Adventures in hosting multiple podcasts, working with different co-hosts and interviewing high-profile guests with J Thorn

J Thorn currently hosts Writers, Ink, The Author Life, and The Music NFT Show. 

J’s prolific journey as a podcaster started, with the The Horror Writers Podcast. He stumbled around in the dark at the beginning, finding his voice and style - and you can hear what he sounded like in episode 1, “it’s as raw as it gets”.

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There were a number of podcasts in between that J experimented with, like The Intronaut, a podcast for introverts. J wanted to share some of his experiences as an introvert, and dispel some myths like

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Going back to The Career Author podcast, J shares how Zach and him met, and how they became co-hosts (as well as great friends and writing partners). 

“You have to be a more amplified version of yourself behind the microphone to be an engaging podcaster”.  

In The Writers Well, J was the most vulnerable he’s ever been, due to his relationship with co-host Rachael Herron and the format, where they would ask each other one question on the show, some of which were very personal. 

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J and Rachael really hit it off when J appeared in Rachael’s show and they started to podcast together, first as The Petal to the Metal, a name they changed pretty early on as it didn’t convey what the show was about.

“Podcast and book titles are not the places you want to be cute, because all that does is confuse.”

The Author Life was created as a way of answering questions that were emerging in their community’s online space. Most of the work on this show is done by Crys, J just shows up, which is great as he does most of the work on his other shows. J has been working in audio for decades (recording bands etc) and he’s been using the same software (Reaper) for over 20 years.

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J often turns up in places where he doesn’t think he belongs, to see what unexpected things can happen. It was at Thriller Fest that he met J.D. Barker, who he (eventually) enticed to become the co-host in his new show, Writers, Ink. 

J starts his interviews by trying to get his guests to laugh, to set the right tone for the show. Pilar has always wondered whether J gets nervous when he interviews his most high-profiled guests. J doesn’t get as nervous as before, but he does share one moment when he was shaking.      

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J has recently started a solo show, The Music NFT Show because he wants to be part of this new wave of web 3 technology that’s going to help artists to take control of their careers.

On a whim, Pilar asked whether J had been thinking of supporting podcasters in a similar way to how he supports authors. And you know what, he has!

J has recently set up related to podcasting is a digest of podcast episodes for authors who can’t keep up with all the shows going on, a newsletter curated by different people each week: The Author Podcast Broadcast

Find J over at The Author Life.