Tag: author interviews

The Hubris of the Long-Distance Podcaster.

Ears like this would help.

That pesky podcasting journey. We left off last time as I burbled confidently about the software required to record author interviews. I seem to recall mentioning that familiarity with the geekery was all it took. It turns out though, that you have to make a few more mistakes before all is well in the poddyverse. Just in case you fancy popping some interviews on your website for fun, traffic and interactivity, here are some of the things I learned the hard way.

I had already made a few decisions about the interviews themselves. I’ve been interviewed enough myself to know the frustrations of being asked all the wrong things by someone who clearly hasn’t read the right book, so I wanted the end result to be pleasing to the author. At the same time, I wanted to get a little beyond the usual verbal press release. I hoped to find areas of common ground, get a bit psychological maybe and of course have a fine old chat and a bit of a laugh. That’s a tall order with someone you can’t see and have never met so I plumped to semi-prepare us. Continue reading “The Hubris of the Long-Distance Podcaster.”

Meet the Author: Lynne Cantwell

Author Lynne Cantwell
Author Lynne Cantwell

Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. Lynne’s education includes a journalism degree from Indiana University, a master’s degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University, and a paralegal certificate. She lives near Washington, DC.

Lynne says her greatest strength as a writer is in writing first drafts. “Most of my broadcast journalism experience was in radio. When you have ten minutes to write a five-minute newscast, you just don’t have time for a lot of revision. Also, radio news departments are typically so small that you don’t have an editor – nobody else looks over your copy before you read it on the air. So you learn to write clean copy. It may not be deathless prose, but it will get you through your newscast without generating outraged calls from your listeners. Usually.” Continue reading “Meet the Author: Lynne Cantwell”

Book Brief: A New Way to Spotlight Your Work

Indies Unlimited is pleased to announce a new feature to help put the spotlight on authors and their books.

Book Brief is a is a simple Q&A type combination feature that includes a book blurb, a mini-interview about the book, a picture of the book cover, a review excerpt, and purchase links for the book.

These features focus on the book rather than the author. See some examples of the Book Brief feature HERE and HERE.

If you are interested in making a submission for a Book Brief, please query first by using the form on the contact page. Please include a link to your book from Amazon, Smashwords, or another major online retailer when you query. Select the appropriate department from the drop down menu, and let us know how you’d like to participate. We look forward to hearing from you.

Meet the Author: Chris James

Author Chris James
Author Chris James

Chris James is an English science fiction writer who was born in Hampton Hill near London in 1967. In 1998 he moved to Warsaw, Poland, where he lives with his wife and three children. He published his first novel in 2010, a futuristic court-room thriller called Class Action, and his second in 2011, called The Second Internet Café, Part 1: The Dimension Researcher, which takes the sub-genre of Alternative Realities to its logical conclusion. He is currently writing the second part of The Second Internet Café trilogy.

Chris says when he writes, he concentrates on replicating what he enjoys most as a reader: a fast pace in the story, emotional involvement with the characters, and action, as well as story continuity that works. “Many things can take me out of a story that I’m reading: bad writing, bad editing, plot points that don’t make sense, clunky and dull exposition. These are all the things I try very hard to avoid when I write.”

Originalty and an interesting premise are important to Chris in his work. “Class Action came from one thought: what would happen if there was a technology that could see into the brain and extract everything, which made it impossible for suspects to lie under oath? The Second Internet Café came from: wouldn’t it be cool if there was a place where scientists knew where every single alternative reality was, and sent special researchers to go and investigate them?” Continue reading “Meet the Author: Chris James”