20: How to Repurpose Your Podcast into a Book

If you have a podcast, there’s a good chance you’re already holding the foundation of a book.

You just haven’t structured it yet.

In this episode, we’re walking through what it actually looks like to take your podcast content and turn it into something more permanent. Something structured. Something you’d feel proud putting your name on.

Because talking and writing are not the same.

And that’s where most people get stuck.

Inside this episode, we cover:

• Why 15–20 minutes of speaking often equals a full book chapter
• How to identify the one idea your book needs to be built around
• What it takes to turn scattered episodes into a cohesive outline

A podcast lets you explore, but a book requires you to decide. And once that decision is made, everything gets easier.

If you’ve been sitting on dozens of episodes, you might just be sitting on a book too. 

Join us for a clarity workshop! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to For Women Who Write Podcast. I'm Michaela, a certified writing coach, editor, and self-publishing expert with over a decade of experience, helping women turn their ideas into powerful, best-fellowing books. If you felt the call to write, share your story, share your experiences, and how you can help other people, then you are in the right place. Here we talk about the real competence of writing and publishing, from finding your voice to structuring a book, from overcoming resistance and imposter syndrome to launch it into the world with confidence. My mission is to show you that to become a published and best-selling author if it is possible. Absolutely engaged. Your story matters, and chances are you're closer to holding your finished book in your hands than you did. Welcome to another episode of For Women Who Write. You guys, I really hope my voice lasts through this whole episode. There is a lot of allergies and sickness in the air, and I can feel it in my throat. So hopefully I can last through this whole episode. I've been drinking tea, trying to not talk, because I couldn't not record an episode this week. This conversation and topic is just too good. Every time I talk to somebody about this, the light bulbs just come on for them. They realize that they are actually sitting on a gold mine, that they have been doing the work of writing a book for a really long time without even realizing it. And it's really cool and exciting to see. So this episode today is for those of you who are podcasters. If you have a podcast or you hope to have one someday, this episode is for you. The math is really interesting on all of this. And the reason why I get so excited by this, because if you can talk about a topic for roughly 15 to 20 minutes, then you likely have enough content to write a book chapter. And here's how I figured this out. If you can talk for about 15 to 20 minutes nonstop on a topic, you on average will say about 2,000 words. And that is roughly the word count equivalent we try to work towards in each of our book chapters. Sometimes it's a little bit more, sometimes it's a little bit less. There's no exact science on word count for chapters, but 2,000 is a really great target to shoot for. So if you can talk for 15 to 20 minutes on a topic, you have one book chapter. Now, if you can do that 10 to 15 times, then you have enough for either a really small book or the start of a really great book that we can just expand on and reach your impact. Because the reality is writing a book and doing a podcast has a ton of overlap on it. You have to know who it is that you're talking to. You have to be able to give them some kind of a transformation. You have to make a promise and then fulfill on that promise. You are inviting people into the way that you think. That's what a podcast and a book both do, is they invite you into or they invite people into your brain, into how you think, how you problem solve, how you process things. That is what a podcast and a book both do. So you've already done a ton of that work if you have a really great podcast. And if you have enough content in your podcast, you have people who are listening, who are downloading it, then you can essentially copy and paste a lot of that work over into a book. Now, of course, they are two very different mediums at the same time. So it's not like exactly copy and paste everything, but a lot of that work you can definitely take over. We can make some tweaks and you can absolutely have a book that matches your podcast. And what's really interesting is that everyone is a different type of learner. Some people learn by reading, and some people learn by listening, auditory learners. And there's something really kind of kinesthetic about reading because you have to engage with it. You're holding a book. If you have a pen in hand, you can write it. You see it, you feel it. There's something really kinesthetic about reading a book and learning that way. You also likely have more people's attention when they're reading a book versus listening to a podcast. Now, obviously, I love podcasts. I'm having the most fun podcasting. So this is not me knocking podcasting, but there are limitations to each one of the mediums, a book and a podcast. And a podcast, likely most people are doing lots of things. Like right now, while you're listening to this, you may be driving, you may be doing the dishes, you may be folding laundry while also kind of keeping an eye on the kids at the same time. And so your brain is kind of doing like three things at once while you're also