100 Unusual Interview Questions – Creating an Electronic Media Kit for Authors – Part One

In this first article of the Creating an Electronic Media Kit for Authors series, we’ll talk about the purpose of a media kit and provide a list of questions that you can use to get started making a Question and Answer sheet for your kit.

A media kit — aka. press room, media or promotion packet— is a collection of items that make it easy for someone from the media to do their job. In this case, that job is to write about you and your book. It’s like chefs on TV or YouTube teaching how to make a recipe. By the time they are filming, they’ve already got every item on the ingredient list premeasured and ready-to-to.

Press kits are everything that a media person needs (in resume quality) right at their fingertips. Who might want access to your press kit? Book reviewers, bloggers, literary agents, publishing houses, newspaper or magazine journalists, podcasters, talk show and radio producers or YouTubers… anyone who is a content creator.

Press kits are also dynamic; they change and grow with you and your career. Start with one piece and add to your kit as your awards, accomplishments, and media coverage grows.

Below is a list of 100 unusual questions, categorized, for you to pick and choose from to create a Question and Answer Sheet for your media kit. The purpose of the question and answer sheet is to provide enough information so that a reporter could write a complete piece about you, using direct quotes.

At the end of the post, you’ll find a downloadable PDF of the 100 questions, links to websites with more questions, and a link to my Author Question & Answer Sheet for an example of a completed press kit item.

Lifestyle

1. Around the house – bare feet, flip flops, clogs, fuzzy socks or slippers?
2. Do you make your bed in the morning or leave it in a rumple?
3. Do you kill bugs or leave them alone?
4. Are you a morning person or a night person?
5. Describe a time when you felt like you were being watched.
6. What is in the backseat or trunk of your car right now?
7. If you could eliminate one task from your daily schedule, what would it be?
8. Name something you dislike doing so much that you’ll pay someone else to do it.
9. What internet site do you visit the most?
10. What is your favorite social media site and why?
11. What is your ideal pet and why?
12. You’re about to be dropped in a remote spot for a three-week survival test. Where would you go? What three tools would you take?
13. You are a member of the tourist board for your town where. Name five things to do that would appeal to visitors.
14. Do you play a musical instrument?
15. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?
16. What is the craziest thing you’ve done in your life?
17. Describe a strange habit.
18. When was the last time you were in a situation that was difficult to get out of? What did you do?
19. Name some of the things that have the strongest distraction pulls.
20. What do you do for exercise?
21. What do you eat for breakfast most of the time?
22. You’ve won a second home anywhere in the world. Where is it?
23. Name something you’d like to get rid of but keep putting off.

Tastes / Preferences

24. What is your favorite love story?
25. Describe a special or meaningful object that you have in your house.
26. If you could visit the past or future, which one would you choose? Why?
27. You can go out to dinner at any restaurant, which one do you choose?
28. Do you have a coffee shop that you frequent? Why do you go there?
29. What are your three favorite animals?
30. What is your favorite spectator sport?
31. What is your favorite sport to play?
32. Which holiday is most relaxing and fun?
33. Pen, pencil or…?
34. TV, Movies or Binge watching?
35. It’s a special celebration date. Would you rather go to dinner and a movie out or stay home?
36. What is your favorite drink?
37. Name and describe a living person that you most admire.
38. You’ve just won an office make-over. What color do you choose for your workspace?
39. Where was a place you’ve visited on vacation that you’d go back to tomorrow?
40. What type of coffee do you order most often?
41. Do you have a favorite brand of tea?

Personality

42. If you had to choose an animal to represent you as an avatar, mascot or spirit totem, which animal would it be?
43. What makes you run screaming?
44. If someone gave you a boat, what would you name it?
45. Describe a personality trait of someone in your family.
46. If your life was a movie, would it be a drama, comedy, action/adventure, or science fiction?
47. Are you a summer, fall, winter, or spring person?
48. You are about to get a tattoo. Where will it go and what will be the design?
49. Name something that makes you uncomfortable or anxious.
50. You’re about to live through a natural disaster or other traumatic experience. What kind of disaster or experience is it?
51. Think about punctuation marks. Which one would you pick to describe your personality and why?
52. One being the highest and ten being the lowest, rate your happiness level right now.
53. If you were a salad dressing, what kind would you be?
54. What is the most important part of a sandwich?
55. If you were a car, what make and model would you be?
56. You are a teacher for a day. What is your subject and who are your students?
57. Tell the story about one of your scars.
58. Sing in the rain, dance in the streets, hum in the shower or…?
59. Describe your handwriting.
60. You are the guest of honor at a large event. When you arrive, the room is already full. How do they react when you come in?
61. Describe your first crush.
62. What qualities do you most admire in your friends?
63. If you were an animal in a zoo, which animal would you be?
64. Name something that makes you cry.
65. What types of situations make you angry?
66. What strikes your funny bone?
67. What’s fun?

Wishes / Thoughts / Dreams

68. What is the best thing you’ve accomplished in life so far?
69. Does Prince Charming or the Fairy Godmother exist?
70. You’re about to get a superpower. What is it and why do you want it?
71. Name three things that you think will be obsolete in ten years.
72. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
73. You’ve just been bitten by a vampire / werewolf / zombie / charmed snake. What do you do next?
74. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
75. You remain perfectly healthy and have unlimited financial resources but you only have the next six months to live, what do you do?
76. You just won twenty million in a state lottery, what is the first thing you do?
77. What adventures are on your bucket list?
78. Which talent would you most like to have?
79. You’ve just been elected President, what is the first problem you plan to solve?
80. List something you’d like to accomplish before you die.

Writing

81. How old were you when you first started writing?
82. If you had to describe an author platform in three sentences to a six-year-old, how would describe it?
83. What year did you complete your first book?
84. If you could do a book over again, what would you do differently with the story arc, plot, characters, scenes, production or marketing?
85. What was your favorite scene or character to write?
86. Have you re-edited and re-released any titles?
87. Is there a time frame or subject area that you’d like to work with?
88. Have you traveled to research writing projects? Where to?
89. After you’ve spent a long time cranking out pages, do you feel energized or exhausted?
90. In what situations, do you grow tired of reading?
91. Describe some of your author friends. How do they help improve your writing skills?
92. After you published a book or two, how has your writing process changed?
93. What was the best financial investment you made as an author?
94. What is your definition of being a successful author?
95. Describe your research process.
96. What time periods of life do you find yourself writing about the most? (childhood, teen, adult, elder)
97. What books, articles, or authors influenced you the most or made you think differently?
98. Do you hide any secrets in your writing that only a few people know about?
99. What are the most difficult types of scenes to write?
100. If you could live as one of your characters for a day, which one would it be?

100-Unusual-Interview-Questions PDF

Click here if you’re curious to see my Question & Answer page in my Author Media Room.

Resources for Additional Interview Questions:

https://jlwylie.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/brainstorm-interesting-author-interview-questions/

http://thejohnfox.com/2016/06/good-questions-to-ask-an-author/

http://chrissypeebles.blogspot.com/p/fun-interviews.html

https://toughnickel.com/finding-job/Off-The-Wall

http://www.howmate.com/funny-questions-to-ask-friends/

http://thewritepractice.com/proust-questionnaire/

http://seanajvixen.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-fun-questions-tag.html

Color and Personality Resource:

What color says about your personality.

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6 Elements of a News Release – Creating an Electronic Media Kit for Authors- Part Two