There’s something I didn’t mention in my last post about marketing the Paid to Play Podcast, because I hadn’t really thought about it at the time. If I want to offer the Podcast as a vehicle for advertising, whether on the site or within episodes, I need to demonstrate to any advertiser that I have an audience that keeps coming back.
Which, therefore, means I have to give that audience reason to keep coming back on a regular basis. Logically, that reason would be new interviews.
But how often should I be providing those new interviews?
How frequent should the Paid to Play Podcast be?
The Current Rate
If I consider my interview with Marcus Herstik as the “start” of the Paid to Play Podcast, then it’s been going for just over six months now. In that time, I’ve produced seven interviews, an average of just over one interview per month.
Commonly held wisdom within the blogosphere is that a we blog that features one new entry a week is circling the drain in terms of audience retention – audiences only become dedicated if they have reason to come back every few days – so unless I pad the podcast’s dedicated site with regular text blog updates I have little chance of attracting the kind of audience numbers that would make advertising with me a worthwhile proposition. And even, then, it seems counterintuitive to set up a podcast site and then have most of the content be text-based.
So it seems that my options are either bi-weekly or weekly.
I’m very tempted by the platonic ideal of getting a new episode up every week. I have a queue of around twelve folks who were lovely enough to say “yes” when I asked whether I could interview them (plus a few more whom I’ve yet to hear back from), a wish list of people I’d like to chat with and a few requests from listeners!
Streamlining the Process
That said, though, turning an interview into a new episode takes time and effort. I did a summary up for myself, and the procedure looks like this:
- Import interview file into Audacity.
- Noise removal on channels.
- Amplify as needed.
- Review pass to make corrections / show notes.
- Stereo Track to Mono.
- New Audacity file.
- Record intro and outro.
- Noise removal.
- Amplify.
- Include intro music and end credits.
- Split intro verbal and align with intro music.
- Split intro/outro track.
- Import mono interview.
- Compile tracks.
- Export as 64-bit MP3 file.
On top of that, I also need to write what I’m going to say in the intro and outro, as well as a text intro for the episode’s post on the web log. Some of it I repeat from week to week, like my asking for comments, but most of it is unique to each guest.
Overall, it’s fiddly work that requires a concentration and usually takes an hour or two.
Fitting Within the Schedule
The trick is, I’m already doing a similar amount of work for the weekly Business Web Integrations podcast that Marcus and I do. On top of that, I want to put more time toward writing, both in terms of keeping the blog updated and the Beth Vaughan Novel Challenge (read: readying Slamdance: The Novel for querying or self-publishing within the year).
And in between all that, I want to spend some quality time with Vickie, not to mention help with the housework, muck in with the backyard (cyclone season fast approacheth) and make sure the four weeks of puppy training we just put Sookie through don’t go to waste!
It also means I need to keep right on top of my schedule. I have two interviews in the can, which (assuming a weekly schedule) cover September 30th and October 7th. If I want to make sure I build a one-month buffer, I have to get four or five interviews recorded by the first week in October.
Play It Safe or Take the Chance?
Fortnightly give me a little more breathing room both in terms of editing time and getting interviews; if circumstances force either myself or my guest to re-schedule, the overall routine is less likely to be threatened.
Still, I’m tempted to just try it weekly and work on proper time management. If nothing else, I say I gave it a shot!
Are you curious?
What have you had to produce on a regular basis?
How do you manage your schedule?
And how often would you like a new episode of the Paid to Play Podcast?
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