Why didn’t your interview get published?

Why do hosts sometimes ghost their guests?

Maybe you’ve had the experience of being a guest on someone else’s podcast and later on discovering that episode not only hasn’t been published but the host isn’t responding to messages. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons this happens and what you can do about it.

Is it just the host to blame when an episode doesn’t get published? What can you do as a guest to make it more likely that your episode will get published and that the host won’t ghost you?

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Welcome to Pod Fluence, the podcast that helps coaches, consultants, and speakers

grow, influence and income with podcasts.

My name is John Ball and my mission is to give you, as a professional

business coach or speaker, all you need to build professional influence

and grow your following with podcasts so that you can have a thriving

business and create raving fans.

You may sometimes find yourself wondering why that interview you recorded didn't

get published or why that host is no longer responding to your messages.

In this episode, we're going to attempt to understand why certain

interviews don't get published and why some hosts may ghost you and

what, if anything you can do about it.

Maybe you've had the experience of being a guest on someone else's podcast and

later on discovering that that episode not only hasn't been published, but that the

host isn't responding to your messages.

Well, let's take a look at some of the reasons this happens and what

you may be able to do about it.

Is it just the host that's to blame when an episode doesn't get published?

What can you do as a guest to make it more likely that your

episode will get published and that the host won't ghost you?

So all that's coming up in this episode of Pro Fluence.

If you are not already subscribed to the show, please do me a favor.

If you are on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please click the plus button on the

podcast that will get you following the show so that you won't miss any

upcoming episodes and amazing interviews to help you create your Podfluence.

Right now, pick up here he ears, and let's get on with the show.

I do love it when people shout out my podcast episodes and articles.

I mean, who wouldn't?

It doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, I really appreciate it.

Thank you then to John Schembardi for sharing out one of my earliest LinkedIn

articles in the PodFluence weekly newsletters about bad podcast guests.

It's a topic that I probably need to update my thoughts on.

John pointed out that podcast hosts can also be bad, and although I have touched

on that topic many times, I don't think I've ever written a full article on it.

So that's a topic you've been waiting for,

this is your lucky day.

So you show up for a podcast interview and you have a good chat with the host.

You record for maybe 20 to 60 minutes.

Then you thank them for a great interview and part ways until

the episode gets released.

You wait and wait and wait some more and maybe even a

bit longer than is reasonable.

You check their podcast.

Perhaps you missed something.

Maybe your episode has been published and you didn't notice.

You check your emails, nothing.

But what can you do?

Most likely you are gonna send an email or a direct message and you

might get a reply, but then again, you might not, maybe the can will

get kicked down the road and you'll just have to wait a bit longer.

Or perhaps you'll get told that your episode is not going to be used.

That happens.

The most likely reasons are that your episode wasn't good

or usable, that the show or the host has pivoted on their topic.

The podcast has faded or stopped the host.

Maybe just got too busy with other things.

Now of course there could be any number of reasons, but these are

probably some of the most common ones.

And I've had all of these things as a host and as a guest.

Here's what's important.

Don't take it personally.

It doesn't mean the host thought you were a terrible guest,

although that's possible.

You're unlikely to ever get that kind of feedback from a show host, so

you might as well presume the best.

Most of us are indeed nice people.

What I can tell you from personal experiences, giving negative feedback to

people who haven't shown up very well as podcast guests is rarely well received

if it hasn't been asked for.

So I recommend to podcast hosts not to do that unless you are asked.

Even though I say you shouldn't take it personally if your episode isn't used, you

should still assume some responsibility because it could be an indicator that

you didn't do enough research for the show before applying to be a guest.

It could also be that you haven't been strategic about

selecting shows to guest on.

Maybe you didn't build a relationship with the host before or after, and

perhaps you didn't add sufficient value to their show or their audience,

and maybe you made it all about you.

If any of these things are possibly true for you, then it could be time

to change your guesting strategy.

What I can tell you from most of the podcast guest pitches that I see is that

the vast majority of them have not taken an opportunity to check out my show.

They have no idea who I am.

They have no idea what the show is about.

