Interviews are part of the organic life of a literary community. Same with reviews, panel discussions, workshops, etc. Everyone participates, everyone benefits.
I’ve interviewed several authors so many times we’ve both lost count. I sent Jonathan Maberry a lot more interview questions than I sent you and he whipped out a 3000 word interview is 2 hours (my head is still spinning).
Meanwhile, they accommodate other news/discussion sites too. Somehow they juggle all this and still find time to crank out quality stories. How they accomplish this feat baffles me to this day, but they never flinch.
I in turn rely on key people at SFWA, CODEX, and elsewhere to herd potential interviewees in my direction.
From association presidents to first time novelists, famous and obscure editors, publishers and podcasters, poets and musicians. At least 120 eager or willing interviewees from the full spectrum of the speculative fiction community.
No one has to do it. No one makes anyone do it. But it’s considered standard operating procedure. Everyone understands the process and no one complains about it, much less refuses to participate in it, especially since the relationships are symbiotic.
And then there’s you. By contrast, you clog up the process.
Exploit the process might be a better expression. Over a period of many years, dozens of people have written hundreds of reviews for your magazine. Meanwhile, people with mailing lists relay your periodic calls for reviewers. And when you’re in financial trouble, you use your mailing list to solicit contributions.
But then when someone asks you to reciprocate by sharing about Tangent, you switch and try to play the hermit.
You can’t have it both ways.
