How Do I Use My Book to Get on Podcasts?

Jan 20, 2021

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Start Doing Your Research
Only Pitch Yourself to Shows You Love
Think About the Show And Not Yourself
Know That The Host (Probably) Won't Read Your Book
Pitch at the Right Time

How Do I Use My Book to Get on Podcasts?

The best way to get on podcasts is the most obvious one and it's the most overlooked, which is listen to the podcast you want to be on.

Start Doing Your Research

Start by making a list of the podcasts you want to be on and be realistic: you are not going to get on Joe Rogan. You're probably not going to get on Tim Ferriss.

So go to the podcast app, go to the Apple store on your phone or your computer or wherever you are and start doing a search for the podcasts in your topic. And you are looking for podcasts that have at least a hundred episodes and at least 50 reviews. There are sites like Chartable where you can find out the actual number of downloads but there are billions of podcasts out there and this is the easiest way to do it. So as long as you can see they post every week, there are at least 100 hundred episodes that are at least 50 reviews, this is a podcast that is well worth your time going on.

So make a note of that podcast, then look under where it says "listeners also listen to or subscribe to" and start noting those again. Just constantly be revising and editing based on the podcasts—many start out strong and then they haven't updated in a couple of months or only post every month.

I would just strongly recommend sticking with weekly podcasts for now, then go and listen to them; maybe batch this and do 10 at a time. If it's a podcast you can't stand, forget it. It doesn't matter.

Some hosts and producers are very easy to reach—the information is very accessible—and sometimes they're not. There's a website called Hunter IO that lists really hard to find email addresses. They may not be accurate, they may not be current, but they are sometimes so that is that is who you pitch to.

Only Pitch Yourself to Shows You Love

When you love a show, what do you do? You review the show and keep listening to it. When you reach out to the host or the booker or whoever it is and tell them you love the show, show them a screengrab of the review.

I have been pitched hundreds of podcast guests over the years and I've accepted maybe four of those and the other ninety I rejected, usually because it was so obvious they had never listened to the show and it was just a blanket pitch.

And the ones that I did put on the show who were amazing guests, they had listened to the show or their publicists had listened to the show.

Think About the Show And Not Yourself

When you're listening to shows, make a couple of notes about episodes you like and then when pitching say, "I absolutely loved this episode and that episode. And also, I reviewed your podcast. Actually, here's a screen grab of my review and here's what I think I could tell your listeners."

Remember this: No one cares about your book. No one cares about my book. They care about what your book can do for them.

So the podcast host does not care about promoting your book. He or she cares about you sharing something with their audience that will be helpful that they haven't heard before and then you sharing the episode.

So share with this podcast host how excited you would be to share your episode and talk about whatever your abilities to share are; if you don't have a big social media following but it's a podcast you really want to get on, say, "I'm so excited to do this. I would love to drive Facebook ad traffic to the episode"or whatever it is.

Just make it so hard for the person to say no.

The Host (Probably) Won't Read Your Book

You should still send it to them. There are some podcast hosts who are extremely assiduous about reading guest's books—James Altucher talks about how he reads every guest's book over and over and over again. But I just heard Lewis Howse talk about how he has an assistant who reads the books, who flags the parts that are relevant to him and these are the biggest authors in the world.

As an author, it can be very disheartening when you're being interviewed by somebody who it is very clear has not read your book. But as a podcast host, I've had both: I've had people I've absolutely read their books and I've had people where I haven't had time to read their books and I've interviewed them.

The important thing is it's somebody that has taken the time to prepare—has gotten information about you and your book—and it can be just as fruitful to have that conversation. So please don't be offended by the fact that the podcast host is probably not going to read your book.

Pitch at the Right Time

Make sure you pitch way ahead of your book release. Some podcasts batch episodes so you can't say, "My book is coming out in May. So in April, I'm going to start reaching out to these podcast hosts."

Some hosts don't want you pitching or promoting anything on their show. Marc Maron famously says he doesn't want people promoting things. But some are very open to it. You can absolutely request and say, "I have a book coming out April 1st. I would love for my episode to be released that week."

I really tried to do that with my recent book and I had all these podcasts that were scheduled to come out that week. And then people screw up and they forget when your book is coming out.

In the book world, people are very into preorders. But as a consumer, I am an immediate gratification baby and am so much less likely to buy something if I see it's not coming for another six months; I am so much less likely to hit Buy now.

So I recommend booking these podcasts for once your book is available. And while there is a great advantage to having them all be released at once, there is also a great advantage to keeping your sales going by having podcasts come out over a certain period of time.

So your homework is to start listening to the podcasts. Start researching which would be best for you, start being realistic and start stalking in a very gentle, loving and affectionate way, the hosts and showing them that you're out there.

HERE'S HOW I CAN HELP YOU WHEN YOU'RE READY: