Listening to podcasts is a wonderful way to gather all kinds of free, targeted information while you’re doing something else, like driving or exercising. If you’re not into this yet, get with it, because you’re missing out!
(What’s a podcast? Skip to the bottom of this section.)
Phyllis’s favorite author-focused podcasts are:
NovelMarketing.com, featuring Jim Rubart and Thomas Umstattd Jr.
Writing Excuses, featuring Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler.
The Author Hangout, featuring a variety of indie authors and their marketing strategies. Focusing on fiction.
(Phyllis also recommends buying the audio from writers’ conferences and listening to those as you drive or exercise.)
What’s a podcast?
A podcast is a regularly produced radio show that doesn’t go out on over the air. Instead, you access it by downloading it and eventually playing it through a podcasting app or through software like iTunes. Podcasters typically post an episode (20-30 minutes long) once a week. These episodes are often full of tons of free information, as in the three listed above.
If you have a smart phone, download an app. The one Phyllis has is Pocket Casts. It cost a few dollars and works very well. Use the app to search by name for the podcast you want. Sign up for it. Download the episodes you want, preferably when you’re at home and using your wi fi. Then play them when you’re driving or walking or whatever.
If you don’t have a smart phone, download iTunes to your computer and figure out how to search for podcasts in the iTunes store. (Ask Google any question, and you’ll get an answer, if you need help with this.) Sign up and download, same as before. You can listen on your computer or download to your iPod.
With all this wonderful free information out there, you gotta do it!