Two things I said over and over to authors at RWA regarding Guest Author Days are I only invite authors to guest for a book I would recommend. And this is a reader blog it is possible you could get asked questions you don’t like, are hard or uncomfy for some to answer.
As long as the question is asked in a polite way, I don’t delete it. If you have to ask how to ask a difficult question in a polite way, you shouldn’t ask. I leave it up to the author to answer or not. This surprised May but I see any author taking time from their schedule, lives, deadlines and families as a gift. I am not kissing anyones ass here, nor do I promise four star reviews. So it always shocks me when authors agree to guest. [I have been turned down once and canceled on once]
But the thing is… readers very rarely ask the harder questions that they talk about repeatedly in chats, on message boards or whatever. So I decided if the question doesn’t come up I will email it to the author. Cuz that is just the kind of girl I am. And you never know… they just might answer.
Now I might not like the answer or I may totally agree but I always respect the author for trying to address issues. Many an author won’t, which is again completely their right to do, but not nearly as interesting.
