Podcast planning

• 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:

1. Connect with your interview guest(s) in a Zoom meeting on your laptops
2. Turn down the laptop’s volume until you can ‘just hear’ each other through the laptop speakers
3. Plug your ear pods into your mobile phones and pop one ear piece into your ear
4. Count 3.2.1, then all press record on the Voice Memos app on your iPhone
5. Conduct your interview
6. 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:

1. Intro musical (‘stinger’)
2. Welcome: name and ‘strap line’ (podcast overview)
3. Episode topic
4. Intro each guest with one line responses (stinger)
5. Deeper dive into each guest’s relationship to the show topic
6. 3 rounds of ‘open questions’ for discussion and debate (stingers)
7. Viewpoint sum up from each guest
8. Thank all, ‘breadcrumb’ next episode’s content and farewell
9. 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