School of Podcasting: Expert Tips for Launching and Growing Your Podcast Stepping On Your Listeners Toes
Lee Silverstein is the man behind the Colon Cancer Podcast and the Color Cancer Network was able to get press passes to a very cool event in his area.
Cool Image Tools For Your PodcastI've been working on rebuilding PodcastingResources.com and in the process finding that some resources are gone, and other have been updated. Also in the process of moving items, I've had podcaster inform me of new sources. Today I want to talk about some resources you might know and a few might not when it comes to creating graphics and images.
Canva.comCanva.com was my favorite tool for a simple but powerful tool. It included photographs you could include for free, or in some cases $1. It has a set of tutorials to get you up to speed and you can create some great looking images for free (or next to fo free)
Pixlr.comPixlr.com is another graphic program in the cloud. It doesn't have access to photos and such, but it can edit the photos you have, and it's a great tool if you need to resize an image, especially if your artwork for Apple Podcasts is the right dimensions, but the file size is too big as you can have pixlr.com compress it.
Vectr.comVectr.com is a new program to me, and from I've seen is the most powerful graphics program that is 100% free. It works on any platform, and it also has a cloud version. As it is super powerful there is a bit of a learning curve, but if you took the time to go through the tutorials (and they have quite a few) you could make some great looking graphics.
Adobe SparkAdobe Spark is my new favorite tool. It has one drawback that I will hit on in a minute. You simply click on what you are trying to make (twitter, facebook, Instagram, etc) and pick a design, choose some colors, spin a wheel to scroll through some fonts, and share your image. So what is the one drawback? Most of these other tools allow you specify custom sizes, but from what I've seen there is no way to specify a file size. So what I do is if I need a square image, I go into adobe spark, create an Instagram image, and then resize it using Pixlr.com
New Twists on Old ToolsEcamm Call Recorder is a great tool for Recording Skype, they recently launched Ecamm Live which is meant to record Facebook Live broadcasts that costs $29.95 and has some of the same features as wirecast (but that costs $500). This cost $29.95. Here is a tutorial.
A New Podcasting Microphone For Half the PriceI've been a huge fan of the Audio Technica ATR2100 microphone. It sounds great. It has both USB and XLR inputs (so it can plug directly into the computer or into a mixer) and it has a lifetime warranty. As I write this, that microphone is $67 the ATR2005 is a slightly more stylish version for $79
Well SP on the Better Podcasting Show found the Knox Cardoid USB Microphone for $40. This microphone looks and sounds very much like the 2100/2005 (it looks like a 2005 with the 2100 switch). There is even a bundle where you get the microphone and a boom arm for $69.
When You Step on A Listener's ToesIn my twelve years of podcasting, I may have had someone send a nastygram once or twice. This is why I was so surprised to get a nasty email calling me a piece of garbage, and another podcaster resorting to name calling and saying how I had no listeners and other false statements.
So what do you do?
- Well, you could load up your anger and hurt and go out attitude a blazin'. From my experience, this typically does not end well. or
- Reach out to them and attempt to get an understanding of how your words offended them.
Realize this is NOT saying they were wrong for feeling hurt or offended. Everyone is allowed to feel what they feel. Many times when two people are involved in a conversation and someone gets offended chances are the person who did the offended didn't know what they said was so lethal.
My Offensive WordsOn my Logical Weight Loss podcast, I was reading a story about how Americans are giving up on trying to lose weight and accepting being fat. In the article, it mentioned how American Doctors feel they can tell their patients about the dangers of being overweight as they might be accused of "Fat Shaming." This to me makes no sense and stated that if your doctor can't talk about your weight than who can say anything negative. I asked, "What is there no Slut Shaming, no Thief Shaming? What if you have relations with a goat? Is that OK? To this, I got an email. The subject of the email was F*CK YOU. Here was the message:
In your latest podcast, your comment about "slut shaming" and comparing it to "thief shaming" was absolutely disgusting. FUCK YOU, go to hell you piece of garbage. To this I replied:
Thank you so much for your feedback. My point was if we don't allow anyone to say a negative thing about anything, isn't that the doorway to anarchy? I would love to have a dialogue about this with you. Can we get on skype? The response I received was simply:
GO TO HELL
To that, I replied, "Too bad. As a former teacher, I always feel there is room for improvement, and obviously, there is room for me to improve. Good luck with your weight loss journey."
If You Stay Open - You Leave the Door Open to KnowledgeI appeared on the Podcast Survival Guide podcast with Josh Liston (who is from Austalia) and he explained that while "Slut" is not a great word in America, it is a really, really bad word in Australia ( on the same level as C*NT in the US).
In both cases, my remarks on the Logical Weight Loss podcast were somewhat based on my frustration with political correctness (fat people are now horizontally challenged) and what I said was off the cuff, in a slightly over the top manner to make a point. One might guess that Alex's comments were in the same manner.
Conclusion
In the end with different countries, cultures, languages, etc we are going to inadvertently step on each other's toes. All you can do is apologize that someone feels a certain way, and pursue a dialogue to learn from the experience.
Podcast RewindI appeared on the Podcaster's Survival Guide Podcasters Roundtable Talking Podcast Consumptiontalking a bit more in depth about upsetting your listeners, and I also appeared on the in 2017
Ready to Start Podcasting?Join the School of Podcasting get access to all of your 16 courses on podcasting
Live group coaching
Private facebook group
Priority Email Support