Simple Questions: June 30, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome readers,

Have you ever wanted to ask something but you didn't feel like it deserved its own post but it isn't covered by one of our other scheduled posts? Allow us to introduce you to our new Simple Questions thread! Twice a week, every Tuesday and Saturday, a new Simple Questions thread will be posted for you to ask anything you'd like. And please look for other questions in this thread that you could also answer! A reminder that this is not the thread to ask for book recommendations. All book recommendations should be asked in /r/suggestmeabook or our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

Thank you and enjoy!

[u/CaffeineFiend_02]

Hi everyone! I've gotten into indie books and ARC reading this year, and as a passion project, started interviewing the authors who wrote them.

So far, I've been asking the same/similar questions each time to authors whose books I've finished. But I figured other readers might have other questions or a different direction that they'd want to go. I also don't necessarily want to finish a book in order to interview someone -- too many books in my TBR, so little time lol.

So, if you could interview an author, what would you want to know?

Here's what I've been asking so far:

• Where are you from? 
• What genres do you like to write, and how would you describe your ideal reader/target audience?
• How would you describe yourself?
• What has your publishing journey been like, especially with your first novel “Insert Title” 
• Who has been your support system on your writing journey?
• If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
• What are your essentials to have when writing? 
• What’s your creative process like? (i.e., do you like to plan everything out before writing, have just a general outline to guide you, or start with a blank page and see where it takes you?)
• When you’re not writing, what are you up to? 
• Do you have any favorite authors/books? 
• What things have you been into lately? These can be book-related or not ☺️
• What do you love most about your upcoming release “Insert Title”? 
• What’s something you hope readers take away from your writing? 
• What’s one scene/subplot that you decided to cut out from the final draft? 
• How can readers get in touch with you? 

[u/pithyretort → u/CaffeineFiend_02]

I also don't necessarily want to finish a book in order to interview someone -- too many books in my TBR, so little time lol.

I like going to author talks and listening to interview podcasts including author interviews, and I can't imagine listening to one where the interviewer couldn't even be bothered to read one book by the author. Why go to the effort of doing an interview if you aren't interested enough in their work to read it?

[u/CaffeineFiend_02 → u/pithyretort]

That's a good point! I think I worded this poorly. So far I've been finishing ARCs before asking the author to interview them. However, I'm finding that their answers are super interesting, and they give me a different perspective on their work that I wish I knew more about them *before* going into their book. It's like it enhances my reading experience, and I want other readers to feel just as excited to read their story after as I was.

For example, I read an ARC with Appalachian folklore. After interviewing the author, I found out she used to work environmental jobs and even got certified as a firefighter - all thinks that relate to her MCs in the book and I realized she sprinkled a bit of herself in her characters. It made me want to reread her book all over again now that I knew more info!

However, since I create interactive flipbooks and IG carousels from their interview, I'm realizing this project takes a long time to format + design (2-3 days since I work full-time). If I waited to send an author questions until after finishing their book, I wouldn't be able to keep up with its weekly posting schedule. Authors are understandably busy, so sometimes it takes a week or two just to hear back from them.

I hope this clears it up, and I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression in my first post!

[u/pithyretort → u/CaffeineFiend_02]

If you like the experience of knowing more about a book/author before reading it, seems more logical to me to just do a little research on the author before reading and have even more foundation for the questions you ask them after rather than watering down your own product with generic questions.

Personally half the fun is hearing what questions other people come up with, but for generic/evergreen questions, it's always interesting to hear what the best thing is they've read lately.

[u/CaffeineFiend_02 → u/pithyretort]

Thanks, I appreciate your input! With a lot of these indie authors, there isn't much info about them online since they have a very small following. Hence why I wanted to ask questions that would get other readers excited to read their work!

Here's an example: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbWBwd2Du6B/?igsh=MXFuM2M1Yng5cHJnMQ==

I love that you included a question about what they've loved reading lately - all of the authors I've interviewed so far have mentioned their favorite writers and books/series, it's super fun to see who they look up to!