Figuring out how to get podcast guests comes down to one thing: making it easy and worthwhile for the right people to say yes. You don’t need a huge audience to book great guests — you need a clear pitch, a smooth booking process, and a reason for them to care. Plenty of experts say yes to small shows when the ask is respectful and well-targeted.
Here’s how to find guests, pitch them and keep the bookings flowing.
Start with the guests you can already reach
Your first guests are usually closer than you think. Before cold outreach, work through:
- People you already know — colleagues, peers, friends with expertise.
- Your existing audience and email list — listeners often have great stories.
- People who engage with your social posts or comment on your content.
- Authors and creators whose work overlaps with your topic.
Warm contacts say yes faster and often introduce you to others, which is how guest pipelines snowball.
Where to find new guests
Once you’ve exhausted your circle, widen the net. Guest-matching services and communities exist specifically to connect podcasters with willing guests. You can also find people through industry newsletters, niche online communities, LinkedIn, and by simply listening to other podcasts and noting compelling speakers. Look for people who are articulate, have something specific to say, and have an audience or platform of their own — that overlap helps when it comes to growing your podcast audience, since guests often share the episode.
Write a pitch that gets a yes
A good guest pitch is short, personal and specific. In a few sentences:
- Show you’ve done your homework — reference their actual work, not a generic flattery line.
- Say what your show is and who listens.
- Propose a clear topic they’re well placed to talk about.
- Make the ask easy — give a sense of length, format (remote is fine) and that you’ll work around their schedule.
Don’t oversell your download numbers if they’re modest; focus on the audience fit and the value of the conversation instead.
How to build a guest pitch that stands out
Busy people get a lot of requests, so the structure of your message matters as much as the words. Keep the whole thing to a few short paragraphs that a recipient can read on their phone without scrolling. Lead with the single most relevant reason you’re reaching out to them specifically — a recent piece of their work, a talk they gave, or a point of view they hold that fits your show. That opening line does most of the heavy lifting.
After the hook, give them just enough context to make a decision: what the show is about, the kind of listener who tunes in, and the topic you’d love them to cover. Then remove friction. State the rough recording length, confirm it’s a remote conversation, and offer to send a scheduling link so they can pick a time. The easier you make the yes, the more often you’ll get one. A useful rule of thumb is that every extra question you force the guest to answer lowers your reply rate — so answer those questions for them in advance.
Follow up once, politely, about a week later if you don’t hear back. Inboxes are busy and a single nudge often turns a non-reply into a booking. If they decline, thank them and ask whether there’s someone they’d recommend instead — a warm referral is one of the most reliable sources of future guests.
Make booking effortless
The faster and smoother the process, the more guests you’ll land. Use a scheduling tool so they pick a slot without back-and-forth email. Send a short prep note covering the topic, the rough questions, the recording platform and what to expect. If you record remotely, point them to a tool that’s easy to join — our guide to the best software for recording remote interviews compares the options, and our walkthrough on recording a remote podcast interview covers getting clean audio from both sides.
Common mistakes that cost you guests
Most failed outreach falls into a handful of avoidable traps. Watch out for these:
- Generic, copy-paste pitches — if the message could be sent to anyone, it reads as spam and gets ignored. Personalise the first line every time.
- Leading with your stats — small numbers undersell you, and big numbers can come across as a brag. Lead with topic and audience fit instead.
- A clunky booking flow — long email chains to find a time lose busy guests. A single scheduling link removes the friction.
- No preparation note — guests who don’t know the topic or format turn up nervous, and the recording suffers for it.
- Going silent after recording — if you never send clips or a link to the published episode, you lose the easy referrals a happy guest would have given you.
Fixing these costs nothing and quietly doubles the number of yeses you get over time.
Give guests a reason to come back and refer
Treat guests well and they become your best recruiters. Be on time, run a tight interview, and after the episode publishes, send them ready-made clips and graphics to share. A great guest experience leads to referrals and repeat appearances. Once they’re booked, our guide on interviewing someone for a podcast helps you make the conversation worth their time.
It also pays to keep a simple running list of past guests and the people they suggested. When a slot opens up, you already have names to approach rather than starting from scratch. Over a few seasons this becomes a self-sustaining pipeline, and you’ll spend far less time chasing bookings than you did at the start.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get guests when my podcast is brand new?
Start with warm contacts and people in your existing network, then approach guests whose audience matches yours. Be honest that the show is new, but focus your pitch on the topic and audience fit rather than download numbers.
Do guests expect to be paid?
Usually not for standard interview podcasts — most guests appear for the exposure and the chance to talk about their work. The exchange of value is the platform and the audience, plus the clips and links you provide afterward.
How far in advance should I book guests?
Aim to book a few weeks ahead so you always have episodes in the pipeline. Using a scheduling tool and keeping a running shortlist of potential guests stops you scrambling when a slot opens up.
How many guests should I line up at once?
Keep a shortlist of several potential guests rather than relying on one confirmed booking at a time. People reschedule and cancel, so a small buffer of warm leads means a dropped slot never leaves you without an episode.
