Podcast Pitching Secrets For Authors: What Podcast Hosts Actually Say Yes To (Part 2)

“I’d love to come on your show and talk about my new book” is one of the fastest ways to get ignored.

In Part 2 of this series, we move from mindset to execution—breaking down exactly how to pitch podcasts in a way that gets attention, earns replies, and leads to bookings. Because podcast hosts aren’t looking for guests who want promotion—they’re looking for conversations their audience will care about.

We start with the most common mistakes authors make, especially leading with the book instead of the idea. You’ll learn how to reframe your pitch into something a host or producer can instantly picture as a strong episode—and why clarity, specificity, and focus will outperform a long list of vague topics every time.

From there, we cover smarter targeting:

• How to choose podcasts based on audience alignment, topic fit, and engagement—not just size
• Why smaller, niche shows often outperform larger podcasts with broad, less-focused audiences
• How to think about podcast appearances as part of a long-term visibility strategy

Then we get tactical about the pitch itself:

• What a strong podcast pitch email actually needs (and what to leave out)
• How to reduce decision friction and make it easy for a host to say yes
• What to include for credibility—links, short bio, past media—and how to present it cleanly

We also address a common roadblock: what to do when a podcast doesn’t accept guests. Instead of moving on, we share smarter ways to build visibility and relationships through show engagement, social sharing, and strategic follow-up.

If you want to become the kind of guest that podcasts are eager to book—and avoid the mistakes that get most authors ignored—this episode gives you a clear, practical roadmap.

Subscribe for more no-fluff book marketing strategies, share this with an author who’s pitching right now, and stay tuned for future episodes where we continue breaking down what actually works.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why Podcasts Matter

