Can podcasts help authors boost book sales?
Other than the host or hosts, what person do you hear from the most on the thousands of podcasts that dot our audio landscape? The answer, in a word, is author.
Indeed, authors are the “go-to” for any podcast where an authority is needed on any topic. Just think of popular non-fiction podcasts such as Freakonomics, Stuff You Should Know, Hidden Brain, TED Talks, et al.
When specific expertise on a subject is needed, the author is the ideal person to fit the bill. After all, authors are credentialed by virtue of their published works and they can provide heft to the discussion brewing in any podcast. For podcasts, authors provide legitimacy to any topic and their insights – based on the wisdom mined from their book research – can make for enlightening and lively discussion. Only university professors challenge authors for podcast appearances. Of course, a professor who is also an author is definitely a “two-fer” for any podcast.
Now that we’ve established why podcasts cast a wide net for authors for their episodes, we need to ask the reverse question. Why do authors want to be on podcasts?
It’s not just about the sales
“Of course, many authors want a podcast interview to lead to increased book sales,” says marketing consultant Maggie Hammerstein. “But they also want to develop a brand and a media presence and podcasts are an ideal way to accomplish both goals.”
Surveys of podcast listeners have found that they tend to read more than the general population and listen to audio books at a much higher rate.
Hammerstein explains that podcasts enable authors to cherry-pick the interesting parts of their book and entice the podcast audience to either buy the book or follow the author on social media, which may lead to a future sale.
Some podcasts develop close relationships with authors and, in some cases, authors are the hosts of their own podcasts.
For example, Wharton professor and organizational psychologist Adam Grant is the author of such best-selling books as Originals, Give and Take, and Option B. He is also the creator and host of a popular podcast called Worklife, which takes listeners inside the minds of some of the world’s most unusual professionals to explore the science of making work not suck. Produced by TED, the podcast’s guests have included Daily Show host Trevor Noah, bestselling authors Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain and Michael Lewis and Angela Duckworth.
Gretchen Rubin has taped a vein for our desire for happiness with three best-selling books, including Better Than Before, and is the co-host of “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.” – naturally a podcast about achieving happiness.
When the monsters come out
Something You Should Know is a successful podcast that began as a radio show more than 20 years ago. Host Mike Carruthers describes the show this way: “The podcast offers me the opportunity to dive deeper into some fascinating topics. I really enjoy being able to pass along fascinating and useful intel to listeners that they can actually put to use in their lives.”
On the October 17th episode of the podcast, Carruthers welcomed author Carlyn Beccia on the show to discuss monsters, just in time for the Halloween season.
“We try to make our topics relevant to the season so her book about the origin of monsters was ideal for the episode,” says Carruthers.
Beccia was well known for her award-winning children’s books such as The Raucous Royals,, Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat, and They Lost Their Heads. Beccia has won numerous awards including the Golden Kite Honor, the International Reading Association’s Children’s and Young Adult Book Award and the Cybil Award. Her website requests that you contact her to find out more about her zombie preparedness kit. So her imagination competes with her outlandish sense of humor.
Beccia’s book Monstrous subtitled The Lore and Gore and Science behind Your Favorite Monsters details the origins of a wide array of monsters such as Dracula, werewolves, King Kong, Godzilla, The Kraken and zombies.
For example, did you know that vampire legend did not begin with Dracula but as far back as 500 B.C. in India where the legend told of Vetala, who hung upside down near cemeteries and waited to feed on the blood of the newly dead? Or that the origin of Frankenstein may have been Italian scientist Luigi Galvani, who made a frog’s limbs twitch when he touched live electrical wires to the frogs nerves and spinal cord?
“There’s no doubt that the exposure an author like me can receive from a popular podcast like Something You Should Know would help book sales,” says author Carlyn Beccia. “And the episode dropped two weeks before Halloween, just when monsters are uppermost in the public consciousness until Halloween,” she adds.
“There’s no doubt that author interviews on podcasts do increase book sales for that author,” emphasizes Maggie Hammerstein. “For the author and the author’s agent, you want to find the right podcast and the right timing.”
For instance, in its September 14 episode, Slate Money interviewed Yale Professor Daniel Markovits about his new book The Meritocracy Trap at a time when the college admissions scandal and Jeffrey Epstein dominated the news landscape.
“Perfect timing for his appearance on Slate Money,“Hammerstein notes. “That’s how podcast interviews can increase book sales.”
Beccia recounts her interview on the Something You Should Know podcast.
“Mike Carruthers, the host, was very gracious,” begins Beccia, “and the staff there do something very smart. They request that you watch a short video that tells people exactly what is expected from them during the interview.”
Mike Carruthers has his take on author interviews. “The toughest part of a podcast interview with an author or any guest is keeping it interesting. I have a little voice in my head that keeps asking me right from the start of every interview ‘Is this really interesting?’ or ‘Is this going on too long?’”
Carruthers continues, “That’s why I think editing is so important. I’ve done interviews where the first several minutes are edited out because the guest was just warming up. They didn’t get interesting until six or seven minutes into the interview. So in the show, that’s where the interview starts.“
The final book chapter
Carlyn Beccia’s interview on Something You Should Know was, not surprisingly, a success all-around with Beccia reaping rewards in increased visibility for her and sales for her book Monstrous.
During the interview, Beccia noted that monsters are a reflection of the fears of a society at that time. “Zombies have become popular as the fear of worldwide pandemics has increased,” she said during the interview.
“The timing was right for Monstrous,” says Maggie Hammerstein. “Two weeks before Halloween when scary movies are all over the TV listings and kids are obsessed with monsters for that short period of time. The author Carlyn Beccia accomplished what authors want to do in a podcast interview – get the listeners fascinated enough with their book to buy it. For example, her discussion of man turning into a beast took a surprising turn when Beccia explained that in studying Japanese lore, she discovered that instead of a werewolf, Japanese myth talks of a were-fox.”
Finally, Hammerstein talks numbers and notes that an author with an interesting book with the right timing and who sparkles on the podcast can increase book sales by as much as 25 percent.
The key for any author on a podcast, Hammerstein remarks, is not to explain what the book is about but dispense “I didn’t know that” facts, stories that touch the listeners emotionally, and insights that make listeners want to know more.
During her interview on the podcast, Carlyn Beccia did skillfully market her book. For example, Beccia refreshingly throws around like math theories like the square-cube law in which she shows the pain suffered by Godzilla and King Kong because of their immense size since the monsters’ bones and muscles cannot support the force of their weight.” Beccia contends King Kong would have massive broken bones before he made past the first floor of his Empire State Building climb.
As a targeted marketing tool, Maggie Hammerstein insists that podcasts are a more surgical tool that TV or radio.
“On a podcast, the author knows the audience has a specific interest in something like economics, science or even pop music,” Hammerstein begins. “On TV and radio, it’s typically a general audience who don’t have that highly specific interest.”
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