How to Get Booked on Podcasts with Author Robert Belle | Author Spotlight

Podcasts are one of those media opportunities that have a long shelf life, can lead to interesting opportunities along with a few book sales. And they also give you and your website some high value backlinks. Overall, they're a really important part of an author's marketing plan. So you might be wondering, how, as an author, can you get yourself booked on podcasts? If you're looking for tips to be featured and interviewed, this author spotlight is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the book broad from Book Launchers. We're your professional self publishing team helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book that will help you have a huge impact on your readers. And done right will help you grow your brand, build your business, and make you money. The best part, you keep all rights and royalties. At Book Launchers, we research and pitch targeted podcasts to help market our clients books. But we do a limited number of pitches every month for some of our clients. They collaborate with us to find out what we're pitching and what else can be done and then they add to the marketing with their own podcast pitching. And one of our clients has been doing that and doing so well, I asked him to share his secret sauce with you. So I can't wait to introduce you to Mr. Robert Bell, author of blow the lid, reclaim your stolen creativity, increase your income, and let your light shine. If you're dissatisfied in your career or you've just lost that creativity you had as a child, like so many of us do, this book is absolutely for you. All right, Podcasts. Having never done a single podcast interview Before, Robert recorded 25 podcast interviews in three months. How did he find these podcasts to interview him? What did he do? Well, let's meet Robert and find out.

The number one thing that I did was use the power of social networking. I just literally went on Facebook and started reading up about podcasts. Well, I do have to say for full disclosure that I have plans of starting my own podcast. So I had this interest in how do podcasts work, how do you set them up? And of course one of the questions is, how do you look for guests? So I was part of a group on Facebook or I am part of a group on Facebook that gives people tips on how to start a podcast. And I asked, hey guys, where do you find your guests? And I got two resources that have proven to be really good for me. One is Podit. Podit is a site where you can look for podcasts to be interviewed on and podcasters can find people to interview. So it's just a Matching site number two, I was referred to a group on Facebook called Podcast Guest Connection, and what I did is the same thing, like Bodit. So you just look for podcasts that you want to pitch, and podcasters go there to look for people to interview.

Great resources, Robert. Now, when you have the name of a podcast, looking for guests, what do you do next?

I would research about the podcast. How do they get started? What is their goal for the podcast? Who is their ideal listener? You know, reading the reviews. And I listen to at least one or two podcast episodes to get a feel for the flow of the podcast, the vibe of the podcast. What issues are they really trying to address on the podcast? Because sometimes there could be a disconnect between the description of the podcast and some of the interviews that they do. Sometimes a podcast could take a different turn in a new season. So I just look to familiarize myself with the podcast. Then using the great media kit that the team at Book Launchers gives me, that just makes my work so much easier. So I just profile myself and I ask myself the question, if I were a podcast host, what kind of guest would I want on my podcast? So I just use that to frame my approach and my pitch and using their language and explaining to them how I'll add value to their guests. And it just works every single time.

Okay, so the media kits my team creates for our clients are pretty epic. Let me quickly show you Robert's media kit right here. At the end of this video, I'll link to a video I have on creating your own media kit so you can create a great one too.

Then lastly, I also check where my icons in my industry, you know, in my area, what podcast do they go to? So if, for example, Robin Sharma, if he goes to a particular podcast, are trying to be like those podcasts, you know, if you. If I could say that. So if he goes on podcast X, I look for podcast Y. That's trying to get to the level of podcast X. And then I pitch them, because am I, you know, I just look to see where they go and who their audience is and pitch based from that angle.

Now, Robert, since you were brand new to podcast interviews when you started all of this, what can other authors new to this expect when they start doing podcast interviews?

If you're an author and you've never recorded a podcast before, there are three things you can expect. Number one, expect to be seen as the expert. This happened to me. I was going live on a podcast interview, and the host introduced me as a creativity expert and I was. That hit me for a minute. I had to compose myself very quickly because we were live. I just never thought of myself as a creativity expert because the fact that you've written a book, especially with book launchers, it's well researched, it's well done. So you're the expert. So people want to hear your voice, they want to hear about you. And that leads me to point number two. Expect to reveal more of yourself. Don't just go into the podcast interview talking about the book, the book, the book, the book, the book. They want to know about the author of the book. They want to know not just about the message, but the messenger. Expect to reveal more of yourself. Why did you write the book? Your journey, you know, just, just open up a bit more. Expect to connect. And then number three, expect that to communicate your message very in a concise manner. You need to know your material, you need to know your talking points. So no matter how a question is asked or framed, you need to be able to bring it back to your material, to your messaging, stay on message. And I do that a lot. No matter how the question comes, I'm able to just transition, you know, into, back into my messaging, you know, so you want to always leave the viewer and the listener, whether it be audio or video, with your central message.

