Lemonada and Penguin Random House Team up for a Book Club

Women-operated and founded podcast network Lemonada Media is launching a book club in partnership with publishing company Penguin Random House. Starting September, the Lemonada Book Club will select recent or upcoming fiction and nonfiction book releases under PRH—aligned with topics related to its podcasts, like romance, wellness, resiliency and personal growth—and discuss them via the podcast, complete with Q&As. The first round of books will feature Crime Junkie creator and host Ashley Flowers, with her debut novel All Good People Here and Sweet Soft Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell. More books will be announced in the future. "[PRH] has so many imprints that are aligned with making life suck less," Lemonada co-founder and chief executive officer Jessica Cordova told Adweek, noting the house has published books like Barack Obama's autobiography A Promised Land. "It's remarkable to be able to get a lead on new books that are coming out—and to think about how to broaden our brand at Lemonada beyond audio," Cordova added. Podcasts centered on life experiences and mental health are growing in popularity. According to a Spotify trends study from June, the Mental Health podcast genre has grown in popularity for 18-24-year-olds, with a 62% increase in streams in 2022 versus 2021. Further, 62% of Gen Zs said they turn to podcasts to get answers to hard or personal questions before talking to their families, per Spotify. The book club will have a landing page on PRH's website that features reviews, author interviews and custom ad integrations across Lemonada's social platforms and podcasts. The network will also provide a “must read” PRH book list via monthly newsletter recommendations, network-wide ad campaigns and on its site. The network said listeners and readers can expect occasional opportunities for Q&A and audience engagement with authors, podcast hosts and other listeners. From 26 podcasts to 31 Since the network's launch in 2019, Lemonada has been raw at its core. Cordova first bonded with co-founder Stephanie Wittels Wachs when Wachs shared in a podcast that she lost her brother to a fatal drug overdose, an experience she also wrote a book about. Cordova had experienced a similar tragedy. Soon after, the two launched their podcast, Last Day, in 2019. "What if we created a whole network to help people get out of bed in the morning?" Cordova told Adweek. Three years later the network has grown to 26 podcasts, with the goal of reaching 31 by the end of 2022. "We have a very diverse audience and a slate that has something for everyone," Cordova told Adweek, adding that 80% of staffers at the network are female. All at the same time, revenue is growing. Since Lemonada's launch, sales increased more than sevenfold from 2019 to 2020. By 2021, revenue had tripled from the year before, according to the company. The network did not disclose its revenue in figures. According to Lemonada, it sold its inventory to third-party sellers up until May 2021, then brought its sales team completely in-house—working with big brands like BetterHelp and HelloFresh. Cordova said the network only runs host read ads across its content. "We only want our listeners to tune in and we want them to make sense," she added. With millions of listeners tuning into Lemonada's content monthly, the network said there's been 10-30% listener growth month over month since September 2019, but wouldn't share figures. Last Day has over 6 million downloads across platforms since its launch almost three years ago and its last season, covering the gun violence epidemic, led to an invite to the White House. How Maejor Frequency Made a Winning Podcast by Listening to the Universe

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Podcast Network Lemonada and Penguin Random House Team up for a Book Club

The network, launched in 2019, aims to have 31 podcasts by the end of 2022

Meseret Ambachew

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Meseret Ambachew