Top podcasts for authors

It’s been a while since I did a list of podcasts for authors.

A writer’s got to stay healthy, and I go to the gym every weekday.

Don’t get me wrong, I do NOT like gyms and am no exercise junkie. It’s frikken BORING. To relieve the boredom, I listen to podcasts while I walk to the gym, at the gym and on the way back.

I’ve been listening to publishing podcasts for a long time, and have probably outgrown certain shows, so the list below is highly personal.

With that said, these are the podcasts I’ve been listening to recently:

The Creative Penn Podcast

Joanna remains a favourite of mine. Her interviews are extremely varied, covering a huge range of issues of interest to writers. She truly considers that the world is our oyster and does away with the myopic attitude of so many self-publishers where they care solely about sales on Amazon and only Amazon US at that.

Marketing SFF

The true insider show. Selfpublishers interviewing other selfpublishers. I really appreciate the variety of guests doing a wide variety of things. Lindsay and I go back all the way to the SFF-OWW online critique forum.

Writing Excuses

A show about craft, and specifically the craft of plotting. They’re doing lots of discussion about characters at the moment. Selfpublishers don’t like talking about craft. They should. Without good craft, you can’t sell books.

The Smartypants Book Marketing Podcast

There are a good number of marketing podcasts. What sets this one apart is the absence of snake oil or any talk of dollars and cents. Chris has worked in marketing for a long time and gives advice based on the principles of marketing, so the advice is timeless and replicable across many venues. The recent interview with Tammi Lebrecque about email lists was golden. So was Chris’ down-to-earth analysis of online crisis management.

The Writers’ Detective bureau Podcast

Adam is a real live detective. Who better to learn from about police procedure and crime? When a crime happens, who handles what? How do agencies work together? When are certain searches called for? It’s all very uS-centred, but if you take away the names of the agencies, the procedures will be similar elsewhere, including made-up worlds.

Casefile

A treasure trove for authors looking for ideas for crime-related plots. Each episode goes into depth about a past crime, and how the case unfolded, how the culprit was identified.

Science Friction

Discusses different issues in the area where science meets ethics and the public perception. Lots of great potential for story ideas, such as: the market for fake peer reviews and fake research in China, the role of women in early maths research, the gaia theory.

Honourable mentions:

Self-publishing Formula Podcast

The book lab episodes are excellent, and so are a number of interviews. I’m a wee bit critical of episodes that seem too infomercial for my liking.

The History of Rome

Not recent and no longer updated, but this is a huge archive of over 200 shows going through the entire history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It’s all history so doesn’t really go out of date, right?

Dropping off:

The Author Biz – appears to have stopped. Pity. There were some good interviews.

Sell More Books Show – I quite enjoyed this up until recently. I do not like the new happy-go-lucky direction which makes the podcast little more than a mouthpiece for a certain facebook group, by regurgitating the “I wrote three books in two weeks and made a billion dollars!!!” pieces that are just “congrats fluff”. By its very definition news is usually negative in tone, and it should incite discussion about ethical lines and desirable procedures, not be a cheerleading squad. Forced “positive” news is non-news. We can’t be ostriches putting our heads in the sand about unethical, unfair and predatory practices.