When the average person thinks about a podcast, they are concerned about promoting books with podcasts. Also, people seem very familiar with converting podcasts to books. While the relationship between podcasts and books is strongly seen from that point of view, you do not always need to convert podcasts to books. You can also convert books to podcasts.
This relationship is special and with podcasts becoming more popular, if you are looking to learn how to create a book podcast, you are on the right page. Let’s get started;
What is a Podcast?
In its simplest form, a podcast is an audio broadcast. It can be much likened to listening to a particular program on your radio at a time of the week. However, it differs from your regular radio program as you do not need to put on your radio at a particular time before listening to whatever it is you are interested in.
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With podcasts, you can always download episodes of audio broadcasts and listen to them at your convenience.
What is a Book Podcast?
A book podcast is simply an audio broadcast that has an already released book as its source. Unlike regular podcasts that never existed in the form of a book, book podcasts are podcasts that are lifted directly from a book. So, before looking to learn how to create a book podcast, you should be ready to write a book or must have written one.
Why You Should Make a Podcast from a Book
Podcasts are beautiful and lots of people are aware of this fact. Well, beyond being aware of what a podcast is, you should know what you can get from a podcast.
Furthermore, knowing what a podcast can do is nice. However, there is more. You should know what you stand to gain from converting a book to a podcast.
If you ask an author what he stands to gain from turning a book into a podcast, the average author might not know what podcasts bring to the table so long books are concerned.
Podcasts might not be sold. However, they have become very influential over time. The number of people that currently listen to podcasts is high and always on the increase. This means you will be making a good move by learning how to create a book podcast.
Beyond podcasts helping you build popularity for your job as a writer, creating a podcast from your book can give you a fresh stream of income. That is, apart from the revenue that your book will generate. Episodes of your podcast might not have to be paid for. However, you can make money from ads and sponsors.
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That’s not all. Writing a book and recording a podcast are forms of art. However, they are different forms of art. So, this could give you the challenge that you need to make it to the next phase in your career.
Are podcasts Different from Other Books?
Before going on to find out how to create a book podcast, it is important to know how podcasts differ from other books. When looked at on the surface, podcasts are an audio version of a regular book and this makes the average person confuse them with audiobooks.
It is possible to download audiobooks and podcasts. Also, they can both be steamed. However, they are different.
AudioBooks vs Podcast
Audiobooks and podcasts are both digital audio files. However, while podcasts are a series of audio files in form of episodes, audiobooks are a recording of an existing text which is usually a book.
You do not have to make payment before listening to a podcast. That’s because the aim of putting out a podcast is not to make money from the direct sale of the podcast. However, in some cases, you might need to make payment before going ahead to enjoy all that it has to offer. However, in the case of audiobooks, you might need to pay before having access to the audiobook. That’s because the author wants to make money with it. Another thing is because the audiobook is an audio recording of a published book.
Podcasts are divided into short episodes and can be listened to completely in under an hour. They are usually long and will take a long time to finish. Also, they cannot be listened to in one sitting.
You do not need to be meticulous when listening to podcasts as finding out where you stopped will not be challenging.
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But in the case of an audiobook, there is usually the challenge of finding out where exactly you stopped because of the length. So, you need to be really, meticulous to get a lot from an audiobook.
However, we are looking at ways you can create a podcast from your audiobook or ebook.
Steps in Creating a Podcast From a Book
This is perhaps the most important part of learning how to create a book podcast. Let’s walk through the necessary steps in turning a book into a podcast.
1. Get Started with Action
This is the first step in learning how to create a book podcast. Podcasts are usually short. So, if you must keep your readers engaged, you will need to swing into action right from the beginning of your podcasts. If you are new to the idea of podcasts, you might wonder if you will ever get the chance to give your readers a background.
Well, giving your readers a background will never be a challenge as you have subsequent episodes through which you can give them a background of what you are trying to pass across.
Starting out with action might be different from how your book was written. So, when looking to have a podcast created from your book, you will need to rearrange your book so it becomes a lot more exciting from the outset.
In addition, you will need to start up with action and maintain the pace.
