How to come up with good questions for a Q&A

In book blogging author interviews are a great way to post something about an author and every single one is different, because we all ask a different mixture of questions. I have hosted a lot of authors already and I hope there will be many more. I have seen different types of questions and I thought, we not explain, how I come up with them, so here we go!

Most of the time I try to post a Q&A around an author’s pub date, so questions about the book are the first thing! It’s always best to start off with what the story is about, so that your blog readers get an idea about the book. You might know the story already, but your readers don’t, so give them a chance to get to know the author and their book. Then there is also the inspiration for it and what led the author to write it. You can also ask about the writing process here. Of course a popular one is the characters as well. Who are the main  characters? What makes them special? If you like the cover of the book or maybe all the author's covers in general, ask about the cover artist. 
When the pub date is not that close, just ask about their latest book first.

I always feel that after talking about „THE“ book, change the topic a bit and then go back to older books the author has written. There you ask similar questions.

My first questions is actually not connected to the book, but to the writer. Is it their dream job? How did they get into it? After talking about that and the book obviously, I will mix in some personal questions about the country they love or live in, another job they have/had, their writing habits, their personal tastes. In between of course get back to other books they have written. Since they are all authors, they are all interested in books and writing. It’s always interesting to ask about their faveourite authors and books that had a big impact on their life and writing. Instead of asking Who are your favourite authors? though I always phrase it differently.

Something us bloggers are always curious about is their current work. What are you working on at the moment? is a really popular question ;) It always gets me really excited.

The personal things can be realted to their hobbies, their blog or also daily life. One of my favourite questions is „THE MOVIE“ question. I always cast actors and actresses for the characters in the books and that’s why I always want to know what the authors think themselves and who they want to play their characters.

In the end I always give them some „This or That“ questions, they are always fun and give you a little insight to their personality.

Even if your not interviewing an author, but someone else you can do what I did here. I think the  most important tzhings ist o always mix questions up. Ask about their profession, but also keep a variety of questions to make it more interesting. A lot of people say don’t always ask the same questions. I kind of agree with that, but I still have some questions that I always ask, because they are all authors. When it comes to more personal things I change them and adapt them. I always go to the author’s website and find out morw about them furst. Then I can up up with specific questions.

I hope this post gave you some insight of how I create my questions I also hope I was able to help you a little. If you want me to write about about other blogging things and tips, then please let me know.