Podcasting on Substack is unique: it creates a two-way conversation that lends itself to publishers who favor cultivating loyal and dedicated audiences.
Today we’ll answer questions on how to get started if you are tinkering with podcasts or how to bring over a podcast you distribute elsewhere, plus anything else on your mind.
Getting started: If you already have a Substack publication, you can start a podcast in minutes and start publishing directly to your existing subscribers plus distribute to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and more. Your podcast will have it’s own page with an about section and showcases all of your episodes in one place. Learn more.
Growing: We’ve just added transcripts and audiogram clip sharing to the podcasting toolkit making your podcast more accessible and easier to promote. Create an audiogram, download and share the video clip on socials.
For monetizing: The flexible paywall makes it simple to share a free preview of your podcast with anyone and without extra production work. From the podcast post editor, you can simply choose the section you’d like to send to free subscribers. Learn more.
Not ready to start a podcast but want to test the waters with audio? Record voiceovers of your texts posts.
offers voiceovers as a paid perk. You can reap the benefits of publishing on Substack, but distributing wherever people listen to podcasts by submitting voiceovers to RSS feeds so your posts travel further. Learn more.
Where are the Substack podcasters at? What's the sharpest piece of advice you can give other podcasters about getting started and monetizing their show?
🧠 I added podcasting to my Substack content strategy on July 6 after delaying for a long time with mountain of excuses. Some of which are my own comfort of sharing via Audio and listening back to myself. As well as excuses of not having assets like images and headers.
My advice is to just start. Since July 6 I have published 40 episodes for my daily podcast. I get a real kick out of the fact I can podcast on Substack and the episodes are distributed out to Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Amazon Music. My little revision of the old saying, "Perfection is the enemy of progress!"
🟧 Something I was curious about from the interview with Laura is how she uses the podcast as a paid perk. I like the idea, but the implementation currently requires duplicate posts: one for the original text, then a duplicate for the podcast version (only for paid subscribers). Is there a neater way to get the same result?
The paywall feature in theory can be used for this, but I suspect (anecdotally) that a lot of readers are already trained to ignore 'preview' posts, assuming the main content is paywalled (even if it's only a specific section/bonus bit).
🧠 Just want to share my interview for Substack's The Active Voice with E. Jean Carroll, Mary Trump and Jen Taub, who are bringing serialization into the mainstream. The Active voice is such a great podcast! https://read.substack.com/p/the-active-voice-backstory-serial#details
🟧 Are there plans to let us enter our own transcripts? The machine generated ones don't, for example, do a good job distinguishing speakers in an interview.
Also, I've brought this up before, but it would be a huge help if podcast episode pages would more clearly display links to the show in the various podcast apps, and also if the /podcast home page on one's site displayed those links as well. Right now if feels like Substack is intentionally obfuscating links to outside podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, etc., to get people to subscribe to our shows on Substack itself. But that's just not how most people listen.
✏️ - If I don't have any professional equipment or software or anything fun like that to hand, just your straightforward computer and Chrome browser and/or app, is it even a good idea to do a podcast as a feature, or would I need to get something in the way of a mic setup to make a go of it?
✏️ Are folks covering additional content in their podcasts, or just reading posts aloud? I would assume some of both. As a much more natural writer than speaker, I would gravitate to the latter, but I'm curious what the appeal of having my posts in audio format would actually be.
Hi! Did you know there’s a UI issue for recording natively? The drop-down box covers part of the text so it’s not possible to read and record at the same time. Would be great if this was resolved!
The Youtube model of podcasting works really well, with both long-form and short-form. If possible, creating some sort of clips or snippets of podcasts to share in Notes would help with growth. One of the most popular forms of podcasting is uploading clips to Youtube as well as other social media platforms. Maybe in the future Substack could implement this?
🟧 I have been scheduling my podcasts to publish at 5:05 AM NY time each morning. The strategy being to cast the widest net possible for my financial audience. Hoping I pick up London audience in their afternoon and the early birds in East coast. I then restack the podcast on Substack Notes and other social media around 11am NY time to remind West Coasters. But my question is will Substack be releasing more podcast analytics so we can make more data informed decisions on what time of day is best to publish a podcast episode, what times of days audience is engaging the most and least etc? Something like Spotify, https://podcasters.spotify.com/resources/learn/grow/spotify-podcast-analytics
🟧 ✏️ hi! I create a voiceover for every newsletter and I'd like to have the voiceover go directly to my podcast feed. I have tried selecting the "Add voiceover to podcast RSS feed" when publishing the post, but it doesn't show up in the podcast thread (on substack or elsewhere). I am not sure what am I doing wrong... help appreciated! Also interested to hear from folks who have had success engaging with readers and listeners around the same essays (rather than posting separate podcasts vs. newsletters)
Always excited to start a new thing. I am currently figuring out the possibility of starting a podcast with several different people. I have done podcasts before, though am still on the lookout for people that I 'click' with and could have in-depth discussions with about a variety of different topics. My ideal podcast would be a person that I know/trust and having a weekly / biweekly discussion on a topic / topics of our choosing, or something that's in the news, etc. One day I will find that perfect podcast person. 😄
✏️ I have also used both professional (studio/condensor mic) and more basic recording hardware (decent usb mics, headsets) and boy do I notice the difference now. Obviously I would like to have a proper microphone, but I'm not sure yet if it is really necessary for now, especially considering a lot of talking is going to be done online and other people/guests usually do not have professional mics anyway. Is the investment on my end really necessary, or could I also get by with more basic hardware for a regular podcast, I wonder?