They just want to be on podcasts.

They see a show that is perhaps doing reasonably well and maybe has

a decent scoring on listen notes.

And they want to be on that show.

So they're gonna tell you all about how good they are and why

they should be on their show.

If that's not relevant to you or your topic, why should you care?

So it is up to the host as well to be discerning about the guests that

they have on, but it definitely is more up to the guest to be selective

about the shows that you choose.

My goal for you is to become someone that no podcast host could ever

dream of ghosting, but I need you to do one little thing for me.

Can you do that?

I need you to care about their show, not just about your episode.

My pal, Chris Ducker told me that he would never have a guest on his show who wasn't

a fan of him, his content, or his podcast.

So if you are ever looking to get on Chris's YouPreneur podcast, at some

point I suggest you start tuning in.

I'm a little less stringent myself, although I do still prefer

guests who have taken the time to prepare for their appearance

and know what the show is about.

Don't get me wrong, guests who really know their stuff and know

how to deliver it can be great and really valuable for your show.

But any guest who doesn't really know who you are, what your show is about, or

what your audience really needs is only ever going to deliver what they want to.

Hey, Abraham Maslow said to the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

If you're using the spray and pray approach to podcast guesting, you should

expect many more ghosting experiences.

I'm not saying it's right or even, okay, just that it's going to keep on happening.

Look at it this way, if you post to social media six times a day, but all

those posts are crappy, it's really not gonna do a lot for you professionally.

Most people are gonna ignore them, and you're probably wasting your time.

Why should it be any different for podcasting then?

No one owes you an audience.

No one owes you a listen.

It is entirely on you to be interesting, valuable, relationship focused,

reciprocal, generous, and prepared.

This may not be a popular opinion for those who just want to go on

as many podcasts as possible and talk about themselves and then

expect a following to come from it.

Sorry pal.

It takes work to do this well.

I haven't talked much about this yet, but I recently joined the team at The

Speaker Lab with Grant Baldwin initially in their sales team, are now on their

coaching team, and my role there is to help students looking to become paid

professional speakers to be able to do that well, no matter how much or how

well any of the coaching team do our job, no matter how good the learning

materials are, and they are really good.

None of that matters if the students don't do the work.

So if you're going to get up on a stage or be on a podcast or start a podcast

or a YouTube channel and it's gonna be about anything and everything, or maybe

you're just rehashing other people's ideas or worse yet you are directly

copying and plagiarizing someone else's work is not gonna go, well.

Add to that, maybe you don't have any charisma, perhaps you dunno how to

present and you can't engage audiences.

The only way you're going to get anywhere is by cheating or paying to play.

Are you okay with that?

Well, I hope not.

I know I'm getting on my high holes about this, but I have made

many of these mistakes myself and they are not failures necessarily.

You're doing stuff, you're taking action, but there's a better way.

You'd be surprised how little effort it takes in practice to stand head and

shoulders above what most people are doing in terms of developing relationships

and standing out as a podcast guest.

Someone who gets this, oh, so right is Christine Amerman, the Queen

of podcast guesting, and you can hear what she has to say about it.

On episode 171 of Podfluence.

Now with all the recent changes with my working life and messing around with

all sorts of different working hours and things like that, my production

schedule, both of my newsletter and my podcast, has been somewhat unreliable.

As always, I hope to get that back onto a more regular schedule to

have the episodes coming out on time weekly and with the newsletters.

So if you are not already subscribed to the show, please do that.

And be assured, there are still many great guests lined up and some wonderful

recordings that I've been waiting for quite a while now to bring to you.

And if you prefer your content more in a written style, then

definitely check out my newsletter.

You can access that through the links in the show notes.

So next time on the show I'll be bringing you an interview with Joe Pardavila.

And Joe and I recorded this episode a while back.

Joe worked in broadcast radio and in podcasting.

So he brings some great experience from all of that.

As well as information from a terrific book that he's written, and

, despite some recording challenges, it was a great conversation.

So don't miss it.

I will hope to see you next time, so for now, wherever you're

going, whatever you're doing, have an amazing rest of your week.