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the book marketing test of the podcast. This is penny stamp the Amy Cornell. And we are this is a company episode last week that you didn't last week if you didn't no problem. We're talking about podcasts. So popular we're we love doing our show. We're also the podcast consumers. So we listen to a lot of podcasts. We have a lot of populars to get, you know, to get that podcast. This is really helpful. I think this is very much underline. Um so I'm gonna kick this off a little bit, but I want to turn this the first segment over to Amy because she has very strong feelings about all the things. And I think that that we talked about this in the last show, obviously, uh, because I think it's worth repeating. Most authors treat, or a lot of authors treat, um say most, uh podcast is a promotional channel, and they are really a content channel, right? Yes. And I think if you start with um, if you start with that in mind, whether you're fiction or nonfiction, and again, regardless of your fiction, nonfiction, we're covering all of that in this companion episode. So, Amy, why don't we start with um the common pitching mistakes? Because that's that's where I think a lot of us get sort of like caught in our own bad advice.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Right, exactly. And again, it's one of those things too, we talk about all the time. Firstions matter, right? Yes. So you want to make a good impression because just because you're not a good fit for the show now, and maybe what they have on their content calendar, doesn't mean they won't contact you again in the future, right? So don't think of this as like your one shot at this show if you handle yourself correctly. You can keep you can kind of keep that conversation going with them. So keep that in mind too when you do this. But the number one issue, the most common pitching mistake, like on a broader level, is that authors approach this, like Penny said, I'd love to come on your show and talk about my new book. Like, I wish we had that buzzer sound. I'm not going to do it. But you know what I mean? That is not at all what you want to do. You know. Sorry, there you go. Thank you. But hosts, producers, they want to have interesting conversations. That's what they're there for. Anybody listening that listens to podcasts, you've probably turned something off before, or you've hit the skip button a billion times. And you so you know that there are times where it's just not working and you don't want to be that person, or you don't want to give them the idea that, like, oh, I'm not sure if this is this is quite the right fit for me. So pitching the book instead of the topic, okay. Mistake number one. Podcast hosts, producers, they want ideas, they want expertise, they want interesting, fun, unique, clever conversation. They're not there to do a big ad for you, right? I think that is the one, the number one thing you want to keep in mind. They are not there to give you free advertising. You know, that is that's huge. You know, so you don't pitch it. I wrote a book about resilience. You say why people misunderstand resilience and how to rebuild it. Like, look how much more engaging that is. That's a conversation in itself. So you won't just you have to think of pitching your book as starting the conversation, teasing the conversation, because the reaction you want is the host or producer to say, okay, yeah, I want to learn more. And that's when you've got them.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Right, exactly. And I think that, you know, the majority, I mean, look, this is what I'm about to say. This is true for any publication show, whatever. But podcasts depend on repeat listing behavior, which is driven by content quality. And that's why a lot of times, you know, these shows just they have to be so picky. And in particular, now the podcast world, because man, there is so much competition for these shows.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Oh, yes. Absolutely. I know they and they definitely shows look at other shows too. Oh, yeah, for sure. We look at other marketing shows, we look at other author-centric shows. So I promise you, shows are paying attention to other similar shows that are also catering to their audience. It is competitive. The content, you know, is competitive. So that is also a very good point, Penny. That is something to keep in mind as well, is that, you know, that's another reason you really want to be thoughtful about what you can offer and what you can bring to the table and what your audience is looking for. You know, so kind of leave your book to the side with your, you know, to be objective, leave your book to the side for the moment because just by getting on the show, your book will get attention. Right. You will you will achieve that end. But if your focus is on the book, the message you send in the show is not going to come across that you were there for them. Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Well, the um, you know, the other piece of it though, too, to keep in mind with podcasts that I particularly love is that when a host features somebody, the book is mentioned in the show notes, right? So the there's always a link to the book in the show notes. It's that's great visibility for you. I check show notes on shows a lot, right? Um, links to your website, things like that. So it is definitely it's such a great, it's such a great builder. It truly, truly is. Um and I think, you know, we've sort of we've sort of already touched on this pitching the book instead of the topic. I mean, never pitch book forward when you're trying to go after somebody's shows, right? Um you know, these hosts they want conversations, they don't want advertisements. Right. And we talked about in the last episode, we also gave, you know, some examples um where as opposed to an author saying, you know, I'd love to come on and talk about my book, you know, or say something like, I wrote a book about resilience, um, there are better ways to frame that to get to get the host attention. You know, and you have to ask yourself, and sometimes I realize it's kind of hard because we're, you know, you're doing your, you know, you're doing your own pitching, maybe, and you're too close to it a lot of times. But you also, you know, if you can get some distance and step back for a little bit and say, you know, would this be something that I would actually want to listen to? Right? Right. Would this be something that would make me click? And you know, I'll tell you something. Even though we don't have any guests on our show, we we spend a lot of time when we're trying to figure out our show ideas. Obviously, we want to produce content, but we also want to produce content that people are gonna listen to. Because much as Amy and I love getting on, you know, chats and blah blah and all the things, we're not just doing this to have hear ourselves talk.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

You know what I mean? That's my nightmare. So Right I know. Thank you for listening.

unknown 6:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

I know.

