For What It's Worth


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Review: The Disrespectful Interviewer by Lauren Baratz-Logstead


17840751Just what the title promises! Thirteen disrespectful interviews with authors, including: Chris Cleave, Jon Clinch, Tish Cohen, Joseph Finder, Kristy Kiernan, A.S. King, J.A. Konrath, Greg Logsted, Lisa McMann, Lynn Price, Lev Raphael, Adriana Trigiana...and Lauren Baratz-Logsted - discover new favorites and see some of your favorite authors, like you've never seen them before!

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Source: Copy of book provided by author for my honest review

Review:
As a blogger, I’ve had to do my share of author interviews, and they have been the most stressful part of blogging for me. I’m horrible at interviews! At this point, I just try to avoid them.

I imagine the authors at home receiving yet another batch of – “What made you decide to become a writer? What motivated you to write this book?” They roll their eyes and try to answer the same question they’ve gotten 100 times in a new and exciting way. Kind of like an actor on those press junkets for movies. They seem like the want to rip the reporters head off or nap through the interview in a fit of extreme boredom.

I was hoping that The Disrespectful Interviewer would help me approach interviews in a new light. Bartaz-Logstead is indeed, as the title suggests, quite disrespectful, but always in a loving way that encourages a thoughtful/witty response and not in a way that makes the author defensive. I could never ask some the questions she does but the book did encourage me to take a more laid back approach and think outside the box. Basically, we could all stand to lighten up and not take ourselves too seriously. Sometimes a *disrespectful* question provides more insight to an authors personality.

A few interviews felt like an inside joke between friends that I wasn't getting but the majority have a fun, conversational flow, while others read like you're attending a celebrity roast. The best ones were when the author was "in on the joke" and gave back as good as they got.

The Disrespectful interviewer is a collection of 13 interviews, originally seen in the Writer-in-Residence column for BiblioBufffet e-zine, between 2009-2010 but read as a book, several of the questions were repeated often enough that I had to take a break from reading. On the positive side, the questions are posed in a way that no author could answer the same way twice. They really encouraged discussion.

Kristy Kiernan, Lev Raphael, Adriana Trigiani and J.A. Konrath were standouts. I would say that they became disrespectful interviewee's but it made for hilarious reading.

11 comments:

  1. Well, this sounds interesting! I really try to ask different questions that the author hasn't answered a zillion times (reading some older interviews can be painful, especially when they DO all ask the same questions) but I still imagine the author sighing and rolling his/her eyes at my interview.

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    1. I'm sure they do for mine lol

      The book helped me think a different way about interviews even though most of the questions I couldn't ask of a stranger without them shaming me on twitter as a jerk lol

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  2. I do go with the same old same old, I wish I could write better ones

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  3. I feel you about interviews my thing is I want to ask and get info on something "unique". Now I try to do series/book 101 with a loose set of questions. I know they get tired of answering the questions but that's part of the book tour/promo so I just squeeze in random stuff.

    I would want to read this too, I'll take advice and tips where I can get them.

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    1. I have awesome questions in my head when there's no one to interview. then I forget when the time comes lol

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  4. This sounds hilarious!! I do try and come up with unique questions when doing interviews, but it's very difficult!! I would hate to be the one who had to ANSWER all the same questions over and over.

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    1. Yes! And what one author finds fun another might be - oh those are silly questions. I never know how to approach it.

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  5. I just look at Jenny from the Supernatural Snark when she interviews and turn green with envy. I don't write them well so maybe I need to check out this book too. :)

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    1. Jenny's great at everything lol

      This were so disrespectful that I could never ask the same questions of a stranger but I still found it helpful. It hunk it's more about relaxing and making it more conversational. I'll need to work on it.

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  6. I'm very curious about this! I hate doing interviews too, especially with a book I haven't read. I know it must be annoying, but I'm not a journalist. Lol
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I always enjoy Lauren.

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