#364: Marketing Minute: Podcasting for Authors with Eric Nevins

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to the Kingdom Writers Podcast. My name is Shelly Hitz and I'm so excited to be here today with a guest expert, Eric Nevins. Welcome, Eric.

Hey, thanks for having me, Shelly. It's great to be here.

Yeah. And today is our marketing minute, and Eric's going to really touch on podcasting. Both the power of having your own podcast to market your books, but also pitching and really being a guest on podcast. So as we get started, let me just share a little bit about Eric. And he is the host and story curator of the Halfway There Podcast and the founder of Get Curious Media. But as an experienced podcaster, he worked with hundreds of podcasters to improve their podcast, and he has now launched the Get Curious Media to serve Christian businesses and ministries on their audio platforms. So he's just up the road from us in Denver, Colorado with his wife, kids, and his dog. But you have the Christian Podcasters Association.com where you have a lot of resources to help those that are podcasting but also wanting to be featured on podcast more as well. But as you get started today, just share a little bit about your passion for podcasting and how God led you into this field.

Oh, yeah. Well, so I love Christian podcasting and I love the industry of podcasting because it is so close knit and tight. And even though it seems like everybody has a podcast. Have you heard this? Everybody's got a podcast these days. It feels that way. It actually, when you start to get into. Into the numbers, it's so much less.

Active as you. As you think. So there's not as many as you think in your niche. And that's the beauty of it. So there are something like two and a half million podcasts, but not all of them are active. A very small number of those are active. Many of them only have one episode. I think it's almost half. Only have one episode. Wow. Right? You cut it down. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but you cut it down and then it gets cut down again. And then you realize there's. There's 19 different categories within itunes, so it gets reduced even more. So like, my podcast is a Christian spirituality podcast. It's going to be in the Christian category, competing with all Those people who are creating, those not competing with the business people. Right? So there's. There's a. There's a huge opportunity. Much bigger. And then you compare that with something like, how many millions of YouTube channels are there? How many millions of blogs are there, people trying to get attention? The opportunity is actually still very, very ripe.

Yeah. And I love hearing that because it is so easy to feel overwhelmed, like, oh, I'm just going to be another voice in the sea of podcasts. But it's also very intimate. You know, people are listening to you just, like, right now in their ears.

Well, that intimacy is one of my absolute favorite pieces of podcasting, because if you think about the number of voices that you hear this close to your ears. Right. I'm pointing at my headphones right now. Like, that's probably your mom, your dad, a child, maybe. Maybe a lover, right? Or a spouse or somebody like that, right. Very, very few people. But then we stick our headphones on, over the ear, in the air, whatever, and you hear that voice so close to your brain, and you feel like you know that person. Right? You ever. You ever do that with a radio person that you're like, oh, I feel like. I know. And then you see what they actually look like, and you're like, that's not what I thought they looked like. Same deal with podcasting. Very close, very intimate, and people really get to know you and like you. It's. It's amazing.

Yeah, it really is. And so, you know, my audience are writers or authors. And what. What is just, you know, a few, you know, suggestions that you might have for. For an author that wants to start a podcast specifically to sell more books.

Yeah. So for writers wanting to sell more books, I would say if you're going to start your own show, make sure that you have a topic that you know exactly who you're speaking to, which you have to do this for your book anyway. Right. Which is the beautiful part, right? You know who you're talking to, you know what you want to say, and then that you have a plan that is sustainable, because that's one of the things. Podcasting can be a little bit of hard work. It takes some. There's some skills you gotta learn, like editing and speaking the microphone and learning all that. But with that, it takes a little bit of time to grow, so you gotta be in it for the long haul. I would say commit to. I tell people, commit to a year publishing every single week. Pick a day, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever day works for you, and publish an episode every single week. And if you do that, your. Your show will grow and you're seeking out your people. Right. Your. Your. Your audience. So that's. That's where I would say start.

Yeah, because there's a real thing called pod fade, right. Like, where people just, like, fade away. And like you said, a lot of people don't have an active podcast anymore. And so one of the things that I do that. I don't know if you do this as well or if you recommend this, but sometimes, like, you can record multiple episodes at one time. Right. And batch them so you don't have to be, like, recording something every week, but you can even work ahead.

