Hypothetically speaking, say I have a serial fiction podcast that is picking up some steam, what would one do to keep this attention rolling and bring the show to a wider audience? And is the plant monster dead? :(
Ooooh, whatâs your hypothetical serial fiction podcast? Let me know. Hypothetically speaking.Â
You know⊠I tend to not focus overmuch on the meta game of bringing our show to a wider audience (which may be why we had exactly seven listeners for the first season and a half). I am genuinely of the opinion that good content will win out and assert itself as worthy of attention at the end of the day, so the best thing that you can do is to focus on telling your story the best possible way that you can. Tell something that you care about. Tell something that respects your audienceâs intelligence and challenges them.Â
Other than that⊠make sure that you are discoverable. Put yourself in as many avenues and databases as you can. You canât force people to listen to your show, but you can make sure that as many people as possible have the option of listening to you the way they want to.Â
Make yourself, as the creator, available. If there is a conversation happening about your show, even if itâs small one, make sure that people know that you are listening and that the conversation matters to you. Make sure that people know where to find you if and when they want to bring you into that conversation. And also remember that itâs important for you to be absent from parts of that conversation. Itâs a tough balance to strike, and no one ever gets it totally right. Thatâs fine - keep trying.Â
Think back to the shows and the creators that you like. What kinds of fan-creator interactions have you enjoyed as a fan? Do your best to make sure that your followers can get something like that out of their interactions with you. When in doubt, thereâs worse guiding principles to fall back on.Â
Know how to sell your show. Have a good elevator pitch for your series - make sure you can appealingly describe it to someone in a sentence or less. Also know what are the unique aspects of your showâs meta-narrative that make for a good story. Is your show a completely improvised serial story? Or a series thatâs written by a father-son team? Etc.Â
(Incidentally, we are now very firmly in the camps of âDo what I say, not as I do.â These are all the kinds of things that we donât always do nearly as well as we should at Wolf 359⊠Take this as is more of what we aim for on good days.)Â
But really, my main recommendation is, again, focus on your story, on moving people, and on compelling your audience. Having one person that feels strongly about your story is going to do more (a lot more) to keep attention growing and reach more people than anything that you could do. So keep the bulk of your attention on making a good product. The rest of it tends to sort itself out⊠even if it can take some time.Â
Hope that this was at least mildly helpful, and that your hypothetical podcast continues to pick up steam! Definitely looking forward to hearing it!Â
P.S.: And yes, the Space Mutant Plant Monster is dead. Sorry!
