There are a lot of reasons why you could use a form as an author, and Google can help you get one set up quickly. The best part is that you can share the form anywhere you can place a link. This is exceptionally helpful if you don’t have a website of your own.
In just a few moments, you can share your contact form directly from Google on everything from social media sites to email signatures.
It all depends on what information you want to gather and why. I’ll go over a few ideas of how to use forms as an author, writer, or blogger. For now, let’s build a contact form.
Creating a Form in Google for Contacts
In this tutorial, we’re going to make a simple contact form to use for author interviews. As you’ll see, you can change it to fit any information you want to collect from users.
Step 0: Have Your Fields Ready (optional)
Before you create your form, it’s a good idea to have the fields ready for the information you’d like to collect. Some examples could include name, website URL, types of books the person writes, and perhaps a brief description of who they are.
You can set up the fields as you go, but knowing precisely what information you want to collect from a Google form can streamline the entire process.
Step 1: Create a New Form in Google
On the Google Forms page, you’ll see several templates that are already set up and ready to use. There are several of these templates ranging from basic contact information to creating course evaluations.
Feel free to use of these templates, which I’ll go over a bit later. For now, we’re going to create a form from scratch.
From the Google Forms page and click “Blank form.”
This will launch an untitled form screen where you will input your questionnaire.
Step 2: Give the Form a Title and Description
Giving your form a title and description helps you organize your database of forms while letting the interviewee know the purpose of the document.
Give the Google form a unique title and description that is relevant to the questionnaire. In this example, I’m setting up a blog business questionnaire for future interviews.
Step 3: Add Your Questions
By default, Google will automatically add an untitled multiple-choice question. We’re going to change this first question to a “Name” text field.
Click into the question and click the drop-down option to reveal other types of fields.
Since the first question we’re going to ask is for a name, select the “Short answer” option from the list.
Next, we’re going to make the name a requirement for reaching out. Click the “Required” switch to enable the option.
This will force people to enter their name before they can submit the form. It’s quite useful if you want specific pieces of information to be mandatory.
Now, click into the “Untitled Question” field and change it to “Name.”
To add the next question, click the circled plus sign at the top of the right toolbar.
You can add as many questions as you need for your form. As I pointed out in Step 0, this is completely up to you and your needs.
Currently, you can add questions in Google Forms such as:
- Short answer
- Paragraph
- Multiple Choice
- Checkboxes
- Dropdowns
- File Uploads (if you want users to send you files)
- Linear Scales
- Ratings
- Multiple Choice Grid
- Checkbox Grid
- Date Selections
- Time Selections
Step 4: Customize the Form’s Appearance (optional)
Google lets you customize the form to a certain degree. That means you can add things like a header image, change the text style and size, and adjust the color scheme.
This is great for those who want to add some form of branding to the top of the form or alter the colors to fit a business’s theme.
Click on the “Customize Theme” option from the top toolbar. It’s the icon that looks like a painter’s palette.
A window will launch on the right with all of your options. Here, you can make the font adjustments, color corrections, or add a header image.
Step 5: Preview and Publish the Google Form
Once you’ve customized the form, it’s time to preview it before publishing. That way, you can make further adjustments as needed before the form goes live.
Click the eyeball icon from the top toolbar.
Once you preview the form and you think you’re ready to go, click the “Publish” button at the top of the toolbar, and you’re done.
Step 6: Enable Email Responses (optional)
By default, Google Forms will save the responses on the form’s settings screen. If you want them emailed, you’ll need to enable that function.
Click on the “Responses” tab along the top toolbar.
Click the three vertical dots next to “Link to Sheets” and then select the option to get email notifications.
Now, you can either look at responses directly from the Google form you created or get updates sent to your inbox.
That’s all there is to it. However, there are a few more things you can do with the form in general. While some of these options are more for aesthetic appeal, others might help streamline how your form works in general.
Step 7: Share the Form
When you’re ready to share the form, click the link icon from the top toolbar.
From here, you can simply copy the link to share.
However, you also have the option to “Shorten URL.” By checking this box, Google will shorten the URL of your form, which is convenient for sharing the link in places where character counts matter, such as social media.
You can then use the URL anywhere on the Internet. For instance, you can create a button on your blog for people to use for the form or share it on sites like Threads, BlueSky, or Twitter.
After all, no one is going to use the form if they don’t know it exists. So, depending on the type of form you’re creating, you want to share it in as many places as possible without annoying your user base.
Adding Other Elements to the Form
Using a Google form gives you a few options to customize the layout. So, you can add a bit more flash and pizazz if you’d like. Of course, it really depends on the purpose of your form.
For example, if I were going to use it to gather info on authors for live interviews, I’d add the latest interview as a video or perhaps a screenshot of the playlist from YouTube, showing what the interview would look like.
Elements you can add to a Google form include:
- Importing questions from another document.
- A title and description block for adding highlighted information.
- An image block for virtually any purpose.
- The ability to include videos directly from YouTube.
- Section separations in case you want to keep some aspects of the form apart.
