One Extraordinary Bookish Podcast
One Extraordinary Bookish Podcast
The Book Gang podcast combines just the right amount of personality, charm and information about authors, books and more.
Hi friends,
Welcome to One Extraordinary Bookish Podcast, where I have conversations with my favorite “bookish” podcast creators to learn more about them and what makes their podcasts so good. If you’ve been here for a few months, you know of my love of podcasts; if not, you can find those episodes listed on the home page.
Today’s guest is Amy Allen Clark, the creator of the Book Gang Podcast, a podcast she began when life’s circumstances led her to pivot somewhat and opened up a door she didn’t realize was waiting for her to enter. I discovered Amy when I found a post online about a past “reading retreat” she sponsored and that she was putting another one together for May 2020. I eagerly signed up and scheduled time off work, and we all know how that turned out—COVID happened, and unfortunately, she had to cancel the retreat. I was excited when she agreed to talk to me about her platform, her newest venture, and her hopes and dreams for her podcast’s future. Here is my conversation with Amy:
GG: Thank you so much for being here and sharing a little bit of your life and the Book Gang podcast with us. Tell us more about you, your life, and your family.
AC: Thanks so much for having me! I am a mom of two (ages 20 & 16) living in Indiana and married to my high school sweetheart. I developed the MomAdvice.com site and community in 2004 and have been working on the web since then. In 2021, I decided to launch a book podcast for the readers—to help them connect with some of the under-the-radar book gems, debuts, and backlist books. My goal is to expand our reader’s book selections with books they might not have considered and bring more attention to books they might have missed.
GG: Was creating a podcast always on your to-do list? How did it go from first thought to finished product? Is it everything you had hoped it would be, and have there been any discouragements along the way?
AC: I faced some health challenges in 2020 that impacted my motor movement and my hand and eye coordination. The truth is that sitting at my desk was incredibly difficult, and even basic tasks became very fatiguing. After a chat with my physical therapist, I knew I needed to do some critical work pivoting my job to rely more on my voice and less on my typing.
I was pretty bedridden that year, so I spent that time teaching myself how to podcast through online courses and any free information I could find on the topic. There is lots of free information for anyone that wants to start podcasting. You have to figure out what systems and platforms work best for you; that just takes trial and error.
I have definitely felt discouraged at times! It is always scary doing something new, and finding your unique voice and spin in the book world can be difficult. But, I have to remind myself that I haven’t even been at this a year and to give myself space to grow.
GG: What surprised you the most about the entire process, and what have been some challenges you maybe weren’t expecting?
AC: I have loved learning what resonates with our listeners, and I’ve been surprised that it hasn’t always been those book recommendation episodes. Instead, some of the most popular episodes have been topics like cleaning hacks while reading and ways to improve your reading memory.
The most challenging aspect of my podcast setup has been the wild card with guests. There is comfort if you have a regular host that sits in every week. Each person knows how to show up on the microphone and how to show up prepared for recording.
I’m learning that prepping my guest is incredibly important to help us both feel more comfortable when recording. Bringing on a new guest creates a lot more behind-the-scenes work for the host. I love the variety it adds, but it also means the host has to turn up the energy and work harder to pull out the valuable information, mainly if the guest isn’t as comfortable with interviews.
GG: What is your process for booking guests on your show? Do you actively look for guests, or are they coming to you? What are you looking for in a guest for your podcast?
AC: I am always scouting for guests, but selecting the right voices takes a long time. Bookstagrammers tend to be more introverted and often do not make a lot of videos with themselves on their social media accounts. One particularly challenging thing is that many rely on lip-syncing sound bites instead of using their voices when reviewing a book or just having pictures of books in their feed.
When I look for guests, I like to hear them tell me why they like or don’t like books. Once I find accounts like this, I follow them for an extended time to establish a real relationship, so from scouting to recording the episode, this can take several months. Then, if the guest is excellent, I ask if they have any recommendations for other bookstagrammers and ask for a connection that way. Many of our best episodes have happened this way.
GG: You’ve had some incredible guests on your podcast so far. I won’t ask you to name your favorite guests; that would be kind of like naming a favorite child. I would like to know more about how Nadia from Storygraph and Julia Whelan, author, and narrator extraordinaire, came to be guests on your podcast.
AC: When it comes to higher-profile guests, I start with following them on their social accounts and reaching out directly. Most of these connections are born through (hopefully) thoughtfully-crafted fan letters that let them know how much I appreciate their work and ask if they might like to join me on the show. The goal is to sell more books or get more users to convert into customers. I think showing up as an authentic fan and letting them know that this is your goal goes a long way to achieving favorable responses. If you never ask, you’ll never know.
GG: In a world where we can all dream “big dreams,” tell us about a few of your “big dream” podcast guests you’d like to have on your show and why.
AC: I’m excited to try some more book-adjacent podcast topics and have been creating my dream podcast line-up board while I’m on break from season one.
