Stories for craft-loving independent podcasters

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Podcast Your Way to Producing for Seth Rogen

Podcast Your Way to Producing for Seth Rogen

Indie podcaster Richard Parks III reveals the secret to making great work

Colin Anderson was having a sleepless night. His client, actor Seth Rogen, was eager to begin production on an upcoming podcast, but Anderson, Sirius XM’s VP of Comedy Podcasts, hadn’t yet found a producer for the project. “I was racking […]

Four Tactics to Strengthen Your Podcast Hosting Skills

Four Tactics to Strengthen Your Podcast Hosting Skills

When and how to ask the best interview questions

Back in 2011, when I was making my first podcast, I applied for a media pass to cover the Gemini Awards. The Geminis honored achievements in Canada’s television industry. I applied on a whim but to my delight, I was […]

Pictures of Microphones in the Wild

Pictures of Microphones in the Wild

An ode to badass audio producers and field reporters

I reached out to podcasters far and wide. My goal was to collect the most unique and interesting podcast photos I could find as a counterweight to the mountains of microphone stock photos that accompany online writing about podcasting. I […]

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Recent Content

The Podcast Cure for the Blues

The Podcast Cure for the Blues

The Blues Kitchen Radio is the story of lives lived talking into mics with friends

Three years ago, a producer went for an interview with Hollywood director Cameron Crowe. As the story goes, it was going well. When wrapping up, Crowe asked, “What music are you into?” The man immediately whipped out his phone. “These […]

Photo by Paul Hillier
Marissa Melnyk, Super Producer

Marissa Melnyk, Super Producer

Behind the scenes with a self-taught, tech-loving, comedy podcast producer

When Marissa Melnyk was in school for video broadcasting at Ryerson University, she noticed her classes were split into two groups. There were those who wanted to be in front of the camera—that was the much larger group—and there were […]

Move Over Public Media
Now is the Golden Age of Independent Podcasting

Move Over Public Media
Now is the Golden Age of Independent Podcasting

As audio shifts from radio to podcasting, legendary public media producer Jay Allison says the human voice still matters most

Sometime back in the 80s or 90s, Jay Allison invented podcasting. His scheme was simple: there was a lot of really interesting radio airing at times he couldn’t listen, so he connected a VCR and microphone to his radio and […]

Pro Podcast Editor Checklist

Pro Podcast Editor Checklist

We're giving away the actual guides our pro editors use to give feedback

Timber has a private podcast community called The Edit. In it, industry professionals write feedback for our members’ episodes. They listen and take notes with a checklist of things to listen for and take notes as they go. Then they […]

Three resources to level-up your podcasting game

Three resources to level-up your podcasting game

Podcasting is more than making goofs on mics with your buds. These resources will lay a foundation for lifelong learning.

If you go on the Facebook groups about podcasting, there are a zillion people new to podcasting asking how to get started, and half a zillion reply-guys that say “best advice is just get started.” I think half of those […]

Podcast Producer Alexandra DiPalma. Featured.

Podcast Producer Alexandra DiPalma. Featured.

The producer of the hit show Food 4 Thot reveals her secret sauce.

“She’s our lighthouse, and has a knowledge of her craft that is simply mind blowing.”—Tommy Pico The want ad read “gay podcast looking for gay people,” and Alexandra DiPalma knew it was her ticket out of the branded audio content […]

Grow Your Social Media Following the Hard Way

Grow Your Social Media Following the Hard Way

A five-step guide to attract followers that are actually interested in your podcast

When I was first starting Timber, I knew that I wanted to create a few social media accounts just for Timber and build up their followings. It goes almost without saying that having a high-quality social media following is one […]

No Shortcut to Insider Access

No Shortcut to Insider Access

How Ear Hustle and Other People’s Problems have navigated access and consent to give listeners a fly-on-the-wall experience.

I love podcasts that give me a glimpse into a world I would have otherwise never been able to see; shows that make you feel like you’re getting special behind-the-scenes access. I’m talking about podcasts like Ear Hustle, which chronicles […]

So You Want to Start a True Crime Podcast…

So You Want to Start a True Crime Podcast…

A guide to coming up with ideas, making them good, and avoiding common pitfalls. And how Norco 80, an excellent true crime pod, came together.

A guide to the sub-genres: from the popular to the prestigious In the podcasting gold rush, the true crime genre is among the biggest motherlodes. But it’s a lot more varied in form and approach than its reputation suggests. It […]

Indie Networks and Collectives—What’s the Difference?

Indie Networks and Collectives—What’s the Difference?

