Seasonal Podcasting?I recently switched to Seasonal Podcasting, and it was a natural fit for me. I produced 12 episodes in about two weeks and dropped them in my feed to air weekly until the end of July 2021. I don’t want to call anything a magic bullet, but it was the best decision I had made for my show in a long time, and it reflected well in the downloads, unique listeners, and fan engagement for the podcast. Here are some reasons I found the switch to seasonal podcasting to work for me.

THEY’RE EASIER TO OUTLINEThe first decision I made was the number of episodes I wanted to produce in the season. At first, I thought ten was a suitable number, but after some thought, I upped it to twelve because I would let the next nine episodes drop weekly after an initial drop of three episodes. With that decision made, I gave a topic to each episode, wrote a draft, and then edited it down. Because I took the time to do this first, I wrote the scripts for all twelve episodes in about ten days. I found it was a much better process for me than the grind of prep, outline, write, and produce every three to four days.

THERE’S A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE, AND AN ENDA season of a podcast is the same as the season of a TV show. You’re telling a long story that arcs over weeks. In this season of my podcast, I spent the first three weeks establishing the character called ‘This Pirate.’ Then over the following weeks, I let him reveal more and more of himself until we get to the last episode, which is a callback to the first episode and a nice ending to the season. The first-person narrative of ‘This Pirate’ made the writing very easy for me. Still, as I move into the next season of my podcast and a third-person narrative, it will be vital to tell a complete story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

YOU CAN EXPLORE A VARIETY OF IDEASThe following season of my podcast will continue the This Pirate line, but I have other ideas for future seasons. One of these ideas has been in my head since 1989, the rest since around 1999. Of course, they’re fictional and will require more resources than just talking into a mic. Nevertheless, this switch to seasonal podcasting has lit that fire underneath me to start writing these stories and put them out in the real world in a way I never could do before. Perhaps it’s better to say that I’ve never felt as empowered to put these stories out in the world before now. Regardless, I’ve never been as positive that I can produce these figments of my imagination as I do right now.

I FIND THEM LESS TAXING THAN A WEEKLY PODCASTA daily or weekly podcast is a Sisyphean effort of prep, outline, write, produce, distribute, repeat. It’s almost too much for one person to do, and I respect anyone who can. I can’t. I’ve repeatedly tried, and with kids and a job and obligations, it’s just too much for this guy. While the effort it takes to create a whole season of a podcast in one shot may seem just as much a struggle, it’s just for a short time. Once done, I can move on to the next thing on my list, like promotion, community building, and scheduling some downtime to get ready for the next season. The weekly grind creates anxiety for me, and when I have that anxiety, I can’t perform consistently. I would rather be anxiety-free and consistent than be bouncing off walls and podcasting on a hit-or-miss basis.

THEY CAN BE PRE-PRODUCED AND PRE-SCHEDULEDAfter I wrote the 12 episode season, it took me another four days to produce and distribute them. So from the initial idea to distribution, I created 12 episodes in about two weeks. Pre-scheduling these episodes to drop means that I have a podcast season that runs weekly until July 30th. I plan to add one more episode out of the Pirate character, but I plan to record that closer to the end of the season to include more behind-the-scenes material. So this podcast will end on August 6th, and by then, I hope to have most of the next season produced, tentatively scheduled to start around