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I interview every ghostwriting client on Zoom. It’s the foundation of every project. Before I write a single word of someone’s book, I spend hours in video interviews with them, sometimes across weeks, extracting their stories, their voice, their perspective. The quality of those interviews determines the quality of the book. After hundreds of these sessions, I’ve learned what works, what doesn’t, and what kills a good interview before it starts.
These tips apply whether you’re interviewing clients for a ghostwriting project, conducting interviews for journalism or content creation, or preparing for a job interview. The principles are the same: preparation, environment, technology, and the ability to have a real conversation through a screen.
Get the Technology Out of the Way
I use Zoom for almost every interview. For more, see capturing client voice. It’s reliable, clients already know how to use it, and the recording quality is good enough for my purposes. The specific platform matters less than making sure it works before the interview starts. For more, see what does a ghostwriter cost? real pricing, real client resu.
Test your camera, microphone, and internet connection before the call. Not five minutes before. The day before. If your webcam produces a dark, grainy image, fix it. If your microphone picks up every sound in the house, get a better one. If your internet drops during calls, switch to a wired connection or find a more reliable setup. Technical problems during an interview break the flow of conversation, and once that flow is broken, it’s hard to get back.
Know the platform’s basics: how to mute, how to share your screen if needed, how to record. If you’re recording the interview, tell the other person before you hit the button. This is legally required in many states, and it’s basic courtesy everywhere else. Zoom can notify participants automatically, but don’t rely on that. Say it out loud.
Your Environment Matters More Than You Think
Find a quiet space with a clean background. What’s behind you on camera communicates something about you whether you intend it to or not. A cluttered background suggests a cluttered mind. A professional, uncluttered space suggests someone who takes the interaction seriously.
Lighting makes or breaks how you look on camera. Face a window if you can. If you can’t, put a light source in front of you, not behind you. Backlighting turns your face into a silhouette, and the other person spends the entire call trying to see your expressions instead of listening to what you’re saying.
Tell everyone in your household that you’re on a call. Close the door. Mute your phone. Shut down notifications on your computer. Every interruption pulls both you and the other person out of the conversation, and some conversations are hard enough to get into that one interruption ends them.
Show Up Like It Matters
Dress like you would for an in-person meeting. Not because anyone can see your pants, but because how you dress affects how you carry yourself. People who show up to professional video calls looking like they just rolled out of bed communicate that the interaction isn’t important enough to prepare for. That message comes through the screen whether you intend it or not.
Look at the camera when you’re speaking, not at the screen. This is counterintuitive because you want to watch the other person’s face, but looking at the screen means you’re looking slightly down or to the side from their perspective. Looking at the camera simulates eye contact. It feels unnatural at first. Practice until it doesn’t.
Sit up straight. Don’t fidget. Don’t multitask. The other person can tell when you’re reading email during a call even if they can’t see your screen. Your eyes move differently, your responses come half a second late, and your engagement drops in ways that are obvious to anyone paying attention.
How I Run a Client Interview
My ghostwriting interviews are structured but conversational. I come in with questions prepared, but I let the client talk. The best material almost always comes from tangents, from the story they didn’t plan to tell, from the detail they mention casually that turns out to be the emotional core of an entire chapter.
Occasionally clients try to rush the process or take control of the interview. They want to skip ahead, cover everything in one session, or steer the conversation toward what they think is important rather than following the questions I’ve prepared. When this happens, I bring them back and explain that we need to follow the process to give them the best book possible. The interview structure exists for a reason. It’s designed to extract material that the client doesn’t even know they have, and rushing it means missing the best parts of their story.
I record every interview. The recordings become the raw material for the book. After each session, I create an AI-generated summary using Claude, which gives me a structured overview of what was covered, key quotes, and themes that emerged. I don’t use Zoom’s built-in summary feature because it doesn’t produce the depth or organization I need. The AI summary becomes a working document I reference throughout the writing process, but it doesn’t replace listening to the recordings themselves. I go back to the audio multiple times, catching details I missed in real time, hearing the way the client emphasizes certain words, noticing where their voice changes when they talk about something that matters to them. These details shape the voice of the manuscript in ways that summaries alone can’t capture.
The most important skill in a video interview isn’t asking good questions. It’s listening. Really listening, not waiting for your turn to talk. When the other person feels heard, they open up. When they open up, the material gets better. When the material gets better, the book gets better. Everything flows from the quality of attention you bring to the conversation.
If You’re the One Being Interviewed
Prepare, but don’t over-rehearse. Scripted answers sound scripted, and the interviewer can tell. Know the key points you want to make, but deliver them conversationally. The best interviews feel like conversations, not performances.
Answer the question that was asked, not the question you wish they’d asked. This is the most common mistake in any interview format. The interviewer asked something specific. Address it directly before expanding into related territory. If you don’t understand the question, ask for clarification. That’s not weakness. It’s respect for the other person’s time.
Follow up afterward. A brief email thanking the interviewer and referencing something specific from the conversation shows that you were paying attention and that you value the interaction. This is basic professional courtesy, and the number of people who skip it is remarkable.