The Challenges of Video Podcasts

The Podcast Life is a newsletter by Deanna Chapman that helps you create a great podcast.

I knew that making The Podcast Life a video and audio podcast was going to be a challenge. Despite having a YouTube channel where I previously posted videos, I never fully got comfortable on camera. Comments about my appearance and how my opinion about X horror movie or book was stupid/wrong/etc. really took a toll on me.

While I haven’t received any of those types of comments on this podcast, I’ve still been struggling with wanting to do the video portion of it. My issues with being on camera aside, being good at YouTube requires a bunch of other skills that I’m frankly also not good at.

Here’s a short list:

• Writing titles

• Making thumbnails

• Putting together a hook + compelling introduction

These three things also happen to be very important. I’m sure someone who is reading this, is yelling at me that those are all things I can improve on (hi, Jesse Cannon). But I’ve tried! I read the Creator Hooks newsletter, I’ve looked at endless thumbnails on successful videos, and for whatever reason, I just can’t get it to click.

If you’ve made it this far into the newsletter, you’re possibly wondering what the whole point is. And it’s this: I’ve been podcasting for 10 years and still have no idea what I’m doing at times. So let me share something I watched recently, since it might help you if you’re looking to dig into video podcasting.

I hope that the things I struggle with come much easier to you if you’re doing a video podcast. And if you are doing video already, reply and send me one of your videos, I’d love to check out what everyone else is doing.

Now for last week’s episode! I had a blast talking to Rachel Jacobs about how The Adventure Zone and My Brother, My Brother & Me are edited and what her role is when they take the shows on the road.

If you prefer audio, you can find the episode here.

Next week, I’ll have a solo episode ready to go. I’m working on booking out some more guests, so no spoilers on those just yet until I get them scheduled.

If you enjoyed this newsletter and really want to level up your podcast, I interview the smartest people in the business. I’m always looking for the best ways to help you grow your podcast. So be sure to subscribe and share this with a friend! And if there’s something you’d like to see covered, reply to this email.