Of course, you don’t have to add any of those extras and just stick with basic questions. However, adding a bit of visual appeal might entice people to use the form and provide you with the requested information.
Sharing and Ownership Changes
What if you’re creating a form for a third party? Perhaps you need your team to make a few adjustments here and there. One of the highlights of using Google Forms is the ability to collaborate on just about any document, regardless of type.
If you want to share the form with other users, you’d click the share icon and add the individual’s email address as you would any other Google document type.
What if you want to give the form to someone else, or maybe you don’t want to use your registered email address for the form? In that case, you’d change ownership in Google Drive to someone who was added as a shared party.
Or, you can install the Form Notifications add-on from Google to change the response email address.
Embedding a Google Form in WordPress
Like most other documents from Google, you can easily embed the form into your WordPress website. Essentially, it’s a couple of clicks of the mouse while copying and pasting the code into a block.
In Google Forms, click the three dots next to your profile image. This will launch the drop-down of account functions. From this window, click the “Embed HTML” option.
This will launch a small window that will show the code you want to copy. Under the code are the dimensions for width and height, should you need to adjust these to fit your webpage.
If you want the window on your website to be smaller, allowing users to scroll through the form without scrolling the page, make the height something like 500 pixels.
Click the “Copy” button at the bottom of the window.
Then, paste the code into an HTML block in WordPress.
Settings of the Google Form
Google Forms has a few settings that you’ll want to keep in mind for future reference. This lets you customize how the form is presented, including settings to make certain aspects default when creating the form.
The settings in Google Forms include:
- A toggle to enable the form to become a quiz.
- Settings to manage how responses are collected, such as saving email addresses, sending copies to responders, editing timers, and sign-in requirements.
- Presentation settings that manage a progress bar, shuffling questions (great for quizzes), confirmation messages, results summary, and disabling autosave.
- Form defaults that consist of how email addresses are collected and whether respondents are verified users.
- Question defaults of whether all are required by default, which may save you some time for longer forms.
These are mostly optional settings, but they can be quite helpful depending on the type of form you want to create.
Using Form Templates in Google
The Template Gallery in Google Forms has several of the most popular types used on the internet. There are currently 17 templates to choose from that include styles such as Contact Information, Party Invites, Event Registrations, T-Shirt Sign Up, and RSVP. All of these work well for authors, depending on the circumstance.
The best part is that these are all simple templates. By selecting any one of them, you can then make changes and additions according to your needs. All you need to do is click a template and then make the necessary changes.
One thing I like about browsing through the form templates is that you can get a feel for how to create your own and how the functions are displayed. It may give you inspiration regarding ways to create a form for a myriad of purposes.
7 Ideas for a Google Form as an Author
The tutorial above centered around creating a contact form. This is similar to what I have on the blog regarding contact information for authors who want to be on my show for a live interview. However, there are many ways you can use a form as an author.
- Sending party invites for book release events.
- RSVP forms for various author events, such as book signings.
- Event registration forms if you’re hosting a group book signing or other author-related event.
- Order forms for special products, such as autographed copies of your book or members-only offers.
- Beta reader feedback forms to get insights from those helping you.
- Book evaluation, similar to beta readers, but could be used for reviews on your site.
- Outreach form for brands and other professionals to contact you directly for services offered or deals.
Never underestimate the power and flexibility of a form. They are exceptionally useful for gathering or presenting information regarding you and your books. And since Google lets you create short links of the form’s address, you can easily place them in emails, social media, and blogs.
Is a Google Form Better Than Hosting Your Own On a Blog?
While Google Forms might be a great tool for those who don’t have a website, I’ve found that plugins like WP Forms are vastly superior in a number of ways. Not only do you get more customization options, but you have absolute control of the document.
This is especially true if you’re worried about Google scraping your data.
Even in their free versions, most form plugins have more options available when designing them. For example, WP Froms has 67 free templates available for a very long list of possibilities. You also have payment options, field customizations, and marketing integrations with a click of the mouse.
Embedding and sharing are just as easy with WP Forms compared to Google, and it’s all hosted on your website. So, sharing your form on social media or through an email will generate a visit with potential for the person to continue exploring your site.
Something else to consider is how WP Forms doesn’t save user data on your website. The information is directly emailed to you without creating a site-based database. That means no one can access private information unless they have access to your email. Google, however, stores all the respondent’s information on your account.
That also means Google has access to the data.
Overall, adding forms to your author blog is easily the better option. That is, as long as you have one. Not all authors have a blog, so free options like Google are sometimes more ideal.
Google Forms Are Easy to Manage
At the end of the day, creating a form in Google is relatively easy and can be customized to fit a long list of purposes. You can make them as flashy or as basic as you need, and most settings and options are self-explanatory, making Google Forms an easy-to-use alternative.
The only real issue is whether you want Google’s eyes prying into your documents.
Nonetheless, forms can be a great way to get insights into the minds of fans and readers of your books or blog posts. They can help shape future content while giving you greater understanding of who reads your work.
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