🥂How to End Your Year in Podcasting

Not to be Target/Michael's/etc. but yes we are already talking end of the year before Halloween sorry

Hi hello it’s Wil! Real ones know I’m a Halloween guy through and through and would never leapfrog over the most important day of the year right to January 1st of next year.

EXCEPT.

Right now is when you have to start planning for your end of the year programming. You deserve a break, and the winter holidays (for those of us in the States, at least) are a great time to actually take it. Even if your podcast is an always-on instead of a seasonal one, please give yourself at least one episode’s worth of off-time programming.

I’m going to fill us with Autumnal warmth this edition to keep us grounded as I get us geared for the end of the year.

😴Everyone deserves a break

Hi! Do you make a podcast? You deserve a break. I don’t care if your podcast doesn’t make you any money (yet). You deserve a break. I don’t care if you’re doing your podcast for fun (you’re also reading PMM so like, I don’t believe you tbh). You deserve a break. I don’t care if you think you’re not working hard enough. Don’t give me that nonsense. You are working hard enough! YOU DESERVE A BREAK!

Taking a break — whether at the end of the year as many in the industry do, or sometime later in the following year — will help you keep your work sustainable. There’s plenty of research out there about how time off makes you more productive that you can go look up if you need more convincing, but honestly, I don’t care about that.

I care about you as a creator outside of your productivity. I care about the human right to rest and relaxation. I care about all labor, regardless of how fun it is, regardless of how lucrative it isn’t, being treated as labor — and necessitating time off.

So before we even jump into how you can take a break and plan some programming for your feed that will be zero (or very little) effort for you, just know that this edition is for you and you do deserve a break.

⏰Quick year-end checklist items

Here’s some quick items to do in prep for the end of the year before we get to our favorite tool in our toolbox.

📜Send that POTY pitch

Is POTY a thing? It’s not, right? We’re not calling our podcasts of the year “potty” are we? Let’s not do that. Sorry for everything. That being said: if you missed our last edition of PMM, be sure to check it out — and be sure to submit your podcast to writers for their end of the year lists!

🏆 Reboot: How to pitch your podcast to year-end ‘best of’ lists

🏆Consider making your own list

Writers aren’t the only people who have good taste in podcasts, and I miss calls for creators to share their love of great works in their industry. I suggest that podcasters make lists of their own favorite podcasts or podcast episodes of the year. Post it on socials and tag the podcasts you love — but also say why you loved them. Don’t just post a list of @-mentions; nobody likes that, and it doesn’t say anything. Focus on quality over quantity.

If you want to be extra nice and supportive of your industry, make it into a quick and easy episode for your feed! Either way, please please please send us your lists if you make them! We want to see/hear what you loved!

💸Start thinking about taxes

How do taxes work? I don’t know! I’m scared! But I know that if your podcast makes money, or if you spend money to make your podcast, you should start thinking about that and taxes towards the end of the year. Here’s a blog post from Caitlin Van Horn that can explain way more than I could ever hope to.

👋🏻Give your audience a heads up

When — not if! — you plan on taking a break, give your audience a little heads up. You don’t really need to do this, but it can be nice from the audience perspective. I always feel like a note at the end of the last episode you release before taking a break is the best way to let your audience know you’ll be away, especially if you include a sentence about it in your show notes. Otherwise, post on socials, on your newsletter if you have one, or on your website.

As I am always saying: don’t preemptively apologize for anything. Nine times out of ten, your audience will actually care about you as a human person and be fine, excited even, with you taking a break.

And if they’re not fine with that . . .

😎Let the haters be haters

You literally don’t owe your audience anything 💖

Negative feedback will always be louder in your head than everyone telling you that you’re doing great 💖

Nobody is entitled to your time or work unless you’ve signed a contract with them saying that they are legally entitled to those things 💖

If it makes you feel better, you can prepare yourself for some annoyed feedback about taking a break. It can be easy to let that kind of feedback worry you, or make it seem like you’re going to have a mass exodus of listenership.

But please try to take a step back and take a breath. Let them be mad about (checks notes) a creator who makes a free product for them, for free, taking a week off. I think we’ll all survive.

🔨Our favorite tool in our toolbox: feed swaps!

Feed swaps are when you and a podcast friend trade entire episodes to put on your own feeds.

Feed swaps consistently have some of the highest conversion rates for new listeners on your podcast. That prime real estate can make swaps feel even more special and exciting for your audience, especially if they’re rare on your feed. That’s a whole episode your audience knows you genuinely think is worth all that space next to your other episodes! These can stay up on your feed forever, expire after a certain number of impressions, or expire after a certain amount of time.

We especially like when these trades start with an introduction from the host of the feed the swap lands on — for instance, Roman Mars’s tremendous intros to feed swaps on the 99% Invisible feed, like this one for An Arm and a Leg. You don’t need to go full Roman though; a quick intro saying that you’re taking a week off and broadcasting another episode you think your listeners will love is great.

You should start planning an end-of-the-year feed swap now. That way you can schedule it early and let it go up without having to think about it again, and you can make sure all the details are ironed out well in advance.

New to feed swaps? Here are some previous PMM editions all about why we love them!

🎢 The exciting world of feed swaps🏆

🔥 Feed warmer campaigns for your podcast 🔥

✨More magic

• This week only, Twila Dang’s Brand Intangibles, “a mastermind course designed to help you build a personal brand that stands out,” is 50% off with code LEGEND2024!

• Our own Lauren Passell was on an episode of Slate’s How To on growing your podcast! 🎉 Go Lauren go!

🎙️From The Desk of Tink

We’re so excited for the release of Less Radical this week! This podcast is all about the story of Dr. Bernie Fisher, a pioneer in breast cancer research whose fascinating life is little known outside of those in cancer research. Hosted by distinguished radiation oncologist and leader in cancer survivorship Dr. Stacy Wentworth, this six-part limited series is the perfect way to take a deeper look into breast cancer as Breast Cancer Awareness Month approaches. Survivors, the families of those impacted by breast cancer, and anyone who cares about survivor advocacy will love this intriguing listen.

Next week, Shreya returns with more podcast marketing magic!

—Wil 🦇