In this episode, we have another great guest, a repeat guest, Jackie Lapin. For the past few years, Jackie Lapin’s Conscious Media Relations, Radio and Podcast Tours have helped nearly 400 luminaries, leaders, filmmakers and authors grow their businesses, sell more books, and create viewership and change more lives by introducing them to over 9,000 radio shows and podcasts. Some of their clients include Don Miguel Ruiz, Dr. Joe Vitale, Marie Diamond, James Twyman, Arielle Ford, Hay House, and more. She’s booked more than 10,000 interviews for her clients.
Now, why is this important? Remember, Amazon changed the rules. External links are rewarded now. When you are a podcast guest, you give out the external links for your books, and that’s where those clicks are coming from on Amazon. It’s very important. Stay tuned for my talk with Jackie Lapin.
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Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Guaranteed Podcast Interviews For Authors: Inside Jackie Lapin’s Process
Jackie, welcome to the show. Welcome back.
Juliet, I love to hang out with you because we’ve always got great stuff to talk about.
We’re so invested in the book business but it’s sad, but we get some personal stuff, too.
Absolutely.
I’m excited to have you because Amazon changed all of its algorithms. People can no longer just Amazon-add their way into selling books. They have to develop their platform and podcast guesting is a great way to do that because of those external links. I wanted to have a conversation with you again about what you do, you serve and how these friends can play with you. The way you do this is unique. You’re not standing people like the way most podcast bookers do. Tell us a little bit about what you do.
Building Reader Trust Through Podcasting
I’ve been doing this for many years. Thank God 400 clients over that course of those years. We know that podcasting is the one sure thing you can do to get your book out into the world. By driving the implied value that the host sees in you and your book because people are more likely to buy when it’s brought to them by somebody they trust. If they trust you to have you on their show, if they have read your book, then the audience is much more inclined to buy.
Capturing Your Soul In A Pitch Letter
Podcasting presents an opportunity that should not be overlooked. It shouldn’t necessarily be all of what you do in your marketing, but it should be an important component. What we’ve done throughout the years, we specialize in personal growth, spirituality, health and wellness, women’s empowerment, life improvement in general, and any of its offshoots. That’s because we want to work with the people who are making the world a better place. By the way, that includes memoirs with a message as well.
Our goal is to basically get you into the hands of hosts that are loving this content. We went out and we built the world’s largest list of this kind of show. We continue to upgrade it and add to it. We just revised six of our lists to make sure that it has the most current shows in it. What we’ve been doing all these years is, I will read your book. No joke. No AI. I will write a compelling pitch letter. I say that I capture your message, your mission, your book, and your soul in a page and a half.
We then send it to 9,000 shows. We’ll pull in specialty lists like if it’s relationships or if it’s the women’s business or caregiving. Whatever it might be, we will either have already a list or we’ll pull a specialty list that matches that book and throw it into the mix. I also do a media kit for you with some elements that you will give me. That’s something you can use not just with this podcast tour, but you can use it anywhere else.
We’ve sent it out there to the world. We’ve made a little portal where we have your media kit in, your photograph and a digital copy of your book. That’s one of the big things that’s changed over the last few years. Seventy-five percent will take the digital book. The other 25 are still going to want you to send them a physical copy, but it’s cut down in the amount of cost that now that people take digital. They have a special portal. When we send it out and people say, “I want to interview this person.” We log that into a big Excel file on Google Docs.
These are the people who have said, yes. Either the people that want to book first. These are the people that have said, “I want you to pay for the interview.” That’s way at the bottom. You never have to take advantage of those. They don’t count against our count. Now, here’s the cool thing. We do a done for you and a done with you. We also have another element, but the done for you and the done with you guarantee 30 interviews or interview invitations.
You will never go away with less than 30 shows issuing you an invitation to show up on their platform. That’s what’s made the difference for us all these years and people know that they can come to us. They’re not just taking a chance. What am I going to get? We guarantee you 30 invitations. As a result, you’ll find we crossed the 100 number of reviews on our website at this point. You don’t get rave reviews if you don’t produce. We have three processes. If you’d like me to explain those, I’m happy to go into the details.
Demanding Guarantees From Public Relations Partners
Before we get there, I want to talk about the reason. You just talked about those guarantees. You can go out and you can hire a PR person but they guarantee nothing usually. It’s been my experience. I want to point out to my audience how important it is that you have a guarantee with it. That’s because I have seen my friends. A PR person will write an article for them and it’s $6,000 or $7,000. They catch it but it doesn’t go anywhere. Basically, you paid $6,000 or $7,000 for a blog post on it. I just want to point out how unique this is.
Thank you. I’ll tell you the truth. It’s one of the reasons why I got out of the rest of the PR business because you can’t guarantee anything. You can’t be sure of what you’re going to get. I spent a lot of years there. I had a very big international agency. I narrowed it down to podcasting because we knew we could produce. The numbers have gotten astronomical. We’re now well over four million podcasts out there. There’s going to be somebody that wants you.
