoping I had it right, I contacted the author of an article I used as a reference. Reaching out to her led to a lengthy phone interview and a better understanding of my topic.

Over the years, I’ve contacted geologists, virologists, wildlife biologists and more. I explain I am working on an article or book and I’m not sure I understand the material I’ve found. Or I point out a gap in what I’ve read. Then I ask for help to avoid misleading my reader. Very few people have turned me down.

Here are four tips to help land the interviews you need to bring accurate details to your writing:

Do your homework. An interview is a great way to gain access to the latest information and fill in any gaps, but it isn’t a shortcut. You have to do your research ahead of time. Read, watch, and listen to all that you can find. That way you’ll know what information isn’t already accessible to your reader.

Write out your questions. Before you contact the person you want to interview, take the time to write your questions. Then you can include the questions in the body of your e-mail. In my experience, many professionals want to know what you will be asking before they say yes or no. It helps them see the slant of your work.

E-mail first. Most likely, the person you want to interview has a busy schedule. They may not be in the office or have their hands free to answer the phone. Send them an e-mail introducing yourself, stating what you want and why and that you are including your questions. If you don’t hear back from them in a few days, you can give them a call.

Be ready. Occasionally you will reach someone who has time to do an interview today but not tomorrow. Call them when you too have time to do the interview. Although you want to be ready to do it now, don’t be surprised if they want to put it off a day or two.

Interviews with experts help ensure that your piece contains accurate detail and the latest information. These two things can help you catch an editor’s attention.

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Sue Bradford Edwards is a nonfiction author with over 600 sales to her credit including 30 nonfiction books for young readers. Sue has also published numerous crafts, activities and how to pieces of various kinds. Her most recent books are Cancel Culture (Abdo, 2022), The Who (Abdo, 2022), Robotics in Healthcare (Brightpoint Press, 2022), Being Black in America (Brightpoint Press, 2022), The Impeachment of Donald Trump (Abdo, 2021), Coronavirus (Abdo, 2021), The Murders of Tupac and Biggie (Abdo, 2020), The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (Abdo, 2020), Stem Cells (Focus Readers, 2020), Earning, Saving, and Investing (Abdo, 2020), The Dark Web (Abdo, 2020), The Evolution of Mammals (Abdo, 2019), The Evolution of Reptiles (Abdo, 2019), Labradoodle: Labrador Retrievers Meet Poodles! (Capstone, 2019), and Puggle: Pugs Meet Beagles (Capstone, 2019). In addition, her children’s nonfiction has appeared at Education.com, in Gryphon House anthologies, in Harcourt and Houghton Mifflin testing packages and also in READ and Young Equestrian Magazine. Her nonfiction for adults has been published in Writer’s Market, Children’s Writer newsletter, WOW! Women on Writing, Writer’s Digest, The Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, The Writer’s Guide, and Magazine Market’s for Children’s Writers. Sue is also a dedicated blogger, writing for the Muffin as well as her own personal blog, One Writer’s Journey.

Sue is also a WOW! Women on Writing instructor. Check out her upcoming workshops, Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults , Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults and Pitching, Querying, and Submitting Your Work. More information about our classes can be found on our classroom page.

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Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!
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4 comments Friday Speak Out, interviewing sources, non-fiction, research, Sue Bradford Edwards, tips for interviewing, WOW class

Make Your Feature Articles Stand Out

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I’m lucky that one of my regular writing clients is a local monthly lifestyle magazine. Over the past nine years (is that right?!) I’ve had the opportunity to work on so many different stories and meet a number of interesting residents and business owners. While some assignments go smoothly, others do not.

Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years to make your freelance assignments stand out and make you irresistible to assignment editors.

Contact your sources well before your deadline. This seems like a no-brainer, but all too often my e-mail inbox gets inundated before I make a note of my article deadline. It’s important to read the article assignment thoroughly when you first receive it and make a note of suggested sources, when the assignment is due, and if you have any questions for your editor. People go out of town, or have their contact information changed, so contacting sources early can help you avoid stress later down the road.

Use your judgment when it comes to interviewing sources. Some freelance articles I write are 250-word pieces about a new local business or product and others are 600+ human interest stories. I usually can conduct interviews by phone for the smaller articles and try my best to set up in-person interviews for the longer pieces. I also try to send a few interview questions to my sources ahead of time so they will have time to formulate responses or get an idea of the article topic before we speak. These small details make for a more polished piece and show a level of professionalism, in my opinion.

