OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
I have recently talked to a few podcasters who have achieved print publishing success after podcasting their novels. You can hear the fantastic interviews with J.C. Hutchins and Seth Harwood in podcast format. I have also interviewed Dan Klass and connected with podcasters Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine on Twitter. Scott Sigler, a NY Times bestselling horror writer, started out as a podcaster (and still podcasts his novels for free).
What is podcasting anyway?
Podcasting is creating audio and distributing it via an RSS feed so people can subscribe. You can podcast your own book, or use an interview or talkshow format. Here is my podcast page so you can see how to subscribe.
5 reasons authors should podcast
- Get your work out there. Podcasting is a brilliant way for you to have your work out in the public. You will find listeners who love your work and can connect with a whole load of authors who also podcast.
- Meet your audience where they are. Audio is a fantastic medium for communication. How many people do you see listening to iPods on public transport? How many people drive to work and can't read? People like to consume information and stories in audio format. It is now even easier to do this thanks to iTunes and other podcast catchers. How many more people could you reach if you have your book/writing in podcast as well as print format?
- Build your platform for free. All authors want to sell books, regardless of whether they are traditionally or self-published. Publishers also want to sell books. Therefore, platform building is important to everyone! (that is, building your following of readers/fans). Podcasting is a free medium you can use to build your platform even further. People will connect with your voice and you may even end up getting a publishing deal off the back of the platform you build (as per the authors mentioned above!)
- Improve your work and your performance. When you read your book out loud, several things will happen. You will hate your own voice. You will see flaws in your writing. You will play around with character voices (for fiction). You will decide to change things to suit a vocal performance. You will improve! This is great practice for when you are speaking at some amazing book festival and asked to read a few paragraphs of your book!
- Fun! Podcasting is actually great fun. There are only some basic things you need to know and easy software to use. You can use it as a way to connect with people who you want to talk to. I love my podcast interviews because I get to talk to very cool people! People also want to talk to you because you are promoting them, so it helps everybody!
So definitely get podcasting! Or at least check out some authors who are already at the following places:
- Podiobooks – for free chapters and whole podcasted books from many different authors
- Podcast Pickle – lots of different podcasts
- BlogTalkRadio – radio style podcasts
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Podcasting is one of the modules in the Author 2.0 program: Using web 2.0 tools to write, publish, sell and promote, launching 1 June 2009. I will show you exactly how to create a podcast and syndicate it to the internet.
Dan Klass, co-author of “Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting” is the featured expert interview for this module.
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