► Tell us about you and your podcast
Our podcast is a book podcast. Each episode we read a book and discuss it, but with fun questions such as ‘which character do you want to fight’ and ‘who would be the sole human in a muppets adaptation’. We discuss a range of different books, from classic literature such as “Pride and Prejudice” to more modern books such as “Temeraire” and “Good Omens”. We started our podcast for fun in 2020 and have seen massive growth in 2021 so wanted to keep it going! It’s a great hobby and we really enjoy it. Our listeners are typically between 18-34, mainly based in the UK or the USA, but we have listeners all over the world from Australia to Iceland! Most are fans of reading, or fans of the books/authors we have read on our podcast.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
We all listen to podcasts before in our free time, on a range of topics. We wanted to podcast because we wanted a new hobby during lockdown, and to read more books! Initially, our goals were to successfully produce 10-12 episodes, to read more books, and to have fun podcasting during the lockdown of 2020. It took us 3-4 months to plan and scope our podcast, before releasing our first episode.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
We release an episode every other week, recording up to a month or two in advance so that our release schedule is not affected by real life commitments. We all have day jobs, and podcasting is our hobby, so we schedule our recording in advance to fit everyone’s schedules.
Producing an episode takes a few weeks. Initially, 2 hours from start to finish to review the plan, record, write notes for each episode. This is followed by editing and reviewing which typically takes a week or two before uploading the final episode. Our main expense is the cost of our hosting platform to continue hosting our back catalogue.
We have social media marketing mainly done via our blog, tumblr, Twitter, IG. We divide up who’s responsible for each channel, but typically around 3-5 hours a week for content scoping, creation, and scheduling. Our main audience has come from our tumblr and Instagram marketing.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
We have a Ko-fi page where listeners can donate towards our hosting fees. While we have seen growth in 2021, we aren’t monetising the podcast through sponsorship yet.
We have really enjoying expanding our reading because of the podcast and finding new books recommended to us by our followers and subscribers!
► How does your podcasting process look like?
We record tracks with audacity, using notes we have pre written with google docs. We have our own individual mics (not inbuilt into headphones), and a pop filter each. We typically plan our episodes in advance with key topics we want to cover or points of interest in the book, grouping the topics into “themes”. One of us then “chairs” the recording to keep the episode to time and ask the questions! For our guest episodes, we’ve asked friends of the podcast and used discord and OBS to record the guest tracks.
► How do you market your show?
We have a presence on most social media platforms, our main link generation comes from tumblr, pintrest and Instagram. As we are a book podcast, we also have a goodreads profile to keep track of our reading. Our audience mainly use Spotify and Apple podcasts, but we’ve seen a pick-up from apple podcasts recently. Both Tumblr and Instagram in particular have been great for direct audience interaction! Instagram reels has been a great way to increase our reach, as well as our pintrest, particularly in America.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Since we upgraded our microphones, we saw a big uptick in downloads, so research and choose a (non-expensive) but clear quality microphone! Try different things on your podcast to see what lands - and what the audience interact with! You don’t need a lot of money to start a podcast, just find a niche and connect with the audience!
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
We have our website which has all the latest information on our reading list and blog posts. Our Ko-fi is where our listeners can donate to our podcast, and our socials (in particular IG and Tumblr) is where you can connect to us! We are on as many directories as possible, and all the major platforms.
Website: https://teachingmycattoread.wordpress.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teachmycat2read/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/teachmycat2read?s=09
Tumblr:
https://teachingmycattoread.tumblr.com
Goodread: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/130760733-teachmycat2read-podcast
Email: teachingmycattoread@gmail.com