Somebody recently pointed me toward a platform for conversations that's still finding its footing. I’m not going to name it yet. I might do a whole episode on it later, but here’s the pitch: you and a co-host hop on something that looks a lot like a Zoom call, people watch it live, they drop comments in a chat window, and the button you click to make this happen says “Start a Podcast.”

And I sat there looking at it thinking, okay, in what universe is this a podcast.

Then I caught myself, because I’ve had this argument before, on both sides, and I already know where it goes.

There’s a camp of people who will tell you a podcast is only a podcast if it comes out of an RSS feed. Doesn’t matter what it sounds like, doesn’t matter if it’s two people rambling for ninety minutes about baseball or true crime, if there’s no feed, it’s not a podcast. It’s something else wearing a podcast costume. And look, I get the appeal of this argument. RSS is genuinely the reason podcasting didn’t turn into another walled garden back when it had the chance to. Nobody owns the feed. You can listen in Apple Podcasts or Overcast or some app built by a guy in his basement, and the show doesn’t care, because the show isn’t asking permission from a platform to exist. That’s real, that matters, I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

But I’ve also got to admit, it’s another kind of purity test, and purity tests are exactly the kind of thing this show exists to make fun of. Real podcasters use RSS” is first cousin to “real creators post every Tuesday at nine.” It sounds like a technical fact but it’s doing the same job as every other guru rule, which is making somebody feel like they’re doing it wrong so they’ll buy the fix.

Then there’s the other camp, the one that just goes by feel. Two people, big headphones, long conversation, and it’s a podcast, full stop, doesn’t matter if it’s sitting on Twitch or locked inside Spotify’s app or streaming on Rumble with no download option anywhere. This is basically how the entire public already talks, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Language moves the way people use it. I’m not going to correct a hundred million listeners on etymology. But this camp has its own blind spot. It’s all about the aesthetics. Microphones and a couch and a slow, meandering conversation register as “podcast” regardless of what’s actually happening underneath, which means a company can borrow every ounce of goodwill the word has earned over twenty years without touching any of the architecture that earned it.

Which brings me back to the platform with the “Start a Podcast” button, and here’s what actually bothered me about it, once I got past the reflexive purist reaction.

It’s not that the RSS crowd is wrong that something’s missing. It’s that they’re pointing at the wrong missing thing. The feed itself was never the point. The feed was just the mechanism that happened to guarantee something people actually care about, whether they’ve thought about it in these terms or not: you hold your own list. Your audience is yours. You can pack it up and move it to another host tomorrow morning, and every single subscriber comes with you without lifting a finger. That’s the whole trick. RSS matters because of what it protects, not because it’s some sacred technical ritual you have to perform to earn a merit badge.

So when a closed platform hands you a “podcast” button, the question worth asking isn’t whether it counts by some dictionary definition. It’s what happens the day that platform changes its terms, or gets bought, or decides your kind of show doesn’t fit their new direction anymore. Where does your show go. Who has the list. If the answer is “nowhere” and “them,” you didn’t start a podcast, you started a tenancy, and you’re renting the thing you think you own.

You don’t need an RSS feed to be legitimate. You also don’t need a webcam and a chat window to be relevant. What you need to know, before you get attached to a platform or a format or a button that says the right word, is whether you can leave. That’s the only best practice in this whole mess that’s actually worth following, and it’s got nothing to do with what a podcast technically is.

What happens when a Hollywood storyteller discovers podcasting?

Alan Katz spent decades working in film and television, including creating and writing for Tales from the Crypt, where getting a story from an idea to the screen could take years, endless approvals, and giving up a lot of control along the way.

Podcasting changed that.

In this episode of Monetize This!, Alan talks about why the microphone might be the ultimate storytelling tool, why authenticity matters more than formulas, and why the best podcasts come from creators who understand the story they’re actually trying to tell.

Alan also shares the story behind his podcast How Not to Make a Movie, his approach to honest storytelling, and why some of the most interesting stories are the ones traditional media might never have let through.

Maybe the thing worth optimizing isn’t your downloads.

Maybe it’s making something worth listening to.

