Creating Your Own Podcasting Newsletter Honey To Attract More Listener Bees

As podcasters, we have a reach far bigger than we understand, even with normal indie download numbers. You have an audience. How magnificent is that? What’s even better is that you can expand that audience by creating a podcast newsletter. To inspire you, I’m highlighting four podcasting newsletters started by impactful women in the scene.

Build Community Quickly By Creating A Podcast Newsletter

EarBuds Podcast Collective started in 2017 because its omnipresent and prolific Creator, Arielle Nissenblatt (“sounds like this and that”) wanted to listen to more podcasts. “It was riiiight after Trump was elected in the U.S. and we were hearing a lot about being stuck in ‘our own bubbles’. So I thought, if we can enter someone else’s podcast bubble, that’d be a nice way to gain some new perspectives/stories.”

Each week a different podcast listener (a curator) shares their 5 podcast episode recommendations within a theme. With each week, with each Curator, Arielle is building up the EarBuds community and increasing podcast listening as a whole. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but as a reader of this newsletter, it seems like there’s a conscious effort to provide exposure to lesser-known podcasts also. Which is always good.

Arielle created a podcast newsletter, but these days EarBuds is much more than that. There’s a companion interview podcast, a strong social media presence, a blog, and a Facebook page, and more. Like many of the newsletters in this post, it’s expanded out to be its own ecosystem, a cozy community of podcast lovers.

She shared how the newsletter benefited her podcasting professional life. “I’ve leveraged EarBuds to get jobs at podcast studios, as an in-app curator, to speak at conferences, and to really make a name for myself in this space.”

Takeaway: create a podcasting newsletter to make yourself more visible, more widely known so you can stand out from the audio-only crowd.

Centralize Your Work in a Podcast Newsletter

The Podcasting, Seriously newsletter is a heartfelt table of contents to all of the inner workings of the LWC Studios, a digital media studio created by Juleyka Lantigua that focuses on social-justice programming via audio and video projects. A few of their popular podcasts are Latina to Latina and How to Talk to [Mamí & Papí] about Anything. They also train Creators on how to share their stories in a number of ways. This year LWC Studios also launched the Podcasting, Seriously Awards Fund.

Manuela Bedoya is the newsletter’s Editor and shared the Studio’s reason for creating a podcast newsletter in February 2021, “We write for those indie podcasts with small or one-person teams and our mission is to share resources and tips to help you level up in your podcasting game. We also aim to amplify work from diverse voices and backgrounds in the podcasting space.”

The newsletter highlights all of these efforts in a beautifully scannable way with sections that cover U.S. podcasting industry news, podcast recommendations (their studio’s podcasts and outside podcasts as well), community events, and Creator highlights. It’s important to note that they run free educational events like their weekly Twitter Spaces (4 pm New York on Wednesdays, formerly on Clubhouse) as well as more formal, paid training events. Their 2022 webinar schedule is not available yet but here’s an example from November 2021.

You undoubtedly wear many hats in podcasting. Most of us do, we’re multi-passionate creatives. Creating a podcast newsletter can create a central place where you share the things you’ve learned, the things you’ve done, and your monetary offerings (if any).

Takeaway: Centralize your creative work and send it to your fans weekly so they don’t miss all the good podwork that you do.

Share Your Passion and Humor

Lauren Passell is a podcast listener who likes to share everything she encounters in the podcasting space. In fact, she created a podcast newsletter to do so. It’s called Podcast, The Newsletter and it’s delightful. She freely and playfully shares her podcasting joy in this long, intimate space. The emojis in her issue titles are one small example of this playfulness.

But why did she create a podcast newsletter in the first place? “I heard too many beautiful moments and I didn’t want them to just pass the world by. Plus, so many great indie shows don’t get the recognition they deserve.” You just nodded your head, didn’t you? Me too. And that’s the thing. She gets indie podcasting at its very core. Just like the other newsletter creators in this post do.

Podcast, The Newsletter includes these reviews, Creator interviews, and fake ads that are hilarious. I’m still thinking about the recent stem cell one. Here’s a podcast recommendation example:

What has Lauren gotten out of creating a podcast newsletter? “Interviewing podcasters has helped me meet my heroes in the industry. It’s helped me grow. I now have two interviews a week: one with a podcaster and one with a producer, marketer, writer, engineer, etc. Some of them have hired me for marketing or consultation. Others have become friends. And I’ve connected them to each other. Doing the newsletter has made me a member of the podcast community. (And I don’t have a podcast!)”

Takeaway: You can make professional connections by sharing your passion, being emotional, and having fun. It doesn’t have to be all serious and “businesslike.”

Gain More Exposure With a Podcasting Organization

I’m very new to the world of audio drama. Hi Nay, Jar of Reubuke and Seen But Not Heard finally penetrated my stubborn listener ears this year and converted me into a fan. So in a very meta way, when I discovered that a publication I work for, The Podcast Host, had an audio drama newsletter, I had to check it out.

Sarah Golding and Lindsay Harris Friel, both audio drama Creators, do an amazing job with this podcasting newsletter. The mix of podcasting news, tips, and event notifications are informative and valuable. In fact, the new issue came out as I was writing this post, so I had to take some time to consume it before finishing. For science. I noticed this interesting audio article that I want to read.

If you’re an audio drama Creator, then you’re going to get a lot out of this podcasting newsletter. In addition to podcasting news and tips, It has job and community involvement opportunities as well as the latest industry news and events notifications.

Lindsay said, “I really love audio fiction and audio drama, so this is a labor of love. Over time, I notice interesting patterns, like who collaborates, how crowdfunding campaigns go, who’s hiring, and where good resources are. It’s always exciting to see a podcast start out with audition notices, funding campaigns, and trailers, and follow the show and artists over time to see how they succeed. ”

This is a publication from The Podcast Host, so the larger community that it’s connected to and draws inspiration from are the Alitu product and the Podcraft community. So once again, passion and experience combine to create a helpful and informative newsletter to keep you in the know.

Takeaway: A podcasting newsletter can show over time what sinks or swims.

Podcasting Newsletters Come In Many Shapes and Sizes

Just like us humans, podcasting newsletters are very unique. They can help you stand out in the crowd, keep your listeners current on your projects, share a playful side of your podlife and gain more exposure. Now, all you need to do is start writing! Chop, chop!