One of today’s topics for Armchair BEA is author interaction. Although NetGalley sometimes gives the option for author interviews and I’ve occasionally been approached by publishers, I never opt in. I’m not sure why. Part of it is certainly shyness/nerves, another is not wanting to pelt the poor author with dull questions. (Which are always at top of mind in those situations, right? not the interesting ones we come up with when we are pretending to be Terry Gross on Fresh Air. Because we all do that, right? Not just me.) One thing I have been trying to do better is connect with authors on Twitter, and so far I’ve had interactions with authors including Bonnie Jo Campbell (@bonniejocampbel), author of American Salvage and Once Upon a River; and Kim Church (@akchurch), author of Byrd. American Salvage was in my Favorite Reads list for 2013, and so far Byrd is top of my list this year.
Maybe I’ll tweet my way into interviewing an author this year…who knows?
The Evening Reader 
I have been shy too! I have done author interviews twice, but boy oh boy, the amount of prep work I put into that because I was worried my questions were too dumb! I needn’t have worried – the author was really awesome.
I know what you mean, I’m shy too. I wouldn’t be able to think of spur of the moment questions but if I had time to write it, it’d be better. My favorite author lives in my town and I bet if I asked her she’d meet with my book club in person, I still haven’t done it! It’s not actually asking the author that’s making me nervous, I know she speaks with book clubs in our area all the time, it’s more asking my two best friends to read her book that might not be in their usual reading list.
Hope you are enjoying Armchair BEA!
Nice interactions! 😀 Twitter is amazing for connecting with authors and fellow book lovers. We live in an interesting time don’t we?
Wow, you’re pretty popular on Twitter! Sometimes I wonder how much time a day an author has to devote to responding to tweets and letters.
Athira, that’s good to hear! It gives me courage!
Tanya, I just read the story on your blog about meeting your favorite author. How cool you live in the same town! I know what you mean about asking friends to read a favorite author…sometimes it can be daunting. But I think most people are interested in hearing about how someone performed a creative act, even if the product of that act isn’t their “thing.” Thanks for visiting!
Jennifer, I love Twitter for that reason. I would also love Facebook except there’s just so much junk in addition to the good stuff. I hope Twitter doesn’t go that way…
Danielle, not popular so much as lucky! The authors I’ve interacted with have been friendly, but then I assume they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t want to interact. Some of my favorite authors aren’t on Twitter at all.
Isn’t twitter great? It’s low pressure, and it’s such a thrill when you get a reply!