About Alan Katz

Alan Katz is a writer, producer, and storyteller who has worked across film, television, and podcasting. He is the founder of Costard and Touchstone, a storytelling company built around the idea of using stories to make the world a better place.

Learn more about Alan:

https://costardandtouchstone.com

Monetize This! is the podcast where podcasting best practices come to die. A skeptical, slightly ridiculous look at the advice, rules, and “growth hacks” surrounding podcasting — especially the ones that deserve a little roasting.

Full episode:

Podcasting exists in this strange space where creators are told the medium is exploding, the opportunities are endless, and success is right around the corner — usually after buying one more course, one more microphone, one more strategy, one more growth framework.

Meanwhile, most podcasters are making little to no money, fighting discouragement, staring at download numbers, and wondering whether anybody actually cares.

This week on Monetize This, I talk with Rory Paquette — podcaster, coach, self-described “podcaster advocate,” and someone with very strong opinions about how the industry treats creators.

This conversation moves between satire, frustration, philosophy, and practical reality — which honestly feels pretty true to podcasting itself.

About Rory

Rory Paquette hosts multiple podcasts including:

• Power of Man

• The Podcaster Nation

• Wake Up the Lions

He works with podcasters on monetization, growth, and creator mindset, while advocating for what he sees as a more creator-respecting podcast ecosystem.

Find him on Facebook: @rory.paquette

Final Thought

One of the recurring themes on Monetize This is that the internet loves success stories because they sound clean and repeatable.

Real creative work usually isn’t.

Most creators live somewhere in the middle:
building things,
questioning themselves,
trying ideas,
working side jobs,
figuring it out as they go.

Podcasting may be one of the clearest examples of that.

And maybe that’s part of why people keep doing it anyway.

Podcasting used to be relatively simple. You recorded some audio, uploaded it somewhere, and hoped another human being voluntarily listened to it.

Now podcasting apparently includes Netflix shows, vertical video clips, content funnels, algorithm strategy, six-camera YouTube setups, and at least one person online insisting you need a specific microphone before you’re allowed to speak publicly.

This week on Monetize This!, David talks with audio fiction creator Jonathan Marsh about the strange modern universe surrounding podcasting — a place where nobody can fully agree on what a podcast even is anymore, but everyone still seems very confident about the rules.

The conversation wanders through expensive microphones, Netflix “podcasts,” RSS evangelism, Reddit legal advice, creator economy panic, and one surprisingly intense reaction to the phrase “fair use.”

Somewhere underneath all the chaos is a quieter question:

What if podcasting was never supposed to become this complicated?

Jonathan Marsh is the creator of Afterlight Fictions, an audio storytelling podcast featuring original fiction and public domain adaptations.

Follow Monetize This!

Monetize This! is a lighthearted, contrarian podcast about podcasting culture, creator advice, guru nonsense, and the increasingly bizarre economy surrounding “content creation.”

Subscribe at monetizethispodcast.com

What happens when a podcast isn’t a funnel for a business… and the podcast itself is the thing?

In this episode of Monetize This!, David Beckemeyer talks with Andrew Lewin, host of How to Protect the Ocean, a podcast with nearly 1,900 episodes built around ocean conservation, science communication, and helping people care about the ocean a little more than they did yesterday.

No mastermind.
No “high-ticket offer.”
No podcast growth empire.

And yet, somehow, the show changes lives.

Andrew talks about:

• why most podcast advice doesn’t apply to mission-driven shows

• the problem with podcast guru culture and fake metrics

• why podcasting is a long game

• trying (and failing) to force traditional monetization models onto a niche show

• building an audience around impact instead of scale

• the strange reality of being “successful” in ways the industry doesn’t really measure

Along the way, we hear stories about listeners changing careers, starting environmental organizations, pursuing PhDs, and even influencing institutional policy after hearing episodes of the show.

This conversation is ultimately about a kind of podcaster that rarely gets represented in podcasting discourse:
people making shows because the subject itself matters to them.