Podcasting builds immediate trust with readers because the host has already vetted you as a credible source. Share on XWe have everybody from the top guys to the lowest guys in there. Usually, we’re somewhere in the middle space, but you have to understand. We tell people this is all coming, “If you’re looking just to get the big ones, that’s not us.” The big guys are only going to take you if you have millions on your platform. They won’t even consider you. If you’re self-published, you’re infinitesimal that you’re going to get on their shows.
We try to stay in the middle ground where we’re going to get shows that are interested in you. Don’t forget, it only takes a few. Keep in mind that podcasts aren’t just going to sell your books. They may fill your coaching programs. They may feel your opt-in list. We tell everybody that does a podcast tour with us, you need three things. You need your book. You need your free opt-in gifts because they may not buy the book right off the top. You want to continue that relationship with them. You need what’s next. Where are you taking them? Not everybody has a coaching program or an end game but many people do.
Crafting Your Lead Generation Funnel First
If you have an end game, you need to be seeding it in your podcasts. You’re monetizing your podcast not just from the cost of a book because you’ll never pay off the cost of the podcast. You are just on book sales. You need to make it somehow more saleable or, in many cases, people don’t care if it pencils out. They just want to get their message out and that’s important, too. You don’t have to be somebody that’s making money from your ancillary products.
If it just means you can get in front of audiences to whose lives you can change. We have two different kinds of clients. Those that just want to get the message out and sell some books and get it into the hands of people and be heard. There are those that use this as a business leader. Wherever you are, you need to. If you’ve invested in your book, you’ve put this much time, effort and money into it. It shouldn’t be sitting on a shelf. You need to get it out there. Podcasting is the ideal way to do that.
Focusing On Value Over Self-Promotion
I love what you said there are about the big guys probably not going to take you. I don’t think when people try to pitch themselves, they understand that it’s not all about you. As a podcast host, I’m looking at, are they going to bring value to my audience or are they just there to pitch a book? A lot of times, authors get into this mode where they just want to talk about their book. They should be talking about what they do and leading to the book.
A lot of times, they get so focused on the book and you can tell from the pitch that they’re so focused on that you’re like, “I don’t know what value this is going to bring to my audience overall.” You have to look at it. You mentioned the big guys in the million. They’re looking at, “Will this person bring me a new audience?” That’s what they’re looking at because they have sponsors. They have to sell stuff. You have to look at the two-way street, which is why that pitch is so important that you do.
The thing is also, it’s not just, can you bring them audiences? It’s, can you bring value to their audience? Can you help change the lives of their audience? That’s what that pitch is built around. What are you teaching? What are you offering, even a memoir that has a message? What are you telling people that is going to help them in their life? It’s a two-way street with a host. Some of the smaller guys are looking at the same thing. Can you increase their audience with yours when you’re promoting the podcast? Can you bring value to their audience?
They’re looking at you from both sand points. It behooves you to make sure that you can satisfy both of those needs for them. That’s what we do with our pitch letter. We make sure that they know that you can bring something of value to them and is a perfect alignment and match with their audience. Also, your audience is a match for them. That’s a critical factor in making them want to say yes to you. It’s not just when you have a good book, but what can their audience learn from you and that book.
Exactly. Tell us what these programs look like? I don’t want to get into pricing here but I want people to get a feel for, is it a DIY? Is it with you? Is it done for you? How much work do they have to do in this process?
Navigating Done-For-You Booking Services
We have three options. The first one, with a guarantee, is we do basically everything for you. All you do is come in and tell us when you’re available or fill out somebody’s calendar link. Put it in your calendar and show up for the interview. It’s that simple. It’s a three-month program but we’re already booked interviews in months four and five. You can send the reminder to those hosts yourself in 4 and 5, or we’ll stay on for an extra small amount of money just to manage those outliers, essentially. Most of it will come up in the first 2 to 3 months.
The second one is done with you. When those responses come back, we’ve got it logged into that tracking sheet that I was explaining about. Name of the host, name of the show, where it airs, contact information, the audience size, the website and the details of the interview. We then make an introduction between you and the host by email. You do the booking, put it in chronological order in the tracking doc and then you send the reminders to the host a few days before. We’ll even make this easier for you. We’ll give you the templated emails so you know what to send them when you’re confirming the interview and what to send them when you’re back confirming it just before the interview.
You step into it but it’s more time on your part, more management but we’ll still be looking over your shoulders. Let me tell you something else that we do. This one is all a 30 guarantee. One of the things that we will be doing is, we’ll also be putting in personalized emails to your sweet spot. If your sweet spot is relationships, we will go and do a backup email to each of those. Besides the blast email. By the way, we sent that blast email twice, so that we could pick up a lot of people on the second hit. Somewhere in the 5 to 6-week mark. Those are some of the things because we’re very engaged in the process. Even if it’s done with you.