Yeah, absolutely. There's a couple ways to do that. You can do a whole chunk. So before I started my show, I did 13 episodes. The average podcast at the time, I don't know. This was 2016. I don't know if this stat still applies, but people would say that the average podcast only lasts seven episodes. So I recorded 13 because I was bound and determined to get past that. You can do that. You can do three months ahead or whatever. If your content is evergreen, that works.

Or the way I do it now is I batch on certain days, so every Wednesday, I record two episodes. I have space for two episodes. I don't record every. Every week, but if I invite guests and they take those slots, that's great. And then I try to edit two episodes every week. So every week I'm getting one more episode ahead.

Yeah.

In my. In my queue, so that I'm. I'm getting there and I don't have to worry about it. So, like, last couple weeks, we've had some crazy things go on in my family. I didn't worry about the podcast. I can simply allow that to keep going, and then I'll catch up later today with sharing, and we'll be all good.

Yeah, that's so good. And, you know, we all have a limited amount of time, and yet we want to make it the most impactful that we can. And so, you know, for anyone who already has a podcast and they're. They're just kind of like, okay, now how do I grow my downloads? Like, how do I actually, you know, see people other than my mom and my. My sister, you know, listening to these episodes? What. What advice would you have for them?

Yeah, I always recommend four things. I used to say three, but so the. The key, the one that I find a lot of people miss, and I'm a little surprised by this, is having your website. So this is a key for your. For selling a book as well.

Right, right.

So have you have your own website and make sure you have an email list. And you're going to email your email list every single time you publish an episode on that day that you chose. Make sure you do that. That's huge because it lets people. It's one more way that people know, hey, there's a, there's an episode there. The other.

Three, I think you gotta be active on social media, find your tribe somewhere. So social media isn't the end all, be all. But building a community somewhere is really important because those people who like your work, who like what you do, whether it's in audio or in text, going to be your biggest fans. And you want to develop that. The other one is having great guests. And so even if you have your own solo show, I think have, have some great guests. Here's the thing people take for granted. I think they don't realize about podcasting. Did you know that you can get free books if you're a podcaster? Did you know that? Yeah. Right. You probably did because you send them out to people. But I. I've got a whole shelf of books back here that is full of books that people have sent me, including one of my, one of my favorite authors. I got a book from his publisher recently. I went, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm going to get to talk to this person. Right. Wow. So look for the people that you love and who will help you in your career, make friends with them by having them on your show. That's super fantastic. It'll help grow your show. And then the third thing is to be a guest on podcast. So hop on and, you know, find a place. Christian Podcasters association is a great place to do that if you're a Christian writer. And I pull from there quite frequently for myself because I know that I can get somebody who loves the Lord and is going to tell me their story and has done a little bit of work on their message, they know what they're saying. Right. But those, those four things are just the basics. And those, if you get those down, your show will grow over time.

Yeah. And like you said before, just being consistent. Right. And you know, just showing up. And so I love that. And you have the Christian Podcast with Podcasters association website and then you also have the Facebook group. Right. That people can join for free and you offer opportunities in there to connect with other podcasters for guesting or, you know, other tips and tricks in there. But share with us also. Like, okay, so we've talked a little bit about having the podcast, and we've talked about, you know, being able to grow it. But what about guesting? You know, that takes a lot less commitment. Right. You can get started right away, get a nice, good. A good microphone. Right. And.

Yes. And so tell us a few of your tips for guesting and being featured on other podcasts in order to sell more books.

Well, the key to guesting is making an ask, right? So you got to ask somebody, a podcaster, about their show. You don't have to know everything about somebody's show in order to ask them to be on it, but you do need to be familiar with it. And so that's my first pro tip, is that check out a show. You want to make sure the first question ask is, do they even have guests? Right, right. There's nothing like getting, you know, sending a pitch to somebody who doesn't even ever have guests, and then they're like, hey, I don't do that. That's not good. Yeah. And it's really embarrassing. You want to make sure that your message is a good fit for their audience. You want to make sure you understand who their ideal audience is. You could do that just by listening to usually one or two episodes, you'll get an idea of what they're talking about. And it doesn't have to be a perfect match. Just there has to be some overlap that makes sense for you and for them. And then when you make that pitch, I've got a whole thing about how to do it. But the. The key thing I would tell people is make sure you're tell. Not telling the host about yourself. Tell your host about how you will serve their audience.

Exactly right.

