Author Paul CW Beatty talks us through his reasons for
choosing podcasting as a way of reaching readersW
When I was a callow,
unpublished author
with my new MA
in Creative Writing
clutched in my hand,
I rapidly realised that to become a
published author I would have to do
some publicity for myself. Whatever
I was going to write would benefit
by having a list of people interested
in what I did and what I wrote.
What seemed to fit was an email-
based newsletter. It went well, slowly
growing to 200 or so subscribers, but
then in 2018 GDPR arrived and by
the beginning of 2019 it was clear
that the best chance of a replacement
was for me to move to a podcast.What is a podcast?
A podcast channel is like having
your own radio station, except that
it goes out via the internet and is
listened to on smart phones. From
my point of view one advantage of a
podcast was that the sort of article I
had been writing for the newsletter,
such as book reviews, news about
publishing, showcasing student
work, could be fitted easily into a
podcast. But material did not need
to be limited to what was written.
It could include outside broadcasts,
interviews, and features a seriousto choose and there are several off-the-
shelf packages for sale. A microphone
that connects through the USB port
of a computer can be an advantage,
especially if the microphone can be
easily configured in different ways, but
conventional microphones are viable.
I have assumed you have a
computer on which to record, store
and process your recording. You will
need a computer with Windows 10 or
current Apple iOS. You will also need
recording software.
There are excellent free software
recording packages around, but some
are more complex to operate than
others. One of the most comprehensive
is Audacity which comes in Windows
and Apple compatible versions. There is
virtually no technical reason to pay for
anything else. The real choice will be
which of the free software packages you
find easiest to use for your purposes
and level of technical knowledge.What will your podcast be like?
There are lots of different styles of
podcast available. The best way to
find the different styles out there is
to browse the podasphere: the range
is enormous. I listened to more than
forty before I got a feel for the types.
At one end of the spectrum there are
radio plays, sometimes with multipleradio channel such as BBC Radio 4
would broadcast.
Worldwide, it is estimated
that there are 700,000 active
podcasts. Most of these are in the
US where they attract about 18
million listeners in total. That is
a massive number, but it is small
when compared to the 500 million
Facebook sites and a similar number
of blogs worldwide.
Figures suggest that the individual
podcast listener regularly uses seven
podcasts. Of these listeners 52% are
male and 48% female. Most of them
are in the mid-twenties to the mid-
forties, graduates, millennials active
on social media. It appears that even
in the US the podcast market has
not yet reached saturation.Recording your podcast
Podcast equals radio show, so you’ll
need equipment to record it, but
not just any old equipment. It’s
worth remembering that bad quality
sound on a podcast can make the
difference between having a listener
or not, especially if your listeners are
commuting to work in a noisy bus or
railway carriage.
A microphone and a pair of
headphones is the minimum. There’s
plenty of advice on the web on how40 NOVEMBER 2019 http://www.writers-online.co.ukMARKETING
Can youhear me?