What's the Process of Making a Podcast?

Beginning to End

Podcast production happens in three stages for every episode. You can do all of these steps separately, or you might be working on different steps at the same time for different episodes.

First, we have pre-production. This is everything you need to do before recording an episode. This could include research, writing, booking guests, scheduling, this will look different for every podcast.

We find that one of the causes of podcaster burnout is underestimating the time it takes to get through the pre-production and post-production phase. So keep this in mind when you're starting your show. You want to develop a process that works for you and your schedule.

Next up we have production. This is when you actually record your episode. Again, this looks different for different podcasts, you might be someone who records everything at once. Some podcasters might record different segments on different days and then edit together later. In this stage, the key is to make sure you're getting all of the “tape” you need to create your podcast. We find that it helps to have a checklist of all the components that we'll need for the final episode, so we don't miss anything.

The last phase is post-production, which is kind of like an iceberg in podcast creation because it's a much larger phase than you might think. On the surface you have editing your episode, exporting the file, and publishing the episode for distribution. But below the surface are all of the extra little things that come with publishing an episode. For example, writing the title and description for the episode, writing your show notes, transcribing an episode, all the social media surrounding the episode and anything else that you want to do to promote that episode.

So just like with pre-production, be sure you're planning for how much time it takes you to do these things, and only take on what's sustainable for you and your schedule.