Guest

Andrew Lewin
Host of How to Protect the Ocean
Speak Up For Blue

Mentioned in This Episode

• How to Protect the Ocean

• Beyond Jaws

• Podcast SEO

• “Top 1%” podcast rankings

• Mission-driven podcasting

• The long game of podcasting

Follow Monetize This!

If you’ve ever felt like podcasting advice assumes you’re secretly trying to become a business coach, this show is for you.

Subscribe wherever you get podcasts.

More essays and episodes at:
Monetize This!

Check it out:

Welcome back to the only podcast newsletter where growth is optional, monetization is suspicious, and “content ecosystem” is considered a cry for help.

This Month’s Big Lie

The Lie:
”In this economy, you can’t afford to miss this webinar!”

Why It’s Dumb:
“This economy” has become the adult version of “because I said so.” It sounds serious, but it’s doing zero actual work. Which economy? What changed? Why does this specific webinar suddenly become financially essential?

It’s not insight—it’s a pressure tactic dressed up as macroeconomics.

What they’re really saying:
“I need this to feel urgent so you stop thinking critically.”

What to do instead:
If someone invokes “this economy” without specifics, assume it’s marketing seasoning, not substance. The more urgent the tone, the less likely it is to matter tomorrow.

Guru Watch

Recent nonsense from the podcast-industrial complex.

• “you don't need more content. you need this.”
  Do I though?

• “Did you know that many people will spend 7 HOURS reading or listening to your content before they buy from you?”
  What if I’m not selling anything?

• “Podcast Growth OS”
  Appears to be a Notion template and emotional dependence

When Amazon product pages have “co-hosts,” the format itself stops meaning anything.
Take: Podcasting didn’t get disrupted—it got diluted into background noise.

Things That Actually Help

This article about “internet ugly” coming for podcasting from Chris Stone hit something I’ve been feeling for a while but couldn’t quite articulate.

A lot of podcast advice still assumes listeners want everything smoother, tighter, more polished, more optimized. But there’s growing evidence that people are getting tired of content that feels professionally engineered to death.

The piece connects that shift to podcasting in a way that’s funny, slightly uncomfortable, and honestly kind of encouraging if you’ve ever felt like your show was “too real” compared to the hyper-produced guru podcasts.

Read: Podcast Intro Music, OK Boomer

Small Win Of The Month

Loving the Spotify comments!

Plus Podcast Hall of Fame podcaster, Dave Jackson, subscribed to the Substack, roasted me about a domain for the podcast, and has agreed to be a guest for a future episode!

Hit reply with your small win.

Ask Monetize This!

Reader Q&A with light mockery.

Q: A guru told me every episode should be under 12 minutes because “attention spans are shrinking.” Thoughts?
A: People sat through three-hour podcasts about medieval grain taxes last week.

Attention spans are fine. Boring spans are shrinking.

Q: I released 12 episodes and literally no one is listening. Should I be worried?
A: No. “Literally no one” is doing a lot of emotional heavy lifting here.

Podcasting is weirdly front-loaded with silence.

The real question isn’t “why is no one listening?”

It’s “am I going to keep going long enough for people to discover I’m worth ignoring more intentionally?”

Got a podcasting question, dilemma, or petty grievance? Send it in and I may answer it with varying levels of wisdom.

This Month’s Recommendation

A Surprisingly Reasonable Take on Video

A lot of podcast advice right now sounds like: “Do video or disappear.” This article from The Podcast Tech Stack offers a much more useful framing.

The core argument: podcasting hasn’t simply “grown” — it’s split into two different businesses. There’s the RSS/audio world most podcasters know, and there’s the platform-video world driven by YouTube, TikTok clips, and algorithmic discovery. Both are valid. But they reward completely different strategies.

It’s a smart reminder that huge video numbers don’t automatically translate into podcast subscribers, and that “podcasting” now means very different things depending on where the audience is consuming it.

Worth reading if you’re tired of hearing that every show needs to become a YouTube channel immediately.

We’re Watching the Unbundling of ‘Podcasting’ in Real Time

Know a podcast, creator, tool, or weird little gem worth sharing? Send it my way.

Quote To Ignore This Month

“Create a torrential downpour of buyers that DEMAND you sell to them.”