So as long as that, like, if somebody comes to me and they understand that my show is about the spiritual journey, and they go, look, I've got. I've had a really interesting journey with the Lord, and I've had these things happen, and I was mad at God for this period, and then he, you know, I fell in love with him again this way. Oh, that perks my interest every single time. Then I know, because I know that they know what the show's about, and they know how I'm trying to serve people. So that's really a key. A key. It seems simple, but you'd be surprised the number of pitches that people get that are not. They haven't thought about that because they're trying to push their thing, which I applaud. Absolutely applaud. You got to go out there and do the thing, but take that one extra step and you'll do wonders for you.

Yeah, you know, it's like the difference between trying to sell your book on the podcast, which, I mean, you definitely want to do, but serving the audience. Right. And saying, this is how I can serve your listeners, because that podcast host. And you and I both have podcasts, we're concerned about that. Right. We want our listeners to enjoy it, to be served, for it to be valuable information, not just a pitch or a book. And so, yeah, that is something so good. And I just encourage everyone that's listening if you have a book. Podcast guesting is such a great way to get out there, get the word out, and to get started just sharing about your book. But, you know, podcasting is such a great big topic, and we could talk about this for a long time, but I like to keep these episodes short, succinct, you know, and just some actionable advice. So if you had just, you know, one action step that those listening today could take, what would you recommend?

Well, so I'm going to add one more thing to the podcast guesting approach, and that is, again, set yourself a goal. Right. And decide. And I would say whatever you, Whatever number just came in your head when you were like, okay, I'm going to guess on this many shows, double it. Okay? Just double. Just whatever. So if it's 12, make it 24. If it's. If you were ambitious enough to say something like 20 or 25, make it 50. You can do that in the next year. And that's. That's what I would say to do. There are places. So a great place to go. You mentioned Christian Podcasters association, particularly if you want to get on Christian podcasts, go to Facebook, search Christian Podcasters Association. Join it. I also have a group called Christian Podcast Guest that is really great podcast. You can always post in there. In the podcasting group, we have a thread that goes up every month that you can look at. You can always post that as long as you keep it in the right place. I don't. I want to offer that. I also have a director, like I mentioned, that we're building that. I'm. I. My ambition is to build the biggest directory of Christian podcasters in the world where you can go and find great podcasts to join as a, as a podcaster. We'll. We'll get there. It takes a little bit of time, but we'll get there.

Yeah, that, that will be awesome, because I know that's, that's a Pain point. Right. It's just, you know, connecting and finding the contact information and the shows and all of that. So we'll definitely put those links in the show notes for those Facebook groups to get connected, get connected with Eric. And this is definitely, you know, a safe place for you as Christian writers, as Christian authors to get connected and to either start growing your platform while you're writing your book or to have a way to sell your book and to reach more people and really impact more lives. So thank you so much, Eric, for being here for sharing today and we appreciate you.

Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been a lot of fun.

All right, well, thank you everyone for being here and we will see you in the next episode. Bye. Bye. Would you like more? If you are enjoying this podcast but want more, I have something exciting to share with you. We have released what's called a private podcast. So a private podcast you will not find by searching in Apple. You can. You have to know specifically how to subscribe to it. It's more private and exclusive and it just can be more relaxed behind the scenes. And my new private podcast is called Hits Blitz and it's wisdom for writers that you're going to learn from my 18 plus years of experience in publishing and online marketing so that you can move forward. And in God's Call to write, I am best known for injecting energy and enthusiasm into everything I do and inspiring those around me to take action. So I encourage you to listen in to this exclusive private podcast. It is free, 100% free. You don't have to pay for it. And be prepared to be inspired by my next Hits Blitz. So you can sign up@trainingauthors.com hits blitz and if you have any other writing friends that you think could benefit from it, definitely share it with them. They can go to the Same link training authors.com forward/hits blitz to get access. Again, this is a private podcast, so you cannot get access to it any other way. It's completely free. All you have to do is sign up and then you'll get all the information on how to add it to your podcast player of choice. So I can't wait for you to join me over there. I share a lot of things behind the scenes and more content just in a real time basis. So it's more like chatting with a friend or following someone on stories on social media. Except you don't have to get caught up in any of the algorithms. You'll just have this in your podcast player and be able to listen in wherever you're at, whatever you're doing. Some of the listeners told me this week that they were listening while waiting in the Target parking lot, while brushing their teeth. You can fit this into the pockets of time that you have, so I hope you'll join me. Come over to trainingauthors.com hitsblitz.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.