I’d love to feature my local library, which has undergone a massive 33 million dollar renovation and hear about the process of creating community space. As the library systems transition into new apps, I would love to hear from the app’s creators about hidden features we can unlock with our library cards. I also would love to learn more about the publishing process, from literary agents to editors. The goal is just to be curious about the things we interact with daily in our reading lives.
GG: What do you see for the future of your podcast, and are there any hints about any upcoming episodes that you can share with readers?
AC: We just concluded season one, so I’m trying to sit in that sweetness. However, this month will be planning and preparing for another season! I can’t wait to see what unfolds in season two.
GG: Tell us more about what MomAdvice is, when it began, and how it has evolved over the years.
AC: MomAdvice.com is all about living the good life on a small budget. Unfortunately, my husband lost his job in the dot com bomb, and we found ourselves in a challenging financial situation. To try to get our family out of credit card debt, I began checking out depression-era cookbooks and gathering any information I could on how we could cut expenses. As I learned, I wanted to share this with others. At the time, it was a very niche group of people interested in frugality, so I never expected that I would still be talking about this eighteen years later.
Personally, my career really took off when the recession happened, and EVERYONE needed to save. As the site grew, I worked as a spokesperson for brands doing DIY, craft, and food projects to connect their brands with consumers. I also wrote a book called The Good Life for Less!
Reading is a frugal activity, so it always fits perfectly on the site. I started sharing about it to hold myself accountable and make time for reading again with my busy work schedule. I had never expected so many would follow along with that, and it would develop into its own little community!
GG: What are your reading and podcast listening tastes? Are there any books or podcasts you like to recommend to others?
AC: I read everything and like to keep a few books going in several genres, so I have the perfect book no matter the mood! As for podcasts, I’m a big Sorta Awesome fan for fun casual chats about various topics, including books. Meg is such a warm and enthusiastic host and runs a really incredible community.
Give the new Passions & Prologues podcast a spin as a more recent podcast option. The host shares a writer’s unexpected passion, and they talk about the most random fun things. I listened to an entire podcast about weightlifting and how it helped the writer with her writing, for example! So I’m thrilled to have stumbled upon this one.
GG: Tell us more about your Patreon and all the fun happening over there.
AC: The Book Gang Patreon is how my show is funded, and I offer a lot for a five-dollar membership!
In that community, listeners receive a monthly FULLY BOOKED podcast show for those new buzzy book release reviews and a 37-page newsletter with every new release from that podcast to check out. Fully Booked is co-hosted with one of the top GoodReads reviewers IN THE WORLD (Larry Hoffer), who reads hundreds and hundreds of books and tells us which books to choose each month.
That is also where readers can watch/listen to our book club authors tell their stories behind the stories. Each book club book is narrated through songs by a playlist I design for them. I listened to over 28,000 minutes of Spotify last year and loved this unique feature you can only find in our community.
If you love someone’s podcast (not just mine!), you can best show your support by chipping in financially. It is, unfortunately, expensive to produce a show, and these small donations can help your podcast creators continue creating for you.
Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun!
The MomAdvice website is fun stuff about crafts & entertaining, food, money & finance, all things books and the Book Gang podcast, and so much more. Most of the content is evergreen—it never goes out of style and is always so helpful.
The Book Gang podcast premiered in September 2021 and just finished the first season with 40+ episodes. You can find all those episodes, show notes, and book recommendations on her website. You can find MomAdvice on Facebook | Instagram | MomAdvice Book Club | Book Gang merchandise. Be sure to sign up for her weekly newsletter (scroll down a little) that lands in your inbox every Friday. It’s always filled with all things books and a few other goodies sure to please.
Here are just a few of my favorite episodes of the Book Gang podcast:
If you’re not already a fan of The Storygraph, you will be after listening to this episode
A reader of MomAdvice invited Amy on an unforgettable meet-the-author road trip to meet Emily St. John Mandel. A contest won by the reader made their dreams come true
An episode with a top Goodreads reviewer who shares what his reading life looks like
One of my favorite episodes, her interview with Julia Whelan
While waiting for season two to begin, jump in anywhere in season one and enjoy some bookish goodness!
Amy, it was so much fun getting to know more about you, the origins of the MomAdvice platform, and most especially, the Book Gang podcast. You have such great guests on the show and so many other bookish topics that keep the listener coming back for more week after week. I can’t wait to see what guests and topics season two brings to the podcast.
Thank you to my readers and podcast listeners for being here; I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Amy; I know I sure did. Be sure to check out the links above for more ways to connect with Amy, the Book Gang podcast, and the MomAdvice website. Have a great week, and happy reading!
Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links. That means that if you click through and purchase anything, I may earn a small commission. This costs you nothing and helps me feed my voracious reading habit, and for that, I thank you.
How fun, Gayla; this was great! (And congrats on launching a podcast -- I'm in awe.)
Wow Gayla -- this was great, entertaining and lots of great content. Doing a Podcast seems like a bucketlist, someday faraway goal and you made this seem easy. When things appear easy that means someone worked very hard to prepare and make it seem so. Congratulations.