by Authors get asked variations of the same questions from 3 different directions: agents and editors during the query and acquisition process, media and podcast hosts once the book is out, and readers at events. Each one is testing something specific: whether you can pitch the book clearly, whether you understand the market you're publishing into, and whether you can talk about your own work without rambling.
Query-stage questions test your pitch and your market awareness. Media questions test whether you can talk about craft and story without reciting the back cover copy. Interviewers in both settings notice fast when an answer is generic enough to apply to any book.
These 20 questions cover the query, publishing-path, and platform questions that come up before a book deal, plus the craft and promotional questions that come after. Sample answers use an invented author and book; swap in your own title, genre, and numbers.
Author at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Typical settings | Home offices, libraries, coffee shops, and anywhere with a laptop |
| Median pay | $76,910 a year for writers and authors (BLS, May 2025); about 65% are self-employed |
| Job outlook | 0% projected change from 2025 to 2035, about 11,900 openings a year from turnover (BLS) |
| Education | A bachelor's degree, often in English, journalism, or communications, is typical for salaried writing roles; published authors come from every field |
| Publishing paths | Traditional (query an agent, then a publisher), small or independent press, or self-publishing through platforms like Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, or Draft2Digital |
| What interviewers test | Query and pitch clarity, revision process, platform and marketing plan, ability to discuss the book with specifics instead of jacket-copy language |
| Interview format | Agent and editor conversations during acquisition, media and podcast interviews before and after release, panel or festival Q&As |
How the interview process usually works
- Query stage. On the traditional path, you query agents with a letter and sample pages; the questions here test the pitch itself, not the finished book's reception.
- Acquisition calls. If an agent or editor wants the book, they ask about your revision process, other projects, and how you'll help promote it.
- Pre-publication media. Closer to release, podcasts, blogs, and local press ask craft and personal-story questions.
- Ongoing publicity. Festivals, book clubs, and later interviews repeat many of the same questions, so a consistent, specific answer matters more than a fresh one each time.
General and background questions
1. What's your background, and how did you start writing this book?
Why they ask: They want the real starting point, not a polished origin myth.
How to answer: Give a specific timeline and what triggered the project.
Sample answer: I spent 8 years as a paramedic before I started writing fiction, and this book grew out of a call I responded to in 2019 that I couldn't stop thinking about. I started drafting scenes on my phone during breaks and had a full first draft, about 95,000 words, within 14 months. I didn't set out to write a novel about emergency medicine specifically, but the material I had access to made the setting an obvious choice.
2. Walk me through your path to publication.
Why they ask: They want the actual sequence of query, rejection, and offer, not a summary.
How to answer: Name the stages and rough numbers.
Sample answer: I queried 47 agents over about 9 months and got 6 requests for the full manuscript before my agent offered representation. She took the book on submission to editors last spring, and it sold to a mid-size independent press after 3 rounds of editorial revision on the proposal. From signing with my agent to the book deal took about 7 months, which is faster than average from what I understand, but the querying stage alone took most of a year.
3. What genre and comp titles describe your book?
Why they ask: A vague genre answer signals you haven't positioned the book for its market.
How to answer: Name the specific genre and 2 or 3 real comp titles.
Sample answer: It's upmarket literary fiction, character-driven but with a plotted structure. I pitched it as sharing DNA with Ann Patchett's "Commonwealth" for the multi-generational family structure and Kevin Wilson's "Nothing to See Here" for the tone, which mixes real grief with dark humor. Naming those 2 comps in my query helped agents place the book quickly instead of guessing at tone from the pitch alone.
Query letter and agent questions
4. Walk me through how you wrote your query letter.
Why they ask: The query letter is often the first writing sample an agent sees, and they want to know your process was deliberate.
How to answer: Name the structure you used and how many drafts it took.
Sample answer: I wrote about 15 drafts of my query before sending it out. I structured it with a one-line hook, then a 200-word pitch focused on my protagonist's central want and the obstacle in her way, then 2 comp titles, then a 3-sentence bio. I cut my first draft's opening paragraph entirely because it summarized my writing background instead of leading with the story, and that change alone doubled my request rate in a test batch of 10 queries.
5. How many agents did you query, and how did you handle the rejections?
Why they ask: They want a realistic account of persistence, not a story where everything went smoothly.
How to answer: Give real numbers and what you changed, if anything, along the way.
Sample answer: I queried in batches of 8 to 10 at a time rather than all 47 at once, so I could revise the letter if a batch came back with no requests. My first batch got zero requests, which told me the query itself needed work before the manuscript did. After revising the hook, my request rate went from 0 in 10 to 4 in 12, and I kept querying in batches until I had an offer.
