What I’m currently reading:  THE CHASE by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg.

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When I run on the beach, my preference is to listen to the sound of the shoreline. I enjoy hearing the sound of the waves lapping at the sand, the chirping of the shorebirds, and the roaring of boat engines in the distance. But for those times when I’m running somewhere other than the beach, which is more often than I’d like to admit, I listen to podcasts.

I started listening to podcasts years ago as a way of keeping myself entertained while I ran. That worked, but as my time became more limited I developed a list of shows that would both entertain and educate me while running. There are currently three that I listen to without fail each week. Two of them are long time favorites, and the third is less than a year old.

The Kindle Chronicles

The first on my list is The Kindle Chronicles, hosted by Len Edgerly. I was an early adopter of the Kindle and found Len’s show several years ago. Len is not a kid. He’s either my age or older and I love the enthusiasm and the perspective he brings to the podcast each week. He’s an unabashed fan of the Kindle platform. He’s built a great show format, which includes a news segment, a tech tip and an interesting interview guest. As a long time listener, I also enjoy following where he and his wife are located when he records his program.

While the show is called The Kindle Chronicles, the focus expands to e-books in general, and Len keeps us informed on news about e-publishing and other e-readers.  Nearly everything I know about the Kobo e-reader, comes from this podcast.

The Kindle Chronicle’s tagline is, ‘The Friday Podcast all About Your Kindle,” and last Friday’s episode was number 302. Len’s show nearly always clocks in at 45 minutes.

The Creative Penn

The second on my list is The Creative Penn, hosted by Joanna Penn. Joanna is a thriller author, a blogger and public speaker. She’s also a marketing machine.

The Creative Penn began as a way for Joanna to share what she learned about self-publishing, as she learned it. The show has a large and devoted following that has turned Joanna into a bit of a celebrity. The show has recently moved away from its self-publishing roots towards the business of being an author. However, the format remains much the same. The show begins with news, and then moves on to the interview segment.

Joanna is an engaging interviewer who attracts some amazing guests to her show. Most are authors, but the focus of each show is different. As I mentioned, Joanna is a marketing dynamo. She records each interview using Skype and runs the audio on her podcast, and the video on her very popular YouTube Channel.

As an author, Joanna, or J.F. Penn, is a member of The Twelve, and has recently become a USA Today, and New York Times bestseller, as part of that collaborative effort. Her podcasts range between 45 – 60 minutes. The most recent episode of The Creative Penn was #183.

Rocking Self Publishing

The third, and newest of the podcasts I listen to while running is the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast, hosted by Simon Whistler. While Simon is fairly new to podcasting, he’s not new to audio production. He’s an audiobook narrator with a smooth voice, an inquisitive nature, and a nice sense of humor.

Rocking Self Publishing is focused on the business of self-publishing, and his guests each week are nearly always either self-published, or hybrid authors. Simon does an excellent job preparing for interviews and gets plenty of actionable information from each guest.

I first learned of Simon from a Facebook post by Russell Blake. I listened to the podcast and was so impressed with the host that I subscribed, thinking it would be hard for him to top that particular interview. Well, I was wrong. Simon has a knack for asking the questions that I’d like to have answered. I wouldn’t call his style hard-hitting, but he does ask some difficult questions and more often than not his guests are willing to answer.

Simon’s format includes a short weekly news update, and then a lengthy interview segment. Most episodes of RSP are between 60 – 75 minutes. That may seem like a long time, but I can assure you it’s worth listening to the entire podcast. The most recent episode of the Rocking Self Publishing Podcast, which comes out on Thursdays, is number 47.

One common theme for each of these podcasts is that they provide useful, actionable information, targeted directly to me. I suspect each long time listener of these shows feels the same way. Podcasting is not like radio broadcasting, where a host tries to appeal to the widest possible audience. Podcasters, at least the good ones, target their content to a specific audience and then nurture that audience. All of these shows are professionally produced and intended for an audience that wants to learn.

Thanks to Len, Joanna and Simon for educating me while I run each week.

Creative Commons Image by francois.