Choose The Right Shows

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I mean, we really we want to create content that is compelling because that's where that's where these podcasts are. They're very, very listener forward, right? Right. Um okay, so what's next on our what's next on our lists? These are very closely.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Yeah, these are very closely linked, but pitching the wrong shows and not studying the podcast first. So, you know, figuring out the right show. You know, you should be looking for audience alignment, topic fit, engaged communities. You know, you don't want to just pitch shows because they're big. You know, that is definitely not necessarily a good use of your time because bigger doesn't always mean the most appropriate for you. It doesn't mean you can't do that at some point. But anybody that's been listening for a while, we talk about you can't skip the line. Every win is a win. There's no such thing as too small of coverage or too little show or an influencer, you know what I mean, that's not worth your time. When you're just starting out, unless you've got a really impressive media background already, they're all worth your time, candidly. You know, so you really have to be open-minded about what makes sense for where you're at and what you can bring to the table and what your media background looks like, and go after shows that really make sense for that. Yeah. You know, smaller shows often produce better results because the audience is more focused. You know, those smaller shows are hungry to make names for themselves too. So they're looking for good content. They're hustling their butts on social media. They're doing all the things to get their show out there. So that is, you know, it's a really great mutual benefit of you not necessarily going after these big shows that already have an established audience that don't necessarily need to do a lot to push their content. It can actually be a really strategic way to get more focused attention for your work and your perspective in your book by going after smaller shows that are just as hungry as you are.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Exactly. And you know, the other thing though, too, is if you listen, if you've been to any conferences and you've listened to like best-selling author panels and what makes your, you know, how did you get to be so successful? The majority of them will tell you they never say no to an interview. Now, obviously, you want to be on shows and in publications that are appropriate to your topic. I get it. Full stop. Hopefully, you're not pitching, you know, random weird stuff that has nothing to do with, you know, like coast to coast, a UFO topic for a romance novel or something, unless the protagonist is an alien, in which case that's a different show altogether. But probably exists. And probably, you know, and probably exists. I'm telling you, a shape-shifting alien. Of course, that probably exists. Um, never say no to an opportunity, right? And anybody, in fact, uh uh, very well known, the chicken soup for the soul authors, that's one of the things that they lead with in pretty much any uh talk that they do on book promotion. They did shows, they got up at three o'clock in the morning at obviously in the days before podcasts. They got up at three o'clock in the morning to do a tiny little radio interview in some small town, in some, they never said no because everything builds on everything else. And you're never, you're never too successful, frankly, for to do all the things. Honestly, when you start saying no to opportunities, and this is we tell our authors at work with us like we're not gonna present you with an opportunity that we think is just some flim flam weird thing that you shouldn't even be doing, because that's a waste, that waste everybody's time, right? Exactly. Yep. Um, but that's really that's and that's that's also, you know, look, that's how you get you first off, you get more exposure, um, you get more links, you more share shareable content, um, and everything builds on everything else, right? So um I think like not studying the podcast first, and that's you're right, it is so aligned with pitching the wrong shows, it's a problem. And we talked about this in the last uh last week. We get pitched for stuff all the time, right? A, we don't have guests on, and B, a lot of the content that they're pitching is not something that we would ever, even if we had guests that we would never feature on the show. So, what that pitch ends up doing is first off, it gets deleted, right? I don't respond to people, but it's a waste of everybody's time. And if you're hiring somebody to do this for you, be careful. You know what I mean? Because you're paying for that, you're paying for that time.

Do The Homework Before You Pitch

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Well, and it's still your first impression, you know, it may not be a good fit for us, and like Penny said, deleted, but I often I often scan just out of curiosity to see what they're, you know what I mean? Like what, you know, what are they offering? Because again, I'm nosy. I like to see what people pitch, it's what we do. So I I I kind of have this like, you know, all right, I want to see how'd you do this? Let me see how you did. But so I do remember the author's name. I I I see the book cover, like all these things that are cemented in my memory. And that's the first impression I've had with that author in that book, which isn't great. You know what I mean? Yeah. They have somebody doing the wrong kind of work for them. So again, not to make anybody super paranoid, but just it it matters. It really matters. And you know, for what it's worth, we did a show on vetting marketing firms recently. Make sure that you know that's not how they roll. We should have added that one in there. But it's true. You need to know, be familiar with the topics the show covers, what type of guests do they bring on. If they don't bring on guests, don't offer to be a guest, but figure out if there's another way that you can be helpful. You never know. You know, don't go way out of left field, but at the same time, you might be able to get creative and still offer to be a resource, still offer to send the host a book because, you know, Penny, you mentioned this on the last show. They may end up sharing it on their social, just separate from the show, because it's it is a topic that they're interested in. It's just not a fit for their show content. So you never know what might happen with that. So if you know a show well enough and you actually pay attention to what the hosts are doing, how they handle their socials, things like that, you might realize that there are other opportunities there. And that actually shows that you're, you know, you get extra points for paying attention. Honestly, I think if somebody pitched a show penny and it showed that they really understand that, no, I'm not trying to be on the show. I know that's not a good fit, but I do think this would be a benefit in X, Y, and Z ways. I mean, points to you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I mean, to your point, yeah, I uh so I probably sounded a little caustic when I said, no, I just delete the message when they turn it pitches for shows. But honestly, there have been a number of really interesting books that were sent our way in these pitches. You know, so an alternative would have been, and I'm not going to obviously offer this. I think that if you're if you're high, especially if you're hiring somebody to do your, you know, to do your pitching, they have they should have this knowledge. Offer to send a book to the show. Right. Like, you know, it could have been an opportunity for us to say, look, we as we're talking about, like, for example, of doing a book cover show or something, and we got this book mailed to us and it was really great. And now watch, we're gonna get like 50 books next week. But I'm just saying, I mean, I think that there are, I think that there, you know, not studying the podcast first is a problem. And we actually tell our authors this when we book them on shows, like, you better be listening to that show. You need to be listening to that show so that you know how the host approaches um the interviews, first off. You know, not the least of which is so you're not caught off guard.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

