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The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » The Writing Life » Page 54

The Writing Life

7 Reasons Why Christian Authors Need to Embrace Podcasting Now

By Steve Laubeon September 16, 2019
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Podcasting is here to stay. Here are seven reasons you should take it seriously as an author. 

1. Podcasting Is a Tool of Bestselling Authors

Here is a list of the 10 bestselling Christian authors for September 2019. (A Bible study of Lysa TerKeurst’s book is actually #9, so I edited the list to remove the repetition.) 

  1. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis  
  2. The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
  3. It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst
  4. The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile 
  5. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey 
  6. Jesus Calling by Sarah Young  
  7. Boss Up! by Lindsay Teague Moreno 
  8. Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend
  9. Overcomer by Chris Fabry  
  10. 100 Days to Brave by Annie F. Downs 

Now here is that same list but with each author who either has a podcast (H = host) or has been a guest (G = guest) on a podcast in bold. 

  1. Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis  (H & G)
  2. The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman (G)
  3. It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst (G)
  4. The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile (H & G)
  5. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (H & G)
  6. Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (H)
  7. Boss Up! by Lindsay Teague Moreno (H & G)
  8. Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend (G)
  9. Overcomer by Chris Fabry (H & G)
  10. 100 Days to Brave by Annie F. Downs (H & G)

As you can see, 100% of the bestselling authors this month were either a guest or host on a podcast. 60% of them did both! 

Out of curiosity, I did a spot check on the next 20 authors in the bestseller list. They all had a podcast presence too. It should come as no surprise that every major book marketing plan includes a podcast strategy of some kind.

In 2019, podcasting is something you can’t afford to ignore. Or, put another way, a podcast strategy is a required platform element for top authors. If you want to be a top author, you can’t afford to ignore podcasts. 

2. Podcast Listening Is More Popular Than Ever!

According to Edison Research, 51% of Americans ages 12+ have listened to a podcast. This means more people have listened to podcasts than not. 

Podcast listening is expected to eat away market share from radio each year for the foreseeable future. 

Among podcast listeners, the biggest chunk of their time goes to podcasts: 28%. That’s more than what they spend on AM/FM radio (24%) or streaming audio (15%). 

3. Podcast Listeners Are Book Readers

Not everyone reads books, and not everyone listens to podcasts. The kind of people who listen to a 30-minute podcast are the same kind of people with the patience to read books. It is no wonder bestselling authors are embracing podcasting so completely. 

Podcast listeners are also:

  • wealthier
  • more educated
  • more connected 

compared to the average American. 

4. Podcasting Is Not a Fad

Podcasts have been around for a long time. The “pod” in podcast comes from the iPod, to give you an idea of how old they are. Podcasts are older than the smartphone technology people now listen to them on. Podcast listening has grown continually for more than 15 years. And the rate of growth has been accelerating in recent years. 

5. Podcasts Are More Influential Than Social Media

What do you think would be more effective for convincing someone to buy your book: an image they saw on Facebook or listening to a 30-minute conversation between you and a podcast host they already know, like, and trust? 

It’s no competition. The conversation will win every time. Authors with a podcast-centric strategy will outsell authors with a social media-centric strategy. 

6. Podcasting Is Censorship Free

Because of how RSS (the technology behind podcasting) works, listeners have full control over what they listen to; and podcasters have full control over what they create. As social networks crack down on Christian authors, those authors are switching to podcasts to get the word out about their books. This protects them from censorship or anti-Christian practices while simultaneously giving them a richer connection with their readers. 

From a technological perspective, it is nearly impossible to fully censor a podcast. 

7. Christianity Is the Most Popular Podcast Category

One reason why podcasting is so particularly powerful for Christian authors is that there are so many podcasts for those authors to be guests on. 

According to Pacific Content, there are more Christian podcasts than any other kind of podcast. This is due, in part, to sermon podcasts. For years, churches have promoted the church podcast during the announcements and in the bulletin. 

Yes, You Need to Start Listening to Podcasts

Even if you are still an unpublished author, you need to start listening to podcasts to prepare for your inevitable interviews and potential show. 

Chances are you already listen to podcasts. If not, statistically speaking, you are most likely an Android user.

