I love getting authors, editors, agents or other publishing folk involved and contributing to Track of Words, whether that means running interviews to discuss upcoming books, or publishing guest posts talking about all manner of interesting SFF topics. If you’re an author or publishing professional working in the science fiction, fantasy and/or horror genres and you’re interested in requesting an interview or pitching a guest post, you can find all the details here regarding what I’m looking for and how to get in touch.
For authors interested in requesting a review, please also see here.
Considerations and Expectations
It’s not essential, but I’m more likely to accept interview requests and guest post pitches from authors who I’ve interacted with before or whose books I’ve read (especially in terms of indie/self-pubbed books). I love chatting on Twitter, so feel free to follow me on there and join in the general SFF conversation before getting in touch.
Here are some things to consider before you get in touch:
- If we’ve worked on an interview or guest post before, go ahead and get in touch using the same method as last time (email, Twitter DM etc.) or one of the options I’ll mention below, and mention the last thing we worked on together
- If we haven’t done an interview/guest post before but I’ve reviewed one or more of your books, please point out the review(s) in your message
- If we haven’t done an interview/guest post before and I haven’t reviewed any of your work, please include in your message a bit about yourself and why you think you’ll be a good fit for the site
As with review requests, I can never guarantee that I’ll be able to arrange an interview or accept a guest post pitch. I will always do my best to reply to requests and pitches as quickly as possible, but please bear with me if I don’t get back to you right away.
If I don’t think a suggested interview or guest post would be right for the site, or if I’m not going to have time to arrange it, I’ll say so straight away.
If we do agree on an interview or a guest post, here’s what you can expect I will do:
- Publish the interview/guest post on Track of Words
- Post a link to the interview/guest post on Facebook and on Twitter (I mostly use Twitter, and I usually tweet about interviews/guest posts at least two or three times after publishing them)
- Include a link to the interview/guest post in my next weekly Ko-Fi roundup
- Include a link to the interview/guest post in my next Monthly Roundup post on Track of Words
For any interviews/guest posts that we do conduct, please also help me out by sending author photos, bios etc. (including social links) for me to include in the post!
Author Interviews
I’m always interested to hear from authors or anyone else involved in publishing, and interviews are generally very popular on the site.
Below are some suggested topics of conversation, with links out to examples of what I’ve published previously, but these are just a few options – the possibilities are endless!
- Discussing new or upcoming books – an overview of what readers can expect, what the writing process was like, etc.
- Check out my Rapid Fire series of Black Library author interviews, and my Author Interview series of broader SFF author interviews
- Talking about the writing process (or the editing/publishing process) and/or offering advice and inspiration to those interested in writing
- Check out my Writing Resources page for links to a range of ‘Writing for Black Library’ interviews
- Looking in detail at particular books or series, interesting themes, and writing careers as a whole
- Check out my In-depth Interviews page for links to loads of examples, including both single-author and multi-author interviews
If/when you do request an interview, you can email me at michael@trackofwords.com or use the contact form.
Please include the following information in your message:
- Why you’re interested in an interview (do you have a new book due out? Is there something in particular you want to discuss?)
- What sort of interview you’re interested in (a quick overview? Something longer and more in depth?)
- Whether there is a time frame for when you would like to do the interview (would it be part of a blog tour, or otherwise tie in with a book’s release?)
If I am interested in a suggested interview and we can agree on timings etc, I will put some questions together and organise the rest with you in due course. I normally conduct most interviews by email (certainly shorter ones) but we can discuss other options if a voice or video call would be best for you, and if I can fit that in.
Guest Posts
SFF authors and other publishing professionals are very welcome to pitch guest posts to Track of Words. I can’t pay you, but if that doesn’t put you off then I would love to hear from you!
I’m generally looking for posts from 500 words and upwards (with no upper word count limit, but particularly long posts might work best as a series). You can find some examples of previous guest posts I’ve published on Track of Words here.
I’m keen to hear what you would like to write about, but here are some suggestions:
- Guest reviews – either books you’ve recently read and loved, or classic SFF stories that have influenced you as a writer and/or reader
- Commentary on industry trends
- Exploration of interesting themes from your recent/upcoming book
- The inspirations behind your stories
- Authors or books that have influenced you as a writer
- ‘Best books of…’ retrospectives – end of year, 6 months, etc.
- Upcoming books you’re excited about
If/when you do pitch a guest post, you can email me at michael@trackofwords.com or use the contact form.
Please include the following in your message:
- A two or three sentence pitch explaining what you would like to write about
- A rough idea of how long you expect the piece to be
- Whether there’s a time frame attached (it’s part of a blog tour, etc.)
If I think the pitch sounds good I’ll let you know, and we can take it from there. I’m happy to help with planning articles if you’d like, and reviewing/editing once you’ve written a draft.
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Thanks in advance for any interview requests and/or guest post pitches – even if I can’t commit to something, I’m very grateful for you reaching out!
Michael.