listening. Nothing wrong with that. No shame. I've done the same thing. I do it all the time. But the reality is when you read a book on a topic, your brain processes that information differently than it does when you listen to something. And so when you have both a podcast and a book, you can reach different sets of people. Some people may not listen to podcasts and some people may not read a book, but when you have both, it builds brand awareness, it builds credibility, and it allows you to reach a new audience of people you might otherwise not reach. And that is the coolest thing. It is so awesome because you have done so much work to have a really great podcast. Now, why not just keep going? Keep growing and add a book onto your brand. So today we're going to talk about the four steps I would recommend you take in order to repurpose your podcast into a book and some of the mistakes to avoid when you do that. So let's start with our very first step. And for any of you who are longtime listeners, then you have heard me say this all the time, and I'm gonna keep saying it all the time because it's a really important step that you take. And the first one is to identify what you want your book to do. What is the goal of your book? Is this book meant to be a lead magnet or is it meant to be a passion project? I work with people on all ranges of the spectrum, or I have in the past worked with all types of people. Some people are like, this is pure Legion. It's literally copy and paste from a webinar or a challenge that I did. I don't really want to add or change anything. I don't want to add stories, whatever. This worked for the webinar. Boom, let's just do it. Pure Legion. And other people who this book is more of a creative expression of themselves or an experience that they've had. Now there's a wide range of people all across that spectrum. And then of course there's overlap where people are like, hey, I want this to be lead gen, but it's also a passion of mine too. And I get that, and I'm the same way. So I'm not trying to say that it can be either a lead magnet or passion project one or the same. But knowing what you want the book to do, do you want the book to generate new clients for you? Do you want it to build brand awareness? Do you want it to educate people just on a topic? And if they come on as a client, great. But otherwise, you just want to love and bless them through this message. What is it that you want your book to do? Because when you know that, then you can make decisions accordingly. You can know how much to invest, you can know what direction you need to take your book. There's just a lot of clarity that comes from what you want the book to do. It's really heartbreaking for me when I see authors just want to write their story. They're like, I just want to write it, that's it, that's no big deal. But then they go to launch and publish it, and they didn't really do a ton of marketing, and there wasn't any plans put in place for it to be successful in the marketplace, and then they get really discouraged because it wasn't successful in the marketplace. And a lot of that comes down to the fact that they didn't get really clear with themselves on what they want the book to do. So when you're clear and when you're honest with yourself of what you want the book to do, that can set you up for success in the long run. So on this episode, we're going to assume that it's probably a little bit more leaning towards a lead magnet type of a book. Because I'm guessing if you're listening to this, you're probably some kind of a coach or a consultant, or you want to be your coach and consultant. You are somehow helping people through some kind of a transformation. And I'm gonna really be speaking to y'all today. So you may have, yes, a lead magnet, but it's also a passion project for you. But definitely it's something that you want to be successful in the marketplace and you want it to either directly get clients or be kind of an adjacent to getting clients to where you're like, hey, I don't necessarily want to be like a pitch fest type of a book. But if people want to work with me, I'm totally okay with that. So that's what we're going to be speaking about more today. So step one is to get very, very clear on what you want your book to do and what you want its role to be in the marketplace, successful or just something that you feel really proud that you put out. Okay, your next step, step two, is to find the common theme or idea that you want your book to containerize, to essentially create a container for. This is one of the big differences between a podcast and a book. For a podcast, you can have 50, 100, 200 episodes on a podcast and no one flinches at that. Everyone's like, oh, that's right, that's really cool. Good for you. But if you had a book with 50, 100, 200 chapters, people would cry and never pick it up. Because when we see a book, we feel like we have to go through all of it. It's contained already in a book. Anything longer than, you know, 50,000 words is going to start to become a textbook, a resource guide. And that is very different of a book than just, you know, a 50,000-word book that you pick up at Barnes and Noble talking on one topic. So that's one of the big differences. And it's really important that you create a container for one common theme or idea. In a podcast, you can kind of go a little off topic and just see what happens. If you're trying to explore a new topic or you want to talk about an idea that's adjacent to your main coaching, you really can. It's not a big deal. But in