E-mail interviews are especially useful when the interviewee's information will constitute a very small part of your article, or, alternatively, when the article will be based almost verbatim on the interviewee's words, as in a Q&A interview or similar piece. They may also be appropriate when:

• The interviewee specifies a preference for being interviewed in this fashion.
  
  
• The interviewee is too busy for a traditional interview.
  
  
• Conflicting schedules and/or time zones make telephone interviewing difficult.
  
  
• You know exactly what questions you want to ask. (This often requires some background knowledge of the subject.)
  
  
• The subject is relatively impersonal. (An e-mail interview wouldn't be appropriate for discussing a deeply personal issue.)
  
  
• The interview can be conducted with a limited number of questions.

E-mail interviews are less effective when you're trying to develop a profile or catch a personal glimpse of the interviewee -- a profile that would include not only the individual's words but also your observations of the person's appearance, actions, skills, emotions, tone of voice, etc. They are less effective if you don't know enough about a subject to develop useful questions, or when you're more likely to get information from the natural flow of questions and answers than from a predefined script. In an e-mail interview, you can't change direction if a more promising tangent emerges from the conversation; you can't nudge the interviewee back on track if the conversation strays or ask follow-on questions if your first questions don't elicit enough information; and you can't ask for immediate explanations or clarification.

The following strategies can help you develop and refine an e-mail interview:

1. Determine your goals before writing your questions. Decide exactly what you need to know; then develop questions that will best elicit that information.
   
   
2. Ask open-ended questions rather than questions that can be answered "yes" or "no." For example, instead of asking, "Do you enjoy writing children's books?" ask, "What do you enjoy most about writing children's books?" or "What are some of the things you enjoy about writing children's books?"
   
   
3. If necessary, explain why you are asking a particular question, so the interviewee has a better idea of the response you're looking for.
   
   
4. Let the interviewee know what audience or market you're writing for, so that the interviewee will know how detailed or technical the information should be.
   
   
5. Keep your questions clear, uncomplicated, and short.
   
   
6. Keep your list of questions as short as possible. Ten is good; twenty is likely to tax an interviewee's patience.
   
   
7. List your questions numerically, and leave space between each question for the interviewee to insert the answer.
   
   
8. Include a final "open" question -- e.g., "Is there anything else you'd like to say on this subject that hasn't been covered above?" that will enable the interviewee to add information or ideas that weren't covered by your script.
   
   
9. Let the interviewee know how soon you need the answers. (If you need to follow up on a late interview, be polite; remember that the interviewee is doing you a favor, and is under no obligation to comply with your request or meet your deadline.)
   
   
10. Don't be afraid to ask for clarification, or to follow up on questions or answers that beg for additional information. And always thank your interviewee!
    
    

Perhaps more than any other electronic invention, e-mail has changed the way writers and editors do business. Like any technology, however, e-mail can easily be abused. Its simplicity often fosters an inappropriate attitude of informality, an inattention to detail. Because e-mail costs virtually nothing, it can also be overused. Editors have no more wish to be bombarded with e-mail messages than with phone calls. Authors, experts, and others who post an e-mail address on a Web site still value their privacy, and are under no obligation to reply to every message they receive.

Simple courtesy and professionalism, however, will go far toward keeping lines of communication open between writers, editors, and experts, for whom the negatives are generally far outweighed by the positives!

Find Out More...

• Conducting Interviews, by Moira Allen
  
  
• A Beginner's Guide to Interviewing, by Dawn Copeman
  
  
• Don't Reach for Just Any Old Quote, by John Rains