That was gold right there. If you're taking notes, I hope you wrote that down. Expect to be considered the expert. Open up about yourself personally to connect and no matter what questions you're asked, bring it back to your core message. Robert, it is impossible to tell that you're new at this, my friend. Now, one of the things I've heard loud and clear from you, my YouTube friends, is that you want to hear direct from our authors what their experience working with Book Launchers has been like. And if you have tips for authors using our service or services like ours. So I asked Robert.

My experience working with Book Launchers has been absolutely fantastic. A few tips I'll give to make the best use of their service is, number one, make use of the experts. Book Launchers has a team of experts from every stage, you know, even from the ghostwriting stage. So you have to be able to be patient to get the most out of each expert. Maximize your time at each stage of your book journey. Of course it's difficult. As a first time author, I was very anxious. I just needed to get this book out because it's like a pregnancy. It gets to a point where I just want it to be over with. But you really have to make use of every step, every stage of the process. Don't take any part for granted because they're the experts and you want to maximize on each one. You have to be the CEO of your book project. That's the best way to make use of the book launcher service. So you need to be the visionary and make sure that they fully understand what your vision is and they're going to help you to implement that vision. You can ask questions, you can research, you can make proposals. So collaborate is another tip. You know, that's a good way to make use of the service. Collaborate, ask questions. Hey guys, what do you think about this? Think of your book in the hands of an ideal reader or an influencer three years from now, where do you want your book to be? Do you want your book to be on this scale? This scale? And when you do that, work backwards, because book launch is going to help you put the foundations in place today that will give your book longevity.

That is awesome advice, Robert, and thank you so much. We have absolutely loved working with you and helping you bring this incredible resource and book to life. And you have maximized the value we have to offer at every stage. Your cover, by the way, gets a ton of attention when we display it at conferences. So you did a great job as CEO of your book. All right, now I asked Robert my favorite question. What has been the biggest surprise or the best thing that's happened to you since your book launched?

Just about one month after it was released, I got nominated for a TCK Publishing 2020 Reader's Choice Award under the self help category. That's just the biggest surprise to date. And I'm currently like in second place with the voting. You know, I'm trying to rally up more reach. I call it the birthday surprise. You know it's your birthday. You've been in this position. You know it's your birthday, maybe you get home or you go out for dinner and you're surprised by your family or your friends. You know it's your birthday, but when you get to the surprise, you're still surprised. And that for me were my Amazon reviews. I mean, I knew who I was writing this book for. We were very clear with our avatar working with the Book Launchers team. This is who we are targeting. So just seeing the Amazon reviews was just like a birthday surprise. It was just great validation that, yes, I've written the right message for the right audience.

Congrats, Robert. Getting nominated for a Reader's Choice Award is pretty epic. So I'm gonna put a link to the voting below and if it's still open, please click it and vote for his book. It's on page three about 2/3 of the way down. Blow the lid off, look for the really cool looking cover. Good luck Robert. We're cheering for you. All right, I think that was a jam packed video. Robert really gave you cold today, didn't he? If you want to get his great book to help you get your creativity back and find more fun and joy in everything you do and you want to connect with Robert, head on over to his website, robertabelle.com and I'll link that below for you as well. And just so you know, if you're just listening to this, it's bell spelled B E L L E. Do you have a question about getting yourself booked on podcasts or do you want to ask ask Robert about something about creativity getting those creative juices flowing. Go ahead and post a comment below. And when you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet book launcher swag like our oh so soft journal and our noboringbooks mug. Man, that was fun, wasn't it? Want to hang out some more? I want to share that media kit video with you right here. So if you haven't seen that before, go ahead and click on over and this video right here is the latest and greatest from the channel. So please go ahead and choose your adventure and I'll be waiting to join you. Oh, that was fun. Thanks for that, Robert.