Buzzsprout Weekly

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Dorktales Storytime has more than 100 character voices. They all belong to Jonathan Cormur!

Jonathan started telling these stories live while his sister’s theater troupe set up for performances. When the pandemic dried up his voice acting auditions, his family turned the stories into a podcast. His sister Molly writes and directs, his mom Jodi keeps everything moving, and Jonathan brings the characters to life.

What I love is how much the listeners have become part of that world. Kids send in drawings, suggest stories, and ask questions about details from five seasons ago! Jonathan even answers their questions in character with Mr. Reg, the show’s hedgehog.If you need a little inspiration for bringing listeners into your show, check out Dorktales Storytime.

Listen on Apple Podcasts → 

Episode of the Week

Podcasting As Proactive Customer Support

A podcast can help customers before they ever send a support ticket. On Happy to Help, we share how to turn common questions into helpful episodes and build stronger customer relationships.

Listen to the episode → 

What’s New at Buzzsprout?

Share Achievements on Mobile

Your milestones deserve a celebration! Now, you can turn Buzzsprout achievements into videos in the mobile app. Just choose a design, customize it, and share it with your audience on Instagram Stories and more.

Update the Buzzsprout mobile app to try it.

Get Buzzsprout Mobile → 

Buzzsprout Orientation

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 · 1 PM ETJ

oin our Podcaster Success Team next week for a Buzzsprout Orientation. We’ll walk you through setting up your podcast in Buzzsprout and help you prepare for a successful launch!

Join the orientation →

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

You already have a podcast. But maybe there’s another idea you keep coming back to: a topic that doesn’t quite fit your current show, a conversation you’d love to have, or a project you want to try with a friend.

You know how to record an episode, but launching a new show means choosing a name, writing a description, finding the right categories, and creating cover art.

The Podcast Starter Kit can help you get those pieces in place! Answer five questions about your idea, then choose from title, description, category, and artwork options created for your new podcast.

Your choices go straight into your Buzzsprout account, so you can spend less time staring at a blank setup page and more time planning that first episode.

Explore the Starter Kit →

Episode of the Week: How Podcast Distribution Is Changing
This week’s pick is from the New Media Show. Alban Brooke joins Rob Greenlee to talk about how video is changing podcast distribution and how to keep the audio experience strong across more platforms.

Listen to the episode →

What’s New at Buzzsprout: Remove Filler Words From Transcripts
Cleaning up a transcript just got easier. You can now remove a word or phrase everywhere it appears, so you don’t have to delete every “um” or “uh” one at a time.

Save it to Autocorrect, and Buzzsprout will remove those same filler words from future transcripts automatically. Open the transcript editor in your account to try it.

See how it works →

Buzzsprout Orientation
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 · 1 PM ET

Join our Podcaster Success Team for a ​Buzzsprout Orientation​. We’ll walk you through setting up your podcast in Buzzsprout and help you prepare for a successful launch!

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

You check your podcast stats and notice one platform has a much bigger number than the others.

It’s tempting to think that’s where you should put more of your time. But first, it helps to know what’s being counted.

This week on Buzzcast, the team explains why a view, a play, and a download aren’t interchangeable, and why adding them together won’t necessarily tell you how many people you’re reaching.

The conversation also gets into what to look at beyond the totals. Seeing where listeners stop listening can help you improve an episode, while a thoughtful Fan Mail message tells you what actually connected with someone.

Listen to this week’s Buzzcast to understand what your numbers mean and which ones deserve your attention.

Listen to Buzzcast →

Episode of the Week
My pick this week is from Podcasting Made Simple. Alex Sanfilippo shares his three R’s to help you prepare with intention and make listeners feel like they’re part of the conversation.

Listen to the episode →

What’s New at Buzzsprout?

Meet the Podcast Starter Kit
Got an idea for a new podcast? Answer five questions, and the Podcast Starter Kit will give you title, description, category, and artwork options created for your show. Choose your favorites, and they’ll be added to your Buzzsprout account so you can focus on your first episode.

To get started, choose “I’m a New Podcaster” when you sign up for Buzzsprout.

