Questions to Ask Book Authors
Questions for interviewing an author about a specific book, at a bookstore event, on a podcast, or in a classroom. They cover how the book got written, what was cut, and how the publishing side actually worked.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What made you start writing this particular book?
Why ask it
Most authors have one moment, argument, or grievance they can name. If you get a line straight off the jacket copy instead, they are on autopilot and you will need a follow-up to get past the script.
How long was it from the first note to the finished manuscript?
Why ask it
The number matters less than what sits inside it. A book that took nine years usually contains an abandoned structure or a false start, and that is the part worth asking about next.
Where and when do you actually do the writing?
Why ask it
Concrete answers, a kitchen table before the children wake, a rented room above a shop, tell you more about a working writer's life than any answer about discipline will.
How different is the finished book from the first draft?
Why ask it
Comparing drafts surfaces real decisions rather than themes: a narrator who changed sex, a thesis that reversed, a middle section that turned out to belong in a different book.
How did you gather the material?
Why ask it
Listen for whether they name archives, interviews, or fieldwork. An author who only says they read widely may be building on other people's summaries rather than on sources.
Which chapter gave you the most trouble?
Why ask it
Naming one chapter forces specificity, and it is usually where the book's central problem lived. A vague answer here often means the difficulty was emotional rather than technical, which is worth following gently.
What did you cut that you still miss?
Why ask it
Cut material is the most honest map of what the book decided not to be. Writers tend to remember exactly what went and whether the editor was right about it.
What surprised you while you were working on it?
Why ask it
Works for fiction and non-fiction alike. If nothing surprised them, the book may have been written to confirm what the author already believed before starting.
How did you build the characters, or organize the argument?
Why ask it
Offering both halves lets the question fit whatever they write. Novelists usually answer with voice, non-fiction writers with structure, and that difference tells you where their attention goes.
Who read it before your publisher did, and what did they change your mind about?
Why ask it
Asking what changed their mind gets past a polite thank-you to your editor and lands on a specific revision, which is where the craft conversation actually starts.
Which writers taught you the most about sentences?
Why ask it
Sentence-level influence is more revealing than a list of favorite books. Expect answers about cadence, dialogue tags, and paragraph length rather than plot.
What do you do on the days when the writing will not come?
Why ask it
Phrasing it as a working problem avoids the term writer's block, which many authors reject and will bat away. You tend to get a practical answer: walking, retyping yesterday's page, changing rooms.
Who did you picture reading this?
Why ask it
An author who can describe one specific reader has usually written a focused book. An answer of anyone and everyone often means the book lacks a center, and the reviews will have said so.
What do you hope somebody still remembers a year after finishing it?
Why ask it
Separates the argument they made from the effect they wanted, and often produces the one line the author most wants quoted back.
How much say did you have over the title and the cover?
Why ask it
Both are frequently decided by the publisher's sales team. The answer shows how much control this author had and which arguments they lost, which is candid territory most interviews skip.
What part of publishing did nobody warn you about?
Why ask it
Opens up contracts, publicity schedules, and the long dead months between delivery and release. Especially useful if anyone in the room is hoping to publish a first book.
Do you read your reviews?
Why ask it
Kinder than asking about bad reviews and it reaches the same ground. Some authors read everything, some have a friend filter them, and either rule tells you how they protect the work.
Has writing books changed how you read them?
Why ask it
Many writers report reading less, or reading suspiciously, once they can see the joins. This gives the non-writers in the audience something they can use.
How does the writing fit around the rest of your life?
Why ask it
Practical rather than inspirational. Honest answers usually involve a day job, a grant, or a partner absorbing more than their share, which is worth hearing said out loud.
What are you working on now, and how is it different from this one?
Why ask it
Ends on work that is still unfixed, which is when authors are least rehearsed and most likely to think in front of you.
Interviewing an author well
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you sit down
- Read the book. If you could not finish it, say so early and honestly rather than bluffing, because authors can tell within two questions.
- Mark three passages with page numbers so you can quote rather than paraphrase. Authors respond differently to their own sentences read back to them.
- Search for two or three recent interviews. Anything asked in all of them is a question you can safely skip.
- Decide your first question and your last question in advance. Everything between those can follow the conversation.
Adjust for the setting
Bookstore or festival event
The audience has mostly not read the book yet, so early questions need to establish what it is about without turning into a summary. Leave the final fifteen minutes for audience questions and be ready to rephrase a rambling one.
Podcast or radio
Listeners have no page in front of them, so ask the author to read a short passage rather than describing it. Avoid questions that need a chart or a family tree to answer.
Classroom or book group
Everybody has read it, so skip the premise entirely and go straight to craft and cuts. Collect questions from the group beforehand so the same two people do not ask everything.
What tends to go wrong
- Asking about sales figures, advances, or how much they earn. It puts most authors on the defensive and rarely produces anything interesting.
- Asking a novelist how much of it is autobiographical in a way that sounds like an accusation. Ask instead what they had to research and what they already knew.
- Where do you get your ideas. Almost every author has a canned reply ready for this one.
- Pitching your own manuscript in the guise of a question. The audience notices immediately.
- Summarizing the book back at them for ninety seconds before arriving at the question.
Handling a stalled answer
- If an answer runs out after one sentence, ask for the example: which chapter, which reader, which draft.
- If they give you a rehearsed anecdote, let them finish and then ask what they have never been asked about the book.
- If a question misfires, name it and move on. Pretending it worked wastes more time than dropping it.
- Silence of two or three seconds usually produces the better half of the answer. Wait it out rather than filling it.