Workflow, Content & Longevity Lessons From 14 Top Indie Podcasters | Podcraft Season 20
You can ask AI for tips and advice on anything these days, including podcasting. You’ll often get solid enough (albeit rather soulless) pointers from your robot of choice, too.
Let’s face it: There are few tasks AI can’t do, and it’s only going to get better. But there’s one thing it’ll never replicate, and that’s living human experience.
On Season 20 of Podcraft, we wanted to build the content around the hard-won experience of some of the best independent podcasters on the planet. We’re talking well over a century of combined experience, thousands of episodes, and millions of downloads. There’s so much wisdom in the following episodes. And the good news is that you can listen to them freely, at your own convenience, and as many times as you like.
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” – Vernon Law
We’ll cover every aspect of podcasting, from workflows and pitfalls to promotion and monetisation. If there’s something to be learned, then our indiepod legends have lived it. And, over the next eight episodes, they’re going to be your mentors!
From Doubt to Determination: Pushing Through the Podcasting Dip #1
What keeps successful podcasters going when others around them are quitting? A lot of it has to do with why they started in the first place.
📖 Full Shownotes: From doubt to determination
How Consistency Leads to Podcasting Success #2
Almost all the benefits of podcasting stem from one thing – and that’s consistency. Meet the podcasters reaping the rewards of playing the long game.
📖 Full Shownotes: How consistency leads to success
Balancing Time, Workflow, & Content. The Nuts & Bolts of Podcasting #3
We bring you real-world examples of how long it actually takes to run a successful podcast, including seasonal and content-stacking formats.
📖 Full Shownotes: Balancing time, workflow & content
Top Promo & Growth Lessons From Successful Indie Podcasters #4
These indie podcasters have grown passionate fanbases around their content. How did they do it? What worked? And what didn’t?
📖 Full Shownotes: Top promo & growth lessons
Email List & Social Media Strategies to Build a Podcast Community #5
How successful indie podcasters use email lists, social media, and podcast interviews to foster connection and build community.
📖 Full Shownotes: Email list & social media strategies
Podcast Income Stream Lessons From 10 Top Indie Creators #6
Whilst there are no shortage of podcast income streams you COULD try, here are some real-world case studies from ten successful indies.
📖 Full Shownotes: Income stream lessons
Lessons Indie Podcasters Wish They Knew Before Launching #7
On the final episode of Season 20, we’ll dig into what our indie pod legends wish they’d known before they started, and ask about some mistakes they see new podcasters make, too.
📖 Full Shownotes: Lessons indies wish they’d known
Want to share your own wisdom on Podcraft? If you’re an established Podcaster, tell us all about your show; we’re always looking for future guests and case studies!
Meet Our Indiepod Legends
Here’s a rundown on all of the amazing Indie Podcasters involved in this series. Each and every one of them has succeeded in their podcasting endeavours in their own way, and we’ve learned so much from them over this season.
“The world’s a big place. Eight billion people is a lot of people. More than likely, you’re not the only one feeling a thing or thinking a certain thing. There’s a lot of other people out there that probably have the same opinion or idea or need or want.”
Gabe – Board Game Design Lab
“I feel like it’s just so easy to compare yourself, especially when you’re trying to push yourself forward. Of course you want to look around and see, like, okay, where is the bar? But also, it’s not about other people running their race at all. If you get too focused on that stuff, I think you end up doing a bunch of stuff that’s not productive. And we definitely did a lot of that.”
Alana & Samra – She Well Read
“I remember getting a rejection and being absolutely sure that not only did they reject my story, but they put my story up on the wall as a guide of what not to buy and never to buy from this author. And even though feeling all of that, I knew it wasn’t reality. I didn’t set out to chronicle my rising career because I didn’t know I would have one, but I just wanted to let people know… look, it sucks. I’m experiencing it too. It’s okay.”
Mur – I Should Be Writing
“I just thought, you know what? I can’t find this podcast. But I still think it would be a really good thing for people to have. So I’m going to start it myself.”
Vicki – Bring Your Product Idea to Life
“A lot of my potential clients would go back and listen to podcast episodes before hiring me for social media. So, I started talking about my strategies and my skills and interviewing other people in the space. It really just started off as a curious way to create content outside of YouTube. And then I completely put all of my energy into my podcast. Now, it’s just my favourite medium.”
Andrea – The Savvy Social Podcast
“Make the episode good. That’s what you need to start with: Why it should exist and who is it going to serve? Who is it going to help? What’s the point of it?”
Daren – The One Percent Better Runner
“Yes, we weren’t the first Eurovision podcast, but we were probably the first Eurovision podcast that reached out to do feature-length interviews with previous artists and contestants. We were the first ones that kind of dove a bit deeper into kind of the journalism and the news side of things as well. And we’ve evolved the podcast more into that direction as we’ve gone on.”
Rob & James – The Euro Trip
“The thing that made it the easiest for me to be consistent is to do themed seasons. Not to put the pressure on myself to produce a new episode every week or every month, but really thinking about a season, making a plan for ten episodes that are all somehow related and then just producing those, and then that way the listeners know that they will get ten episodes and then they’ll have to wait again. I’m setting up the expectation for that to be the case so they’re not disappointed, and it makes it more manageable for me…”
Kathi – Wild for Scotland
“I learned so much in my first two or three episodes from just listening and being self-critical. Sometimes, feedback from different sources, and you suddenly think, oh gosh, I shouldn’t be doing that at the end of the episode, or I shouldn’t be doing that at the beginning, or I should change the way I introduce myself or any number of things that you want to fine-tune. And if you’ve gone ahead before you go live with, and you’ve got twelve episodes in the can, then you’re stuck with whatever mistake you’ve made.”
Paul – Fighting Through
“The goal of the show is for me to creatively express myself. A byproduct of that just so happens to be that I can bring other people along with the content that I am interested in.”
dCarrie – Travel N Sh!t
“I started interviewing bartenders, how they got where they did, and how someone went from working in the back bar or working in a kitchen to becoming a really famous bartender, where they’re winning awards. That journey really interested me, so I just thought, I’m interested in it, someone else might be interested in it. So let’s just go crazy.”
Susan – Lush Life
“But all I know is I have gained traction, and I like to believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that I do editing and I try to make my program tight. So, yes, that is another common mistake that I see new podcasters make – to think that they could just throw things out there without editing.”
Paul – The Joy of Cruising