100%. Right. Yes. Understanding the show, the host's mannerisms, what you know, how they tend to handle guests and things like that. Like that's old.

Build A Yes With A Clear Pitch

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Yep, absolutely. So strong podcast pitches, and I think this is really, you know, any kind of strong pitch reduces decision friction for the host. Right. So make it easy for them to say yes, um, lead with the benefits of the book, and or if you've written fiction, we talked about this the last time. Talk about, you know, you can talk about the process of writing, you can talk about the history behind historical fiction, um, you know, the the pop culture, zeitgeist, all of the different things that you can, you know, that you can speak to for um, you know, for those of you who have, you know, who have written fiction. I think that lead, you know, it has to matter to their listeners specifically. And you don't have to necessarily mention that in the the the pitch. But it should be very heavily uh it should be very heavily um mentioned. I mean, it should be, you know what I mean? There should be a very strong lean into how this is gonna benefit their listeners, right? And if you have a really good pitch, it's obvious. You don't have to say, whoa, this is gonna matter to your listeners because right.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

And the thing, I think, you know, we have this note on here, but I think it really kind of in like captures what the vibe is. Make it easy for the host to imagine the conversation they'd have with you. Yes. Right? Like if you throw, and that's why, again, being concise and being very clear about how what you're bringing to the table and why it's amazing, because you don't want to throw a lot at them and expect the host to do the work for you, right? Right. Exactly. Like if you throw a lot at them and you're like, I'm good at this, I'm good at that, or I did this and I did that, and my story covers this and this and this, and they're all relevant and it's all amazing, they're immediately going to be overwhelmed and they're not gonna put in the time and effort to try to sift through that and figure out how that would possibly work for them. Right. You know, you really have to like show up with it on a silver platter and be like, look, I did all the hard work for you. All we have to do is schedule the time, bam.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah, I think the easier that you could make it to imagine the episode, yeah, the more likely that you will be to get booked. And this is something that I think authors need, you know, listen to this and what no matter where you are pitching yourself to, they're not not doing the work because they're lazy at all. They're just busy, right? They're getting you know, they're getting dozens of pitches a week potentially for some of these really, really, really big shows. They're probably getting more, right? Um, and you have to really do the work, you know, invest the time, invest the effort to do the work for them. That's another way to remove the decision friction, right? Keep in mind too, we're talking a lot, we talked a lot about, you know, different, we mentioned a bunch of different podcast genres that both Amy and I listened to. But pretty much every media person now has a podcast. I mean, and I'm talking about like the Today Show is a podcast, and all these people have, and if that's something that you at some point aspire to, it's a great opportunity to start with, you know, some of these smaller shows. And I, and again, we don't say that in a bad way. Start with some of these smaller shows and build your expertise because you know, podcasts are a little bit like indoor plumbing, like everybody seems to have one now. Um you know, and they're you know, there's there's there's a huge opportunity if you want. And I've talked to authors who do podcasts consistently and just absolutely love it. They absolutely love it. And they say, you know, the more I do, the better I get. And that's another thing to consider too. Just uh in terms of, you know, going out this with being a good interview, the more you do, the better you'll get for sure. Oh, yeah. Um what did we what did we not address in terms of the strong podcast, the the pitching piece of this? What did I miss?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