6. What made you choose your agent, or decide to query editors directly?
Why they ask: They want to know you made a deliberate choice, not just took the first offer.
How to answer: Name what mattered to you in the decision.
Sample answer: I had 2 offers of representation and chose the agent who gave me specific editorial notes on the opening chapters during our call, rather than general praise. She also named 4 editors by name that she thought would be a fit for the book's tone, which told me she'd actually read it closely rather than skimmed it. The other agent's offer was genuine, but her pitch was more about her agency's track record than my specific manuscript.
Publishing path and platform questions
7. Why did you choose traditional publishing over self-publishing, or the reverse?
Why they ask: They want to know you understand the tradeoffs, not just that you took whichever path came first.
How to answer: Name the specific tradeoff that mattered to you.
Sample answer: I chose traditional publishing mainly for editorial support and print distribution into bookstores, since my book relies on physical browsing more than online discovery. I gave up faster timelines and a bigger royalty percentage per copy for that. If I write a follow-up novella in the same world, I'd consider self-publishing it through Amazon KDP, since a shorter, lower-stakes project doesn't need the same level of editorial investment.
8. What does your author platform look like, and how did you build it?
Why they ask: Agents and editors increasingly ask this before a deal, and vague answers signal you haven't thought about it.
How to answer: Name specific numbers and what's actually working.
Sample answer: I have about 4,200 subscribers on a newsletter I started 2 years before querying, built mostly from guest essays I wrote for other writers' newsletters rather than paid ads. My open rate runs around 38%, which is well above average for the size, so my editor has used it in internal marketing meetings. I don't have a large social media following, closer to 1,800 followers across platforms, and I was upfront about that gap in my query rather than inflating it.
9. How do you approach marketing your book?
Why they ask: Publishers expect authors to participate in promotion, and they want to see a concrete plan, not a vague willingness to help.
How to answer: Name specific tactics and what you're realistic about.
Sample answer: I pitched my publisher's marketing team on 6 podcasts in the medical and true-crime space where my paramedic background would be a natural fit, and I've since booked 3 of them. I also organized an indie bookstore event in my home city rather than waiting for the publisher to set one up, since local buy-in from booksellers made a real difference for a debut with a modest advance. I'm realistic that I can't manufacture a bestseller through marketing alone, so I've focused effort on the channels where I already have some credibility.
Craft and process questions
10. Where did the idea for this book come from?
Why they ask: They want the actual origin, specific enough that it couldn't apply to a different book.
How to answer: Name the real moment or source, not a vague inspiration.
Sample answer: The idea came from a single detail: a patient I treated who kept a paper log of every ambulance ride she'd ever taken, going back 20 years. I didn't use her story directly, but that image of someone documenting their own emergencies became the seed for my protagonist's obsessive record-keeping, which turns into a major plot device in the book's second half.
11. What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Why they ask: They want a specific craft or logistical problem, not a general comment about writing being hard.
How to answer: Name the actual obstacle and how you solved it.
Sample answer: The hardest part was the book's timeline, which jumps between 3 different years. My first draft handled this with chapter headers stating the year, which my agent said felt like a crutch. I rewrote the transitions to signal time through small details instead, a character's haircut, a specific news event playing on a car radio, which took an entire revision pass but made the structure feel intentional rather than confusing.
12. Walk me through your research process.
Why they ask: They want to know your research was rigorous enough to hold up, not just a quick search.
How to answer: Name your sources and how you verified details.
Sample answer: Beyond my own paramedic experience, I interviewed 4 current EMTs in different cities to check that procedures and slang hadn't changed since I left the field. I also read through about a dozen incident reports made public through local news archives to get language right for the dispatch scenes. A retired fire captain read my draft specifically for procedural accuracy and caught 3 details that would have been wrong for the decade the book is set in.
13. How did you develop your central character?
Why they ask: They want your actual process, not a summary of the character's traits.
How to answer: Describe specific choices and what changed through revision.
Sample answer: My protagonist started as a much more sympathetic character in early drafts, and my editor pushed me to let her make one specific bad decision in chapter 4, lying to her partner about a missed shift, that she doesn't get to walk back cleanly. That single choice changed how I wrote every scene after it, since she now had something concrete to hide instead of just carrying vague guilt.
14. What was your revision process like with your editor?
Why they ask: They want to know you can take substantial editorial notes, not just line edits.
How to answer: Name the scope of changes and how you approached them.
Sample answer: My editor's first letter asked me to cut an entire subplot involving my protagonist's brother, about 15,000 words, because it slowed the book's middle section. I resisted for about a week, then reread the manuscript with that cut in mind and agreed she was right. The revision took 6 weeks, and the final draft is about 12,000 words shorter than what I originally sold.
