- What will my podcast series be about?
- What kind of audience do I hope will listen?
- Do I need special equipment?
- Will it just be me or will I invite guests?
- How do I get my podcast out to Apple and Google?
Here’s a list to guide your thinking with explanatory notes [X] on the next page

Notes
[1] Here’s the set up I suggest to get ‘studio quality’ audio for a remote interview:
- Connect with your interview guest(s) in a Zoom meeting on your laptops
- Turn down the laptop’s volume until you can ‘just hear’ each other through the laptop speakers
- Plug your ear pods into your mobile phones and pop one ear piece into your ear
- Count 3.2.1, then all press record on the Voice Memos app on your iPhone
- Conduct your interview
- At the end, your guests send a copy of their recording to you
N.B. You can record the Zoom call too if you wish (as a guide track or back up)
[2] Follow the link below to an illustration of how a podcast series home (or landing) page might look, along with links to your episode blog posts: Stellavision – ‘Funny about books’ podcast
[3] Have a think about your podcast ‘release strategy’. You may want to release a season of episodes based around a central theme (think Netflix limited series). Or you may have a continuing theme running through your whole series. Either way, you’re going to need five to ten episodes ‘in the can’ before you promote and release your series.
[4] Whether or not you are doing monologue or interview episodes, it’s not a bad idea to write some short introductory scripts to each episode. You can pop these into a series planner table and also use them in a message to your guests so they know what their interview will focus on. It also helps when writing your episode ‘show notes’. See the following episode for an example: Steve Kearney and Neill Gladwin – Los Trios Ringbarkus
[5] Getting your guests primed and timetabled is essential to the smooth running of your episode recordings. A sort checklist of the equipment they need, and the episode run order will help make it a comfortable experience
[6] Basic podcast format:
- Intro musical (‘stinger’)
- Welcome: name and ‘strap line’ (podcast overview)
- Episode topic
- Intro each guest with one line responses (stinger)
- Deeper dive into each guest’s relationship to the show topic
- 3 rounds of ‘open questions’ for discussion and debate (stingers)
- Viewpoint sum up from each guest
- Thank all, ‘breadcrumb’ next episode’s content and farewell
- Final outro stinger
[7] Music and sound effect licences can be a nightmare to negotiate. It’s not unusual to pay in excess of $200 for a single track (that you may use only 10 or 20 seconds of!). Make sure you read the terms of the licence carefully. We have a range of royalty free tracks at author2audio that can be used, as long as an attribution is made. For more information and track styles see: Podcast and audiobook music
[8] Our prices start at AUD $150 ex GST per episode. This includes editing, noise reduction, ‘topping and tailing’ and file transfers.
[9] The biggest advantage of hosting your podcast on your own website is the traffic from visitors. For those with a WordPress site, a plugin called ‘Power press’ is the preferred option. You can upload your podcast episode to a blog post, publish to your social media and podcast channels all at once. Please add an extra AUD $50 ex GST per episode and approximately $400 in ‘once off’ set up costs, if you would like me to host.
[10] The Power press plugin will enable you to subscribe to a multitude of podcast channels including: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and many more. The plugin creates a file called an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed, enabling your podcast series and new episodes to be distributed to your podcast channels.
[11] Anchor, Alitu, Stitcher and Podbean (among many others) offer a variety of apps to help you record, produce and distribute your podcast episodes. The advantages of these ‘all in one’ services are:
- a single interface
- ease of use
- simplicity of set up
The disadvantages are:
- reliance on a ‘good’ (uninterrupted) connection to the cloud – mobile network or Wi-Fi
- limitations on editing functions
- in some cases – mandatory advertising on your episodes
Please contact me at: dave@author2audio.com
or at our website: Contact Dave