Explore the Starter Kit →

Create Soundbites on Mobile
You can now make soundbites in the Buzzsprout mobile app and post them straight to social media. Share a clip from your episode to give new listeners a taste of your show as they scroll.

Get the latest version of the ​Buzzsprout mobile app​ to try it!

Buzzsprout Orientation
Join our Podcaster Success Team for a ​Buzzsprout Orientation​. We’ll walk you through setting up your podcast in Buzzsprout and help you prepare for a successful launch!

Join the orientation →

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Your podcast has probably evolved since you launched it. But when you’re busy making episodes, it’s easy to leave the title, description, and artwork untouched.

Those details are still introducing your show to new listeners, even if you haven’t thought about them in a while.

We’ve added a live preview to Podcast Details so you can see how they work together. It’s modeled on a typical podcast app and updates as you make changes!

Take two minutes to check: Does your description explain who your show is for and why they should listen?

Open Podcast Details in your Buzzsprout account to take a fresh look at your show!

Review Your Podcast →

Episode of the Week
How Long Should My Podcast Episodes Be?

My pick this week is for anyone second-guessing episode length. Learn practical tips to find the right episode length for you! 

Listen to the episode →

What’s New at Buzzsprout?
Buzzsprout now has dark mode in your browser. If you’re editing late at night or settling in for a long session, you can take a break from the bright white screen.

See what’s new →

Buzzsprout Orientation
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 · 1 PM ET

Join us today at 1 PM EST for a ​Buzzsprout Orientation​ hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch!

Join the orientation →

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Hey, Podcasters! 

If you’ve edited a few podcast transcripts, you probably know which words you’ll need to fix before you even open the next one.

For Buzzcast, it’s often our own name: “Buzz Sprout” instead of “Buzzsprout.” Kevin wanted a way to make that correction without repeating it every time he went to edit a transcript. 

So, we updated the transcript editor to include Autocorrect, Autosave, keyboard shortcuts and more!

With Autocorrect, you can fix a word or phrase and choose Add to autocorrect. The remaining matches in your transcript update immediately, and Buzzsprout applies that correction automatically when generating future transcripts for your show.

We’ve also made the editing process itself quicker. Autosave saves your changes in the background, and double-clicking a word selects it so you can start typing your correction.

You’ll also find improved Find & Replace, keyboard shortcuts, and chapter markers to help you get around the transcript.

Kevin walks through the changes and more in this week’s Buzzcast. Listen to the episode to learn how you can save time editing your next transcript!

Learn More

New to Buzzsprout?
Join us today at 1 PM EST for a Buzzsprout Orientation hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch! 

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Hey, Podcasters! 

Your personal website gives people another way to discover your podcast!

And when they do, you want them to be able to start listening right there, without opening another app or searching for your show.

That’s where your embed player comes in.

We just added more ways to customize your Buzzsprout player so it can better fit your website and the way you want people to explore your episodes.

You can choose your brand color, pick from three player styles, and preview everything on desktop or mobile before adding it to your personal website.

And if you want to feature more than one episode, you can now choose exactly what appears in the player and filter episodes by creator or tag.

Head to the Episodes page in your Buzzsprout account and click Embed Players to get started! 

Learn More

Grow Your Craft
If you couldn’t make it to Podcast Movement in New York, we have two talks worth catching up on!

Buzzsprout Podcast Producer Jordan Blair shared practical advice for getting listeners to do what you ask, and James Cridland of Podnews took the stage for a fascinating look at podcasting history.

Watch Jordan Blair’s talk and James Cridland’s talk from Podcast Movement!

New to Buzzsprout?
Join us today at 1 PM EST for a Buzzsprout Orientation hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch! 

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Hey, Podcasters! 

Alban and Jordan are back from Podcast Movement in New York, and they came home with a lot to talk about.

Podcasting has changed dramatically since Buzzsprout attended the first Podcast Movement in 2014. This year’s conference made that growth especially clear with bigger businesses and new conversations about where the industry is headed.

