To podcast or not is no longer a question regarding how to market a book. For virtually all authors today, a podcast is an excellent, low-cost way to reach target readers. Niche audiences like the ones listening to podcasts and reading blogs may have a keen (and already well-established) interest in your book. Reaching them in a long-form interview format can be an excellent way to spark book sales. It's also useful for author branding and marketing your business if it is a secondary goal of your book. Each year, podcast listenership increases, and a surprising number of people listen each month.

Podcasts are online versions of long-form radio interviews with fewer topic restrictions and no time lost to commercials. It's common for authors to have their own podcasts and guest on others. It's also easier each year to find podcasts that cover the same topic as your book. They're most beneficial for your marketing program because they have audiences that will enjoy your comments and content. Online publicity, in combination with media coverage, improves your book's chances for success. Although you can be conversational, take podcasting seriously and be prepared with information for your audience.

One of the best things about podcasts is they live forever online, and anyone can listen on demand. To be able to reach anyone with an internet connection globally is an attractive concept for marketing any product, books included. It also means you might sell books months or years after a podcast is posted as more people listen. Promoting your podcasts on your website, social media, and blog makes good sense. When you build an active online platform with content in various forms, you have a better chance of engaging your audience and selling books – or promoting yourself and your business.

There's undoubtedly stature in guesting on a national TV show with a mass audience. But time and again, marketers remind authors about the value of niche audiences. Podcasts are an excellent example of a valuable niche marketing opportunity. Because they are specialized, you reach audiences interested in you and your book. It's an efficient way to market and returns more than a mass audience in many ways. It might not be the initial impulse for first-time authors to plan a niche campaign, but they are lower cost and can produce results. Talk with your publicists if you have one about what works best.