This page is for folks who’ve been invited to be a guest on Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy. Hopefully it’ll answer all your questions.

Helpful Hints

1) We’ll call you either on the phone or via Skype. You’ll be on a conference call with both Dave and John. (Sometimes for technical reasons we need to have Dave call you first, then add John to the conversation.) We’ll chat briefly and make sure everything is working. This stuff is not being recorded and is not part of the show. If you have any questions or concerns (say, you have another interview scheduled in an hour), now’s the time to mention that. When we’re ready to get started, Dave will say, “All right, so we’re here with [your name]. Welcome to the show.” You should then say, “Yeah, glad to be here,” or something similar. Dave will then ask the first question.

2) Each interview generally ends with the question “Are there any other new or upcoming projects you’d like to mention?” After you give your final answer, Dave will say, “All right, great. So [your name], thanks so much for joining us on Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy!” At this point you should say, “Thanks for having me,” or something similar. Please don’t start saying goodbye or hanging up until we record this part.

3) Since this is a podcast, sound quality matters. Sound quality is generally best over Skype. Land line phones are also generally acceptable. The sound quality of a cell phone is often not acceptable. If possible please turn off fans, heaters, and AC units. Remove pets and children from the room. Close doors and windows. Unplug your phone and silence your cell phone. Make sure that any alerts on your computer that make noise are turned off. Do not type on your computer, rock in your squeaky chair, or tap on your desk during the interview.

4) Our interviews typically run about 45 minutes to an hour, and generally feature about 20 questions, which means we’re looking for each answer to be about 2-3 minutes long. Answers of one or two sentences are generally too short. It’s better to be too long than too short, since we can shorten the answers in editing, but an answer that’s much longer than 3 minutes is probably too long. (To get an idea of what sort of responses we’re looking for, take a look at the transcript of our interview with Junot Diaz, which is one of our most popular interviews.)

5) We edit out anything we don’t want, so interruptions generally aren’t a big deal, if you need a quick word with your spouse or if someone rings the doorbell. If you’re not 100% sure what we just asked, please ask us to repeat the question rather than taking a wild stab at it. And if you say anything during the interview that you’d prefer not be broadcast, just tell us afterward and we’ll edit it out.

6) Please don’t ask us our opinions during the interview. We share our opinions in the second half of the show, and we want the focus of the interview to be on the guest. And since these interviews also appear in text format, a lot of back-and-forth makes a mess of our transcripts.

7) If you know how, please record your end of the conversation and upload it to a file-sharing website. One easy way to record your audio is to open QuickTime and select File -> New Audio Recording. For file sharing we typically use Dropbox.

Editorial Policies

By appearing as a guest on the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, you agree to the following:

1) You will make yourself available by phone for at least 45 minutes.

2) The contents of the interview become the intellectual property of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy (GGG). GGG shall have the right to publish the interview in both text and audio format. GGG shall have sole discretion over when and if the interview appears.

3) The audio of the interview will be edited. The interview will likely be trimmed significantly. Stuttering, verbal fumbling, and redundancy may be cut. Individual questions, answers, sentences, or words may be removed. Questions may be revised and re-recorded in editing. Sentences or paragraphs may be shifted around. Parts of different sentences may be combined, etc.

4) The transcript of the interview will be edited. Minor changes may be made to improve flow and clarity. This includes rearranging words, clarifying vague pronouns, adding words that seem implied, removing verbal fumbling and redundancy, etc.