I do a lot of driving for my day job. As a result, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I’ve found the self-publishing podcasts to be invaluable when it comes to educating myself on the business of self-publishing. Here are my three favorites.
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Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast
Bar none, this is my hands-down favorite. I only just discovered Simon Whistler and his podcast, and while I wish I would have discovered him sooner, on the other hand, discovering him so late means I have a nearly endless stream of episodes to get caught up on.
Simon is a Brit whose self-deprecating humor is both typically British and very refreshing. He comes across as a humble interviewer who truly feels he has something to learn from his guests. The hour-long interviews he does with successful self-published authors inevitably teach me something I didn’t know before.
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Self-Publishing Roundtable
It’s been a rocky few months for the folks over at Self-Publishing Roundtable, aka SPRT. I was disappointed when the show’s original hosts all stepped down at once, but then got my hopes back up when one of the founders, Trish McCallan, found two more hosts and kept the show going. Then Trish herself stepped down, and her two co-hosts, fantasy author Lindsay Buroker and paranormal author Adam Poe, didn’t feel like it was right to continue the show without any of The Originals. I thought all was lost and was about to “Oh well” SPRT, but recently Wade Finnegan took the reins back over and re-launched the show.
SPRT isn’t anything like the Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast. Simon has this air of professionalism and action-oriented questions for his guests that make it clear to listeners what we are supposed to learn and take away from each episode. SPRT, on the other hand, is like a group of friends getting together to shoot the breeze and talk about what’s been happening in their writing careers. Nevertheless, because their guest panelists are all very successful authors, the casual conversation is still full of actionable information.
Also, SPRT is run as a live Google Hangout every Thursday at 9pm. That means that people listening lives post questions for the guest panelist, which is a nice twist on the podcast format.
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The Author Hangout
The Author Hangout is part of the site BookMarketingTools.com is run by the site of the same name. Although this is my least favorite of the three podcasts listed here, I still appreciate it and listen to it on a regular basis. The interview style of Shawn Manaher and his business partner RJ (sorry if the spelling is off on their names!) is less endearing than Simon Whistler’s and has considerably less sense of humor than SPRT. That’s probably the reason I don’t like this podcast quite as much as the other two. However, one thing you have to give these guys props for as interviewers is they get right down to business without any fooling around and really try hard to get to useful information for their listeners.
I also like that this podcast is shorter than the other two. It might take me three or four days to get through the hour to hour-and-a-half podcasts listed above, but since the Book Marketing Tools podcast is usually 45 minutes or less, I can listen to it all in one go. All-in-all, it’s a bite-sized podcast that offers useful book marketing tips.
What Else Should I Be Listening To?
Do you have your own favorite self-publishing podcasts? Tell me about them in the comments section below — I’d love to hear your suggestions!
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