Podcasting is the fastest-growing media platform in the world, with currently 650,000 podcasts out there, in 100 languages, and offering over 20 million episodes. And we’re only at the beginning. More and more podcasts appear every day, and more and more entrepreneurs, businesses, individuals, and distributors, like Spotify, are getting into this world. One person many people turn to for help launching their podcasts is Eric Nuzum, a veteran of NPR and Audible who’s had a hand in creating and launching over 130 podcasts. And the reason is that Nuzum understands the essentials of what makes a podcast work and knows how to help creators shepherd their vision from rough idea to finished product.
Make Noise brings all the wisdom, advice, practical information, and big-picture thinking that any individual or business needs to make a successful podcast. He identifies core principles—such as create empathetically, i.e., think like the audience listens, and stay focused on what’s unique to you and what you have to say. He helps listeners come up with a “Ten Word Description” that will guide them throughout the creative process and then gets into how-tos—how to develop character, story, voice; how to conduct an effective interview; how to be mindful of the limitations of audio (be more like Hemingway than Faulkner). He provides the rules of storytelling, advice on how to test-drive an idea, and, when it’s all ready, how to develop your audience.