Become a Writer Today Growing and Promoting a Podcast and Should you Script the Episodes? With Jack Rhysider
If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you know I stick to a format where I interview an expert on a particular topic. I talk to them about their background and ask them about their writing process and journey.
I like the interview format, but there are other formats that you can use for podcasts like the one popularized by Serial, where you script out an episode in advance and tell a story within the episode. That takes a lot more work, but it's an excellent format for writers.
I wanted to get in touch with a podcaster who does just that, which led me to talk to Jack Rhysider. He's the host of Darknet Diaries, an award-winning podcast all about the world of hacking and security. Publications like The Guardian and The New York Times have featured the podcast.
Jack has been podcasting for over three years, and he says there is real value in consistency and turning up. He describes some of the growing pains he had at the start of his podcast when he found a competitor talking about the same topic.
Jack talks about how you should go where your community is, and he's built a fantastic community on Discord and Reddit. He finds his community often come to him with story ideas and feedback about the show, and word of mouth has helped him grow the podcast.
Jack also offers some advice about the storytelling process and recommends a book that has helped him.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How Jack finds someone willing to talk about being hacked
- Jack's research process
- Using Discord and Reddit to engage with the audience
- Using storying telling when scripting an episode
- Is it too late to start a podcast?
- Techniques for growing a podcast
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Thanks for listening!