Ep 44: How Many Episodes Does Your Podcast Need?

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Lazy Girls Guide to Podcasting

[00:00:00] Verity Sangan: Hello there and welcome back to another episode of the Lazy Girls Guide to Podcasting.
[00:00:04] Verity Sangan: It is great to have you here.
[00:00:06] Verity Sangan: If you are returning, then thank you so much for coming back.
[00:00:10] Verity Sangan: It’s great to have you here.
[00:00:11] Verity Sangan: And if you are new to the podcast or the YouTube channel, it’s lovely to meet you.
[00:00:15] Verity Sangan: I am Verity and I talk about all things podcasting.

[00:00:18] Podcast Intro Discussions

[00:00:18] Verity Sangan: So, on that note, let’s jump straight in.
[00:00:21] Verity Sangan: Or actually, before we do, I just want to talk about this intro, because you have probably noticed that I have scrapped my intro.
[00:00:26] Verity Sangan: I’ve got no intro, kind of like formalized, traditional intro, because this is something that I’m trying out, whereby I’ve noticed that quite a few podcasts that I’ve been listening to recently have begun having a more traditional intro of, like, hi, I’m Verity, and, well, basically, what you’ve been hearing previously on the podcast.
[00:00:44] Verity Sangan: And I’ve decided to kind of scrap that because I’m not sure I think I prefer the idea of a more dynamic intro each episode.
[00:00:52] Verity Sangan: So I’m going to try that for a little while and then see what everyone thinks, see what your feedback is, see how I like it as well, and just yeah, we’ll take it from there.
[00:01:03] Verity Sangan: But, yeah.
[00:01:03] Verity Sangan: So I’d love to know your opinions.
[00:01:04] Verity Sangan: What do you think about the dynamic intros?
[00:01:06] Verity Sangan: Would you prefer a more traditional intro coming back?
[00:01:08] Verity Sangan: Do let me know.
[00:01:10] Verity Sangan: Either by reaching out on social media or if you’re on YouTube, comment down in the comments.

