A How-To Guide from the First Family of Podcasting
At the old bookstore, there had been talk of launching a podcast. And after all, everyone has a podcast at this point, right? Well, that never happened, though some employees did launch their own and I wish them all the luck! Always wanting to be prepared, though, I both read and listened to this book from the first family of podcasting.
Synopsis
From the publisher marketing:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling McElroy Brothers, creators of the hit podcasts My Brother, My Brother and Me and The Adventure Zone, comes a helpful and hilarious how-to podcast guide covering everything you need to know to make, produce, edit, and promote a podcast…and get rich* doing it! (*Results not guaranteed.)
Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy made their names as “advice giving brothers who have no business giving advice” (New York Times) on the hit podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me. But while they may not have the best relationship or workplace advice, they certainly make you laugh, and they do know a thing or two about podcasting.
In fact, the McElroy Brothers have spent the last decade making podcasts, including My Brother, My Brother and Me; The Adventure Zone; Sawbones; and more. From their start, independently producing and releasing the early episodes of My Brother, My Brother and Me, to their eleven currently available podcasts, the McElroys have become experts in creating successful podcasts. And now, they want to share what they’ve learned with you.
In Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You), the McElroy Brothers will walk you through the process of turning an idea into ear-candy for legions of fans, sharing their expertise on everything from deciding on an effective name (definitely not something like My Brother, My Brother and Me), what type of microphone to use (definitely not one from the video game Rock Band), to making lots and lots of money (spoiler: you probably won’t).
A must-read for anyone interested in podcasting, Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You) shares the keys to success as well as the mistakes to avoid and draws on the vast experiences of three of the funniest and most successful podcasters working today.
If you’ve made something that brings joy to yourself and to others, even if it’s only a few people, you’re a success.
Review
It took me a long time to get into podcasts, much longer than most people would of expected. Many of my friends were amazed when I told them I didn’t listen to any. “But Sarah, you love history! But Sarah, you love books! There are so many great podcasts for you!” But, I always responded, why would I listen to a podcast when I could listen to an audiobook and have it count towards my total books read for the year? I needed credit for listening. And I kind of lowkey blame my starting to listen to podcasts in 2019 to the steady decline in the number of books that I’ve read each year. But, as my friends reminded me, I have found some great podcasts, and those from the McElroys, have become some of my favorites.
There is now a whole subgenre of books, the Podcast books, I call them. A collection of fiction and nonfiction from well known podcasters. Most are pretty good. Most I didn’t realize were podcast related when I read or purchased them. But this one, at least, makes it pretty obvious.
Even if you don’t want to start your own podcast, which I’m still on the fence about (WordPress even has an option to essentially auto-create a podcast episode for you), this is an interesting and entertaining read. It delves into a bit of the history behind podcasts, is a behind the scenes look at the McElroys pod-empire, and an informative step-by-step guide to creating your own podcast, if you’d like to do so. It is clear cut and provides step by step instructions that aren’t necessarily a recipe for automatic success, but will at least make the process as smooth as possible.
Each brother handles a particular section, which was also helpful when I was listening to it as it added an extra layer of organization to it. Essentially, if you want to start a podcast and are overwhelmed by the amount of unfiltered and un-curated information on the interwebs, start with this book – it’ll give you some good jumping off points for how to launch your own pod!
Rating: 9 out of 10
Celebration of Books 