There’s something admirable about treating customers like a natural disaster.
Less admirable: the implication that if this isn’t happening, you’re doing life incorrectly.

Seen an absurd guru quote, hustle cliché, or advice-post masterpiece? Forward it for possible public ridicule.

What I’m Working On

I take a look at some content repurposing advice that sounds harmless until you see what it actually means in practice. One podcast episode becomes five different posts, each requiring editing, writing, design, formatting, and tracking performance. On paper it’s “repurposing.” In reality, it’s a full content assembly line built for teams, not solo creators.

For indie podcasters, this quietly turns into a second job layered on top of the first one we’re barely keeping up with. And the assumption underneath—that you must be posting everywhere to be legitimate—doesn’t really hold up. There’s no requirement to turn your podcast into a content factory. Sometimes the most sustainable strategy is simply making the podcast.

Ask yourself, are you trying to grow your podcast or build a social media following?

Here’s Alex Sanfilippo:

As always, plans are subject to scheduling chaos, changing moods, and me deciding to record something completely different at the last minute.

Send your ideas or requests. Also, if you have a podcast and have been approached by podcast gurus, you would be the perfect guest. Likewise if your’e a brave guru or just somebody with a good sense of humor about podcasting or other creative endeavors.

Until Next Month

Join In

Reply anytime with questions, wins, complaints, bad advice, or things podcasting people should be embarrassed to say out loud.

I’ve been seeing more and more of a certain kind of podcast doing this. One recent pitch I saw was very direct about it. The host describes the show as a media platform. They say the guest will receive visibility, reach, promotion, clips, and distribution. The interview functions as part of a content engine.

The audience barely appears in the conversation.

The guest is the customer. The show serves the person paying for exposure. They promote to “professionals” and this particular pitch contrasted a paid-for guest spot with “hobby podcasts” which they claim:

• Do not publish every episode

• Backlog interviews for months

• Heavily edit your message

Whereas their “pay-to-play” show offers no editing “manipulation” and immediate publishing to a large “collective audience ecosystem” (more on that below).

They’re positioning long production schedules as unprofessional and editorial discretion as a threat to the client experience.

But where is the audience in this conversation? Who is the audience for a show with random guests making pitches?

A good host shapes conversations around pacing, clarity, entertainment, and relevance. Editing removes repetition and filler. Some interviews never air because some guests fail to connect. Production decisions exist because the audience is giving their time to the show. That kind of show might have a backlog because the host is in demand.

This particular show offering paid guest spots markets around professionalism. The say they focus on real media, real production, real visibility, and serious business operations.

I guess I like torture because I actually listened to parts of a few of these interviews. I can’t say it politely. The actual interviews sound rushed, unfocused, and poorly prepared. The audio quality is all over the place. The overall microphone presence and broadcasting chops are just not there.

It should not be a surprise since this production philosophy follows naturally from the business model. A guest who pays for access expects visibility and message control. The host becomes a facilitator instead of an editor or interviewer. The interview becomes a deliverable.

And that large “collective audience ecosystem?” I was the first/only viewer to some of these episodes.

Genuine podcast listeners form habits around tone, chemistry, specificity, and trust. They return for personality and perspective. They build loyalty around hosts who filter conversations and shape material into something worth hearing. A random stream of founders, coaches, speakers, and personal brands creates what? What is the promise to the listener?

The podcast label still carries cultural weight, which explains why so many of these projects use it aggressively. Some barely exist outside YouTube. Some have little presence in podcast apps or RSS distribution. The open podcast ecosystem matters less than the authority associated with the word podcast.

That authority supports a larger visibility economy built around clips, branding, appearances, and audience claims. The language grows bigger than the actual engagement. Ecosystems replace listeners. Reach replaces loyalty. Content replaces shows.

Independent podcasters receive a strange amount of contempt in this environment. The term hobby podcast appears constantly in sales copy. The word hobby functions as an insult directed at creators who edit carefully, publish selectively, and build slowly.

Many of those hobby podcasters still care deeply about the audience experience. They spend hours improving pacing, tightening interviews, fixing audio, and refining ideas. They build actual relationships with listeners over time. The show itself matters to them.