Three ways to amplify your podcasting efforts with advice from Wade Roush, Michael Mongiardi, and Marsha Alejandro

Creating a podcast can be lonely. It starts with an idea. After countless hours of mulling it over, production begins as a side hustle. Evenings and weekends are dedicated to breathing life into a show. It’s recorded in a closet, […]

How To Make a Compelling Companion Podcast According to Pros

How To Make a Compelling Companion Podcast According to Pros

Advice from Roman Mars, Bari Finkel, Christopher Johnson, Dan Taberski, Krys Marshall, and Will Malnati

Hollywood is in the middle of a long love affair with podcasts. Evidence of that can be seen in the number of podcasts being turned into TV shows, including The Shrink Next Door, Nice White Parents, and The Edge of […]

One of the Best Serialized Documentary Creators in the World

One of the Best Serialized Documentary Creators in the World

Zac Stuart-Pontier Explains His Approach to Storytelling Across Several of His Well-known Works

“There it is. You’re caught.” So begins the final scene of The Jinx, a show that ushered in the modern era of true crime docuseries yet hinges on this jaw-dropping 90 seconds of audio while the camera is trained on […]

How to Make a Podcast About the Future When It’s Coming So Quickly

How to Make a Podcast About the Future When It’s Coming So Quickly

Sometimes, it feels like a terrifying future awaits. Rose Eveleth’s Flash Forward podcast (and book and other projects) offers a different perspective.

Everything is bad. There was a Biblical-style swarm of locusts in East Africa last year. The pandemic is still going. Big Tech could be tracking our faces at every moment. Every day seems to bring a new headline about how […]

Learning to Be Unladylike

Learning to Be Unladylike

Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin discuss their approach, chemistry, and lessons over their popular show's three year run

If you’ve never laughed out loud while pondering how to smash the patriarchy, you’ve probably never listened to Unladylike. Since 2018, co-hosts Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin have treated listeners to entertaining episodes exploring pop culture, health, beauty, politics, and […]

Getting Your Show into Podcast Lists

Getting Your Show into Podcast Lists

Podcast curators and tastemakers reveal their secret formulas

As a podcast consultant, one of the most common questions I get asked is, “How do I promote my podcast?” I get it. Once you’ve poured your blood, sweat, and tears into the production of your show, you want listeners. […]

What It Sounds Like When People Connect

What It Sounds Like When People Connect

Why Erica Heilman’s Rumble Strip Conversations Sound Like No One Else’s

Pick an episode of Erica Heilman’s independent podcast Rumble Strip. Odds are, one of the first things you’ll notice is the intimacy of the conversations. Rumble Strip is usually composed of one-on-one interviews, but even in group interviews or solo […]

How to Navigate the Podcast to TV Pipeline According to Pros

How to Navigate the Podcast to TV Pipeline According to Pros

Advice from Lee Eisenberg, Marshall Lewy, Eli Horowitz, and Aaron Mahnke

“People are always looking for IP, people are always looking for good stories,” says Lee Eisenberg, a longtime TV producer, who is turning WeCrashed into a series at Apple TV+. The evidence of that is in the steady stream of […]

How to Get Listeners for Your Podcast About the Environment

How to Get Listeners for Your Podcast About the Environment

Digging in on Land Use, Climate Change, and More

Environmental issues—you know, like land use and climate change—should be an easy sell to listeners. After all, they’re big massive things that impact our world, right? Not so fast. Though so many people claim to be concerned about these issues, […]

Navigating trust and truth as an independent podcaster

Navigating trust and truth as an independent podcaster

Journalistic integrity matters—even if you’re not part of a news outlet

COVID-19 confusion and competing realities over election results have pushed trust in traditional media to an all-time low, according to Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer. Trust in print and broadcast media fell eight points from 2020, and more Americans now say […]

How to Host a Podcast With Your Partner That Doesn’t Suck

How to Host a Podcast With Your Partner That Doesn’t Suck

The real life couples who host Couples Therapy and Sawbones tell us how they bring their chemistry to the mic

“Can I just throw this out there? We actually love each other.” Andy Beckerman, writer, performer, and podcast veteran, is speaking to me, along with his fiancée—writer, performer, and standup comedian Naomi Ekperigin—about Couples Therapy, the popular comedy podcast the […]

Alie Ward’s Listeners Truly Love Ologies

Alie Ward’s Listeners Truly Love Ologies

Ologies’ Alie Ward Explains Why You Should Build A Community on Patreon Before Even Launching Your Show

Before Alie Ward launched her podcast, Ologies, she built a community on Patreon. That decision not only helped Ward fund her incredibly fun, fact-filled show, but also helped her harness a base of science-loving supporters to turn Ologies into one […]

