Back in August 2022, I started working on a podcast. It’s not a writing podcast, it’s about film. I’ve always wanted to write about films but it’s super hard to get into (and make money from). 

It’s called Film Shrapnel, and I started it with my close friend Tobias Saltman, and it’s available on Spotify.

So, what did I, as a freelance writer, learn from this experience? Here are the top five lessons.

1) It’s More Time-Consuming Than You’d Think

It’s not just a matter of recording and putting it out there. In our case, we have to watch a film first, make notes, and then talk about it.

Then you’ve got to edit it and that comes with a whole handful of issues—you can come across audio issues and lots of umming and erring, or just awkward silences.

Plus, listening later on, you might not like the way you said something or just feel like you’re rambling.

You need to then decide if you want to keep the ramblings and the tangents or remove them to stay focused.

Some of them can be used as mini episodes if you feel you discuss something insightful or entertaining but sometimes it’s just not salvageable. 

Or keep the raw cut as an extended version that you make available to those that contribute to you through services like Patreon. (We’re not at that point yet.)

Whatever you decide, it can be hard to keep track of.

2) It’s a Lesson in Focus

Doing a podcast, as a writer, was a lesson on focus. Particularly, keeping to the point and being informative, and I think this can have a direct impact on your writing.

As a writer, starting a podcast really showed me the difference between writing and speaking (kind of) publicly. In other words, I write a lot better than I speak.

I stumble and stutter, forget words and get lost in what I’m trying to say, sometimes going on extravagant tangents for something very simple.

But as a writer, I don’t have this issue, and it’s obvious why—I can edit what I write and keep it direct.

My wife, who is also a writer, had a similar experience.

She primarily writes in English which is not her first language and after being interviewed on TV in her native language she realised how differently she communicated.

It also makes me think about my writer’s voice and how to make things sound more conversational.

Depending on what you are writing, being more conversational can be a plus. Currently, I contribute to several blogs and having a personal touch definitely goes a long way.

Long story short, you can’t always trust that the first thing that comes into your head is the most relevant.

3) You Can Feel Pressured to Constantly Publish Content

There is what I believe is a misconception that you need to constantly churn out content to succeed.

Yes, a lot of content, if good, can serve you well. But if you’re constantly putting out content and no one is listening to it, maybe you need to rethink what you’re doing. It’s a lot of work for little reward.

You need to think about the purpose—how are people going to listen to your podcast? Will they tune in every time or just listen to particular topics that interest them?

Will they listen intently to your podcast or have it running in the background while they do something else?

Once you understand what works and what doesn’t, you can stop creating content that gets little interest and start focusing more on what wins them over.

The same is true when it comes to writing!

4) Different Mediums Need Different Strategies

I think a lot about SEO when writing (less so on this blog) and it’s been interesting learning about how the approach is different for a podcast than a blog post, and what I learn here could improve my SEO knowledge.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that I need to get on social media and learn how to use it to the advantage of the podcast.

Specifically, I need to find out how we can stand out among all the other podcasts and those that write or make videos about movies and TV.

5) You Need to Strategize for the Future

How do you get to the point where your podcast starts earning money? Or how can your podcast take you to new opportunities?

Of course, we can’t immediately monetize the podcast, we don’t have enough listeners. Right now, it’s an experimental hobby and we’ll see how it goes.

That said, we have thought about how to further its reach, and one of the key ways you can do that is to branch onto YouTube.

You can easily upload the audio into a video file with a single image or, if you have the time, add video content.

And to go one step further than that, you can embed these YouTube videos onto a blog that’s specifically for the podcast and add a transcript below.

What this can then do is make your content more easily discoverable to search engines, potentially furthering your reach even more.

Now here comes the shameless self-promotion! If you like films and podcasts, check out Film Shrapnel.