That relationship feels increasingly rare in business promotion podcast culture.

So, you can keep your “professional podcast,” thank you. It offers no reliable experience for listeners to come back to. The audience can’t build a relationship with it. It’s empty. It has no authority. It’s generic. It’s interchangeable. Why would I go on that show, even if I was the target market? Who would I be speaking to?

Don’t be that podcast.

And don’t waste your time and money being a guest on one either. If you have something of value to say, there are shows with audiences that will host you at no charge. If you don’t have anything of value to say, well…

Last week I argued you can’t out-consistency a machine. Let’s talk about what that looks like in practice…

I was recently reviewing advice from a company whose business model benefits from you feeling the need to post social media content frequently. Not surprisingly, they suggest posting consistently. And they want to help you. If you’ve found that even if you are posting consistently, you’re still not seeing results, you must be doing it wrong. But don’t worry, they’ve got a “simple workflow” to fix your problem. The advice sounds efficient in theory. But the real workload becomes much clearer when you take a closer look.

Here’s the workflow underneath the advice, stripped down to the operational steps:

1. Record a podcast episode.

2. Extract multiple content formats from the episode:

   • Reel or video clip

   • Quote graphic

   • Carousel or long-form text post

   • Behind-the-scenes image

   • Teaser or mashup clip

3. Publish all formats across platforms.

4. Monitor engagement metrics:

   • Likes

   • Shares

   • Comments

   • Saves

   • Watch time

   • Follows

5. Compare performance across formats.

6. Identify high-performing post types.

7. Remove or reduce low-performing formats.

8. Produce more variations of successful formats.

9. Shape future content around engagement patterns.

10. Design posts around shareability and audience response.

11. Maintain a consistent publishing schedule to generate enough data for analysis.

12. Repeat the cycle continuously.

It’s amazing how fast this “simple advice” turns into a recurring media operation.

A real implementation of this strategy requires video editing, graphic design, copywriting, content planning, and performance analysis. A solo podcaster handles every one of those roles personally.

The strategy itself makes sense for organizations with staff and production capacity. More formats create more opportunities for discovery and distribution. A solo creator experiences the strategy differently because every additional format increases the amount of operational work attached to a single episode.

“Consistency Is the Floor”

That phrase carries a specific assumption about growth. It frames audience growth as a direct result of output volume and execution quality.

Most indie podcasters operate with limited time, limited energy, and limited distribution reach. Many work without an audience team, production support, or promotional infrastructure. Consistency under those conditions functions as ongoing maintenance work. The schedule keeps moving whether growth arrives or not.

The Workload Behind Repurposing

Repurposing content requires editing, writing, formatting, scheduling, and publishing. Five posts attached to one episode can easily consume several additional hours.

The work continues after publishing through analytics reviews, experimentation, and format adjustments for future episodes.

One creative project expands into a recurring operational commitment.

The Tool Promise

Content tools reduce friction and accelerate production tasks. They help creators edit faster, publish faster, and manage more formats.

But we can assume by this suggestion from the tool creator themselves, that alone isn’t enough. There’s more to it.

The core decisions still require attention and judgment. Someone still chooses the clips, writes the copy, evaluates performance, and decides which formats deserve continued effort.

The software improves the workflow. The workflow still exists.

A Different Approach

A solo podcaster benefits from deciding which activities deserve sustained effort.

That can include lighter social media usage, irregular posting schedules, or long stretches without promotion. Podcasting does not require constant platform activity.

Time and energy can move toward stronger episodes, listener relationships, or simply maintaining a pace that remains enjoyable over time.

More content creates more visibility opportunities. Sustainable output creates longevity.

The Tradeoff

Every additional piece of content draws time and energy away from something else. The tradeoff often affects episode quality, personal bandwidth, or long-term motivation.

A podcast becomes harder to sustain once the surrounding workload grows larger than the creative process itself.

The Takeaway

This advice turns optional tactics into perceived obligations. And these tools that promise to do everything for you, obviously don’t, by the tool makers own admission.

