The podcast has become the author’s best friend as far as learning about marketing a book is concerned. In terms of keeping up with trends in the industry, this medium brings the author and anyone else that sells books up to speed.

Podcasts usually record a conversation, or question and answer session, with a host and one or two other experts. The consumer listens to them for free online. The conversation is easier to follow and more entertaining than, say, a lecture provided by one person. Everyone can recall fighting off sleep while trying to concentrate on a lecturer for forty-five minutes to an hour. Or how about those three-page articles in magazines that can be tiresome to follow? With their back and forth banter, podcasts are livelier and generally have a good sense of humor, making them the better method to learn the fast-changing world of book marketing.

My publisher, Black Rose Writing, started one this year, as did two of my fellow Black Rose Writing authors, Ella Clarke and Jackie Anders, who teamed up with Jim Jax to produce the By the Moonlight Podcast. In addition to being a nice contrast to reading articles in magazines and attending conferences, podcasts present a personal connection when listening to the hosts and their guests, much like listening to a talk show on the radio. Episodes usually last between forty-five minutes to an hour and are posted weekly or monthly. Authors, and anyone else interested in marketing books, listen to them either live or later, at their leisure.

While reading articles and listening to a lecture at a conference might have been the preferred method to learn book marketing techniques in the past, the podcast has now become the best way to gather this information. It is convenient and helpful. Though they’ve been in existence for many years, podcasts are now created by many publishers, authors, and others in the writing industry. They allow authors who do their own marketing to pick up on trends more effectively.