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Podcast FAQs: How Long Should Episodes Be and How Often Should You Publish? · Abbey the Podcast Lady

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  Thank you. Hello and welcome back to another
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  episode of Abby the Podcast Lady. Super happy
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  that you joined me here today. We are doing another
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  FAQ episode. I get questions all the time about
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  starting a podcast and I have just started kind
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  of taking note of the ones that get asked more
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  often than not. I'm like, you know what, let's
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  just put them into an FAQ style podcast episode
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  and answer them all at once and then you guys
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  can just consume it from there. So today's...
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  questions are all about format and structure
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  for starting a show. So these are the questions
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  I get asked when people are like, okay, I'm ready
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  to pull the trigger on this, but what do I do
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  next? So the first one I want to get into is,
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  should I do solo episodes, interviews, or a mix
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  of both? And to this, I say a mix of both because
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  that's what I do. But honestly, it's kind of
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  dependent on your schedule. Interview podcasts,
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  I'm not going to lie to you, if you depend on
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  interviews for every single week, are going to
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  run into scheduling issues. I don't care how
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  structured and regimented you think you are.
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  You are going to run into scheduling issues and
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  then it's going to be the night before a podcast
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  is supposed to come out and you do not have an
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  interview lined up because someone backed out
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  on you unexpectedly and now you're scrambling
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  for content. So I would say a mix of interviews
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  and solo episodes is my favorite to produce.
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  I'll tell you that much because it is one, consistent
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  and two, a good like sample of the industry that
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  you're trying to be the expert in with your podcast,
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  because you can establish yourself as the expert
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  on your solo episodes, but you can also hear
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  voices from inside the industry on your interview
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  ones. A great example of this is a client I produce
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  for, it's called Behind the Brand. It's the team
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  at Moxie Creative that does that one. And right
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  from the jump, they did every other week an interview
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  with one of their clients and then a in -house
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  group chat about what their marketing agency
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  has been up to lately or a topic that they want.
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  want to cover and I think it's just a beautiful
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  blend of really showcasing like who the moxies
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  are as well as showing the clients they work
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  with and the community leaders that they engage
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  with throughout their work lives and I think
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  that's just a great way to go about it so if
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  I were to sit down with you and you say solo
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  interview or both I would say shoot for both
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  and if you have to lean heavily on the solo side
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  because you know scheduling another question
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  that I'm pretty sure every client has asked me
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  at one point in time is, how long should the
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  podcast be time -wise? And to that, I say, as
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  long as it needs to be to get your point across
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  and not... too long that you have to keep repeating
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  yourself just to hit a time limit. Now, there
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  is a caveat to this. If your podcast is being
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  shared to a traditional media platform, like
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  say you have a deal with your local radio station
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  and they air your podcast episode, which a couple
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  of my clients actually do that, we have to hit
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  a certain time limit for those. So like for my
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  one client, we have to make sure that the episode
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  is under 45 minutes to fit within the radio station
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  guidelines so they have time for all. all of
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  their sponsor ads to fit in within the hour.
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  Or another one of my clients, actually, her podcast
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  got picked up by a TV station and we have to
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  fit within a certain time limit for that as well.
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  Now, they are special cases. In most cases, you
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  may or may not be reaching out to traditional
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  media to say, hey, I have a show and I'd love
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  to air it. If you're just making your podcast
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  to let it be a podcast, there is no time limit.
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  It can be as short or as long as you want it
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  to. I listen to shows that are 10 minutes in
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  length. I listen to shows that are half an hour.
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  I listen to two hour episodes sometimes of Armchair
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  Expert. There is no right or wrong answer. Actually,
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  there is. The right answer is however long you
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  think it needs to be to get your message across.
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  That's it. That's all it has to be. That's what's
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  beautiful about podcasting is there's kind of
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  no rules. Another question that clients have
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  definitely asked me, every single one of them,
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  is how often should I be releasing episodes?
