As writers, it’s essential to connect with your audience. One of the growing marketing methods is podcasting. This is like hosting your own little radio show, but to an exclusive audience. It’s fairly simple to create a podcast, but the hard part is knowing when to do it and how to format the episode. Here’s some essential information so that you can have a successful podcast series and book launch.
Getting Started
Recording and getting a podcast ready is probably easier than you think, but you do need to have the right gear. On the hardware side, you will need at least a microphone to record the audio. Most computers have microphones, but you need a professional one with noise cancelling abilities. You’ll also need headphones to make editing much easier. A headset is often the best because it combines the two, and it’s easier to use while recording.
On the software side, you need a program that can record and edit audio. Recording is easy, but editing can take some time. You might need to rearrange the audio, delete sections that you don’t like or messed up on or any sections that just don’t belong. The editing isn’t advanced, but it will take some time to learn.
You can find out more here:
http://www.howtopodcasttutorial.com/01-plan-your-podcast.htm
When it comes to hosting your podcast, there are a few resources available to you. The method that gives you the most control is to just upload the MP3 file to your website. You can also upload the podcast to iTunes or store it on Amazon S3.
A few other hosting options are:
http://www.podbean.com/
http://www.libsyn.com/podcast-hosting-services/
http://create.blubrry.com/
When to Podcast
While there are some writers that podcast every day or week, most would say that this detracts from the writing side of your career. It can be difficult to come up with new ideas every episode, and even your listeners might get tired after a while. It’s best to make a podcast when you are planning to launch a book. This allows you to build some buzz before the book is listed on Amazon or in stores.
So, how long before the launch should you release your first podcast? This really depends on you and how big your launch will be, but about six to ten weeks is fairly average. You’ll be able to keep your audience interested, and you also won’t need to stretch yourself thin just to come up with things to say. Starting earlier than this has a good chance of destroying any excitement that you build, and later will make it difficult to build up a worthy audience for your book.
While you could speak daily, it’s often better to release a weekly podcast. This is up to you, so see which one works, but weekly is the standard.
Episode Ideas
Probably the hardest part of podcast marketing is knowing what to talk about. What will make your audience entertained? One of the best things that you could do is have a podcast introducing yourself and what you write. People love knowing the writer, and this often pushes sales because it humanizes your product.
You should also have an episode talking about what went into making the book, how you researched everything and people that helped make the book possible. You can also have someone interview you to make the show more dynamic. Make the last few episodes (two or three) about the book launch itself. Tell people exactly when the book is coming out and make them really excited. You should also have an episode after the launch to talk about how well the book is doing and to push more people to buy it.
Cross-promoting with other writers and professionals in your field can also help you tap into a broader audience.
Format
This can be another problem. How do you format the podcast and go about your topic? Do you just sit there for an hour and talk about yourself? Do you have a friend or fellow writer interview you? Or, do you make it a live podcast and let people call in and contribute? All of these are great ideas, and they might work well for certain episodes. Just see which one works for you and stick with it.
Build an Audience
Don’t be discouraged if there are only a few listeners during your first podcasts. If you’re a new writer and you haven’t done much marketing, then this might happen. However, you can build an audience by having a blog and social media page, and then telling those people to listen to your podcast. You should keep broadcasting even if there are only a few listeners because the only way to build an audience is through persistence.
Gifts
If you’re planning a big book launch, then you might want to have some gifts ready for anyone who buys your book. This can be exclusive content, a poster, money, travel tickets or anything else. Many of these people will already be motivated to buy from you, but this will just push them even further. If you pay attention to most best seller launches, you’ll notice that this tactic is used quite often.
Conclusion
Podcasting is definitely within the realm of author marketing, and you should start using it to build buzz around your book launch. However, even if the book is out, you can still do some podcasts just to gain some experience. Your following will probably be small at first, but this is a great way to build an audience if you are persistent.
For a complete plan to market your book with podcasts and internet radio shows, check out:
Power Promotion: Promoting With Podcasts and Internet Radio Shows
Promoting Your Book With Podcasting
Promoting Your Book With Podcasting is a post from: AmyHarrop.com
© AmyHarrop.com, 2013. Written by admin
Post tags: in Categories: Ebook Promotion
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