A Creator’s Guide to Therapy Podcasts

A Creator’s Guide to Therapy Podcasts

A close look at the elements that make therapy shows stand out and succeed

“This is the Therapy Chat Podcast with Laura Reagan, LCSW-C. The information shared in this podcast is not a substitute for seeking help from a licensed mental health professional.” A voice actress reads this intro while a cyclical harmonic figure […]

Podcasts Must Find the Small Moments to Give Life to Big Secrets

Podcasts Must Find the Small Moments to Give Life to Big Secrets

How Dani Shapiro makes guests' secrets come to life on her memoir anthology show Family Secrets

As Dani Shaprio finished up the manuscript for her memoir, Inheritance, people kept telling her their secrets. The book was about her shocking discovery—after submitting her DNA to a genealogy website—that her father was not actually her biological father, and […]

The Past and Present of Grammar Girl

The Past and Present of Grammar Girl

Mignon Fogarty's early story of building a runaway hit show into a network

The podcast landscape is rapidly evolving. You have to subscribe to at least three industry newsletters just to keep up with the latest changes to platforms, metrics, and networks. But alongside those quantifiable shifts, there is also the change in […]

A Voice for Writing a Voice for Podcasting

A Voice for Writing a Voice for Podcasting

Author Joanna Penn had to find her voice all over again as a podcaster

Joanna Penn starts every episode of The Creative Penn podcast with this salutation, knowing it might alienate some listeners. And she’s okay with that. Since releasing her first episode in 2009, the prolific British author has learned the value of […]

His Stories Became Movies, Now He’s Making Podcasts

His Stories Became Movies, Now He’s Making Podcasts

Writer Skip Hollandsworth found the perfect story for his first pod Tom Brown’s Body

Legendary Texas Monthly writer Skip Hollandsworth is used to working hard for a story. He’s been widely recognized as one of the premier writers of longform non-fiction in the magazine world for three decades. Many of these narratives spanned more […]

Shannon Cason Gets Honest

Shannon Cason Gets Honest

You'll hang on his every word when you start your guaranteed binge listen

For new listeners to Shannon Cason’s Homemade Stories, it might be worth going as far back as 2014’s “Bath House” episode. In that story Cason, a straight man, explains why he went to a bathhouse with a gay friend: he […]

Caroline Crampton Is the Queen of Multitasking

Caroline Crampton Is the Queen of Multitasking

She's the creator of Shedunnit, a co-writer for Hot Pod, and a member of the podcasting royal family (well she should be)

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that you’re a fan of podcasts. That means you have most likely read or heard or seen the work of Caroline Crampton, an incredibly hard-working multi-tasker who has built a career by being […]

Why It Pays to Be Nice in Podcasting

Why It Pays to Be Nice in Podcasting

How quirky British audio sitcom Wooden Overcoats built a global fan base

This was supposed to be Wooden Overcoats’ year. The team behind this British independent audio sitcom had successfully crowdfunded their fourth and final season and planned to launch it on September 24, 2020, the show’s fifth anniversary. There were going […]

Making the Number One Soccer Podcast of All Time

Making the Number One Soccer Podcast of All Time

The show succeeds by recognizing what's important in life

On August 23 in Lisbon, at 9:14pm, Kingsley Coman etched his name into soccer’s history book: A looping cross fell onto the featherlight Frenchman’s head, which directed the ball into Paris Saint Germain’s net. The goal would make Bayern Munich […]

The Rise of Influencer Podcasts

The Rise of Influencer Podcasts

In a world of views and likes, podcasts feel authentic

The episode starts with an upbeat jingle as the show’s host welcomes listeners back for another 45 minutes of semi-scripted audio content. Her voice is young, but sophisticated. Her tone is casual, but authoritative. She is in control as she […]

The Podcast Season of the Witch

The Podcast Season of the Witch

Podcasting and the witchcraft boom, a witch's brew of cause and effect

Folklorist Cory Hutcheson, co-host of the New World Witchery podcast, is quick to point out that while witchcraft may be enjoying a resurgence in cultural relevance, it’s been both revered and reviled in our society forever. Every mode of storytelling […]

There’s Something about RomComPods

There’s Something about RomComPods

How a writing duo found a gap in the podcast landscape and made a hit

Until early 2018, Becca Freeman listened to podcasts (an early favorite was The Great Debates), but never thought she would someday launch two of her own. The Brooklyn-based marketing consultant is the co-creator of Bad on Paper with blogger Grace […]