Hi Jenn,
I love your podcast! Do you have any tips for someone wanting to start a bookish podcast? Yours seemed very professional from the start.
Thanks!
I started the Literaticast years ago at this point (2017!!!) and was just sort of fumbling along the way I started and never tried different platforms or anything, AND I haven't recorded one in a year, so take this with a BIT of a grain of salt. There might be better programs/platforms and what-have-you nowadays!
First things First: Name, Mission, Logo.
Come up with a NAME for your podcast, and I would suggest also coming up with a kind of a "mission statement" -- that will be helpful. Because if it takes off, lots of random people will want to guest on it, etc, and it's good for YOU to know for yourself what you are trying to achieve and what kind of audience you want to reach.
For example: My podcast, the Literaticast, is a podcast about "lifting the curtain" / a behind-the-scenes look at different aspects of Children's Book Publishing. It's NOT a writing podcast, though there are episodes with writers and writerly advice. It's NOT a book review podcast, though there are episodes where we talk about favorite books. I talk to editors, art directors, agents and other folks who are BEHIND THE SCENES. If/when a writer is on, I ask them to have a specific TOPIC they want to discuss. Yes, they will be able to pitch their book, too, but it's not ABOUT them pitching their book, rather their interview is really about writing chapter book series, or writing YA nonfiction, or etc etc. You know? So what are YOU trying to do with your podcast?
Once you have a name and a concept, make a logo! Do it yourself with Canva, or hire an artist. (DON'T USE AI).
Equipment: You will need a computer, a microphone, and headphones. These are non-negotiable.
Computer: I personally use an iMac desktop, but a laptop or another kind of desktop computer would be fine. (A phone or a tablet might be technically possible but IMO, too hard to edit on, no USB ports!).
Mic: I use an ART2100 USB mic, which looks like it is discontinued, but you can certainly find something similar, just google "podcast mics" or some such. A simple dynamic mic with a USB cord is preferable. Be sure to get a stand if it doesn't come with one, and it would be very helpful to add a Pop Filter. (That's the little round screen thing that goes over the mic so you don't have too many crazy mouth sounds).
Headphones: Any headphones, or even earbuds, will probably do fine. Personally I prefer WIRED headphones with big ol' ear things, like Beats. Why? Because earbuds fall out of my shallow ears, and wireless ones tend to act up, refuse to connect right when I need them to, die at just the wrong moment, etc. (Same reason I prefer a USB mic to a wireless mic. As much as I think wires are ugly, for ME, wireless things tend to just be too finicky!
Location: You don't need a special studio, but it would be helpful to record in a small-ish room with a door that closes all the way, preferably not next to a noisy street or anything like that. I just use my office, which is pretty quiet, and close the door so the pets don't come in and start making noises. I also turn off my ceiling fan and the AC or heat while I'm recording -- those things don't seem loud when you are just in a room, but they can affect recording.
Recording: I use the platform Zencastr to record with guests. It's pretty straightforward -- basically like Skype. You send your guest a link, and all they need to do is click it (on Chrome), and they are connected to you. They don't NEED a mic as long as there is one in their computer, but earphones can be helpful for them, too, so they can hear your voice clearly. And then you just press record and start yapping.
Personally, when I invite a guest, I send them the questions in advance, basically providing a loose "script" so our conversation has a spine, they know what to expect, and I can get us back on track if we veer too far off. This is really helpful when it comes to editing later!
If somebody has a coughing fit they can mute themselves. If one of you messes up, you can pause, wait a beat, and start talking again.I also keep a pen and notebook next to me, and when something like that happens where we have to stop and start again, or where I otherwise KNOW I'll want to cut something, I write down the timestamp AS IT IS HAPPENING so that I can find it later during the editing process. Also, if they start rattling off names of books or something like that -- basically, anything that I think I'll want to link to in the show notes, I write it down AS IT IS HAPPENING so I don't have to hunt for it later.
I then record the intro and the outro. The music I got from some royalty-free music site, there are lots of them!
Editing: Theoretically you can edit, produce and put it all together in Zencastr but I could never figure it out. So I edit the interview myself and then send it all to a producer.
For editing the interview, I use GarageBand, which came installed in my Mac. I'm sure there are other ways to do it, too. I just go through and cut out all the things that I had jotted down, ie, the places where we messed up -- or if we REALLY go off course and start talking nonsense, I'll cut that out. I usually do NOT merge the tracks, but rather, keep them as two separate but matching tracks so that if there's a problem with the sound on one of them, it can be fixed.
Producing: I have a folder on my computer where I put the files. Usually it's: Music file / Episode Intro / Jenn Interview (just my voice) / Guest interview (just the guest voice) / Episode Outro. I then send them all to the producer.
The producer I used was a nice gentleman named Matt who I found on Fiverr -- I send him the tracks for the podcast, and he goes through it and fixes the levels, gets rid of weird excess noises, combines the tracks, adds the music, etc. (He also was kind enough to give me advice in the early days!).
Show Notes: It usually takes Matt a few days to produce the show, so during that time, I create the Show Notes on my website. This will include links to my guest's website and social media, links to any interesting things we talked about that people might want to know more about. And of course, links to all the books we talked about! I think personally that it's nice to have the show notes on an actual website -- but if you don't have / don't want a website, you COULD also put the show notes in the episode info, see below.
Hosting/Syndication: Once I get the podcast back, I upload it to the host. I use LibSyn. You just upload the episode with the logo, all the info about the episode, show notes if applicable, etc, and it sends it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the other podcast platforms, presto. I also put an embedded link to the podcast into the show notes, and a link to the show notes into the info on LibSyn.
Transcripts: It's nice to provide a transcript for people who can't or don't want to listen. I put a link to mine in the show notes.
So... that's basically everything I know about Making a Podcast. The biggest hurdle for ME was, thinking of new ideas for guests, and then inviting the guests and figuring out a mutually agreeable time to record. SUCH an UNBELIEVABLE pain in the ass, for real.
My suggestion is, first of all, always ALWAYS keep a running list of people you want to invite / topics you want to talk about. Try to record several episodes and get them ready FIRST before you ever launch one, so that you can get your learning curve out of the way before you actually say to the world "I have a podcast!" -- and then keep on top of recording in a regular way, because I promise you that if you take a break, it will feel REAL GOOD to keep being on a break.
Also, if I had it to do over again, I might have tried to do it WITH somebody else, so that we could keep each other accountable and each take on some of the lift of inviting people, arranging things, doing the show notes and what have you. (But also, I hate group projects, so maybe actually that wouldn't have worked out either, IDK!)
Good luck, have fun!
