How to Do Everything with Podcasting

by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson

Book Overview

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.

Reach a targeted and influential audience using the medium that's gone from underground scene to mainstream. How to Do Everything with Podcasting walks you, step by step, through the process of creating, broadcasting, and promoting your...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0072263946
• ISBN13: 9780072263947
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An encyclopedig guide

What can podcasting do for a business? That's the wrong question to ask, say Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. Like any communication tool, podcasting should be applied as a solution, not as a goal in and of itself. "Podcasting ought to come up in larger discussions about ways to reach audiences, to convey particular messages, or to address specific situations and problems," they advise. Hobson and Holtz are internationally known business communicators, bloggers, and consultants. Besides detailing all the technical aspects of podcasting, Hobson and Holtz preach the gospel of strategic planning. Thinking about producing a podcast? First, address the question: What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Would it serve as a marketing vehicle, or to supplement public relations and financial communications, or to enhance customer relations, or to enhance customer support? And how will you measure the success of your efforts? They offer many examples of podcasting done well. Purina's Animal Advice podcast, for example, provides information pet owners can use; it does not `sell product.' Stanford University podcasts offer faculty lectures, interviews, music, and sports content. Target groups include students and alums. IBM's The Future Of .... Podcast reaches investors and features interviews with engineers, product managers, and others in the trenches--not with PR or marketing staff.

Good enough to get you going, and well written too!

This book was all I needed to get set up for my first podcast. I am one of those types who can't just settle for the basics, which can be an expensive problem. But this book will get anyone who is budget-conscious up and running with less than $100 out of pocket, assuming you at least have a computer. If you are looking for some expertise about equipment or how to set up your rig in the studio, this is not the book for you. You might want to look for a book about home recording or even professional broadcasting. I have to give these authors big kudos though, this really is everything you need to know about *the basics* of podcasting. If that's what you need to know, you won't go wrong with this book. Oh yeah, it is very well-written and easy to read also.

Every podcast consultant should read Part V

Disclaimer: As a contributor to the authors' podcast, For Immediate Release, I might be expected to have a biased opinion. I do, but I also held the book to the standards of their podcast and their blogs. If it hadn't been good, I would have been seriously disappointed. But not to worry, it's good. Naming a book "How to Do Everything with Podcasting" is ambitious, but that was the publisher's choice. They have a whole series of "How to Do Everything" books. And while there might be things you can do with podcasting that aren't covered in the book, it's impressively comprehensive. I particularly appreciated the details about sound editing in Chapter 9 when I had to assemble the interviews from the iMeme conference. (It helped, but with background noise as bad as that, there's not a lot you can do if you don't use a directional mic in the first place.) The only omission I'm aware of in that section is a reference to the Levelator, an amazing tool every podcaster should have. (It's free, too. Gigavox invented it in self-defense.) I imagine many people will head straight to Part IV, "Make Money with Your Podcast," but I really appreciated Part V, "Use a Podcast as a Business Communication Tool." These 65 pages are pure gold for any podcast evangelist operating in either the corporate or small-business world. Shel and Neville start by pointing out that creating a podcast is not a business goal. Rather, podcasting is a tool that can serve a purpose in the business' overall strategy. If your company starts podcasting "because everyone else is doing it," the podcast is not likely to be a success. There's also an appendix about legal considerations for podcasters, one listing podcasting resources, and a podcasting glossary to help you sort out the jargon. And to keep up to date (because things on the Web change so quickly), there's a website for the book at EverythingwithPodcasting.com. You can find Shel's mix-minus instructional video (for recording Skype calls without echoes) and a whole lot of other good stuff--including a long list of links to podcasts. Three cheers and five stars, guys. SRG

They don't tell everything

This book does everything it says on its cover. It teaches people how to produce, release and promote podcasts. However, it doesn't give away the secret sauce behind the long-running Hobson & Holtz report so readers will have to listen to "For Immediate Release" to discover for themselves what has sustained the authors for more than 250 episodes. FIR deserves accolades as one of the best business podcasts in the world. The book tells how to do everything except sustain yourself on the road to your own 250 episodes. We will use the book in three separate courses taught in a college creative multimedia degree. Freshmen through seniors (first through fourth year third level students) will find the topics accessible and practical. While I can appreciate the editorial control mandated by the publisher, I wish the inside artwork incorporated faces from across the community of podcast listeners that Hobson and Holtz have cultivated through the years. As it stands, the repetitive imagery does no credit to the powerful community dynamic fostered through the techniques outlined in this very helpful book.