Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews

Jo Reed

tbeer@kirkus.com

For verified host and producer emails, sign up to view.

Booking Overview

Behind the Mic is a weekly platform where authors, narrators, and audiobook contributors talk through what they’re listening to and why specific titles stand out. For PR pros, it’s a strong fit for book/audiobook publicity because guest discussions center on craft, performance, and discovery for new releases.

Metrics

Episodes: 1911

Frequency: Weekly

Rating: 4.6/5.0

Estimated listeners: 1k-10k

Gender skew: Neutral

Location: USA

YouTube: 7.9k subscribers

Instagram: 3.7k followers

Contact Information

tbeer@kirkus.com

For verified host and producer emails, sign up to view.

Host

Jo Reed - Host of Behind the Mic (Kirkus Reviews), guiding weekly conversations about audiobooks and what listeners should know about new releases. Serves as the show’s point-of-contact for discussing audiob...

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

medium
Typical Credentials:  
Professionals connected to audiobooks and publishing—commonly authors, editors/contributors, and credible literary/book-industry voices who can speak thoughtfully about specific listening recommendations and the craft/performance behind them.
Required Achievements:  
Published or credited work in book publishing/media, Recognized expertise in books/audiobooks (e.g., literary journalism, publishing roles, or established contributor status), Ability to comment on narrative craft and audiobook performance

Recent Guest Discussions

Alan Minskoff - Discussed Three Works Of Fiction In Audiobook Form, Including Themes And How Narration/performance Shapes Listening Experience.

Michele Cobb - Discussed Three Memoir Audiobooks, Focusing On Narrative Voice And How Performance Intensifies Personal Stories.

Stephen Cummings - Discussed Audiobook-focused Themes Of Ambition, Labor, And Lived Work Through Three Nonfiction-driven Titles.

Recent Topics

Audiobooks, Book Discovery, Publishing, Literary Fiction, Memoir

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on
Behind the Mic With Kirkus Reviews
:

Finding the Voice

June 11, 2026

Host Jo Reed talks with contributor Leslie Fine about three audiobooks that range from memoir to thriller to literary biography. They begin with Unread: A Memoir of Learning (and Loving) To Read on TikTok by Oliver James, where narrator James Shippy brings warmth and enthusiasm to the author’s account of achieving literacy as an adult and discovering the enduring pleasures of books. Then, they turn to Tiffany Crum’s This Story Might Save Your Life. Driven by the energetic, emotionally layered...

Navigating The Divorce by Freida McFadden

June 05, 2026

On this special sponsored episode of Behind the Mic, Kirkus’ Michele Cobb is joined by acclaimed narrator January LaVoy. Together, they go behind the scenes of recording Freida McFadden’s latest bestseller, The Divorce—without spoilers. The novel explores the unraveling of a marriage, and the audiobook is performed by a trio of narrators portraying the three characters at its center: January LaVoy, Edoardo Ballerini, and Marin Ireland. Michele and January discuss the importance of honoring th...

Three Very Different Roads Through Fiction

June 04, 2026

From haunted New Jersey suburbs to melancholy Irish landscapes to the contested wilds of the American West, Alan Minskoff joins host Jo Reed to discuss three sharply different works of fiction in audio. Tom Perrotta’s Ghost Town, narrated by Robert Petkoff, blends grief, adolescence, and the supernatural through Petkoff’s nuanced character work, while Derbhle Crotty and Darragh Shannon bring quiet emotional precision to The News From Dublin, evoking the atmosphere of longing and displacement ...

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