Help publishing a podcast

Walnut Frey

I just recorded a podcast with a friend where we review lesser known movies from the 90s that kids today will probably never hear of and it was a blast. We were nervous but fun was had and now we are stuck trying to upload it to a podcast platform. Everywhere I go says you have to have a RSS Feed to upload it but the only way I’ve seen to get an RSS Feed is to either build a website with premium features (about $100) or joining a blogging site like blubrry or Wordpress (which also requires upgrades to add audio files) and my preference is to spend no money getting this first one out there. I would like to just be able to upload it to iTunes or stitcher so we could possibly get some listeners but this has us stumped.

seanray

if you want to release it for free, what I did w/ my podcast is edit in video editing software (premiere, Avid or final cut) add a picture to the audio, export it as a .mov file create a Facebook page for your podcast and upload it there, and share the page on your personal profile page. That’s what I did for my podcast when I was first starting out.

KingKobra

Maybe add a static image and upload to YouTube? 

A_Ron_Hubbard

Libsyn will completely hook you up for about $5/month.  If that's too salty, you've really only got two options, 1) soundcloud or podbean or some all in one host like that, I think their bottom tiers are all free, and 2) wordpress + powerpress (the bluberry extension).  

I think you can find a free wordpress host if you look around. Then you just have to install and enable the Powerpress plugin, which isn't too technically demanding.  That's what we did, and it's what we're still doing years later.  All this has a learning curve, and it helps a lot to be pretty on the ball when it comes to tech and the internet, but 99% of what you're going to be doing here is working with a GUI, so while you'll have to read documentation to properly fill out the setup for the feed and understand all the inputs and how they work with like Apple's ingestion system, you're not going to have to write code or do anything really exotic.  In general in this biz; easy, robust, cheap. Pick any two.  Once you get your feeds configured, it builds them automatically for you each time you upload a new podcast.

I'd advise against #1, because that option ties you into those places ecosystem, and when you outgrow them, it's going to be a massive bitch to you and your audience to move one.  We've kicked our can down ever bigger roads for over 8 years now, and it's always really easy and usually transparent to the end listener.  You can put the actual mp3 files any where you legally can, but it's really important to own and manage your own RSS feeds, because that's the real estate your listeners will actually be squatting on.  You change that, and you're forcing a lot of people to migrate along side of you, and a portion of your listeners aren't going to be along for the ride.

JaimieT

^^ A couple years ago I used a Wordpress-built website + some free plugin, and that worked for me. Just paid for the hosting and the domain name.

Walnut Frey

A_Ron_Hubbard said:

Libsyn will completely hook you up for about $5/month.  If that's too salty, you've really only got two options, 1) soundcloud or podbean or some all in one host like that, I think their bottom tiers are all free, and 2) wordpress + powerpress (the bluberry extension).  

I think you can find a free wordpress host if you look around. Then you just have to install and enable the Powerpress plugin, which isn't too technically demanding.  That's what we did, and it's what we're still doing years later.  All this has a learning curve, and it helps a lot to be pretty on the ball when it comes to tech and the internet, but 99% of what you're going to be doing here is working with a GUI, so while you'll have to read documentation to properly fill out the setup for the feed and understand all the inputs and how they work with like Apple's ingestion system, you're not going to have to write code or do anything really exotic.  In general in this biz; easy, robust, cheap. Pick any two.  Once you get your feeds configured, it builds them automatically for you each time you upload a new podcast.

I'd advise against #1, because that option ties you into those places ecosystem, and when you outgrow them, it's going to be a massive bitch to you and your audience to move one.  We've kicked our can down ever bigger roads for over 8 years now, and it's always really easy and usually transparent to the end listener.  You can put the actual mp3 files any where you legally can, but it's really important to own and manage your own RSS feeds, because that's the real estate your listeners will actually be squatting on.  You change that, and you're forcing a lot of people to migrate along side of you, and a portion of your listeners aren't going to be along for the ride.

I appreciated the advice. As I said, we are super green to this business but also excited and determined to get started. If it weren’t for shows like yours, I wouldn’t think it would be fun or possible for someone like me to start a podcast.