How to Get Booked as a Podcast Guest and Grow Your List
I host a podcast, so I see the pitches. Most of them are the same pitch, and it is the one that does not work.
It opens with a bio, lists three topics the person could talk about, and asks to be considered. There is nothing wrong with it, and that is the problem. A host reading twenty of those cannot tell them apart, so they book the person they already know instead.
Podcast guesting is worth getting right. The audiences are smaller than a summit, but people listen alone, in the car or on a walk, for 45 minutes straight. Nothing else on the internet gives you that much of someone's attention. Episodes also keep working for years, which almost no other kind of collaboration does.
Here is how to get booked, and then what to do afterward, which is where most of the value actually sits.
Pitch the episode, not yourself
A host is not filling a guest slot. They are filling an episode, and they already know what their audience keeps asking about. Your job is to hand them an episode that fits.
So instead of listing what you could talk about, propose one specific episode. Give it a title, say what a listener will walk away with, and then explain in a sentence why you are the person to do it.
The difference sounds small and it is not. "I could speak about email marketing, funnels or launches" puts the work on the host. "How to write a welcome sequence that converts 12 percent of new subscribers, including the exact three emails" is an episode they can picture, schedule, and title.
Read your pitch and ask whether a host could write the episode title from it without asking you a single question. If they could not, it is still a bio and not a pitch.
What to actually send
Keep it short. Five or six sentences is plenty, because long pitches get skimmed rather than read.
Open by showing you have listened to the show, and be specific about it. Naming an episode and saying one true thing about it puts you ahead of almost everyone, because most pitches make it obvious the sender has never pressed play.
Then give the episode idea, the takeaway, and one line of proof that you have done the thing. Finish by saying what you will do to promote it. That last part is rare and it matters, because a host is thinking about downloads as much as content.
Do not attach a media kit to a first email. Do not send a calendar link before anyone has said yes. Both make it feel like a transaction, and podcast hosts book people they want to talk to.
Where to find shows worth pitching
Start with shows you already listen to. Your pitch will be better and the fit will be real.
After that, look at where your peers have been guests. If someone in your niche appeared on a show and it went well, that host is already interested in your topic. Podcast apps also show similar shows next to the ones you follow, which is a faster way to build a list than searching by keyword.
Size matters less than you would guess. A show with 500 engaged listeners in your exact niche will do more for you than one with 20,000 general business listeners, because the small one is full of people who have your problem.
The show publishes on a real schedule
A podcast that has posted weekly for a year has an audience that shows up. One with a six month gap and a recent relaunch usually does not, no matter what the download numbers say.
Guests come back or get promoted properly
Look at how the host talks about past guests on social and in the newsletter. A host who promotes guest episodes hard is a host whose episode will actually do something for you.
Every episode is an interview with no through line
Shows that book anyone tend to have listeners who skip anyone. If you cannot tell what the podcast is about from the last five titles, the audience probably cannot either.
Bring one specific free resource
This is the whole reason to do it, and it is the part guests improvise.
Somewhere near the end of the episode, the host will ask where people can find you. If your answer is your website or your social handle, almost nobody follows up. Most people are driving or walking when they hear it, and they are not going to remember a URL and come looking for you later.
Give them one thing instead. A template, a checklist, a swipe file, or a calculator that solves the very next problem your episode created. Put it on a short, easy URL that someone can hear once and type from memory. Then say it slowly, twice.
Make it specific to the episode. A generic newsletter signup converts almost nobody, because the listener has to imagine what they would get. "The three-email welcome sequence I just walked through, written out and ready to paste" converts because they just heard why they need it.
"If your call to action is your website, the episode was a nice conversation and not a list-building move."
Dr. Destini Copp, Creator's MBAThe part almost every guest skips
The episode airs, the guest shares it once on the day, and that is the end of it. Everything that makes guesting worth doing happens after that point.
Promote it to your own list
This feels backwards to people, because the show is not yours. Send it anyway. Your subscribers get to see you being interviewed as an expert, which changes how they see you, and the host notices that you drove downloads. Hosts invite those guests back and recommend them to other hosts, which is how one appearance turns into four.
Reuse the episode all year
You just recorded 45 minutes of your best material. Pull three or four short clips for social, turn the strongest answer into a newsletter issue, and use the transcript as the outline for a blog post. Most guests use the episode once. It can carry your content for a month.
Follow up with the people who come
Listeners who grab your resource are the warmest subscribers you will get from any collaboration, because they heard your voice for 45 minutes before they signed up. They also arrive slowly, over weeks, as people work through their podcast queue.
That means the funnel behind your resource has to do the work, since there is no single moment to send a broadcast about. Put a small paid offer on the thank you page, then automate three or four emails for the people who do not take it. I go through the whole setup in how to turn summit subscribers into buyers.
How many shows should you pitch?
Ten good pitches will do more for you than fifty generic ones, and they take about the same amount of time in total.
Pick ten shows you would genuinely enjoy being on, listen to an episode of each, and write ten different pitches. Expect three or four yeses. That is a strong year of guesting, and it is enough to matter without eating your calendar.
Then keep the destination the same across all of them. Same free resource, same follow-up, same offer. Four episodes pointing at one thing builds something. Four episodes pointing at four different things builds nothing.
Where podcast guesting fits
It is one of five ways to get in front of an audience someone else built, and it is the one that trades reach for trust. You reach fewer people, but the ones you reach are much warmer.
If you want the bigger numbers, speaking at a virtual event puts you in front of far more people in a single week. If you want something you can start this month with almost no preparation, newsletter swaps are the easiest place to begin. The full guide to growing your list with collaborations covers all five and how to choose.
Want a bigger room than a podcast?
Twelve Creator's MBA events run in 2027 and applications are open now. Free to contribute to, and every subscriber you earn is yours to keep.
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Take the Free Scorecard →Frequently Asked Questions
Pitch one specific episode rather than yourself. Give it a title, say what a listener will walk away with, add one line of proof that you have done the thing, and say what you will do to promote it. Keep the whole email to five or six sentences.
No. Hosts are filling episodes, not renting audiences, so a clear and specific episode idea matters far more than your follower count. Saying what you will do to promote the episode helps too, even if your list is small.
It depends almost entirely on the call to action. If you point people to your website or a social handle, very few follow up, because they are usually listening while doing something else. A specific free resource on a short, memorable URL converts far better.
Yes, and most guests do not. Emailing your own list about it shows your subscribers you are being interviewed as an expert, and it drives downloads the host notices. Hosts invite those guests back and recommend them to other hosts.
A show with 500 engaged listeners in your exact niche will usually do more for you than one with 20,000 general listeners. Check that the show publishes on a real schedule and that the host promotes guest episodes properly.
