Starting an Author Podcast

Several clients have recently asked me about starting an author podcast. My response, in the form of a question, was why? Although the answers vary, most authors were looking for a way to reach a larger audience, create authority, and promote their message, book, and themselves. Some were also interested in podcasting as a way to create an additional stream of revenue.

We discussed the ways a podcast can be beneficial to them, and how it can complement the book they wrote, especially if they have something to share.

As an author, if you are looking at ways to grow your audience by creating content to promote your message and book, starting a podcast is one way to achieve this. Before you dive head-first into podcasting, it’s essential to do your research on what’s involved and ask yourself the following questions.

What are you trying to achieve with your podcast? 

Knowing what you are trying to gain from creating and building a podcast is an essential first step in evaluating this marketing tool.  Going through the exercise of asking questions about your intent should result in the real reasons for starting an author podcast. You can ask yourself a simple question like why am I doing this? Is it the lure of being a famous podcast host or the prospect of creating strategic relationships with your guests?  Did you hear that podcasting is fun, or are you looking to create content to help promote your message? This honesty is necessary to begin this journey and will come in handy down the road as you work tirelessly, trying to market the podcast. Having a defined goal in mind and understanding what is involved in achieving it will give you a mental roadmap on where you want to end up with your podcast.

Who will be interested in your podcast?

Understanding who would be interested in what you and your guests have to say starts with identifying who your target audience is. Think about why you wrote the book and who you had in mind when you were writing it? Hopefully, you have already identified your target audience. But, in the event you haven’t, here is an article on how to find and reach your target audience. 

If you’re a CEO of a mid-sized marketing agency and want to share your knowledge on the daily challenges of running a company, your target audience will be other business professionals. This can include C level professionals, entrepreneurs, and marketing professionals who are thinking about changing jobs.

If your expertise is in stress management for kids, your podcast would be targeting parents, educators, therapists, and other people working with children.

 You should take this line of questioning further by drilling down to learn as much as you can about your target audience. What are they searching for? What are their interests? If you can help them solve a problem or learn something new, you will get their attention.

What’s your podcast about?

 Getting the listeners’ attention is a significant first step. But how do you keep them coming back and engaging with your platform? Assuming it’s the ‘right’ listener, the topic for each episode needs to address the subject matter your target audience wants to hear in an informative, engaging, and entertaining way. You should define and shape what your podcast is about. It’s better to start small and niche and build it out based on experience and feedback. Create an elevator pitch for your podcast but be open to refine it.

When thinking about your episodes, it’s not a bad idea to plan out what topics you want to discuss for each episode. The more organized you are planning out each episode in advance, the better results you will have. Some of the most successful podcasts focus on audience/host interaction, so having guests on your podcast, with the hope of increasing audience participation will take proper planning.

Other things to think about when starting an author podcast are:

• What equipment do I need?
• What are the costs involved?
• How do I launch my podcast?
• How do I promote my podcast?
• How do I measure success?

To know whether podcasting is right for you might require giving it a shot. But like all marketing strategies, it’s better to do more research upfront to prevent wasting time and money. You can connect with other podcasters to find out about their experiences. You should also find platforms where you can be a guest. This will allow you to be part of the podcast experience and yield valuable knowledge from the guests’ point of view.

One thing to consider when evaluating the podcast strategy is to look at your current social media and email marketing initiatives. Do you have a large following, and are your followers engaging in your messaging? If they are not, you might have some work to do.

Keep an eye out for new posts about starting an author podcast.

We have helped authors research, create, manage, edit and market their podcasts. If you need help starting or running a podcast or would just like to get some information, email us.

Rick Lite of Stress Free Book Marketing, stands at the forefront of the ever-changing book industry. He is a seasoned book marketing professional with over 14 years of experience in the industry. Rick’s expertise comes from tirelessly working on new and innovative ways to market his own books and CDs with his company and parent company, Stress Free Kids. Embracing the core values of integrity, innovation, and growth, Rick works closely with authors to create custom, robust book marketing programs. His easy-going manner provides “stress-free” support and comfort to authors going through the book marketing process for the first time. Rick is quick to share his knowledge and “insider tips” for a successful marketing campaign that will lead to increased exposure, awareness and most importantly, sales.