Weekly Geeks - Author Interviews

Aha! a Weekly Geek topic that I've been meaning to talk about! Bernadette of Reactions To Reading, poses us this challenge:

Having recently been told that I'm odd because I'm not terribly interested in author interviews I've started to ponder whether there are two types of readers...those who stick to the books versus those who like to know more about the author's background, thoughts, motivations and writing process.

I must be odd, too (like that's a surprise). I like to know a little bit about an author, but to be perfectly honest, I find most of the author interviews in the blogosphere kind of boring, and especially when there's a "tour" and there are a 6 or 8 bloggers asking the same questions of the same person. Truth be told, I'm just not that interested in what inspires the author or what color their cat is or what music he or she listens to while writing. I know that sounds cold. Sorry.

There are exceptions. I'll confess I went a little cuckoo for JR Ward's site and forum when my fandom was at its most rabid. Eventually I eased out of that "world" for a few reasons not really relevant here, and I mostly don't participate heavily on author sites any more.

So, what about you?

* Do you seek out interviews with authors of books you've enjoyed? Why or why not?

* Do you interview authors on your blog? If yes what did you gain from the interview process? If no is it because you don't want to or because you haven't felt able to ask an author yet?

* Do you subscribe to the blogs of authors you like? Which ones? All the authors you like or only certain ones?

So, no, I don't do interviews here for the most part and I rarely go out of my way to read them. Not because I find authors unapproachable (quite the opposite, usually!); it's just not my thing.

I don't put author blogs on my blog roll, just as a matter of policy. I would feel pressured to add someone to the roll if I feel friendly toward the author but found the last book just OK, as a for instance, and I don't need that kind of angst about something I do here for fun.

I do follow some author blogs more than others but I'm not really religious about following any of them. I mean, good writing is good writing, whether the result is a book or a blog post, so yeah, many of them are entertaining. But honestly, just in general I'm in kind of a lull right now about how many blogs I want to read regularly; I've been reading fewer of my "regulars" and less often as it is. I do like to check in and see what the news is about their releases though.

* Do you track down author websites or look for biographical information about them elsewhere? Would you skip reading a book if you couldn't find out anything about its author?

* Have you hosted an author on a blog tour? Was it someone whose books you already read or did it introduce you to a new author?

When reviewing a new author, I usually do check out the website. I like to know about the book in context with the author's other work; sometimes my review will take into account whether it's a debut book or not. Sometimes authobiographic information is interesting relative to the story -- like JR Ward's previous profession as a lawyer, or Robyn Carr's nursing education.

I am sometimes frustrated if there's no site, or a badly maintained site, but it absolutely won't stop me from reading a book. (I mean, I started reading when the only way to contact an author was to write an actual letter, on paper, and send it to their publisher.) It makes it harder to help promote an author though, if I haven't got a clue about what's coming out next from them. I've seen a big improvement on this in the two years I've been blogging. It used to be that a lot of established authors would have a really crummy site, or maybe a beautiful site with a letter to the readers dated a year and a half ago. I don't see that as much any more.

I've done some blog tours but I usually just do a review and maybe a giveaway.

Bottom line is, I'm afraid I can't deny that when it comes to authors, I'm really just after one thing. I'm not that interested in developing a relationship or indulging in small talk. Don't really want to know about your baggage. I just want to run my fingers over the luscious swells of your embossed titles; inhale that new-book smell; and plunge into the depths of your pages.

Authors, I'm sorry. The truth is, I'm only using you for your stories.

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