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Is this a podcast, case closed?

by FritzBarnes
8 replies
I am partnering with someone who has an inventory of well over 100 fiction author interviews he has done over the last several years, including many big-name authors you would know.

He has done nothing to monetize. Just mp3's on a one-page website, poorly promoted.

My first thought was....upgrade to a much nicer website, navigation, some additional content, and links to the books on Amazon, etc.

Then I started thinking it through more carefully...and I have a number of other thoughts on how to promote this, Facebook, Youtube, blah blah blah, but one thing I am resisting is the concept of just making it a podcast.

I guess my hesitation is simply that I know how to monetize a website but a podcast is a different game altogether. The existing inventory of interviews has no embedded commercials, intro/outtro, website references, anything. So I am concerned that without a lot of re-work, we would just be giving away the farm. Of course, going forward, we could employ all the podcasty techniques...

I don't know. Help me out, here. Is the podcast approach an obvious answer here, and I am just being foolish for not seeing it, or is it reasonable to consider just sharing this content on a website and monetizing it there?
#authors #case #closed #interviews #monetize #mp3 #podcast
  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    My quick impression is that this could be very profitable as a podcast, depending on some further research. Check iTunes and some of the other podcast distributors to see is a) there are podcasts focused on books/authors and b) there are signs of success. Be especially alert for podcasts that cover the same genres as you have in your stash.

    There is a market, especially with the rise of Kindle, et al. Whether you can successfully promote via podcast remains to be seen.

    One helpful sign is that on weekends CNN/HLN (Headline News, part of the CNN family) run shows spotlighting mystery authors and characters. Someone is watching them, and they might listen to a podcast...
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    • Profile picture of the author FritzBarnes
      Thank you John. I did listen to a couple of other podcasts in this niche and found the quality less than what we have. IMHO of course. As for demand, I have already committed to doing this little project so I will find that out as I go. My gut tells me there is really good potential here but...we'll see.

      My real question for now is whether I should be weighing the pros and cons of a podcast vs just streaming from my own website....or if I am just being dense and it should be obvious that a podcast is the way to go.

      Love your sig. :-)
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by FritzBarnes View Post

        Thank you John. I did listen to a couple of other podcasts in this niche and found the quality less than what we have. IMHO of course. As for demand, I have already committed to doing this little project so I will find that out as I go. My gut tells me there is really good potential here but...we'll see.

        My real question for now is whether I should be weighing the pros and cons of a podcast vs just streaming from my own website....or if I am just being dense and it should be obvious that a podcast is the way to go.

        Love your sig. :-)
        That's an easy one. Do both. I'm not aware of any of the podcasting sites that require exclusivity. I will admit, though, that it's been awhile since I looked.

        It's kind of like article syndication in a way. Ideally, you want people to find your audio on your site, with your supplemental content (show notes, resource links, etc.). After that, you want people to find you, period. Once they do, a portion of them will come back to you for new audios.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rhys2010
    dunno if this could be any use to you but im a music producer and im quite aware of music business, inbox me with any specific questions and ill try answering them to the best of my knowledge.. also if you need any music related work doing give me a inbox

    goodluck tho there if definatly potential in what you have
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  • Profile picture of the author jeffcoga
    I have built our info business on just iTunes traffic and repurposing content on different platform. One of the strategy we do is making sure that we get on "new and noteworthy" in 1 week from the podcast launch.

    How do you get ranked on iTunes New and Noteworthy FAST?

    The easiest way to do this is... what I like to the 5 easy steps to iTunes domination...

    1. Make sure to have 7 to 10 podcast ready to upload before you get approved by iTunes. Why do you need 7 to 10 podcast first? The "scoring system" on iTunes is still a mystery to some but one of the metrics I noticed is that... when you push big traffic to your podcast and have folks "subscribe", the podcast will download ALL of the 7 to 10 podcast on itunes... which pushes the "download per day" by 7 to 10 instead of you having 1 podcast.
    2. New and Noteworthy is good for 60 days only - you need to push alot of content out in that 60 days so you can get it ranked.
    3. One you FALL OFF from the new and note worthy... you create a 'NEW MINI-PODCAST' and cross promote each each of the podcast :-)

    Do that and you'll instantly see bunch of traffic coming to your sites. I hope that helped.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    If nothing else then you could have a huge traffic source from the podcasts if you turn these mp3s into one.
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  • Profile picture of the author Entrecon
    What about doing it as a membership site or subscription service. If you set it up where each interview is a lesson/class, then you could have people enroll and then drip the content. If you did it weekly, then you would have about 2 years of membership. If you had a monthly subscription of just $5, that would give you $120 over 2 years for every subscriber. On top of that, you have a built in niche audience that you could easily market other products and services to.

    A huge benefit of making it a subscription/membership service is that you add value to it. If it is a free podcast, you may not get people coming back every week. But if they are paying for it, they are more likely to tune it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
      Originally Posted by Entrecon View Post

      What about doing it as a membership site or subscription service. If you set it up where each interview is a lesson/class, then you could have people enroll and then drip the content. If you did it weekly, then you would have about 2 years of membership. If you had a monthly subscription of just $5, that would give you $120 over 2 years for every subscriber. On top of that, you have a built in niche audience that you could easily market other products and services to.

      A huge benefit of making it a subscription/membership service is that you add value to it. If it is a free podcast, you may not get people coming back every week. But if they are paying for it, they are more likely to tune it.
      Turning it into a membership site doesn't really bring traffic though where as turning it into a podcast and listing on itunes could bring HUGE traffic.
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