Barefoot Books Reaches 20,000 Listeners (and Counting) With Weekly Podcast

While it may not evoke memories of your mom or dad tucking you into bed and reading your favorite bedtime story, Cambridge, Mass.-based Barefoot Books’ latest marketing initiative is a sign of the times in an evolving publishing industry: On March 31, the children's book publisher announced the launch of a weekly podcast series that features free story times from its collection of books. The podcasts offer adults and children the ability to listen to stories at home or on the go.

John Bigay, Barefoot Books’ chief marketing officer, spoke with Book Business Extra on what the publisher hopes to accomplish with its podcast program and how it has been received so far.

Book Business Extra: What are Barefoot Books' goals for the podcast series?
John Bigay: We created the Barefoot Books Podcast to offer people everywhere an easy, fun and free way to experience Barefoot Books, while stimulating their curiosity and opening their minds to the world. The goal of the podcast is to bring the best of Barefoot to people who may not be familiar with our books and company, and have them visit our website to learn more.

Extra: How is Barefoot Books promoting it?
Bigay: One of the great surprises we’ve had since launching the podcast is that people of all ages have been listening in and subscribing. While the podcast is really meant for everyone who loves a good story, we're focusing on reaching families with young children, early educators and children’s librarians.

The podcast is available at www.barefootbooks.com/podcast, as well as on iTunes/podcasts/kids and family. We're also using social media channels, including our Facebook page and twitter.com/livebarefoot, to promote the podcast. We've also seen great support from a wide range of bloggers. Last, but certainly not least, The Barefoot Books Ambassadors, our community of direct sellers, are also promoting the podcasts to their contacts via social media and their Barefoot Books’ business websites and blogs, as well as sharing it at book fairs and other events where they're selling our books.