Arizona Bob said:
Heh! Nice, Dan. I like your style: Find a way to plug your book/website that is less offensive than the usual advertising. I like it. "I have a problem." "Won't you please comment about the best way to help solve my problem?" Just go to my website! Buy my book! I think the help-me-return-the-ring schtick might be wearing thin, though. Pretty soon, you'll need to come up with a new & different item that "can't seem to be returned for some mysterious and unknown reason". I still like it...
Yo, Bob! I do wish my book sales were enough to justify the podcasts. I think I'm earning about fifty cents an hour if I divide the number of hours I put into the podcasts into the number of books the podcasts sell. But the fact is, I love doing the podcasts and would do them without the book.
I was in radio for 40 years, and I really missed the microphone when I retired. So I use a lot of my spare hours doing this treasure podcast, a softball podcast (another of my loves), and a weekly old-time radio program for a radio station that serves the blind.
I think I earn that book mention, considering the work I put into the podcasts. At the end of my show I invite listeners to visit my website (which also includes several treasure articles I've written), but they are not forced to do so in order to listen to the shows, as is often the case with podcasts. And there are no traditional ads (30-second or 60-second commercials) in the show - just that brief invite at the end.
Since the website mention is at the end, listeners can skip it and not miss anything. Many podcasters put ads at the beginning or middle of a show, forcing listeners to sit through them. Nor do listeners have to pay to listen, as is also common in podcasting. I think most listeners feel my "ad" mention is fair.
In fact, I've even had webmasters who run other treasure boards ask my permission to use my podcasts as a sticky on their boards.
The great majority of comments I get are positive. I got some flack when I questioned the validity of dowsing in one show, but otherwise the shows have been well-received.
I've just hit my one-year anniversary of podcasting, and the ring stories (I just posted a new one) are pretty popular when it comes to listener interest.
After a year of programs, it's getting more and more difficult to come up with new topics that are worth your time to listen to. I've learned what listeners want and don't want, too. The most popular shows, for example, are the ones on hunting schoolyards, getting better depth, handling obnoxious onlookers, and getting permission to hunt private property. The least popular shows are the ones on writing for the treasure magazines and running seminars for newbies.
Thanks for the note, and for the chance to talk a bit about the background of my podcasts.
---Dan
