Welcome! I hereby call to order the first meeting of the Book Blogger Podcasting Society. NO! WAIT! Don’t click off! You are not in the wrong place. OK, I admit it: I’m sharing a dream. There’s no such society (yet). But there is a growing community of book bloggers who are producing internet radio shows about books.  And we’d like you to join us, either by listening or by creating your own show.

If the term “podcast” makes you run the other way, scratch your head in confusion, or sounds to you like an untranslated Croatian novel, you’re not alone. And I’d like to fix that. If you know what podcasting is, but aren’t sure how it relates to Book Blogger Appreciation Week, stick around: there’s much fun ahead. And if you are a book blogger/podcaster, come on in, and bring a friend or two.

Let’s get the ugly stuff out of the way. “Podcast” is a scary word. It makes people think that they need an iPod. It’s not true. Some people have tried renaming it to “webcast” or “internet radio show.” Regardless, all of those terms mean roughly the same thing: audio content that lives on the internet, to which people can subscribe through RSS or other means. Most podcasts can be streamed directly from a website or blog, with no need to download a file. Some people download podcasts and burn them to CD to listen in the car. Portable MP3 players gave podcasts their first boost in popularity, but now there are even online services like Stitcher that can stream podcasts to Smartphones. Think of book podcasts as the auditory equivalent of book blogs.

Lately it seems that many new book podcasts have been popping up, and I am celebrating. My colleague Michael and I started Books on the Nightstand 2 ½ years ago primarily because we couldn’t find enough book-related content to fill our own iPods.
What’s was missing were the “nonprofessional” voices – shows that capture the personal flavor and passion of the book blogs that we all love. But in the last few months, we’ve seen the debut of some great new podcasts, most created by people who’ve been blogging about books for awhile.

• Guys Can Read – Kevin and Luke talk about books, from the male perspective
• Underground Literary Society – BBAW founder Amy Riley and Nicole Bonia’s new podcast celebrates the freedom to read and talk books.
• Do Nothing But Read – Amanda and Brandon talk about all things bookish.
• Reading and Writing Podcast –Jeff Rutherford interviews authors about their writing and reading pleasures.
• Bookrageous – A revolving cast of booksellers and book bloggers give us a fun and sometimes outrageous podcast about books.
• Enthusiasticast – Canadians Mark and Jon talk about books, comics, movies and pop culture.
• Books and Blogging – Amanda from Australia has just started her book podcast, but I loved it and hope she does many more.

There may be others; if you know of book podcasts I’ve missed, please leave them in the comments.
I hope you will take some time this week to check out a book podcast or two. You may find yourself addicted, or even inspired to start your own.