Behavioral questions
15. Tell me about a time you got hard feedback from an editor or beta reader.
Why they ask: They want to see how you actually handle criticism of your work, not a claim that you're open to feedback.
How to answer: Describe the specific feedback and what you did with it.
Sample answer: A beta reader told me my protagonist's motivations in the third act didn't track with how she'd been written earlier in the book. My first reaction was defensive, but I set the note aside for 2 days and reread the earlier chapters with her question in mind. She was right: I'd changed the character's core motivation partway through writing without going back to fix the setup, so I added a scene in chapter 6 that planted the seed for her later choice.
16. Tell me about a deadline you almost missed.
Why they ask: Publishing runs on deadlines, and they want to know how you handle real pressure.
How to answer: Describe the specific situation and what got you through it.
Sample answer: I had a developmental edit due back to my editor in 6 weeks, and a family medical emergency ate 10 days of that window. I emailed her directly rather than staying quiet and hoping I'd catch up, and she moved the deadline by a week without issue. I also cut my revision plan down to the 3 changes she'd flagged as most important, instead of trying to also address every smaller note in the same pass.
17. Tell me about something you cut from the manuscript that you loved.
Why they ask: They want to see whether you can separate your attachment to a scene from what the book actually needs.
How to answer: Name the specific cut and why it had to go.
Sample answer: I cut an 8-page flashback chapter set at my protagonist's wedding that I'd rewritten probably 6 times and was genuinely proud of as a piece of writing. It didn't move the plot forward, and an early reader pointed out that it stopped the book's momentum right before the climax. I saved the chapter in a separate file and used one paragraph of it, repurposed, as a shorter memory inside a different scene instead.
Situational questions
18. An interviewer asks you to sum up your book in one sentence. How do you do it?
Why they ask: This tests whether you can distill the book on the spot, which comes up constantly in media appearances.
How to answer: Give an actual one-sentence version, not a vague gesture at having one ready.
Sample answer: I'd say: a paramedic who keeps a private record of every call she regrets has to decide whether to hand that record over during an investigation into her own partner. I keep that sentence memorized word for word, since the version I improvise on the spot always ends up longer and less clear than the one I wrote deliberately.
19. A reader leaves harsh public feedback online. How do you respond?
Why they ask: They want to know you won't respond defensively in public, which can do real damage.
How to answer: Describe your actual policy, not just good intentions.
Sample answer: I don't respond to reviews directly, positive or negative, since even a polite reply can read as pressure to the reviewer. A reader once posted a detailed critique of a medical detail in chapter 9 that was actually accurate, and I flagged it privately to my editor for the paperback edition instead of engaging publicly. If a review crosses into harassment rather than criticism, I report it to the platform rather than replying myself.
20. Your editor asks for a major rewrite close to deadline. What do you do?
Why they ask: They want to see how you prioritize and communicate under a compressed timeline.
How to answer: Describe how you'd triage the request and negotiate if needed.
Sample answer: I'd ask my editor to rank her notes by priority rather than treating every note as equally urgent, since a full rewrite in a compressed window usually means some changes matter more than others. If the timeline still looked unrealistic after that, I'd propose a specific new date with a clear plan attached, rather than agreeing to a deadline I already doubted I could hit. I did this on my current book when a 3-week rewrite request came in with a 2-week window, and my editor agreed to the extra week once I showed her my revision plan.
Questions to ask the interviewer
- What audience or comp titles did you have in mind when you decided to feature this book?
- Is there a specific angle or chapter you'd like me to focus on for this conversation?
- How long is the piece or episode running, so I can pace my answers accordingly?
- Are there topics related to the book you'd prefer I not discuss in detail?
- Will this run before or after publication, and does that change what you want me to promote?
How to prepare
- Write your one-sentence pitch and memorize it, since you'll be asked to summarize the book in nearly every interview.
- Know your real numbers: agents queried, request rate, revision word counts, platform size, so you can answer specifically instead of vaguely.
- Reread your own book before media appearances, especially scenes you wrote years earlier, so details stay accurate under follow-up questions.
- Prepare 2 or 3 specific stories: a hard piece of feedback you took well, a deadline you managed under pressure, and a cut you made for the book's benefit.
- Decide your policy on reviews and criticism in advance, so you're not improvising a public response in the moment.
If you're building out a broader author platform, our blogger cover letter guide covers a related content-creation role, and our digital content creator cover letter guide covers platform-building from a different angle. For a look at another interview format built around a creative body of work, see our actor interview questions guide.