No, I mean, I don't think we missed anything. I mean, obviously, I think if you have something that I think again, being like Penny said, they're all very busy, they're getting tons of pitches. I think if you can be really concise and again make their verification, their vetting even simpler without going overboard and sending them an email that's super duper long, back up what you're bringing to the table with receipts. You know, if you have a website and you picked it up and it's good, put that in there. If you've done media before, call that out. Do a link. Don't give, you know what I mean? A short bio, like a well-done bio that reinforces your area of expertise or your background as a fiction author and your, you know what I mean, what you specifically focus on, I think that's brilliant. You know, again, because they're not just gonna, if they love your email, great. That's like you're keeping the door open. They haven't slammed it shut, but they also will do their vetting. And if you can make it quick and easy for them to get you through that like second checkpoint of like, okay, they've got some stuff going on, they've done this before, or their website looks solid, clearly they're paying attention to their branding. Okay, like you get through that second door, right? You get that second interview, so to speak, right, Penny?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think that, you know, the goal isn't to get on more podcasts, but it is to become the kind of guest that podcasts really want, right? And that's the thing, is that if you can put yourself in in that kind of a mindset, is becoming the kind of guest, I mean, you will you will be amazed. And we've had authors who do a lot of shows and do really well who end up getting shows that reach out to them directly, which is obviously a high quality problem to have.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

100%.

Audience Shifts And Why Podcasts Win

SPEAKER_01 20:27

All right. I think that we've covered it. I really I I love talking about um podcasts just because I think it's, you know, such as I guys right now, everybody, everybody's listening. And podcasts are actually, you know, it's interesting too, just as a final note, if you don't think that your audience is listening to podcasts, think again. Because five years ago, when we were first talking about podcasts, um the the listening demographic the listener demographic was much younger. But now podcasts have really like the listening demographic has aged quite a bit. So um, and I don't have in front of me how many like millions of people listen to podcasts, but it's become, I mean, it's become very universal in terms of, you know, um the listener demographic.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Yes, because like a lot of us like to do, you can multitask while listening to a podcast. Oh, I love yes, you know, a lot of gardening, artists doing whatever. Yeah. Right. We're super busy, but we also don't want to give up on, you know, these are areas of interest and things we love to learn about or just pure entertainment while going about our daily lives. And podcasts are really a great answer to that. So to your point, Penny, I think that that's a hundred percent why they've gotten so popular. Yeah. Because they really just kind of fit in better to a lot of our busy lifestyles.

Listener Note And Closing Requests

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So we hope that the show has been helpful. Wanted just to take one quick listener note. This isn't so much a question, but it was definitely worth mentioning. Just want to thank you for the tip on Amazon A Plus content, my public. Publisher got right on it after I requested it. See, sometimes you have to push your publisher because they're busy and they're like, oh yeah, we should do A plus content. Um, I put my top three blurbs. Um, as I have been frustrated with the editorial reviews tab, is somewhat hidden on the book page. So thanks again, this really helped. So I am so pleased that you got your A plus content. We did a show on that. Um, actually, one of one of our recent very popular shows. So you haven't listened to that, I think we did it late last year. Is it was that when we did the A Plus content? I think so. Yeah, it's hard to keep track. We keep downloading it. It feels like yesterday. I know it feels like yesterday. We keep downloading our podcast uh list from the feed service that we use because we, you know, we do we do sometimes lose track. But thank you so much for listening. Listen, we love reviews wherever you listen to shows, so please leave us a review. We would we love to hear from you. So text the word podcast to 888 402 8940. Send us your show ideas, your feedback, and your author questions, and we'll take them to the next show. Thank you so much for listening. Bye bye.