The Benefits of Podcasts for Authors

Podcasts are a huge trend right now and for good reason. They’re often accessible for free on streaming services, and are perfect for listening to in the car, at the gym, or anywhere you might find yourself on the go; but, it's not all true crime and niche comedy! Podcasts can also be a great medium for writers and readers – here’s how:

Build Your Reputation
Podcasts are a good way to build your rapport. You can talk for as long or as little as you want about subjects you specialize in or which you find interesting. This can help build your credibility as a writer before your audience even picks up your book.
 
Promote Yourself and Your Book
Additionally, guest-starring on a podcast will likely result in a large amount of exposure for you. It’s a perfect opportunity to promote your work! Guest-starring on a podcast also gives you a way to talk about your book in a longer form of content than a quick social media post. You will be able to answer questions, go into detail, and build your reputation in the literary industry.
 
Being interviewed also gives you a chance to talk at length about yourself, your work, and essentially elevator pitch yourself to the listeners. In addition to getting your name out there, it can also be a good opportunity for networking.
 
Podcasts Are Popular Mediums
Podcasts aren’t just trendy, they’re also very effective at producing content that appeals to a wide audience. Because of their portability, podcasts are easily accessible and can be listened to at almost anytime – this is a huge contributor to their popularity. This makes garnering an audience via podcast relatively easy as your listeners can quickly turn into your readers.
 
Starting a Podcast is Easy
Podcasts are also inexpensive. There’s no need for a fancy camera or editing software, just a good quality microphone.
 
Make Passive Income
Like most virtual media, podcasts have ads. Unlike most virtual media, audiences often don’t blindly skip through them! An incredible 81% of podcast listeners report sometimes or always listening to midroll ads, compared to the majority of audiences reporting they sometimes or always ignore ads on TV, billboards, radio, etc. This culminates in a high rate of listeners actually checking out the advertised products.
 
Our Recommended Podcasts for Writers
If you’re not quite ready to publish your book with Night Heron Media just yet, there are plenty of great podcasts out there intended to help writers hone their craft, find inspiration, improve their technical skills, and more.
 
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of podcasts for writers:
 

• The Prolific Writer - This podcast talks about writing strategies, techniques, and elements. It also brings in the occasional guest-star to talk about their own process. Available on Apple Music, Spotify, Audacity, and https://theprolificwriter.libsyn.com/.
  
• The Writer Files - Interviews various authors to talk about their processes. The topic is usually their writing process, but some episodes, which are titled accordingly, will delve into publishing, cover design, story submissions, and more. Available on Apple Music, Spotify, and https://writerfiles.libsyn.com/.
  
• Create If Writing - This podcast goes into more of the technical side of platform-building, advertising, and marketing. Available on Apple Music, Spotify, and https://createifwriting.com/.
  
• Writers, Ink - This podcast brings in guest stars to talk about various publishing and writing issues, such as ghostwriting, writing in different mediums, personal branding, experimenting with genre, and much more. Available on Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, and https://writersinkpodcast.com/.
  
• Writing Excuses - Hosted by writers such as Brandon Sanderson, Howard Taylor, and Dan Wells. Great for people in a hurry, as each episode is typically less than 20 minutes. Available on Apple Music and https://writingexcuses.com/.
  
• The Creative Writer’s Toolbelt - This podcast goes over technical elements of writing: dialogue, character motivation, structure, foreshadowing, etc. This one is also great for people in a hurry, as the episodes are very short, save for the occasional interview episode. Available on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and https://ajc-cwt-001.podomatic.com/.
  

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By Natalie Dean, Intern

Natalie is a rising senior English student at the University of Houston. She also works with the UH literary magazine, Glass Mountain, as the co-managing and art section editor. She enjoys reading, painting, iced coffee, and the Oxford comma.