One of the best ways to learn about a company or an industry is to speak with the key players. Here at ZATZ, we've been conducting in-depth interviews with industry leaders and technology innovators since the very beginning.
Sometimes we do those interviews in person, sometimes we do them over the phone, and, more recently, we've had a great deal of success conducting our World Famous 10-Question ZATZ Email Interview.
Here are some examples:
These interviews provide great insights into technology, companies, and strategies. And, readers love them.
Benefits to the interviewee
The people we've been interviewing have also really enjoyed the World Famous 10-Question ZATZ Email Interview.
You see, one of the biggest concerns on the part of the interviewee has always been "Will what I say get printed?" The corollary to that is "Will I be misquoted?"
While we've always gone out of our way to bring the exact words of our interviewees to our readers, even our super-human efforts have, once in a very rare time, resulted in a misquote.
There's also a transcription delay. When we conduct a phone interview, for example, there's a pretty long delay while we send out the audio from that interview to be transcribed, edited, cleaned up, and made ready for publication. Sometimes, it can take upwards of three months to get an interview from discussion to publication.
But, with our World Famous 10-Question ZATZ Email Interview, interviews don't have to go through that wild transcription ride, and instead can be published very quickly.
Interview process
Participating in a World Famous 10-Question ZATZ Email Interview is easy. First, you have to be fascinating, have something fascinating to talk about, and be able to articulate it in a fascinating way. See, no pressure.
Once we identify someone we'd like to interview, we mutually decide on the topic of the interview. Usually, the topic is related to the products you produce, a project you've worked on, or your special area of expertise. For example, our interview with Jim Doherty and Neil Anderson was about home networking security, because they'd just finished writing a book on home networking and security's a big issue.
Once we come up with a mutually acceptable and interesting topic, we'll set up a time for a phone meeting between our editorial team and the interviewee. The phone meeting usually lasts between 20 and 40 minutes and is a way for us to get to know you and understand the topic.
After the phone discussion, the editorial team here at ZATZ will put together a set of ten questions. If you're an interviewee, you're also always welcome to add some additional questions or change or tweak the questions to fit what you'd like to discuss.
There is one rule, and it tracks with all our editorial: don't hype yourself. We did an interview recently with a book author and for each question we asked, his answer was, in effect, "Read my book." That was inappropriate and the interview never ran.
Don't worry, we will give you an opportunity to introduce yourself, your company, and your product or service. But the interview is about knowledge and ideas, not promotion. After all, you want readers to read your interview and appreciate your brilliance, right?
Once we send you your list of questions, go ahead and provide us with clearly written answers. One rule of thumb is that the more clear and well-written your answers, the less editing we'll need to do. And the less editing we need to do, the more pure your voice will sound to our readers.
Once your answers are back in our hands, we'll schedule a publication time, and put your interview into the publication schedule. Often, we'll have some follow-on questions based on the questions you answered, and once that process completes, we'll publish the interview.
If you'd like to be considered for a World Famous 10-Question ZATZ Email Interview, send a note to editor@ZATZ.com. Tell us why you think your story is going to enthrall and amaze our readers, suggest some topics, and provide us with some background about yourself.
Readers will rave about you and small countries will erect statues in your honor. Or, at the very least, your mom will be so proud.
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