The Rise of the Author Podcast: How to Get Started As An Author

So, you’re a talented author with endless drive and inspiration. You regularly write and publish, but what’s next? If you’ve been looking for ways to promote your content, then podcasts for authors could be your next career milestone!

In this article, you’ll find out how to manage a podcast and get useful advice for running a successful podcast content writing, so keep reading!

Why Are Podcasts Great Opportunities for Authors

Writers choose many ways and strategies to promote their work. Some write blogs, and others publish YouTube videos, engage with organizations, or produce complementary art. All of these are great ways to get more exposure for your work. But you might have exhausted them all, or they may not be for you.

Blog writing is fun, inspiring, and engaging. It entails further promotion and regular presence on social media. Making videos and publishing them online opens many doors, but it is a side-hustle and a major commitment with little guarantee of return on time, resource, and work investment. 

There is, however, another way to promote your work and skills that’s a bit closer to home.

Podcasts have been there longer than eBooks, Amazon, YouTube, and other commercial platforms. They may not be as popular, but they’re still popular among the millions of listeners who wish to engage in live conversations around serious topics and hear informed opinions.

If you’re wondering: Should I host a podcast as an author? The answer is  YES, you should! Here’s why:

1: Knowledge and Skill Alignment

Podcasts are much more writing-dependent than they lead on; Podcast creators use the same skills that writers must learn to create content. They research topics to the T and look for unique, original ways to present them to their listeners.

Both writers and podcast creators possess stellar literary skills, even if the podcast topic and niche don’t directly relate to literature. A podcast host needs a broad vocabulary and the skills to craft sentences, voice, style, tone, and interactions that will engage their listeners. Writers do the same, only with written content. 

As a writer, you only need to upgrade your technical skills, and you have an excellent basis to start a podcast!

2: Writing Expertise

There are podcasts that are (or at least seem to be) spontaneous, and their creative hosts often go off-script to entertain and engage viewers, they’re mostly about writing and planning. You may not have to spell your podcast script entirely, but your expertise gives you all the skills needed to plan and execute an entire show. 

You know how to set the scene, introduce participants, and guide discussions similarly to how you explore topics in your written work.

3: Exposure

As an author, especially a self-published one, you need all the exposure that you can get. Podcasts give you the opportunity to gain more readers, build credibility, and establish your reputation in the publishing world. Remember, everyone can publish a book nowadays. Yet, not everyone’s work can carry a staple of credibility and reliability.

A podcast gives you the opportunity to present yourself as an expert in your field. It gives you the chance to bring in other experts and spark interesting discussions for  mutual gain, and promote each other's work. It is also an opportunity to network within your niche and form beneficial and lucrative affiliations, promotions, and partnerships.

How to Start And Manage a Podcast

As in the world of publishing, not every author can be successful. You can start your podcast easily and affordably, but gaining traction will require careful planning, inspired writing, and meticulous execution. Here are the basic steps for hosting a podcast:

1: Find a Respectable Role Model

Repeat the steps you took when you began your writing journey. Discover podcasts that you like and can’t stop listening to. Note what you specifically appreciate about them, what inspires you, and what you would like to change and improve.

Of course, not more technical details, like how they’re scripted and structured, how their topics get conceptualized, and what strategies their creators use to bring their ideas to life.

2: Plan and Conceptualize Your Podcast

Think of this part of the process as similar to writing a book outline. To succeed, you need to select a topic and a niche. Then, you should research similar podcasts and see what original topics, angles, discussions, and guests you can introduce into the market.

Finally, plan what topics you’ll cover in each of your shows. Similar to writing or blog posting, these topics should be creative and original, and they should “fill the gaps” in what’s been mentioned. However, your content should also follow a certain logic that will appeal to your viewers.

3: Design Your Podcast

Now comes the time for you to craft a brand for your podcast. If you’ve already worked on building your author brand, a part of the work has already been done; You only need to design a sub-brand that aligns philosophically and aesthetically with yours, but still has a tone of innovation.

If you haven’t followed the recommended steps for creating your author brand, then you can begin with your podcast. Think about the underlying philosophy behind your work, and how you’ll present it through voice, style, music, and visuals.

4: Get Technical

Choose a name for your podcast and purchase an available online address. Register a domain and set up a website. You can have your website custom-made or purchase a host membership with a website template suited to podcasts. The choice is all yours!

Then, you need to purchase and collect the basic essentials recommended for anyone looking to run a respectable podcast:

• Your visuals, known as album art, need to be of high quality and representative of your brand.
• Your audios, including intro and outro soundtrack and recordings
• Your equipment, including microphones, headphones, a mic arm, and recording equipment of good quality and made for podcasts. 
• Your host. Think about where you wish to host your podcast and how you wish the listener to access it. Do you want them to stream, download, or watch on YouTube for free?
• Editing software. Make an educated decision based on research and recommendations that best suits your podcast format and individual needs.

5: Format

No, we’re not talking about margins or font size and style. Now, you need to decide if you’ll run an interview show, news briefing, news analysis, solo, fiction, genre review, quick tip, and others.

6: Organize Workflow in Seasons

Be your own best director and plan an entire season of shows beforehand; this will give you the opportunity to write scripts, do research and interviews, and prepare all the materials ahead of time so that your podcast is spotless when the publishing time comes.

7: Work With Experts

Any investment in your show will pay off since the audience gets to experience the difference in quality. Whenever possible, interview experts in the field and delegate some assignments to assistants if you have the budget.

Content Writing For Podcasts

All interesting podcast episodes rely on quality content writing. The type of content writing that works best for podcasts follows the following guidelines:

1: Engaging and Interesting Topics

Find topics that will attract listeners. If you lack inspiration, look at comment sections and forums revolving around competitive podcasts to find out what bugs their audience. From there, you can discover interesting angles to explore your topics.

2: Speak to Your Audience

Adjust your podcast tone, style, and content to listeners the same way you adjust the written text to readers. Think about the type of entertainment your audience is looking for and the best language to deliver it.

3: Be Innovative

Your podcast script, as well as your writing, needs to bring something new and original. Your audience has, most likely, already listened to numerous similar podcasts, so they need something fresh that you haven’t heard before. You need to give them a unique experience through your stories and entire show.

4: Interact With the Audience

Ask your audience to subscribe in your intro and outro, and remind them to keep following your show. Make your podcast actionable and engage in competitions, giveaways, or promotions that align with your audience’s interests.

Conclusion

Setting up, managing, and running a podcast isn’t easy, but it can be the next milestone in your personal and writing career development. It provides an opportunity to promote your writing, engage with other experts in your field, and promote your career.