2. How Many Episodes Are You Looking to Write
Your journey towards knowing how to create a book podcast involves knowing how many episodes you are looking to create from your book. It is only natural that you have an episode for every chapter when creating a podcast. However, this might not always work. You might need to begin every episode and end it a particular way. If you are to do things this way, you will not be able to split the podcast episodes into different chapters.
There are various ways to schedule the different episodes of your podcasts. Regardless of the schedule, you decide to make use of, always make use of something that you can manage.
3. You Might Need a Voice over Artist
The fact that you write well does not mean you will be able to do a proper job if you decide to read your own podcasts. If you are not sure of delivering a quality voice-over, you will need to get a professional to do the reading of the podcast.
There are different ways to put out a podcast. You can decide to just get one person to read it. Also, you could decide to get a couple of actors. In essence, you can decide to represent different characters in the podcast by different people which will also help to add uniqueness to your podcast.
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Having a great podcast is not just all about reading. You can make it more effective by adding some music or sound. If you want to have some music playing in the background, you should pay for the services of a producer instead of just picking a song from anywhere.
Although having music and sound can make your podcast extra captivating, you do not have to go this route.
4. Get Started with an Introduction
With everything in place, you will need to come up with an introduction for your podcast. This is very important if your podcast is going to be a long series of recordings. The introduction should start with you talking about yourself and what the story is all about. While at this, you need to be very careful so you do not give out aspects of the story that you want to keep away. Nonetheless, you should give out just enough to get your audience stuck to your story.
Still on introduction, when recording a fresh episode of the same series, you should talk a little about the previous episode. This way everyone listening to your podcasts can connect the dot and continue with the podcast at hand.
5. Go on and record the Podcast
If you miss it here, then, you will not be regarded as one that knows how to create a book podcast.
With everything set in place, you are ready to record the podcast. There are various ways to approach this. You could decide to take out time and record the entire series. If this is not something you will be comfortable doing, then, you will need to record the podcast gradually.
Although there are no hard and fast rules to how best you should record the podcasts, things are usually better when you set out to record the entire episode in a couple of days. When you do things this way, you can avoid distractions that could make you lag behind in your recording schedule.
Still on recording, in addition to recording a series at a go, when recording an episode, you should take out some time to talk about the next episode. This will certainly build up anticipation for the next job and you can be sure your audience will be unable to wait for it to get ready.
6. Offer free Podcasts before Initiating Promotion
For lots of people, the aim of putting out a podcast is not just about passing knowledge. Sometimes, they put out podcasts to make extra revenue. Since the aim of putting out a podcast is to make money, you will need to promote your podcast before making money.
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Promoting your podcast is the way to go. However, it is not the first thing you should do. Before going ahead to promote your podcast, you need to put out a couple of episodes and get the audience in. While this might make it seem like you are not just all about the money, you also get to make your brand ready for exposure. When people come across your promo, they will most likely go to your website to find out about your books. In this situation, if you do not have enough to offer your audience, they will be disappointed.
7. Don’t Joke with Promotions
While you might want to go easy on promotions when you just get started, you certainly will need to take it seriously when you have an entire series dropped. If you fail to promote your podcast, regardless of how good it is, you will be unable to get the best out of it as your target audience will not get to hear it.
Tools needed for Book Podcast Creation
Podcast recording software for MacOS
- GarageBand
- Logic Pro
Podcast Recording Software for Windows
- Adobe Audition
- Audacity
- Alitu
- Buzzsprout
- Anchor.fm
- Libsyn
- Podbean
- SoundCloud
Top 5 Best Voice Over software for book recording
If you are looking for voice-over software that you can use to create your book podcast, you can try the software below;
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Adobe Audition
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Wondershare Filmora
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Audacity
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Windows Voice Recorder
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Online Voice Recorder
With this voice-over software, you can create a book podcast from the comfort of your home. All you need is to download the software you need and create your podcast. You can turn your book chapters into episodes in your podcast. Also, if you want to monetize it, you are free. It depends on your goal of creating the podcast.
Most authors create a short podcast from their book so as to draw people’s attention to the book and use the avenue to sell the printed version of the books.
The Takeaway
Here you have it, steps to help you know how to create a book podcast. If you still struggle to create a book podcast after going through this article, simply take time to have a better understanding of the steps above.