🟧✏️ Question: I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the CDC for missing VAERS reports. I was expecting to get processing fees waived acting as a journalist aka a Substacker. My waiver was DECLINED! Can Substack content creators be considered journalists? see: https://imgur.com/gallery/ZHqfO6x
Where are the Substack podcasters at? What's the sharpest piece of advice you can give other podcasters about getting started and monetizing their show?
To help organize the conversation, please use one of the following emojis when you start a new comment.
🧠 - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers
✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
🟧 - when asking a question you hope the Substack team can help answer
Use your emoji keyboard or simply copy and paste the emoji at the beginning of your comment.
🧠 I added podcasting to my Substack content strategy on July 6 after delaying for a long time with mountain of excuses. Some of which are my own comfort of sharing via Audio and listening back to myself. As well as excuses of not having assets like images and headers.
My advice is to just start. Since July 6 I have published 40 episodes for my daily podcast. I get a real kick out of the fact I can podcast on Substack and the episodes are distributed out to Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Amazon Music. My little revision of the old saying, "Perfection is the enemy of progress!"
PS you can check out my podcast here: https://nyugrad.substack.com/podcast
🟧 Something I was curious about from the interview with Laura is how she uses the podcast as a paid perk. I like the idea, but the implementation currently requires duplicate posts: one for the original text, then a duplicate for the podcast version (only for paid subscribers). Is there a neater way to get the same result?
The paywall feature in theory can be used for this, but I suspect (anecdotally) that a lot of readers are already trained to ignore 'preview' posts, assuming the main content is paywalled (even if it's only a specific section/bonus bit).
🧠 Just want to share my interview for Substack's The Active Voice with E. Jean Carroll, Mary Trump and Jen Taub, who are bringing serialization into the mainstream. The Active voice is such a great podcast! https://read.substack.com/p/the-active-voice-backstory-serial#details
🟧 Are there plans to let us enter our own transcripts? The machine generated ones don't, for example, do a good job distinguishing speakers in an interview.
Also, I've brought this up before, but it would be a huge help if podcast episode pages would more clearly display links to the show in the various podcast apps, and also if the /podcast home page on one's site displayed those links as well. Right now if feels like Substack is intentionally obfuscating links to outside podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, etc., to get people to subscribe to our shows on Substack itself. But that's just not how most people listen.
✏️ - If I don't have any professional equipment or software or anything fun like that to hand, just your straightforward computer and Chrome browser and/or app, is it even a good idea to do a podcast as a feature, or would I need to get something in the way of a mic setup to make a go of it?
✏️ Are folks covering additional content in their podcasts, or just reading posts aloud? I would assume some of both. As a much more natural writer than speaker, I would gravitate to the latter, but I'm curious what the appeal of having my posts in audio format would actually be.
Hi! Did you know there’s a UI issue for recording natively? The drop-down box covers part of the text so it’s not possible to read and record at the same time. Would be great if this was resolved!
The Youtube model of podcasting works really well, with both long-form and short-form. If possible, creating some sort of clips or snippets of podcasts to share in Notes would help with growth. One of the most popular forms of podcasting is uploading clips to Youtube as well as other social media platforms. Maybe in the future Substack could implement this?
✏️ - Is there a print friendly format function in substack? I have older readers who print the newsletter and the pictures and text is unorganized.
🟧 I have been scheduling my podcasts to publish at 5:05 AM NY time each morning. The strategy being to cast the widest net possible for my financial audience. Hoping I pick up London audience in their afternoon and the early birds in East coast. I then restack the podcast on Substack Notes and other social media around 11am NY time to remind West Coasters. But my question is will Substack be releasing more podcast analytics so we can make more data informed decisions on what time of day is best to publish a podcast episode, what times of days audience is engaging the most and least etc? Something like Spotify, https://podcasters.spotify.com/resources/learn/grow/spotify-podcast-analytics
Where and how does a writer post on her
Substack blog?
I plan on doing this soon.
🟧 ✏️ hi! I create a voiceover for every newsletter and I'd like to have the voiceover go directly to my podcast feed. I have tried selecting the "Add voiceover to podcast RSS feed" when publishing the post, but it doesn't show up in the podcast thread (on substack or elsewhere). I am not sure what am I doing wrong... help appreciated! Also interested to hear from folks who have had success engaging with readers and listeners around the same essays (rather than posting separate podcasts vs. newsletters)
🆘do I to swith to the paying option in order to have the app register directly my podcast?
Always excited to start a new thing. I am currently figuring out the possibility of starting a podcast with several different people. I have done podcasts before, though am still on the lookout for people that I 'click' with and could have in-depth discussions with about a variety of different topics. My ideal podcast would be a person that I know/trust and having a weekly / biweekly discussion on a topic / topics of our choosing, or something that's in the news, etc. One day I will find that perfect podcast person. 😄
✏️ I have also used both professional (studio/condensor mic) and more basic recording hardware (decent usb mics, headsets) and boy do I notice the difference now. Obviously I would like to have a proper microphone, but I'm not sure yet if it is really necessary for now, especially considering a lot of talking is going to be done online and other people/guests usually do not have professional mics anyway. Is the investment on my end really necessary, or could I also get by with more basic hardware for a regular podcast, I wonder?
🟧✏️ Question: I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the CDC for missing VAERS reports. I was expecting to get processing fees waived acting as a journalist aka a Substacker. My waiver was DECLINED! Can Substack content creators be considered journalists? see: https://imgur.com/gallery/ZHqfO6x
🟧 - Does Substack have a print friendly format function? I have older readers who print the newsletter and the pictures and text is unorganized.