There are four ways to promote your book on podcasts: 

* You can listen to a podcast like this one to improve your skills. * You can be a guest on podcasts where you talk about your book for free.* You can start your own podcast.

But today, we’re going to talk about the fourth way to use podcasts to boost your book sales: podcast advertising.

Podcast advertising is one of the most undervalued, underused advertising techniques. But before we dive deeper, I want to offer a warning. If you don’t have an audiobook, don’t get into podcast advertising yet.

 Podcast listeners expect an audiobook version to be available. If you’re going to spend money, spend it on creating the audiobook first. But if you already have an audiobook or if you plan to have one, it’s a great time to investigate whether podcast advertising can be effective for you.

Last month, Podsights presented research to the International Advertising Bureau. They studied 232 brands across 532 campaigns and found that, on average, $1,000 spent on podcast ads returned $2,420.

That’s a better ROI than you’re likely to find anywhere else, partly because so few people are advertising on podcasts.

When you buy Facebook ads or Amazon ads, you’re bidding against an army. When you buy podcast ads, sometimes you’re bidding against nobody. It’s like pushing on an open door.

But how do you get started with podcast advertising?

I recently interviewed Heather Osgood, who specializes in podcast advertising. She’s the host of The Podcast Advertising Playbook, which is a podcast about podcast advertising for people buying ads. She’s also the CEO of True Native Media, which connects podcasters and advertisers.

Thomas Umstattd, Jr.: How do authors get started with podcast advertising? What are the steps?

Step 1: Create an audiobook.

Heather Osgood: I want to reiterate that an author needs an audiobook. If you don’t have one, do not invest in podcasting. I love podcasts and audiobooks. When I’m looking to buy a book, I always go straight to the audiobook. Generally, I start with the audiobook, and if I like it, I buy the actual physical book so that I can dive into the printed version. Make sure you know your market and what your market wants. If you’re going to advertise on podcasts, your market definitely wants an audiobook to listen to.

Thomas: In the early days of podcasting, there was only one podcast advertiser for most podcasts, and it was Audible. Hardcore podcast listeners have heard 200-300 Audible ads in their podcast-listening lives.

That means podcast listeners not only believe in audiobooks, they already have an Audible membership, and they probably have a stack of credits ready to spend on a book. They just need to know which book to spend it on.

Heather: I am addicted to audiobooks. I sometimes listen to three per week. I’m also addicted to walking, and I love listening to audiobooks while I walk. 

Step 2: Learn which podcasts your ideal readers listen to.

Heather: After you have an audiobook,