Publishing E-Books For Dummies

Being Interviewed on a Podcast

Many podcasts are actively looking for people to interview. A podcast is a sort of radio show, published on the Internet, that listeners can subscribe to in order to have new episodes sent to their iTunes accounts, for example, or to simply download individual episodes to their computers.

Often, podcasts feature a new person (or new people) during an episode, which can easily be weekly. Unless you already have name recognition within your genre or industry, you probably need to take the first step yourself and initiate contact with a podcast host. Look for podcasts that deal with fiction or with writing (if you’re a novelist) or podcasts related to your subject (if you write nonfiction).

After you’ve lined up an interview, or even when you’re looking at potential podcasts to approach, listen to at least one recent show to get a sense of the site’s usual style and know what to expect. For many writers (me included), being interviewed and recorded can seem daunting. The good news is that most podcast hosts are experienced, confident interviewers who do their best to put you at ease.

Before the recording takes place, a podcast host might send you questions in advance. The questions only roughly outline the topics that the host expects to cover during the interview, so the host may well abandon questions or throw in others, depending on how the conversation ...