Podcasts as Marketing Tools for Authors
One of the best ways for an author to get him/herself out there is by way of being a guest on a podcast. Why podcasts? These interviews give authors a focused attention and coverage to an already engaged audience. Podcasts have shown signs of being very successful at turning listeners into book readers.
The first step is finding potential podcasts you'd like to pitch. There are many good search engines you can use to find relevant podcasts by entering your niche’s keywords:
iTunes
Stitcher
SoundCloud
Google - A good old-fashioned Google search for "best ______ podcast" (fill in the blank with your genre, theme, etc).
My suggestion is to keep a spreadsheet with potential podcasts you want to "pitch".
A pitch is when you contact the podcast creator about potentially be a guest on that podcast.
There are a few things to consider when you are evaluating potential podcasts to pitch:
Are they current? Do they post regular new episodes?
Do they routinely feature guests? Some podcasts don’t have guest interviews, so you want to make sure they DO accept guests.
Do they have a large audience? This is more difficult to judge, but it's important to know. Your time is limited and precious, and you want to use it in the best way you can.
Next is to collect some data about the podcasts, to help you judge whether you want to pitch. Gather information such as:
The show’s title
The show’s website
The host’s name
The host’s email
A recent guest
The show’s topic
Add this to the spreadsheet mentioned above. I would also suggest including a column for the date you reached out, whether you were accepted or denied, and a follow up column.
Once you know which podcasts you want to reach out to, send them an email! Here is a FREE email template you can edit to suit your needs. Be personal, but keep it succinct... and don't get discouraged if you don't hear back from them right away. It may take a few contacts to get anywhere. Be persistent.