What if I told you that an author could use a podcast to:
You’d probably either say: “huh?” or “oh, yeah!”
If you’re in the first camp, read on. If you’re in the second, you’re probably already researching microphones. (We like the Audio Technica ATR2100 to get started.)
All of the above is completely true. When you stop thinking about a podcast as just something you listen to and start thinking about it as a consistent, content-generating and networking machine, good things happen.
Let’s go through each point.
If you’re one of those people who struggles with the AMOUNT of writing involved in getting a book out there, a well-designed podcast can help you break your topic down into component parts and give you a strict schedule for getting it all on paper. A podcast goes out every week (or more frequently!) and each episode can be between a thousand and ten thousand words. That ads up quickly. When you craft your episodes according to an outline, at the end of 6 months or a year, you’ll have more than enough words for a first draft.
Once your book is out in the world, much of your attention will turn to promoting it. Podcast tours, when an author is a guest on many different podcasts in a short time, are popular. Author-hosted podcasts are even more so. You can use a new medium to talk about your ideas, promote your book, and grow your audience of readers.
Does the sight of so many microphones freak you out? Don’t worry – podcast interviews typically happen online.
Most authors do research, and a great source of research is talking to experts. If you’re going to be interviewing a subject matter expert anyway, why not record your conversation and your takeaways from it? If you do, you get double the return on your time and energy. If your readers are going to be interested in the end result, there’s a fair chance that they’ll be interested in greater detail about all of the tidbits that go into it.
Do you ever wish you knew what people were saying about your book? Whether people understood things the way you wanted them to? Whether they took action on your advice or inspired them to new ideas and ways of doing things? With a podcast, and the attendant community – you can. You can start conversations, talk to readers, follow up on ideas, and keep the energy of a launch going – or kickstart a new wave of engagement long after the launch.
Reading is often a solitary activity, and it’s not always easy for a reader to get in touch with the author. Because so much of podcasting is socially oriented – with communities, digital listening tools, and social media promotion, fans have unprecedented access to the creators they love – and you can use that access to learn about your readers and get to know them. (It almost goes without saying that a genuine fan, who has connected with you personally, will be that much more likely to buy your next book!)
A podcast episode can go from inside your head and onto the airwaves very quickly. Unlike print formats, podcasts are “of the minute.” This can be a little intimidating, but it’s also very freeing. If you’ve been playing with a concept but aren’t sure how it will go over, or even if it’s right for your main body of work, doing a podcast episode about it is a low-cost way to get it out there and gauge reaction. This can open a whole new direction for your work. If it’s a flop? Well, it was only an hour or so of your time – and less for your listeners.
As I’ve touched on briefly, promoting your book is its own job – often one that is more difficult and takes more time even than writing it. Being the host of a podcast, however, opens the door to experts, influencers, and potential partners. Where many people will ignore an email asking for a book review, few are so quick to reject an invitation to appear on a well-produced podcast. After your initial conversation, the door is open to gift them a copy, collaborate on promotions, and encourage them to share your work.
If you have a business behind your book, then you know that just having a book is a huge boost to your credibility and an amazing networking tool. A podcast takes that to the next level. Every time you promote your podcast, interview a guest, and appear on other podcasts is an opportunity to explore a sales conversation. If you think about the individuals and organizations who are going to be the most valuable to you in terms of new business and gear your podcast content to be of direct interest to them, you’ll have a lot more opportunities to fill your pipeline.
Podcasting, while quite different than producing content for the page, is a very powerful tool for growing a business and expanding an audience – something that should interest all fiction and non-fiction authors. If you’re feeling a little “pod-curious” spend a little time over the next couple of days listening to podcasts, especially if they’re hosted by other authors. Think about what it might be like to be the host of your own show. Can you imagine yourself producing that kind of content every week? Can you picture yourself interviewing experts in your field? Can you see how you might leverage that work into more books, more business, and more engagement with your audience?
You can visit OneStoneCreative.net to learn more about podcasting, and other multi-media creation for your business, and get some great free resources to help you. As a reader of Book2Bestseller.com, I’m also happy to offer you a free podcast consultation, where we can talk about your business and if podcasting is a platform that might work for you! (https://calendly.com/onestone/podcast-consultation).
Megan Dougherty is the co-founder of OneStoneCreative.net, a strategic multi-media content agency focusing on business podcasts, YouTube Channels and online courses for business owners, speakers, consultants and other entrepreneurs.
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