If you are in a bind, don’t be afraid to ask for an article extension, especially if you have a good relationship with your editor. I know this may go against your beliefs as a writer, but there are times when it is necessary, especially if not doing so results in turning in shoddy work. I can recall one time when I should have asked for a deadline extension and did not. I had the flu, and interviewed a local gardener about her backyard patio oasis by phone while I was obviously feverish. I dashed off the piece quickly because I was on deadline, and a few days later she asked to look over some of her quotes. Imagine my surprise when she pointed out I had several facts and key points in the 250-word piece completely wrong, and I had to explain that I had been ill when I wrote the article (which was embarrassing, to say the least). Luckily, I had time to resubmit the article with corrections to my editor, who was very understanding. I’ve since learned from that mistake and don’t rush jobs, and I especially don’t turn in things that I’ve worked on with a raging fever!

What do you think makes a writer irresistible to editors? Have you made any freelance writing mistakes you can share with us so I don’t feel alone? I’d also love to hear about tried and true practices when working on writing assignments.

Renee Roberson is an award-winning freelance writer and editor who made a lot of mistakes when she first started writing professionally. 

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6 comments freelance writing, interviewing sources, magazine assignments, relationships with editors, Renee Roberson, writing advance

Perfecting the Art of Interviewing

A few years ago, I received an assignment from a local magazine I write for that made me take pause. The editor wanted me to visit the home of a woman living with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and interview her about a foundation she had started after her diagnosis. I’ll admit that when I found out the woman communicated using an eye-tracking technology connected to a computer, I hesitated. I worried that I wouldn’t know the best way to communicate effectively with her. But I was also up for the challenge, so I accepted the assignment. I e-mailed her a list of questions ahead of time and arrived at her home on the day of the interview with my laptop and a notepad and pen so I could take notes.

I can honestly say that interview was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. She showed me how the device on her headband allowed her to communicate through her computer, compose e-mails, search the internet and turn everything she “typed” on her screen into speech so we could have an actual conversation. But what struck me the most was how gracious she was even while confined to her wheelchair with limited means of movement and communication. She asked me questions about my family and me and even complimented my work. It turns out she had researched me as much as I had researched her before our interview.

In my work as a blogger, journalist and magazine editor I’ve conducted countless interviews over the years. Some of them went very well like the example above, others did not, leaving me scrambling to pull together a polished article with less quotes than I had originally planned. Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years that make interviews run more smoothly:

1. Send a list of interview questions ahead of time. I always like to come up with at least four to five questions to least get the conversation started. I e-mail the person the list of the questions and tell them approximately how long the interview should last so they can plan accordingly.

2. Don’t go into an interview cold. We all have assignments that turn up at the last minute, but if you’re conducting a phone or in-person interview, spend some time researching the person you’ll be interviewing if at all possible. Focus on the areas of their life that align with what you’re writing. Is the person the head of a foundation? What other volunteer work are they involved in? How has their life path led to them to this point in time?

3. Be present and prepared. I often conduct interviews and then spend a few days soaking in the experience before I actually start to work on the article or profile. The best advice I can give here is to be a great listener. I either take notes by typing on my laptop (usually with phone interviews) and in person I use a combination of a recording app on my iPhone and notes by hand. If you are recording with a device periodically check to make sure it’s working and still recording. While it’s great to find common ground with the person you’re interviewing, strive for a balanced conversation. Try not to spend a lot of time talking about yourself and your interests unless the subject asks. If you’re interviewing in person, look around at your surroundings and takes notes on what you see. This can often provide a great introduction to your article.

4. Follow up. If you have any follow-up questions, e-mail them a soon as you think of them so your subject has enough time to send responses back to you before your deadline. And finally, be courteous; send the person a link to the article (or hard copy if applicable once the interview is published along with a “thank-you” note or e-mail.

What other tips can you offer when conducting interviews for blog posts and articles?

Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and editor who also works as a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing. She’s currently looking for a few more blogs to promote Frances Caballo’s book Avoid Social Media Time Suck: A Blueprint for Writers Who Want to Create Online Buzz for Their Books and Still Have Time to Write. You can contact her at renee@wow-womenonwriting.com.

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2 comments freelance writing, interviewing sources, Renee Roberson, tips for conducting article interviews, writing advice, writing for magazines and newspapers