Why Do Podcasts About Books?
“Don’t you think there are enough podcasts out there? Why do one about books?”
I’d anticipated the first question. It’s not an unreasonable one—one I’d asked myself before I decided to do it. The perfect answer presented itself before I even had a chance to think about it. “Are there enough books out there?”
The second one is a bit harder to explain. When you have half a dozen or more manuscripts due a year, why would you add the time and work equivalent of yet another one each year, especially when you also write a lot of book reviews? Doesn’t a book review cover it?
The answer is… sometimes.
More than anything, my primary goal outside writing my own books is to help support authors. I remember when I first started writing and had no idea how to get my books in front of the people who were looking for books like them. I found a publicist, and she worked her magic. Watching what she did showed me something important.
You do for others what you would want them to do for you. Seems like Jesus said something about that…
Well, if someone loved my book, I’d want them to tell everyone they knew. Additionally, as a reader, I wouldn’t want a stuffy academic treatise on the merits and demerits of the book. So, when I considered how many times I’d bought a book based on people gushing over it, and how blog reviews limit how much of that I could do, a podcast doing just that seemed obvious.
Readers love hearing what authors have to say about their new release or something coming. They love knowing what inspired a character or the sort of research that goes into a particular book. Interviews seemed logical, although I didn’t know if authors would be interested. We tend to be an introverted lot—often shy.
Podcast interviews, however, offer a balance for that. While some podcasts offer video as well as audio, I don’t for this reason. Instead, we just talk—have the equivalent of a phone conversation about what the Lord is doing in that author’s writing these days, what characters are begging for their books to be written, and what readers can expect in the future.
I’ve offered hints on how to write an easy book review. That seems to be something readers want to do but find intimidating, so I break it down into what a review is, isn’t, and how to take the pressure off. Sometimes I look at a particular author’s works and examine what I liked about or learned from it. Yes, sometimes I gush over how much I love a book, or an author, but mostly, I just talk books.
Because there’s something else avid readers love to do when they can’t be reading books, and that’s talking about them. When you think about it, a podcast by an insatiable reader is actually quite logical. I like to think that a podcast by an insatiable, eclectic reader who also happens to be an author shows a unique perspective that can help readers find new authors and books to read. That sweet spot is my favorite place to be. There is where I can help my favorite kinds of people do what we all love most—get lost in books.
Why a podcast about books and reading? Well… because fiction.
Yes, sometimes I gush over how much I love a book, or an author, but mostly, I just talk books. #seriouslywrite #podcastsforreaders via @ChautonaHavig
There’s something else avid readers love to do when they can’t be reading books, and that’s talking about them. #seriouslywrite #podcastsforreaders via @ChautonaHavig
I like to think that a podcast by an insatiable, eclectic reader who also happens to be an author shows a unique perspective that can help readers find new authors and books to read. #seriouslywrite #podcastsforreaders via @ChautonaHavig
Marriages of Conviction Series
Bentley Girard’s about to propose… to a guy she doesn’t even love.
Not THAT way anyway.
After studying everything the Bible has to say about marriage, she’s decided she wants in. Now. So who’s going to take her up on that offer?
And just why did no one remind her that those vows include that little word, “love?”
Oops!
With her Bible in her hip pocket and a shiny new ring on her finger, Bentley navigates this new world of marriage with grace and… oh, who is she kidding? She flounders until she gets a sure footing and hangs on tight.
Bentley Girard’s about to propose… to a guy she doesn’t even love.
Not THAT way anyway.
After studying everything the Bible has to say about marriage, she’s decided she wants in. Now. So who’s going to take her up on that offer?
And just why did no one remind her that those vows include that little word, “love?”
Oops!
With her Bible in her hip pocket and a shiny new ring on her finger, Bentley navigates this new world of marriage with grace and… oh, who is she kidding? She flounders until she gets a sure footing and hangs on tight.
Author of the bestselling Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. She likes to say she uses story to connect readers with the Master Storyteller. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at Chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.
To listen to the podcast, find it on your favorite podcast app or visit: becausefictionpodcast.com
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