5 Steps To Make Your Own Author Podcast

As more authors get their own blogs, it is becoming more desirable to have audio as well as text, and the technology is actually pretty easy. I believe authors should have a podcast (5 reasons here), and several people have asked me how I make mine. I have a full module on this in the Author 2.0 Program so I will only give the main points here.

Before you start, decide on what you will podcast about. I do interviews, information and inspiration for authors which fits with my blog. Authors who podcast their books often use a separate feed per book.

1. Record your audio. I use Skype for my interviews and Pamela to record them. This gives me a .mp3 file ready for edit. I also use a handheld device for face-to-face, or a headset microphone with Audacity software.
2. Edit the audio. I use Audacity software (free) which is very easy to use. Drag and drop the file in and then cut the bits out that you don’t want.
3. Add Intro and Outro to the file. Make sure you get ‘royalty-free’ music for your podcast. You can add some of your own voiceover to make files you always add to the beginning and end of the track.
4. Create your finished .mp3 file. I publish the file as a .wav from Audacity and then open it in iTunes. From there I right click to create a .mp3 file.
5. Upload onto your blog and create show notes. I use Blubrry plugin for my wordpress blog and have a feed into iTunes. I create show notes as I edit the file which serves to give people an idea what the podcast is about, as well as provide text for Search Engine Optimisation (as Google can’t search audio right now!)

If you don’t want to host your own podcasts, you can use a service like BlogTalkRadio.

Have fun!

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