Podcasting with Writers

[Crossposted from Substack.]

Back when we were young and still in our 50s, we fell into podcasting with “The CC & JT Amateur Hour” during the pandemic lockdown. We started with zero production values. We logged into Spotify and talked to the microphone in an old Chromebook for twenty-something minutes. No bells, whistles, theme songs, or much of anything.

No followers, either, even after adding video. Maybe the “no production values” had something to do with it, but maybe not. Audiences like the extreme and they want to be shocked. They want controversy with blood tossed into the water. Some podcasters get their audiences by yelling stupid things that they themselves probably don’t believe.

(Years ago, I made up a media rule called Moore’s Law of Microphones: “Media outlets will always give their microphones to extremists while middle-of-the-road opinions can sit down.” Imagine a world where common sense ruled the airways. But I digress.)

We’re not screamers, but we motored on, anyway. We got a mission statement that seemed natural: “Helping writers write.” CC and I are self-published writers with lots of books and nearly zero financial success. Our hope was we’d pick up listeners who’d learn from our mistakes, but you have to have followers doing “word of mouth” to gain followers. Today, we have the tens of listeners that we started with.

And that’s fine. We’re introverts who happen to podcast and write in the public spotlight. The outcome of our introversion is we held ourselves back from evolving by choice. We were satisfied with this arrangement for the longest time because CC and I like to talk to each other, even after forty-something years after I put pickles in her ketchup (it’s a Wendy’s thing).

But we still had an itch to expand our audience, so we opened “The Amateur Hour” to other writers, and we created a partnership with the Sierra Arts Foundation in Reno to highlight writers in northern Nevada. We gladly donate our time and company website to “The Nevada Author Network” because we have so much respect for our local literary artists.

Between the two podcasts, we’ve interviewed dozens of writers. We learned:

• Writing books is hard but the publishing books is incredibly rewarding.
• Lots and lots of writers arose from dysfunctional childhoods.
• Writers love appearing on podcasts.
• Every writer hates marketing.
• Almost every writer loves coffee.

Writers have a lot more in common than you might suspect, but with few exceptions, we’re not yellers and screamers who attract the attention of microphones. Given a choice, I suspect most of us would prefer the standard “rich” contract and not the “famous” part.

(If you understand this reference, you are my people.)

To date, we’ve accumulated nearly 300 episodes between the two podcasts. “The Amateur Hour” is booked for the rest of 2025, and we’ve been contacted by writers and PR staff to appear on our 2026 episodes. “The Nevada Author Network” is not as popular but that’s fine.

By necessity, our product evolved. We’re using a dedicated podcast platform now, and we’re doing our best in-house to professionally represent our guests to their audiences. I suspect we’ll be spending money on scheduling tools because cat-herding the two podcasts is getting complicated.

But in a way, I wish CC and I could go back to the good old days when it was just CC and me, drinking coffee and chatting to a microphone in an old Chromebook. Life was simpler when we could podcast in the morning and wrote books in the afternoon.

But Growth is a part of Life, too. As the cliche goes: we could be a ship docked to the pier forever, but ships aren’t made to be docked to piers, are they?

Onward.

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If you are a writer in northern Nevada and would like to appear on “The Nevada Author Network,” you must be a member of the Sierra Arts Foundation and have a book in the SAF bookstore. If you meet this criteria, go here.

If you wish to appear on “The CC & JT Amateur Hour,” we are fully booked for 2025. We will be opening reservations for 2026 in a few weeks.

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Cassidy Carson and JT Hume (“CC & JT”) are independent writers, publishers, and co-owners of Two Moore Books, LLC out of Carson City, Nevada, USA. Our growing book catalog can be found on our bookstore and the major platforms. Our podcast mission for “The CC and JT Amateur Hour,” is to “help writers write.” We received the 2024 Women in Podcasting Award in the “Best Authors and Books Podcast” category from the Women Podcasters Network. We also support “The Nevada Author Network” with the Sierra Arts Foundation out of Reno, Nevada.

Our Website: ⁠www.carsonhume.com⁠
Who We are: ⁠https://carsonhume.com/about/⁠
Our Books: ⁠https://carsonhume.com/books-2/⁠
Our bookstore: https://carsonhume.square.site/
Our Business: ⁠https://twomoorebooks.com/⁠

Note: Two Moore Books, LLC does not receive financial compensation for promoting third-party businesses and websites. We are speaking to our specific experiences. Your mileage may vary.