For booksellers around the country, podcasts are becoming increasingly important to their stores and popular with their customers. In this new, occasional series, Shelf Awareness will take a look at a different bookstore's podcast in each installment.
The Reading Bug in San Carlos, Calif., debuted its podcast series Reading Bug Adventures in February 2018. The podcast, currently in its second season, features original stories and music written and performed by co-owner Lauren Savage, Reading Bug staff members and assorted friends and family. Each hour-long story is divided into two 30-minute episodes, with new episodes airing weekly. The stories focus on the Reading Bug, played by Savage's nine-year-old daughter, Chloe, as she goes on a variety of book-themed adventures; Savage narrates the series.
"What we wanted to do was create something that's an extension of our bookstore," Savage explained. "We promote books that we love and we use books in every episode to push the storyline along."
The most recent two-part episode, "A Chimpanzee Adventure," follows the Reading Bug as she visits Gombe National Park in Tanzania, walking in the footsteps of Jane Goodall. The previous two-parter, and the season two premiere, was "A Dinosaur Adventure," in which the Reading Bug travels back to a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Other past episodes have focused on the wild west, outer space and the ocean depths.
Savage reported that production is a "very big, ongoing process." Although the show is recorded in seasons, stories are written all year long, primarily by Savage's husband and mother-in-law. Savage noted that the time frame varies quite a bit--some episodes are written and rewritten over a few months, while others are completed in just a couple of days. The amount of research needed to write each one, she added, is also variable.
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| Chloe recording an episode of Reading Bug Adventures. | |
Once the stories are finished, Savage writes the music. She said that given the target audience of 3- to 8-year-olds, the songs are generally short, actionable songs that have repeating sections, with themes and through-lines that run through multiple songs and episodes. At least one new song is introduced each episode, and the episodes use different musical styles. The "Dinosaur Adventure" episode, for example, featured rock-and-roll music.
Savage next casts the parts for the episode, and then they head to the recording studio. Savage said they do it "100% professionally," and once in the studio they try to spend as little time there as possible, because "boy, that gets expensive." The next step, Savage continued, is sending the recorded audio to Resonate Recordings, where it is professionally mixed and mastered.
Savage noted that when it comes to producing a podcast, they "probably chose the most difficult way you could go," but the fanbase is growing and they've started getting advertisers for episodes. They've also started a Patreon fundraiser for the podcast. Savage said she hopes to increase fundraising while continuing to bring in more advertising, and suggested that anyone interested in doing this sort of time- and cost-intensive podcast come up with a business plan as early as possible.
Around the same time that they started working on the Reading Bug Adventures, Savage began recording interviews with visiting authors. These podcasts, which feature author interviews conducted by Savage and her daughter, in character as the Reading Bug, are released during the hiatus between seasons. Savage noted that these podcasts are less labor-intensive than the story-based Reading Bug Adventures.
When asked about feedback from customers, Savage said the "coolest thing" has been fans, mostly little girls, visiting the store and looking for the Reading Bug. This summer, Savage added, they did a live episode, and her daughter dressed in a ladybug costume and signed autographs. They can also tell, based on podcast downloads, that people are listening in places as far flung as China and Australia.
"Once you start building a following, it's serious pressure," said Savage. "But it's really exciting. It means people are listening." --Alex Mutter
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