[00:01:16] Redefining podcasting: Understanding its lifecycle

[00:01:16] Verity Sangan: But what I really want to talk about for this episode is not what I was going to talk about for this episode, but I just got a comment on Twitter and I swear to God, it has shifted my perspective on podcasting.
[00:01:29] Verity Sangan: So, so much.
[00:01:30] Verity Sangan: So I put up yesterday a tweet that simply said, on average, most people will quit their podcast before episode eight.
[00:01:40] Verity Sangan: So if you’ve made it to eight episodes or more, congratulations, you’ve already beaten a statistic and the ODS.
[00:01:47] Verity Sangan: And then, like, a little party emoji now somebody came back and they weren’t being religious.
[00:01:52] Verity Sangan: I took this as just being incredibly factual, so I’m not dissing them.
[00:01:57] Verity Sangan: I don’t want anyone to think that that’s what I’m doing, because I’m really not.
[00:01:59] Verity Sangan: I think it’s a really, really interesting point that they raised, and I’m grateful to them.
[00:02:04] Verity Sangan: It is from an account called At Jivestreams and their name is Emo Dojo.
[00:02:09] Verity Sangan: Emo Dojo.
[00:02:10] Verity Sangan: They say that they’re a media production company, producers of the Jive streams we engage on Twitter?
[00:02:17] Verity Sangan: I don’t really know too much about these guys, but either way, I am loving, absolutely loving the reply that they gave my tweet.
[00:02:28] Verity Sangan: So they came back and said, some bands put out eight songs and call it an album because they’re not a radio station.
[00:02:34] Verity Sangan: The idea that podcasts are supposed to go on forever is really odd.
[00:02:39] Verity Sangan: Say what you need to say and then move on too many people create content instead of art and how finishing your thought is the same as quitting.
[00:02:49] Verity Sangan: Oh my gosh, that is mind blowing and so refreshing.
[00:02:53] Verity Sangan: And actually my response to that was, wow, I love your response.
[00:02:58] Verity Sangan: And actually, now you’ve said it, I have to agree, some podcasts really work well as a short season and then it’s done.
[00:03:05] Verity Sangan: Thanks for the perspective.
[00:03:06] Verity Sangan: I just think it was so refreshing and so awesome because I think so often as podcasters we are so used to hearing and I’m guilty of it because I say it all the time.
[00:03:17] Verity Sangan: Get to episode eight, get to episode ten, make sure you’ve got a structure in place so that you’ve got a year’s worth of content.
[00:03:23] Verity Sangan: And actually, what about the podcasts that don’t need a year’s worth of content?
[00:03:27] Verity Sangan: What about the podcasts that are reviewing a TV series and the series has only got six episodes.
[00:03:33] Verity Sangan: So you’re going to review that?
[00:03:34] Verity Sangan: Six episodes in six podcast episodes and then you’re done?
[00:03:38] Verity Sangan: What if you’re reporting on a criminal case and then once the criminal case has completed, your podcast is done?
[00:03:45] Verity Sangan: What if you are talking about eight figures from history who you admire the most?
[00:03:52] Verity Sangan: Well, once you’ve done those eight episodes, are you done with your podcast?
[00:03:55] Verity Sangan: Another reason I have to agree with this is I’ve recently finished listening to a podcast called Witch, which was from BBC Sounds.
[00:04:02] Verity Sangan: Really, really good, really interesting.
[00:04:04] Verity Sangan: But again, it was only like eight episodes long and it was only ever going to be however many episodes long because that is what the podcast was pitched as when it was put to BBC Sounds.
[00:04:16] Verity Sangan: The individual who created the podcast concept only wanted to make X amount of episodes to cover different topics within that larger topic of witchcraft in the well, I’ll say in the 21st century, but they actually go back to witchcraft previous times.
[00:04:34] Verity Sangan: But what was really interesting is that was only ever going to be an eight episode podcast.
[00:04:40] Verity Sangan: So I love this comment that I got given on Twitter or that I got in response to my tweets on Twitter or X, whatever we’re calling it these days, that, yeah, do you know what, podcasts don’t have to live forever.
[00:04:55] Verity Sangan: And this has now shifted so much of my thought process on podcasting and it comes back to this idea of just doing what feels right when it comes to your podcast because it is your podcast, you are 100% in control of it.
[00:05:14] Verity Sangan: And if you want to run it for three months, do that.
[00:05:17] Verity Sangan: If you do want to run for a year, that’s absolutely no problem.
[00:05:20] Verity Sangan: If you want to be this in for the long game because know the way that you want to go, then that’s brilliant.
[00:05:25] Verity Sangan: But this is a really valid point, I think.
[00:05:28] Verity Sangan: And so at Jive Streams, I’m going to reach out to them on Twitter and tell them that they’ve inspired an episode.
[00:05:34] Verity Sangan: But I think that it’s a really, really valid point and I really applaud them and thank them for that answer and just saying, do you know what?
[00:05:44] Verity Sangan: Maybe we need to shift.
[00:05:46] Verity Sangan: And just thinking about that, maybe we do need to shift our perspective on podcasts a little bit and how they don’t need to be these weekly episodes that come out and go on and on for years and years and years.
[00:05:57] Verity Sangan: And I think maybe when we start thinking it like that, then we can cut ourselves a little bit of slack in terms of we’re not content creation machines, we are content creators as podcasters.
[00:06:10] Verity Sangan: But podcasting is an art form.
[00:06:12] Verity Sangan: I believe it’s an art form.
[00:06:14] Verity Sangan: So, yeah, it comes back to that quality over quantity message, doesn’t it?

[00:06:18] Verity Sangan Discusses Podcast Episode Quantity and Content Quality

[00:06:18] Verity Sangan: But either way, I would love to know, what are your thoughts on this episode and also on this perspective?
[00:06:25] Verity Sangan: Because I’ve had a massive perspective shift now and I’d love to know, have you also had a perspective shift?
[00:06:30] Verity Sangan: What are your thoughts?
[00:06:32] Verity Sangan: Do you need to have loads and loads of episodes on your podcast?
[00:06:36] Verity Sangan: Or is it okay to stop the conversation on your podcast when the conversation has been had?
[00:06:43] Verity Sangan: If you’re on YouTube, leave me a comment in the comment section below.
[00:06:46] Verity Sangan: If you’re listening on the podcast, then do reach out via Twitter at Verity Songon or Instagram at Verity songon.
[00:06:54] Verity Sangan: I’d love to hear your thoughts and your opinions, and otherwise I will see you next episode.
[00:07:00] Verity Sangan: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of The Lady Girls Guide to Podcasting.
[00:07:04] Verity Sangan: If if you love this episode, I think you’ll love being on my email newsletter list where I send out weekly podcasting tips to help you create, host and grow a podcast that you love to join, go to Veritysoncon.com newsletter or hit the link in the show Notes.
[00:07:18] Verity Sangan: Until next time, happy podcasting.