In the fifteen years that I’ve been a podcaster, I’ve used many different kinds of formats. Daily shows, weekly, long-form interviews, unscripted improv, monthly magazine-style. None of them have stuck with me as something I’d like to do long-term.
I’ve noticed the surge in seasonal podcasting due to the popularity of shows like Serial and the rise of True Crime podcasts. So I decided to experiment with seasonal podcasting and dedicate each season to ideas I’ve had swimming around in my head for thirty years. Once I committed to this idea, I found it remarkably liberating, so much so that I could come up with an idea and produce twelve episodes of a season in a matter of weeks. To my delight, this season has been the most popular in terms of downloads, unique listeners, and fan engagement that I’ve had in some time. It’s led me to believe this is where I should have been all along, and I will continue making seasons of my show from this point forward.
With that in mind, I’ve got some observations about why this switch to seasonal podcasting became a natural fit for me.
They’re easier to outline
The first decision I made was the number of episodes I wanted to produce in the season. At first, I thought ten was a suitable number, but after some thought, I upped it to twelve because I would let the next nine episodes drop weekly after an initial drop of three. With that decision, I gave a topic to each episode, wrote a draft, and then edited it down. Because I took the time to do this first, I wrote the scripts for all twelve episodes in about ten days. It was a much better process for me than the grind of prep, outlining, writing, and producing every three to four days.
There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end
A season of a podcast is the same as the season of a TV show. You’re telling a long story that arcs over weeks. In this season of my podcast, I spent the first three weeks establishing the character called ‘This Pirate.’ Then over the following weeks, I let him reveal more and more of himself until we get to the last episode, which is a callback to the first episode and a nice ending to the season. The first-person narrative of ‘This Pirate’ made the writing very easy for me. Still, as I move into the next season of my podcast and a third-person narrative, it will be vital to tell a complete story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
You can explore a variety of ideas
The following season of my podcast will continue the This Pirate line, but I have other ideas for future seasons. One of these ideas has been in my head since 1989, the rest since 1999. Of course, they’re fictional and will require more resources than just talking into a mic. Nevertheless, this switch to seasonal podcasting has lit that fire underneath me to start writing these stories and put them out in the real world in a way I never could do before. Perhaps it’s better to say that I’ve never felt as empowered to put these stories out in the world before now. Regardless, I’ve never been as positive that I can produce these figments of my imagination as I do now.
I find them less taxing than a weekly podcast
A daily or weekly podcast is a Sisyphean effort of prep, outline, write, produce, distribute, and repeat. It’s almost too much for one person to do, and I respect anyone who can. I can’t. I’ve repeatedly tried, and with kids and a job and obligations, it’s just too much for this guy. While the effort it takes to create a whole podcast season in one shot may seem just as much a struggle, it’s just for a short time. Once done, I can move on to the next thing on my list, like Promotion, community building, and scheduling some downtime to prepare for the next season. The weekly grind creates anxiety for me, and when I have that anxiety, I can’t perform consistently. I would rather be anxiety-free and consistent than be bouncing off walls and podcasting on a hit-or-miss basis.
They can be pre-produced and pre-scheduled
After I wrote the 12-episode season, it took me another four days to produce and distribute them. So from the initial idea to distribution, I created 12 episodes in about two weeks. Pre-scheduling these episodes to drop means I have a podcast season that runs weekly until July 30th. I plan to add one more episode out of the Pirate character, but I plan to record that closer to the end of the season to include more behind-the-scenes material. So this podcast will end on August 6th, and by then, I hope to have most of the next season produced, tentatively scheduled to start around Labor Day. The mental bandwidth it gives me and the pressure it takes off me is priceless.
Consistency is built-in
You must maintain consistency in creativity to keep an audience engaged. After a while, if the audience can’t rely on you to deliver when you say you’re going to deliver, that audience will move on to someone who can. With this method, your consistency is built-in. You’ve guaranteed that there’s a new podcast dropping next week for the next couple of months while you’re working on the next thing. Because it’s a season, you can bake the expectation of a hiatus until the next season into the last episode of this season. As long as you tell your listeners what’s happening, they’ll be there waiting when you get back.
Promotion is easier
Let me get this out: Promotion has never been my strong suit. I know they won’t just come if you build it, but telling people that I’ve built, it has always made me feel — and this is a technical term — icky. I despise high-pressure salespeople, and I don’t particularly appreciate feeling like one. However, with the reclaimed time I have using the seasonal method, I can create graphics and stories for my social media accounts and pre-schedule those posts using Buffer. A bonus to this method is using my social media accounts to be me, which lets me feel better about the scheduled posts hawking my stuff. I tend to schedule those posts about four hours apart, so those posts are bookends on a sandwich, with me being a human in the middle.
The M Word
Finally, we get to the elephant in the room. Of course, the obvious upside to seasonal podcasting is the possibility of monetization. I uploaded all the podcasts in the season to Patreon. I offered early access to all the shows for five dollars a month, with the ability to access a subscriber-only podcast and a monthly get-together on Twitch. With this new way of doing things, I admit that the Patreon approach is not yet working. However, I believe it will take hold because the podcast is still growing. Looking at the data for my show, I reached the total downloads for May on June 14th. On that trajectory, I should double the number of downloads, and if that trajectory holds, I should be able to continue outperforming the previous month. On the subject of unique listeners, I continue to attract new listeners every day, and repeat listeners return for the next episodes. I think it’s only a matter of time before the subscriber model starts working.
Conclusion
Of course, your mileage may vary. For me, this switch to seasonal podcasting has been the best decision I’ve made for my creative work since I decided to start creating audio for the internet back in 1999. So if you have a day job, family, kids, obligations, or you want to start a podcast but don’t think the weekly grind is for you, I would strongly recommend seasonal podcasting. I see no better way for me; I hope it works for you.