a book, if you start going off topic, people will not follow with you. They just won't. They will put it away, they will give you one-star reviews. So you really need to find that one common theme or idea. Whatever that theme is, it should have a transformation statement to it. That transformation statement can be something like I help women write and self-publish excellent books. That's a transformation statement for me. I help women over 40 lose fat and feel good in their body. That could be a transformation statement. Whatever it is, you need to have one very clear transformation that you are going to bring people through. Now, again, when you have been doing a podcast, you're like, boom, baby, I already have that. I know the transformation that I am bringing people through, and I do that through my podcast. So once you have that transformation idea, that transformation statement, and it has a common theme or idea, just one, just one, that has a transformation statement attached to it, then you can start figuring out what podcast episodes you want to go underneath that transformation statement. If you can pull 10 to 15, maybe 20 episodes underneath that common theme or idea that helps people get a transformation, then you already have roughly, roughly, roughly an outline to your book. Now it's just a matter of transcribing the episodes, editing them, make it a little bit more readable, and make sure that there's a common narrative drive that pulls through everything, and then boom, you're good to go. And so again, like you've already done so much of that work already with the basics, the foundation of a really solid book. One of the things that I see a lot of people who do this is that they try to write like they talk. And the reality is that we don't want to write like we talk because we don't read like we talk. When we read, we actually use a different part of our brains, and we don't have tolerance for filler words, we don't have tolerance for fluffy language. We want clear, concise, straight to the point. When I'm just talking on this podcast right now, sometimes I'm gonna make mistakes as I'm talking, or sometimes I'm going to say a sentence that's way too long. And on page, that's not going to translate well. And this is where editing comes in clutch to really help clean up the language so it's way easier to read than to listen to. On a podcast, it's more like shooting the breeze. It's just like a conversation. You and I are sitting over at a coffee table, having coffee, talking about it. It's not a big deal. But when you are writing a book and reading a book, you want that language to be way tighter. So to get started, you can put all those episodes together, but you need an editor to help you shape everything, shape it overall, and then shape each of the chapters and even going line by line to make sure it's really, really tight. So, recap, what you want to do for this next step, step two is to find the common theme or idea that has a transformation statement to it. Then find 15 to 20 episodes that talk about that transformation or that idea or theme. Bring it underneath, and now you have a rough outline for your book. And you'll definitely need outside help, professional help to help you shape it and that you feel really good about. But now you have the start of a book. You have a book outline just sitting in your Apple podcasts right now. It's just gonna take a little bit of time to pull it all together, but you have the start of it. So that's what I would say is step two. Step three, though. If you are listening to this and you're like, I don't know if I exactly have a common theme or idea, I'm not really sure. I have a couple of different themes, which one should I choose? Then I would really recommend you actually coming to uh one of my workshops. These workshops are here to help you assess whether or not you have a solid book idea. I actually created recently a four-part assessment that I'm going to start helping people take their book ideas through. And it's four questions that we will like talk through and I'll coach you through to see, hey, do you actually have what you need to write a book on? Or if you have like two or three topics or ideas that you think you could talk about, maybe you talk about faith, motherhood, and mental health on your podcast. Which one of those three should you really talk about? And the reality is like all three of those definitely overlap, but which one is the predominant idea? Because even if you have an overlap of faith, motherhood, and mental health, one of them has to take the lead over the other ones. You always need like a leading lady, a leading like protagonist in your book idea. The other ones are absolutely going to overlap and support the protagonist, but you need to have one central idea. And if you need help figuring that out, that's what I can help you in one of my monthly workshops. We get a ton of clarity. I cap them off at only three people so that you get a ton of personalized attention throughout the whole workshop. So if you're feeling a little bit stuck, then step three is just to go to the workshop, run it through this four-part assessment, and then really help you figure out what you need to do from there. After that assessment is really step four, which is when we do an outline intensive. This is one of the mistakes that I see a lot of writers make, is that they just take those 15 to 20 minute episodes, like run it through Chat GPT, or just try and like clean it up a little bit, and then they think they have a book. And they don't, not