Getting Started (Part 12): E-mail Interviews

By Joanne D. Kiggins

E-mail interviews can be convenient for you and your subject when an interviewee is in another time zone or too busy to participate in a face-to-face or telephone interview.

Interviewing by e-mail can also be as valuable and effective as a personal interview once you’ve mastered the interviewing process.

You’ll still need to research your subject and carefully compose your list of questions.  Whether interviewing face-to-face, by telephone, or e-mail, you should still show your professionalism.

There are several benefits to e-mail interviews:

--Allows you a wider range of experts around the globe without leaving your office.

--Alleviates travel time, expense, or cost for long distance telephone calls.

--Trains you as the interviewer to be more specific with questions.

--Allows subject time to respond and contemplate his answers.

--No pressure on either you or your subject to make a face-to-face impression.

--Interviewee sometimes responds in greater detail.

--Shy or hesitant subjects may be more likely to agree to interview by e-mail.

--Less effort in e-mailing questions to several sources for a broad spectrum of opinions, quotes, and background information on short notice.

--E-mail interviews give you a written record, confirmation, and documentation of information.

--Excellent and quick way to follow up or verify information.

While e-mail interviewing has its benefits, it can be less effective:

--The personal touch might be missing; your observations of the subject’s environment, physical characteristics, actions, etc., cannot be observed.

--Though you’ve chosen your questions carefully, as with any interview, e-mail interviewing may leave you with inadequate information.

--Doesn’t allow the natural conversation for interviewee to expand on questions or the interviewer to clarify answers immediately.

--Interviewer is unable to ask on the spot, or spur of the moment questions concerning something new the interviewee may have said.

--Leaves no room to probe into other areas of interest.

--You may get a canned answer to your zinger question.  E-mail interviews don’t allow you the ability to ask split second questions.

--Doesn’t allow you the opportunity to take pictures during the interview.

During the Absolute Write Idol contest, one of the weekly writing prompts was the seventh grade.  Contestants could write about anything concerning the seventh grade and I chose to write about author Everett L. Gracey because his story left such an impression on me.  I wanted to include quotes from the author. His book had been written years ago, so I wasn’t sure the author was still around.  Through a search engine I found Mr. Gracey alive, well, and enjoying life with his wife of 64 years.  I obtained some wonderful quotes; found out his book, From a 13-Year-Old Hobo to an Entrepreneur, is in its third edition, and his agent has written a movie script for the book; and he sent me an autographed copy I’ll cherish for years to come. 

All these things would not have been possible for me to have known or experienced had it not been for e-mail interviewing.

It was a simple interview, introducing myself, explaining my reason for the e-mail, and asking a few questions about his life and book. 

Here is the original e-mail:

Dear Mr. Gracey,

I’ve read your book From a 13-Year-Old Hobo to an Entrepreneur and believe this is an excellent tool to help the children of today deal with problems.  I was quite happy to see it on the seventh grade reading list.

I’ve been a freelance writer for nearly 30 years and I am currently competing in a writing competition in which I would like to reference your childhood and your book.

Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions which I would like to include in my article and quote you as answering?

When confronted with the numerous obstacles in your childhood, what was the one thought that motivated you to continue trying?

Have you ever had the opportunity to see or meet with your seventh grade teacher after all these years, and if so, how did she react?

If you’ve not had this opportunity, what would you like to say to her now?

Do I have your permission to use the picture from your website in my article?

Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Gracey.  I appreciate any comments or answers you are willing to make.

Yours truly,

Joanne D. Kiggins

As you can see, the questions were few, short, and to the point.  These few questions were all I needed to add a personal touch to my article.  The original article can be read here for those interested to see how quotes from the interview were used.

If you choose to do an e-mail interview:

*Make sure you inform the interviewee that you may have follow up questions pertaining to specific answers you receive.  So you may be playing e-mail tag to obtain more information if needed.

*When photographs are needed, be sure to request the type and size you’ll need for your article, and ask the interviewee to submit those with his return e-mail.

*Make sure you choose and word your questions carefully to receive the most adequate information possible.  You may not have the opportunity to get a second chance for follow-ups.

*Don’t forget to send a thank you when the interview is complete.  A link to the article or hard copy could also be sent after publication.  Following up with these two simple courtesies is another way of showing your professionalism.

E-mail interviewing can be a great resource for some.  I’ve conducted many and they turned out wonderful.  Even with saying that, I still feel I’ve missed something when I can’t meet the interviewee personally.  Somehow I feel cheated.  To me there’s nothing more satisfying than meeting the person, speaking with him directly, and taking those all-important photographs.  I’ll go for the personal, fact-to-face interviews every chance I get.  I will say I’m happy e-mail interviews are available to writers.  If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people.

Joanne will accept questions by e-mail about writing from readers and answer those questions in her column.

E-mail Joannemailto:joannedkiggins@comcast.net

Visit her site at http://home.comcast.net/~joannedkiggins

Joanne Kiggins has published more than 2,500 articles. She was award recipient of the 1990 Woman of the Year for Beaver County, Pennsylvania, for her accomplishments in her community and excellence in journalism.

She was on the staff of Slippery Rock University teaching her copyrighted writing course "Sell What You Write" and Creative and Freelance writing.  She has appeared on television and radio, hosted several Writers' Conferences, and spoke for many conferences and writer's organizations.  Her most recent articles were published in ByLine Magazine, Absolute Write, and Moondance.org.

For more columns by Joanne (Stanko) Kiggins, please click here.

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