Author Media presents Novel Marketing, the longest-running book marketing podcast in the world. This is the show for writers who want to build their platform, sell more books, and change the world with writing worth talking about. 

I’m your host, Thomas Umstattd Jr., and today we are going to talk about guesting on podcasts. 

90% of Top USA Today Authors Guest on Podcasts

* Fiction* Nonfiction* Even Children’s authors.

Why?

Because podcasts listeners read books! 

Podcast listeners are:

* better educated* make more money* are more socially connected 

Podcasting is not a fad. Slow 1-3% year over year growth for the last 15 years. 2019 was the first time the number of people who listen to podcasts passed 51%.

AuthorMedia.com/gear

Hosting a podcast is a great way to go deep with a small audience, but if you want to get the word out about your book, the best way to do it is to guest on other podcasts. 

Guesting gives you:

* The influence of a podcast without the work of starting a podcast.* A high credibility way to reach new audiences * The chance to reach influencers you could reach any other way* The chance to reach readers you can’t reach any other way

I have been watching this trend for a while. This is part of the reason we launched the Podcast Host Directory. To make it easier to get in touch with podcasters. 

A lot of patrons have been using the Podcast Host Directory but there is a problem. What is the use of having a podcasters email address for a podcaster if you don’t know what to put in the email. 

So, I am excited to announce that I have launched a new course! The course is called How to Get Booked as a Podcast Guest.

I’m going to go through the course and give you a taste of the tips inside. So think of this episode as a TL;DR for the whole course. 

Section 1 Intro

This section provides big picture. 

Why podcast hosts want guests. 

For many of them it is because no guest means no show. Or it means they have to do more heavy lifting. It is a lot more work for me to put together a solo show like this one than it is for me to prepare for an interview.

Why podcast hosts turn down guests.

I get pitched with a lot of podcast pitches, and I turn down nearly all of them. But I don’t just look at my own experience. I also got feedback from dozens of other podcasts as to why they turn down guests. 

The number one reason for both them and me is poor topic audience fit. You have to adapt your pitch to match the podcast you are pitching. 

How to Become a More Attractive Guest

There are ways to become a more attractive guest. The first is to improve your audio. I have a free gear guide on exactly what to get that you can get at www.authormedia.com/gear.  

Another way to be more attractive is to have a press kit, we have an entire episode about that, it is episode 157.

Section 2 Pitching

Where to find Podcasts to Pitch