How to interview people for your nonfiction book

This guide covers interviewing other people for material in your book. It is general information, not legal advice; where the law matters, it points you to official sources and a lawyer.

Step 1: decide who to interview and why

Every interview should serve a specific chapter. Before you contact anyone, write one line: which chapter, and what this person can give it that you cannot. Most nonfiction interviews fall into four groups:

Some books are built on interviews. Kyle Thiermann's One Last Question Before You Go began, according to his story on scribemedia.com, when he interviewed his own father for his podcast and listeners said they wanted to interview their parents too. Most books use a handful to support the author's argument.

Research the person before you talk. The Oral History Association's best practices ask interviewers to "become familiar with the person, topic, and historical context" through research first. Never spend interview time on facts you could have looked up.

Step 2: ask, and get consent

Your request should tell the person what the book is, why you want them, roughly how long it will take, and how you plan to use what they say: quoted by name, quoted anonymously, or background only. People agree more readily, and object less later, when nothing comes as a surprise.

The Oral History Association's best practices describe the standard well. They call for "obtaining and documenting the informed consent of the narrator", and say the interviewer "should secure a signed legal release form, ideally when the interview is completed." For a book, that means:

• Explain the use. Book, excerpts, audiobook, talks and marketing are different uses. Say which you expect.
• Agree how they will be named. Full name, first name, a description, or a pseudonym. Decide before the interview, not after.
• Get it in writing. A short written agreement or release, signed by the person, is the habit. What it should say is a question for a publishing lawyer; your publisher may also have its own form.
• Do not promise what you cannot deliver. If an editor or publisher has the final say on what is cut, do not promise the person approval of the whole book.

Step 3: recording, and the law

Record every interview. Memory and notes get exact words wrong, and a recording is your proof if a quote is questioned. The Oral History Association recommends creating "a high-quality recording" when possible: a quiet room, a separate microphone if you have one, and a test before you start.

Recording laws vary. Under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d)), it is not unlawful for a person not acting under color of law to intercept a communication "where such person is a party to the communication or where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent", subject to the exceptions in that section. States set their own rules on top of that. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press's recording guide lists about 11 states that primarily require the consent of every party, notes that some states treat phone calls and in-person conversations differently, and advises that for calls across state lines you should assume the stricter law applies.

We cannot tell you what applies to your interview. Read the guide, check your state's statute, and ask a lawyer if anything is unclear. One habit avoids most problems: at the start of every recording, say that you are recording and ask the person to say on the recording that they agree.

Step 4: prepare the questions

Write ten to fifteen questions, then expect to use half of them. Good book interviews are built from open questions that invite stories, followed by short follow-ups that pin down detail. A template you can adapt:

An illustrative question list, our own. For a memoir interview with a family member, replace "the numbers" with the sensory details: what the room looked like, what was said.

During the interview, ask one question at a time, let silences run, and ask "can you give me an example?" whenever an answer turns general. Write down the timestamp of anything you might quote; it saves hours later.

Step 5: transcribe

The Oral History Association lists transcripts among the written documentation that should accompany a recording. For a book, a transcript is your working material and your record. Two kinds are useful:

• Verbatim, every word as spoken with speaker labels and timestamps. Make one for every passage you may quote.
• Clean, with false starts and filler removed. Good for reading and outlining, but never the version you quote from without checking the audio.

Automatic transcription tools are a reasonable first pass. Then correct the transcript against the recording, line by line, for every passage you will use, and check every name, number and date separately. Keep recordings, transcripts and signed agreements together, and back them up.

Step 6: use quotes accurately

The Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics says ethical journalism "should be accurate, fair and in context". A book is held to the same standard by the people in it.

• Quote what was said. Quotation marks mean these were the words. If you summarize, drop the quotation marks.
• Edit lightly and openly. The Chicago Manual of Style's Q&A on edited interviews says a note that an interview has been edited for length and clarity relieves you of ellipses and brackets, but you should not make changes that "might distort the interviewee's intended meaning".
• Keep context. Do not join sentences said twenty minutes apart into one quote, and do not put a quote next to a claim the person did not make.
• Separate facts from words. The US Copyright Office's FAQ says copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems or methods. Words are different: its fair use page says there is no set number of words, lines or pages that may be used without permission, and that use of an unpublished work is less likely to be considered fair. That is another reason to agree on use in writing with the people you interview.

Step 7: get sign-off

Decide in advance what you will show people. The Chicago Q&A suggests that, where possible, the interviewee should see the final draft before publication, and the Oral History Association suggests giving narrators an opportunity to approve the oral history prior to public release when possible. For a book, a workable middle ground is to send each person the passages where they are quoted or described, ask them to check facts and quotes by a set date, and be clear that the decision on what stays is yours or your publisher's. Note any corrections they make, and keep their reply with the release.

Protecting privacy

People often tell an interviewer more than they mean to publish. The SPJ code says private people "have a greater right to control information about themselves than public figures", and asks journalists to show compassion for people who may be affected. Good habits:

• Change identifying details when someone wants to stay anonymous, and say in the book that you have. The Oral History Association recognizes pseudonyms where appropriate.
• Leave out what the story does not need: home addresses, health details, finances, children's names. The Oral History Association reminds interviewers to be mindful not to list a personal residence address.
• Watch third parties. Your interviewee may describe people who never agreed to be in your book. Treat those passages with the same care as your own memoir; our memoir guide covers writing about real people.
• Store recordings securely. A shared drive link or a lost phone can expose things you promised to protect.

The law here varies by state. Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute lists invasion of privacy claims, including public disclosure of private facts and false light. Ask a publishing lawyer before you publish anything sensitive about a real person.

What most authors get wrong

• Interviewing before outlining. Without a chapter to serve, interviews wander. Outline first, then interview for the gaps.
• Quoting from memory or notes. Check every quote against the recording.
• Over-promising approval. Offer a fact check, not a veto you cannot honor.
• Letting the quotes write the chapter. Interviews support your argument. In a business book, a client story opens or proves a point; it does not replace it. See how to write case studies and client stories.

Scribe Media, which makes this site, sells ghostwriting in which a professional writer interviews you, the author; its guide to preparing for a Scribe interview says most sessions run 1 to 2 hours. If you want help with a book built on interviews, Scribe offers a free call. Everything above you can do yourself.