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  episodes. And that kind of goes along with the
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  last question. And it is whenever you want, there's
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  no rules. But really, the answer to that question
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  I have for everyone is you should be releasing
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  episodes as often as you can without burning
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  yourself out or making this feel like a total
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  chore and something you have to do and something
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  you're dreading. So then you start dragging your
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  feet on it and not wanting to do it. I always
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  use my client Megan May as an example of this
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  when we started her podcast back in in 2023 she
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  was kind of nervous to do it and she's like I
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  don't have the capacity to put out an episode
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  every week like my favorite podcasters do and
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  I said that's fine you have four kids at home
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  and they were all under like what 11 at the time
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  she had a lot of kids and she was really busy
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  and they were really busy so she had to chase
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  them around while also running her business I'm
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  like However often you think it's appropriate
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  for you to record and send me the podcast episodes
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  to edit and release, like we can kind of make
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  our own schedule with this. So what she did is
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  she determined that she had the capacity to do
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  every other week for her podcasts. And that's
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  what we did for over a year. Like that was just
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  her cadence, her timeline. By the time we hit
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  six months, I was having people come up to me
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  and go, Abby, I love Megan's podcast. Why aren't
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  you making those every week for her? And I'm
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  like, go ask Megan. Tell her. you want more because
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  her content was really resonating with people
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  and people wanted more of it so then she's like
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  okay my kids are a little bit older now I now
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  have the ability to do every single week and
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  so we switched and it's been smooth sailing ever
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  since but I love that she started at the capacity
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  that she was capable of she didn't push herself
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  over the edge and turn it into something that
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  you couldn't keep up with. Like find the workflow
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  that's going to work for you and your timeline
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  and your life. And that is the appropriate way
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  to release episodes. Another question I get is,
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  do I need to script every episode? And to that,
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  there is no solid answer. Everyone is so different
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  with the way that they present, the way they
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  talk, the way they want their show to be. I have
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  clients who do script every single episode and
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  You'd never know it because they're really talented
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  at like reading off of script and not sounding
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  scripted about it. I script some of my episodes.
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  Others are a little more off the cuff like this
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  one is. And I think it all depends on your ability
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  to either lead an interview, lead yourself in
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  a conversation. It really boils down to your
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  abilities. And I will say that if you start out
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  scripting your episodes, you will eventually
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  hit a point where you can probably not script
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  them anymore. Maybe just work off of an outline
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  or a couple of bulleted talking points. Going
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  back to Megan as an example, she scripted every
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  single episode when we first started. started
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  and now she, I think she just pretty much goes
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  off the cuff. She records on her own now, but
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  I remember sitting there, we were about a year
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  and a half into recording and I'm like. let's
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  put the script down. Let's just speak from the
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  heart. And she just immediately took to it like
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  a fish in water, like I knew she would. And she
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  has just been flying that way ever since. So
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  that is definitely something where you can kind
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  of start and grow and change. And maybe if you're
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  interviewing someone, you want to have like a
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  list of key questions you want to cover. I would
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  definitely say have a direction you want to go
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  with the conversation you're having, whether
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  that's with yourself or someone else. But I wouldn't
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  say you necessarily have to script it. It's not
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  mandatory. And then the last question I want
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  to cover today is what makes a podcast episode
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  actually engaging? And to that, I would point
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  you to your favorite episodes of something. Why
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  do you stick around and listen to them every
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  week? I think that a lot of the reason that I
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  have my list of podcasts that I consume every
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  single week is because I really like the people
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  that are hosting them. One of my favorite shows
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  that I listen to religiously every single week
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  is called Free With Ads. And it's three comedians
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  and comedy writers who sit down and watch a free
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  movie on YouTube every week and they talk about
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  it and review it. And I think why I like coming
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  back to that show every single week is because
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  I feel like that is a group of friends that I'm
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  hanging out with. I feel like I know these people.
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  It's a parasocial relationship where I know these
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  people, they don't know me, but I feel like I'm
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  hanging out with them. I feel like I know them.
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  And that's why I want to engage with their podcast,
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  not only by listening, but also following them
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  on social media. I engage with their social content
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  there as well. But it's just something about
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  that relationship that you're building with your
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  audience. You want to hang out with them. You
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  want to make it feel like you're actually friends,
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  like you're actually talking to them. And I think
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  that makes a huge difference in an engaging show.
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  Another example of that is I love the Girls Next
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  Level because I grew up watching Girls Next Door.
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  So getting to hear Holly and Bridget talk for
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  an hour every week about a show that I grew up
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  watching, there's something really special and
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  engaging about that because I feel like, oh,
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  I get to know them on a deeper level than just
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  the TV show I watched in the early 2000s. So
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  I'd say what makes a podcast engaging is really
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  that relationship that you're building. It can
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  also be the content. There's a few shows I listen
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  to that I don't necessarily feel like I'm friends
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  with the person hosting it, but I really like
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  the content they have to offer every single week.
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  So just think about the content you're putting
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  into your show and how you're delivering it and
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  make it feel like the person listening is. part
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  of your inner circle. And I think that's going
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  to make you have a really engaging show overall.
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  So those are some FAQs I have answered for you
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  this week. If you have more of them, I would
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  love to hear them. Go ahead and drop those in
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  the comments and I will get to them in a future
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  episode. But until then, thank you so much for
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  hanging out with me. Of course, you can always
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  hang out online further at abbythepodcastlady
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  on Instagram and at abbygravesproductions .com.
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  And I'll catch you on the next episode of Abby
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  the Podcast Lady.