In June, I wrote a post about how podcasting can learn lessons from other mediums, like TV and movies. Soon after, I was talking with Podnews editor, James Cridland. He mentioned that he’d recently had an interesting conversation about how books were actually a much better analog for podcasts than TV or movies. It’s a very smart observation.

Overlapping genres

TV has sitcoms, game shows, soap operas, and reality TV. Movies have superheroes, romantic comedies, and thrillers. While there are fantastic experiments in podcasts like Casting Call (American Idol for podcasts) and Wolverine, the list of popular book genres looks a LOT more like podcasting than TV or movies.

Big ideas

Books are often about big ideas. So are many top podcasts. Both books and podcasts are amazing ways for audiences to learn, expand their horizons, and think differently about the world around them. From Freakonomics (book AND podcast) to Revisionist History and from Invisibilia to Radiolab, podcasts help us think differently in the same way as great books like Sapiens and Being Mortal.

Business

Business books are always popular and so are business podcasts. Look at the enduring popularity of How I Built This, Masters of Scale, and Startup. Given that a lot of podcast listening takes place during commutes, it’s not surprising that people want to learn about business on their way into work.

Self-help / Psychology

Self-help is also a hugely popular genre for both books and podcasts. Look at crossover author / podcaster Tim Ferriss. Joe Rogan, Gretchen Rubin, Tony Robbins, Elizabeth Gilbert, the School of Greatness, Bulletproof Radio, and countless others have large and devoted followings in podcast land. The NYT recently made this connection, too.

Crime

From Serial to Criminal, from Dirty John to Crimetown and from In The Dark to Someone Knows Something, true crime remains THE killer genre in podcasting. True crime… also huge in books.

Politics

Both podcasting and books find a lot of success in exploring the inside world of politics. From books like Fire & Fury and A Higher Loyalty, to podcasts like Pod Save America and Left, Right, and Center, it seems like audiences have an endless appetite for all things politics.

Literature

And most interesting of all, one of the most successful podcasts in history, S-Town, based the structure of the show on… a novel. It’s filled with literary devices and each episode is even broken up into chapters.

Audiobooks are hugely popular

Compared to other genres, book readers have been used to listening to audio for a long time. Audiobooks are huge and Audible has made a fantastic business that dominates the space. There are a lot of people who spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks that do not listen to podcasts yet. Just to hammer this home: they LOVE audio stories but they do not listen to podcasts.

There is a huge growth opportunity for podcasters to target heavy readers and audiobook listeners. (Note: Audible has been exactly this strategy in reverse — they advertise all the time to podcast listeners to get them into audiobooks. How can podcasters do the same thing for audiobook listeners?)

Authors are great podcast hosts

What makes for a great podcast host? There’s a pretty compelling argument to be made that the best podcast hosts are authors. Need convincing?

• Seth Godin
• Tim Ferriss
• Malcolm Gladwell
• Gretchen Rubin
• Tony Robbins
• Walter Isaacson
• Dan Heath

The list goes on and on. Why do authors make great podcast hosts? They’re storytellers with great points of view, lots of curiosity, an area of deep expertise and credibility, and a unique voice. (I interviewed Dan Heath about this in February.)

Books and podcasts are intimate, solitary mediums

Recent Rajar Midas research showed that 90% of podcast listeners consume podcasts alone. It is a solitary medium. Movies and TV are more social and suited to watching with others. Books, however, share the intimacy and solitary consumption of podcasting. When you’re reading a great book, it’s like you disappear into a cocoon and don’t want to come out until you’ve finished.

Book covers and podcast art

Books and podcasts also have marketing strategies and challenges in common. There are SO many new books published every year and it’s tough for new authors and titles to break out. Same thing for podcasting.

The front page of Amazon’s Kindle store and the front page of Apple Podcasts are pretty similar. Both serve as curators to help people find what is popular and what is “new and noteworthy.”

For book publishers and podcasters, the first interaction with a potential audience member is also likely going to be visual — your book cover or the cover art for your podcast. The goal is the same with both — make a design that pops visually, clearly conveys what the book or podcast is about, and arouses your curiosity.

Takeaways

Since James first mentioned this to me, my brain has been buzzing with ideas about how to learn more from the book industry and apply it to podcasting.

A few thought-starters:

• Which amazing authors are going to be the next podcast stars? (Who wouldn’t love to hear Stephen King host a horror-story podcast?)
• What are other popular book genres that have not yet transitioned into popular podcasts? (Is there an amazing romance-novel format for podcasts?)
• What are the traits of an amazing book jacket and how can it apply to podcast cover art?
• What do book publishers look for in a successful book and how can podcast publishers apply some of the same criteria to new podcast pitches?
• How can podcasters market to heavy readers and audiobook listeners?

What lessons do you think podcasting can learn from the book industry?

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