Our Favorite Bookish Podcasts

​The number of bookish podcasts out there truly seems infinite. There’s a podcast for the whole book spectrum, from writing to reading to marketing, and more. It’s comforting to know there’s something out there for you no matter what you’re looking for, but it can feel a little overwhelming at the same time. Where do you even start? Well, we’re highlighting some of our favorites in three categories: book recommendations, the craft of writing, and author marketing. 

Book Recommendations 

• Book Fight: The Book Fight podcast is hosted by Mike Ingram and Tom McAllister—writers, writing professors, and long-time editors for Barrelhouse, a nonprofit literary magazine and book publisher. On each episode, the hosts ask their guest author to come prepared with a book, essay, or short story that impacted them in some way, and entertaining, unpredictable, and informative conversations ensue! New episodes every other week, with bonus episodes for Patreon subscribers.
• All the Books: We love Book Riot, so we had to include their podcast All the Books! Hosted by Liberty Hardy and the editors of Book Riot, this bookish podcast puts out episodes every week all about the latest and greatest in book releases.
• Asian Review of Books: The Asian Review of Books is a book review publication that added a podcast to their repertoire in late 2020. Host Nicholas Gordon interviews fiction and nonfiction authors writing in, around, and about the Asian-Pacific region. New episodes every week!  
• NPR’s Book of the Day: If you’re in a time crunch and need to get the lowdown real quick on the best and latest the book biz has to offer, NPR’s Book of the Day podcast is for you. As the name suggests, this podcast has new episodes every day, and you can get an awesome book recommendation in fifteen minutes or less. 
• The Sapphic Book Review: Hosted by Laura Green, the Sapphic Book Review podcast features interviews with sapphic fiction authors—your one-stop shop for the best in lesbian fiction—and you can look out for new episodes every week.
• Backlisted: John Mitchinson and Andy Miller bring us Backlisted, a podcast with the tagline “Giving new life to old books,” which we absolutely love. The hosts are joined by a new guest each episode who has chosen a book they believe more people should know about. The podcast is sponsored by Unbound, a crowd-funding publisher, but as they put it in their own words, the podcast “isn’t about selling new product: it’s about how and why some books stand the test of time.” New episodes release every other week. 

​The Craft of Writing 

• 88 Cups of Tea: From their website because they say it better than I ever could--We are an online platform and podcast for creative writers looking for guidance in their storytelling journey and connection to a community, fostering year-round conversations around the personal and professional life of a writer. We explore and unpack conversations that touch on topics like overcoming rejections and challenges, querying tips and crafting advice, lifestyle habits that support the heart and the soul, what it means to be Human while navigating a creative path, and more. We pride ourselves in nurturing a supportive environment that aims to encourage, inspire, and entertain.
• Well-Read Black Girl with Glory Edim: Not only is Well-Read Black Girl an incredible podcast that aims to introduce diverse writers—contemporary authors who are nonbinary, queer, trans, and differently abled—to future generations, but it’s also a digital literacy platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. Well-Read Black Girl founder and host Glory Edim addresses inequalities through her platform and hopes to improve communities by way of reading and reflecting on the works of Black women. Through this podcast, you’ll dig in deep with authors like Tarana Burke, Min Jin Lee, and Anita Hill, just to name a few, and hear from literacy advocates and Black booksellers—a celebration of culture, art, justice, and literature. Catch new episodes every week! 
• The Writing Life: The Writing Life puts out monthly episodes all about how to improve your writing—theme, structure, character development, writing specific genres, etc.—it’s all covered! 
• Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire: An author herself, host Mindy McGinnis tackles craft, agent hunting, querying, the publishing industry as a whole, and more in Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire. This is a hugely informative podcast with new episodes every couple weeks. 
• #AmWriting: This podcast provides such a welcoming community for writers looking for other writers. Hosts Jessica Lahey, KJ Dell’Antonia, and Sarina Bowen come together to provide listeners with advice on craft, productivity, and creativity for writers of all genres. New episodes every week! 

Author Marketing Information

• Book Marketing Action Podcast: BMAP, baby! We consider host Becky Robinson to be an expert in all things author marketing, and she’s the founder and CEO of Weaving Influence. On her podcast, Becky shares actionable strategies and effective solutions for authors looking to learn how to market themselves and their books. One of our favorite aspects of Becky’s show is those awesome action items at the end of each episode (which come out weekly!). Check out Becky's episode with Christina here!
• Novel Marketing: This podcast is the longest-running book marketing podcast in the world—that’s right—the world! Novel Marketing is for writers who want to build their platforms, sell more books, and change the world with their writing. Authors in the self-publishing, indie publishing, and traditional publishing worlds can all find value in this informative podcast with host Thomas Umstattd Jr. Look out for new episodes every week.
• The Sell More Books Show | Book Marketing, Digital Publishing and Kindle News, Tools and Advice: Hosts Jim Kukral and Bryan Cohen offer strategies and tools to . . . you guessed it—sell more books! Find out some amazing tips and tricks to get the word out about your book and get those book sales up with new episodes every week.
• Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast: Penny Sansevieri and Amy Cornell do a beautiful job of keeping episodes short and sweet to give authors awesome tips they can work into their book promotion without asking too much of their time. Fun and informative, you can get new episodes of this fabulous podcast every week.
• PublishHer Podcast: For all the writers out there, we’re talking all routes to publishing, book launches, book marketing, tips, tools, and resources to write, publish, and sell your book. Self-publishing, hybrid publishing, and traditional publishing. Author interviews and industry experts. Hosted by Alexa Bigwarfe of the Women in Publishing Summit. Updated every week.

​Well, there you have it! Use these recommendations as a jumping off point because this list just scratches the surface of the bookish podcast land. And please let us know about any of your favorites that we didn’t mention here. We’re always looking for new bookish podcasts to listen to! 

written by Grace Ball