Android users trail far behind iPhone users in terms of podcast consumption. The reason for this is because unlike iPhones, Android phones don’t come with a podcast app preinstalled. But don’t worry. You can still listen to podcasts on an Android phone; you only need to download a free app like Castbox from the Google Play Store.

If you are looking for podcasts to listen to, we have a strong list of Podcasts for Christian Writers here.  

 

More Podcasting Stats

Infographic by MusicOomph.com.

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Category: Audio, Book Business, Marketing, Platform, Podcast, The Writing Life

Carrot or Stick?

By Bob Hostetleron September 11, 2019
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Some writers motivate themselves with a “carrot” and others with a “stick.” That is, some use rewards for motivation (i.e., “a Snickers bar if I write 3,000 words today”) and others lean more on—for lack of a better term—punishments (“No soup for you!” Okay, that’s a Seinfeld reference, but I hope you get the gist). I asked some of my favorite authors and clients what works best for them. Here’s …

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Category: The Writing Life

041 How to Sell Christian Books in a Mainstream World

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 10, 2019
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How can Christian authors sell their books through mainstream channels like Amazon and, even, to mainstream readers? With the close of Lifeway, more and more Christians are switching to mainstream retailers to buy Christian books.  Joining us today to talk about this is Rob Eagar.  Rob is a marketing consultant who has coached over 600 authors. He has helped both fiction and nonfiction books …

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Category: The Writing Life

041 How to Sell Christian Books in a Mainstream World

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 10, 2019
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How to Sell Christian Books in a Mainstream World
You can listen to this episode 041 How to Sell Christian Books in a Mainstream World on Christian Publishing Show.

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Category: The Writing Life

Four Laws for the Writer of a Book

By Steve Laubeon September 9, 2019
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In 1931 S. R. Ranganathan proposed the Five Laws of Library Science. The theory behind the laws was to help define the principles of any library system. Today I would like to look at the first four of these laws and see how we can apply them to you as a writer. Books Are for Use I like to ask students if a book has any ministry value if it isn’t read. Of course, it doesn’t. And a book can’t be …

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Category: The Writing Life

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

By Bob Hostetleron September 4, 2019
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“Where do you get your ideas?” This question was reportedly posed to Stephen King at a writers conference in New England. His answer may seem harsh, but it’s illuminating: “If you have to ask, don’t become a writer.” Most working writers have little trouble coming up with ideas. In fact, most have more ideas for writing projects than they could possibly complete in a lifetime. Ideas can come from …

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Category: Book Proposals, Career, Inspiration, The Writing Life

040 What Authors Need to Know About Book Metadata

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 3, 2019
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Sometimes in publishing it’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you don’t know you don’t know. One thing a lot of authors don’t know to even ask about is metadata. Hold on to your horses, ladies and gentlemen, because today we are going to nerd out about metadata with Joshua Tallent. Joshua is a metadata nerd who got his start in publishing making ebooks for a …

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Category: The Writing Life

040 What Authors Need to Know About Book Metadata

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on September 3, 2019
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Sometimes in publishing it’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you don’t know you don’t know. One thing a lot of authors don’t know to even ask about is metadata.  Hold on to your horses, ladies and gentlemen, because today we are going to nerd out about metadata with […]
You can listen to this episode 040 What Authors Need to Know About Book Metadata on Christian …

Read more040 What Authors Need to Know About Book Metadata
Category: The Writing Life

Focus on Your Fans

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 29, 2019
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Over the years, I’ve been disappointed by a few people I felt should have supported me, but didn’t. They never shared my happiness in victory so I never shared my defeats with them. They weren’t always too mean; but in times of my successes they might say something like, “You must be so proud.” Folks, a person saying this isn’t proud of you. They’re saying you must be proud of yourself. There’s no …

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Category: The Writing Life

You Need a Backup Strategy

By Bob Hostetleron August 28, 2019
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Years ago, I was writing on deadline (when am I not?). My work-in-progress was about sixty percent complete when my computer screen went blank. At first, I blamed it on my son. Even when he was in grade school, he was better with computers than I was. He knew it. I knew it. And one day when I fired up my computer for a full day of writing, the startup screen appeared and then disappeared. Shut …

Read moreYou Need a Backup Strategy
Category: Technology, The Writing Life
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