Now, the last one is one that does not have a guarantee. This one is more work on your part, but it’s also the least expensive. That’s where I’ll write the pitch and your media kit. We will send it to our list, but it comes from an email that comes back into your email box. The response will be coming to you, and then you’re responsible for booking everything that comes from that. Now, understand that you’re going to be more diligent because you’re the one that now has to get all that information that I was just telling you, that’s in that tracking sheet in the done with you process.
You can assemble that all by yourself but there’s a benefit, and, in fact, it’s the least expensive. You get access to our list. We have the most comprehensive list in the business. If you’re in the non-fiction space and you’re serving a body of people, we’ll still pull the specialty list for you. We will make sure that this gets up to 9,000 without you having to do the heavy lifting of finding them and finding who the host is and what their emails are and all that, because we’ve already got that done for you.
Never hire a PR firm that guarantees zero results. Look for models that protect your marketing investment. Share on XI just want to clarify. You don’t give them the list. You shoot it out to the list. For those of you thinking, “I’ve got 9,000 people to pastor.” You don’t.
That is correct.
Mapping Out A Pre-Launch Booking Timeline
We had a new program. I think I mentioned it to you before we got on the algorithm. We’re recommending there that people start booking 2 to 3 months out from their launch date. Do you feel like that’s sufficient enough time to start booking these? If your book is coming out in July or in August to September, you have to get going on. Would you even say further out?
No. I’ll give you the caveat to that. We don’t like to do this until books are available because the host needs to read them. You have to have advanced readers copies, which usually isn’t before a month or two before the book is done. Some people are going to say, “I want you on my show in a week or 2 weeks or 3 weeks.” Especially now that you have digital books because it’s no longer critical that they get in the mail. You need to be ready to go but your audience, if they air then, they need to be able to get your book.
I’ll back the timetable to you. Let’s say that you want to be doing interviews in October. We will send the pitch in September. Assuming a month before you are going to have physical books or at least advance reader copies. We’re sending maybe in the second week of September, 3 to 4 weeks out in advance. I need to be reading your book a month before that. You need to start too much from the point when you want to be doing the interviews.
My time is so tight that I can only read on weekends and I need to make sure I have available book reading time. I wanted to have a month in advance and then we can have it time to review the materials with you and make sure that you approve them all, make your changes and then we pulled all the right lists. Back it up. You’re going to be doing your interviews during the period when your book is available, but you have to start two months in advance in order to make that happen.
That’s what we’re telling people in the program because the sales are much higher when it’s available, versus when you try to do this and resale. People want instant gratification. They don’t want to wait for your book to get there. They just want to get it and go.
They don’t want to come back from the readers saying, “I can’t get this book for another two months.” They need to know that if you’re promoting something it’s available.
Jackie, where can we find you if we want to find out more or we’re ready? If we catch somebody here that’s reading that’s right in the sweet spot, where can we find you?
Come over to ConsciousMediaRelations.com. You can read all of our reviews over there and you could also reach out to me at Jackie@ConsciousMediaRelations.com, which is the simplest and the easiest way. Set up a meeting with me and I’ll send you my calendar link. We can chat and go over the details and evaluate what would be the best approach for your book.
Thank you so much for being on.
Audiences don't want to hear a continuous pitch for your book. Share actionable steps that change lives, and let the book be the natural next step. Share on XI’m delighted to be here. Can I give away a free gift?
Absolutely.
We have a resource called How to be a Sought-after and Formidable Guest on Podcasts. You can go to ConsciousMediaRelations.com/guest, and that should get you an opportunity to download that resource.
Fabulous. Thank you.
Thank you for letting me be here.
You’re welcome.
Important Links
- Jackie Lapin
- Jackie Lapin on LinkedIn
- Jackie Lapin on Facebook
- Conscious Media Relations
- Radio and Podcast Tours
- Jackie@ConsciousMediaRelations.com
- ConsciousMediaRelations.com/guest
- Don Miguel Ruiz
- Dr. Joe Vitale on LinkedIn
- Marie Diamond
- James Twyman on Facebook
- Arielle Ford
- Hay Hous
About Jackie Lapin
For the past 18 years, Jackie Lapin’s Conscious Media Relations’ Radio/Podcast Tours have helped nearly 400 luminaries, leaders, filmmakers and authors grow their businesses, sell more books, create viewership and change more lives by introducing them to up to 9000 radio shows and podcasts, including such clients as Don Miguel Ruiz, Dr. Joe Vitale, Marie Diamond, James Twyman, Arielle Ford, Hay House and more. She’s booked for than 10,000 interviews for her clients.
