So You Want to Start a Podcast

Kristen Meinzer

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780062936684
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Digital Marketing
• Index: Business

An inspiring, comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating a hit show, So You Want to Start a Podcast covers everything from hosting and guest booking to editing and marketing - while offering plenty of encouragement and insider stories along the way. Though they are the fastest-growing form of media, podcasts can actually be tricky to create—and even harder to sustain. Few know the secrets of successfully creating a knockout podcast better than Kristen Meinzer. An award-winning commentator, producer, and former director of nonfiction programming for Slate's sister company, Panoply, Meinzer has also hosted three successful podcasts, reaching more than ten million listeners. Now, she shares her expertise, providing aspiring podcasters with crucial information and guidance to work smarter, not harder as they start their own audio forum.

Meinzer believes that we each have a unique voice that deserves to be heard. But many of us may need some help transforming our ideas into reality. So You Want to Start a Podcast asks the tough but important questions to help budding podcasters define and achieve their goals, including:

Why do you want to start a podcast?
Think about specifically why you want to start a podcast versus a blog, zine, YouTube channel, Instagram feed, or other media outlet. Find out if a podcast is really the best way to tell your story—and what you really need (and don't need!) in order to get started.

What is your show about?
For any advertiser, corporate partner, or press outlet, you need a snappy pitch. How would you describe what you want to do in two to three sentences?

Who is your podcast for?
Who are you trying to reach? How will your content and tone appeal to those listeners?

How is your show going to be structured?
Create a step-by-step map planning the show out. Think about length, segments, interviews, advice, news reads, and other aspects of successful podcasts you can adapt for your own.

With this motivational how-to guide—the only one on the subject available—you'll find the smart, bottom-line advice and inspiration you need to produce an entertaining and informative podcast and promote it to an audience that will love it. So You Want to Start a Podcast gives you the tools you need to start a podcast—and the insight to keep it thriving!

Part 1
Dream It

1
Know Why You Want to Start a Podcast

When Jolenta Greenberg and I first pitched the idea of By the Book to Panoply, we had to bring our A game. This was the company that made shows for powerhouses like Malcolm Gladwell and Gretchen Rubin. We needed to prove we were worth investing in.

Fortunately, we knew we had a good idea: Two good friends—one a self-help believer and the other a skeptic—would live by self-help books for two weeks at a time. While we lived by the books, we’d also record ourselves at work, at home, and in the world, to show how the books made our lives better or worse. It would be a comedy show! It would be a reality show! It would be a book review podcast!

The folks we were pitching to were intrigued. But they also had one big question: “Why?” Or, more specifically: “Why do you want to start a podcast?”

This may seem like the simplest question in the world. Or perhaps it may seem like the hardest. Either way, it’s the most important question to ask yourself as you embark on this journey, and it’s the first question I ask every person who’s ever told me they want to start their own show—whether that person is a best-selling author or a college student.

Here’s the number one reason people give me: “Because everyone is doing it.”

And here’s my gut reaction when I hear that answer: That’s not a good enough reason.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t also done things because everyone else was. I have, in big and small ways. I put up with lousy boyfriends, I wore horrible clothes that looked terrible on my figure, I pretended to like British comedy.

(Note on British comedy: If you love it, I wish you thousands more hours of watching and laughing. But I hate cringing, and it so happens that cringing is half of what British comedy is, and why would I put up with years of sitting through something I don’t enjoy? Oh yeah, because everyone around me was.)

This leads back to my point: “Everyone is doing it” is not a good reason. This is why parents for millions of years have said to their kids, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” At which point, kids throughout history, dazzled by their peers, have answered, “Duh, no,” right before jumping off a bridge.

You need to have a better reason to start a podcast than “everyone is doing it.”

When pitching By the Book to Panoply, these are the reasons Jolenta and I gave:

• We wanted to push the boundaries of what a podcast could sound like. At the time, almost every show seemed to be drawing its inspiration from public radio, or in some cases talk radio. We were drawing our inspiration from reality TV.
• We wanted to relay empowering, intersectional feminist messages to our listeners in a format that felt like pure entertainment rather than broccoli. Again, at the time, this was rare. Most shows tended to feature straightforward discussions (or monologues or lectures) on ideology.

Of course, there are hundreds of right answers to this question. Here are just a few brief reasons I’ve heard other podcasters give:

• I want to build community around an issue or identity.
• I want to spread the word about something I’m very passionate about.
• I have a specific skill (foreign language proficiency, business knowledge, and so on) that I’d like to teach.
• I am an entrepreneur who sees a podcast as one additional way to grow my brand.
• I want to give my readers/viewers/customers an additional way to access my content.

Now, think about your “why.” No doubt, you have lots of good reasons beyond “everyone is doing it.”

But hopefully, your reasons don’t include the second-most-common answer I hear from aspiring podcasters: “My friend Dave and I are really funny.”

To expand on this a bit: “Dave and I can literally talk about anything and crack each other up for hours. It doesn’t matter the subject.”

You know what? I believe you when you say Dave is funny. I’m sure he makes you laugh every time you see him. And I’m sure you’re also very witty. You have a glint in your eye that tells me you make keen observations that are both self-effacing and truly charming. I like you!

But let’s dig a little deeper into this: Without any context, am I going to get your jokes? And is the humor you and Dave share enough of a reason to start a podcast?

I’m going to posit my opinion here: no.

This isn’t to say that you and Dave shouldn’t start a podcast. You and Dave may very well have it in you to start the best, funniest podcast that will ever exist. But you need to think hard about a solid reason you and Dave should start your show.

Here are a few examples other funny people have come up with for starting a podcast:

• We found a porno novel my dad wrote a long time ago and want to dissect it chapter by chapter.
• We want to dive into the history of bad movies in a way that no college class would.
• We think that current events can be depressing and we know we can put a fun spin on them.
• We love true crime but prefer to laugh about it rather than cry about it.

I hope I haven’t discouraged you and Dave. Rather, I hope I’ve inspired you to start thinking more concretely about why you want a show. Hopefully, you’re jotting down ideas and fist-pumping the air and feeling amped and ready for the next chapter and the next chapter after that.

But before we get to those chapters, let’s hit on one final point about why you want to start a podcast.

Reminder: The first way I asked the question put the emphasis on the “why.” Why do you want to start a podcast?

But now I’m going to put the emphasis on the “podcast.” Why do you want to start a podcast?

Specifically, I want you to think about why you want to start a podcast versus a blog, book, YouTube channel, Pinterest board, Instagram feed, and so on. Is a podcast really the best way to tell your story? Is your story so visual that a podcast will fail to do it justice? Will your story be more effective if it’s written out, or told as a stand-up comedy routine, or shaped into a multimedia interactive sculpture?

Don’t undersell your great idea by wedging it into a podcast.

In short: Even if you have a good reason to start a podcast, is a podcast really the best way to showcase your magnificence?

If it is, keep reading.