yet. It's kind of like just a lump of clay on the table. They still need to structure it and to shape it into something that is easy for people to understand. So, like I mentioned, a podcast and a book is inviting people into your brain, into the way that you think. Now, if we imagined your brain is like your house or like a guest room and you're inviting people into that guest room, but say for years you have been stuffing things into the guest room closet. It's like all of these, you know, things that you've just been stuffing in there. And now the guest room closet is incredibly cluttered and you're about to invite people over into that room. When you do that, you, I'm guessing, are likely going to want to have a clean and organized guest room and guest room closet so that people can easily get the things that they need. When you organize that guest room closet, that's going to create a way better experience for your guests. And when you structure your book, it's the exact same thing. You are going to create an incredible experience for people when you have an organized book. Because for years, you have probably been cramming ideas or experiences or stories or beliefs into this proverbial closet that is your brain. And you are about to invite people into your way of thinking. Invite people into your brain with this book on this specific topic. And with a podcast, you can kind of be a bit more haphazard with it. But with a book, readers' tolerances for that does not fly. They need something more structured and organized. And that's what we do when we outline your book is we take all of those ideas, beliefs, experiences out of the closet that have been crammed in there. We decide what's going to stay and what's going to go. And then we put really pretty, very organized containers into that closet and then put everything back in there so that people, when they come into your brain, can easily access the ideas that they need in order to have the transformation that they need. So when you outline a book, when you spend the time to structure it well, people have an overall incredible experience. It's something that they get so excited to read. They want to leave five-star reviews on. They want to refer it to other people. They want to work with you. And this is why it is so important to me to help my writers with the structure of their book. It's not sexy. It's not super fun like cover design or marketing or bestseller. But when you do this hard work, that's when you have a book that is solid, a book that you feel proud of, a book that you can give to a prospect and say, hey, this will help you. And I can help you go even further with coaching after this book. It's something that you want to keep as part of your brand for years. A book is a big part of your brand and it takes some time, but it's also something that you will have for years to come. It's not as frivolous and flippant as an Instagram post that you can just kind of throw up and then it's gone in 24 hours. A book is something that will be with you for years. And so when you spend time on the front end, making sure that the structure is solid, making sure you know the reader transformation, making sure you know what people need and you deliver on that, then you can write a book that you're incredibly proud of. And so that's why I just believe so much in structure. So after the workshop, we can assess whether or not you have enough content. You have a really strong idea. And then after that, we can go into an outline intensive, which is a two-day, six-hour intensive. You and me, we get into all of your content, look at it, and create a really solid structure so that you can have a beautifully organized closet for whenever you invite people into your brain. So those are the four steps that I would recommend you do if you are working on repurposing your podcast into a book. Whenever you have this overall outline, we also go into each one of the chapters and outline the chapters as well. When you have podcast episodes that are already done and transcribed, then we can literally just place an outline on top of the podcast episode and make sure that it flows really well. And then boom, you have a chapter. And when we just do that 10 to 15 times, then you have a full book and it's ready to go. And of course we'll need to do a little bit of editing, but that's it. So if you have the podcast and you have at least 10 to 15 episodes, then it's absolutely something worth considering to do is to repurpose that podcast into a book. And if you're like, hey, I've got like 100, 150 episodes, beautiful. That means you probably have two or three, maybe four books potentially in there as well, because we like to keep books really narrow and really focused. And so you may have multiple books that you are sitting on right now. If you have some structure and a plan in place, then you could potentially have multiple books out in the next couple of years. So I hope this is really helpful for you. I hope you start to see the possibility in front of you of what could be for your podcast and how you can only just expand. Your reach. So if you are interested in one of those workshops to run your idea through a four-part assessment, then you can just click the link in the podcast description or you can go to my website. It's Michaela Matthews M-I-K A-E-L-A Matthews with one T and an S at the end dot com backslash workshop. Okay, you guys, my voice made it through. Yay! I'm so glad it did. And I hope this was really helpful for you. And I will see you in an upcoming workshop.