Why Podcasting Is the Best Preparation for Writing a Book
The only way I got through English class (in any grade) was by cheating. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. I was a dyslexic kid who was tested at a second grade reading level when I was entering the eighth grade.
I felt stupid and worthless.
If you had told me then that I would one day be the author of a book that would appear on the front table of every Barnes and Noble in the U.S., I would have thought you were crazy and/or lying. Crazier things have happened, however, and I credit podcasting with making this dream a reality.
Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get out of school each day and hit the athletic field for sports practice. It was the one thing I felt good at. In fact, I became obsessed with becoming great at sports to make up for my poor performance in school.
My hustle and hard work paid off and I ended up playing football professionally. But after a career-ending injury in my rookie season, I found myself feeling stupid and worthless again, living on my sister’s couch, broke and clueless about how to move forward.
Fortunately my obsession with greatness stayed intact, and I managed to hustle and work my way into a new career that involved connecting with many inspirational and successful people. I decided to launch my podcast, The School of Greatness, to interview these incredible people and learn from them.
I never could have imagined how quickly it would grow or where it would take me.
A couple of years later, I found myself with millions of downloads, hundreds of thousands of listeners, and the opportunity to interview rock stars like Tony Robbins, Arianna Huffington, and Julianne Hough. My obsession with greatness was now bigger than just me. It was affecting so many people that I knew I needed to share what I was learning on an even bigger platform.
I decided to write a book.
The irony was not lost on me considering my academic record. However, there are a few things I’d learned while podcasting that translate extremely well into writing a powerful book.
Here are my top reasons why podcasting is the perfect preparation for writing your next bestseller.
- Podcasting creates a vulnerable, intimate space for real conversation. There’s nothing like sitting across the table from another human with nothing but a couple of headsets and 45 minutes to have a genuine conversation. Cell phones are put away, emails are on hold, and eye contact is expected. In today’s world of constant distraction, this creates space for some of the most authentic, powerful stories I’ve ever heard. It’s a goldmine for book material.
- The research phase of book writing is already done. To prepare for each interview, you get to research guests before they come on the show. This means that your book research is actually broken down into small, bite-size chunks week by week. Before or after the interview I end up having great conversations with my guests about what I’ve learned from them and can ask follow up questions from my research. Research is no longer an overwhelming, months-long slog. Instead it’s a fun, engaged conversation each week with a new person.
- You build your book’s audience and promoters while podcasting. The number one source of my book sales is from my podcast listeners and my podcast guests’ followers. This is the genius of podcasting. You not only build a loyal, connected following of fans who want more of what you’re already giving them, but you develop strong relationships with hundreds of guests on your show who also become promoters of your work. Since book marketing is now all about your own efforts, this is priceless.
- Podcast transcripts become the first draft of your book. Sometimes the most daunting part of writing a book is starting. When I started writing The School of Greatness book, I had all my best podcast episodes transcribed through SpeechPad and used those as the foundation of the content. This meant that the best stories, quotes, and big ideas of my book were already written out. It also helped me and my editor identify my voice and translate that into my writing voice. This was a lifesaver.
- Writing the show notes of your podcast is practice for writing your book. A key part of any podcast episode is the show notes page, typically written as a blog post, that includes all the links mentioned in the episode, as well as a summary of what you cover. I like to write a brief but compelling intro paragraph to my show notes on each episode where I share my thoughts of what I learned, what I thought of the guest, etc. This is great practice for me to develop my authentic writing voice and it gives me an opportunity to stop for a moment and think about what I did learn from the conversation. Later, when I was writing my book, I was able to easily scan through these blog posts and remember the highlights of what I learned from each conversation without going through the whole episode transcript.
Despite the benefits I’ve outlined above, you may still be hesitant to start a podcast. I get it. It’s a lot of work and can seem overwhelming when you’re on the outside looking in.
But remember how overwhelming writing a book is? There’s many ways to write a powerful story, and podcasting is a fun, manageable, and valuable method for entering that world before you’re ready to actually put pen to paper.
If I could give one piece of advice to aspiring authors, it would be this: learn the art of conversation, relationships, and listening and you’ll have more quality material for a book than you can ever use. There’s no better way to do this than podcasting.
Lewis Howes Bio:
LEWIS HOWES is a lifestyle entrepreneur, high performance business coach, author and keynote speaker. He hosts The School of Greatness podcast, which has received millions of downloads since it launched in 2013. His newest book, The School of Greatness, provides a framework for achieving real, sustainable, repeatable success. Learn more at LewisHowes.com.
Headshots and Book Images Here
Link to The School of Greatness on Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/The-School-Greatness-Real-World-Leaving/dp/1623365961
Official Book Site: GreatnessBook.com
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