But some of their favorite moments were still the familiar ones: meeting other podcasters, hearing great ideas, and talking about why people keep making shows in the first place.

That led to a bigger ​conversation​ about the future of indie podcasting. Is there room for smaller, more focused events built around creators who simply love making podcasts?

They also share their favorite talks from the conference, updates from the Podcast Standards Project, and a great reminder from Ira Glass about something audio can do better than almost any other medium.

If you want to know what’s changing in podcasting and what it could mean for indie creators, listen to this episode of ​Buzzcast​!

Listen to Buzzcast

New to Buzzsprout?
Join us today at 1 PM EST for a ​Buzzsprout Orientation​ hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch! 

Sign up for an Orientation

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Hey, Podcasters! 

Most of the time, we’re trying to get our podcast in front of as many people as possible.

But there are times when reaching a smaller, specific group makes more sense.

Maybe you want to give subscribers bonus episodes, create exclusive content for your biggest fans, or add a podcast to a course or coaching program.

That’s where a private podcast can be really useful!

In ​this episode​ of Podcasting Q&A, Cara walks through three ways to offer private content and how to choose between them based on what you want your listeners to experience.

You can keep a podcast out of the public directories, build it into a membership, or use Buzzsprout Subscriptions to put premium episodes behind a paywall.

If you’ve ever considered tailoring some of your content for a smaller group of listeners, listen to ​Podcasting Q&A​!

Listen to Podcasting Q&A

New to Buzzsprout?
Join us today at 1 pm EST for a ​Buzzsprout Orientation​ hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch! 

Sign up for Orientation

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Hey, Podcasters! 

A few months ago, Jordan needed to pitch a talk for Podcast Movement.

There was just one problem: the deadline was coming up fast, and she was having trouble narrowing down what she wanted to talk about.

So she went back to her podcast, Buzzcast.

Jordan uploaded years of transcripts to ChatGPT and asked it to find the topics she kept coming back to.

And it came back with a lot to work with!

One idea jumped out from an old episode about getting listeners to actually do what you ask. Jordan remembered loving that conversation, and suddenly, she could see the whole talk coming together!

So, she used the episode as a framework and submitted the pitch. Now, she’ll be giving that exact talk at Podcast Movement in New York this week!

In this episode of Buzzcast, she walks through the process and even tries it with a few listeners’ podcasts to see what ideas are hiding in their back catalogs.

Chances are, there are some good ones hiding in yours, too. Listen to this week’s Buzzcast to learn how to find them!

Listen to Buzzcast

Buzzsprout Meetup at Podcast Movement 

Buzzsprout is headed to Podcast Movement 2026, and we want to hang out with you! Join us this Thursday, September 17th, from 5-6:30 PM for a fun afternoon of food, drinks, and networking! RSVP to save your spot. 

RSVP for Meetup

New to Buzzsprout?

Join us today at 1 PM EST for a Buzzsprout Orientation hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch! 

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!

Send a question for 'Ask Megan'

Hey, Podcasters! 

We spend a lot of time thinking about how to grow our podcasts.

But after a year of hosting Podcasting Q&A, Cara realized her podcast had been growing something else: her confidence.

Before taking over the show, Cara was used to being given a task and completing it. Now, she was responsible for writing, recording, editing, publishing, and figuring out what the show should become.

A year later, she noticed that confidence following her into other parts of her life. When she started coaching cheerleading, creating routines and leading the team didn't feel nearly as intimidating because she'd already spent a year learning how to trust her own ideas.

And Cara isn't the only one.

In this week's Buzzcast, the team shares some incredible stories about what can happen when people pick up a microphone!

If you've been podcasting for a while, you've probably gotten better at more than podcasting.

Listen to this week's ​Buzzcast​ to hear the stories that made us look at podcast growth a little differently!

New to Buzzsprout?
Join us today at 1 pm EST for a ​Buzzsprout Orientation​ hosted by our Podcaster Success Team. We'll walk you through your Buzzsprout account and help you prepare for a successful podcast launch! 

Sign up for Orientation

Have a question for Megan? Send a text!

That's all for this week! Thanks for listening & keep podcasting!