A podcaster can publish episodes without building a full content pipeline. A creator can focus on the show itself without maintaining a presence on every platform.

The podcast can remain the primary project. Everything else stays optional.

What happens when you take perfectly reasonable advice about “better audio” and follow it… way too far?

This episode of Monetize This! features voice actor Jodi Krangle—whose thoughtful insights on sound, emotion, and listener connection are immediately (and aggressively) overproduced.

We talk about why sound matters, how it shapes what people feel, and how quickly “good production” turns into… whatever this episode is.

Along the way:

• Duck sounds become a creative philosophy

• Bacon replaces rain

• Podcast gurus promise a million dollars (again)

• And we test the limits of how many sound effects one conversation can survive

Under the chaos, there’s a real point:

Good audio enhances.
Bad audio announces itself.
And most podcasts don’t need more polish—they need more personality.

Things We (Accidentally) Learned

• Sound is emotional, whether you notice it or not

• Great production disappears; bad production performs

• Most “cinematic” podcast advice doesn’t survive contact with reality

• Templates can help—but they can’t replace having a point of view

• People come for information… but they stay for the host

About the Guest

Jodi Krangle is a professional voice actor who helps brands sound like themselves (without the duck effects). She’s also the host of the podcast Audio Branding, where she explores how sound influences perception, memory, and connection.

Connect with Jodi

• Podcast: Audio Branding

• Website: voiceoversandvocals.com

About Monetize This!

Monetize This! is a lighthearted, contrarian podcast about podcasting—where growth is optional, monetization is suspicious, and “best practices” are treated as… suggestions at best.

If it’s overhyped, oversold, or overproduced, we’re probably talking about it.

Final Thought

Your podcast does not need more duck sounds.

(Probably.)

“Welcome to the modern era of podcasting in which thousands of new shows are released into the world every day…”

That’s how Bloomberg frames it in a recent article The Audio Industry Is Grappling with the Rise of ‘Podslop’ (paywalled). Podcasting is an industry suddenly flooded with content, much of it likely AI-generated, much of it barely distinguishable from the rest.

In the past nine days or so, 10,871 new podcast feeds have been created; approximately 4,243, or 39%, might have been AI-generated

The questions that follow are predictable:
What should platforms do?
How do we define “slop”?
How can shows stand out in this sea?

But there’s a more uncomfortable question sitting underneath all of that:

What if nothing has gone wrong?

What if this is exactly what happens when you build an ecosystem around one core idea:

that more content is always better?

For years, podcasting advice has quietly revolved around that idea.

More episodes.
More consistency.
More output.
More “showing up.”

And now, for the first time, that idea has been fully realized.

Not by podcasters—but by software.

Here’s a recent ad I received:

“How do you make $17,000 in 3 weeks from a podcast you never recorded?”

“[This tool] publishes a new AI-generated podcast episode every day… using my own cloned voice… released to Spotify, Apple Podcasts and dozens of platforms automatically.”

“The audience builds while you sleep.”

Eventually, someone figured out the obvious next step:

remove the part where you show up.

The uncomfortable truth is that scale was never really a creative advantage—it was just the only lever available.

You couldn’t outproduce a media company, but you could outwork the average hobbyist.
You couldn’t guarantee quality, but you could guarantee frequency.
So the entire ecosystem quietly shifted toward rewarding volume.

Not because it was meaningful. Because it was measurable.

And now that lever is gone.

You are not going to out-consistency a system that can generate 800+ new shows in 48 hours.

You are not going to “stay top of mind” against something that can be everywhere at once.

And if your strategy depends on either of those things, it’s less a strategy and more a nostalgia act.

This is the part where people usually pivot to:
“Okay, so just make better content.”

But that’s not quite right either.

Because the real shift isn’t from more → better.

It’s from scale → signal.

Scale says:

Publish so often they can’t ignore you.

Signal says:

Say something they can’t ignore.

Those are very different games.

One rewards volume. The other punishes it.

Here’s the irony: the more content floods the system, the less useful content itself becomes as a differentiator.

When everything is available, attention doesn’t go to the most prolific.
It goes to the most distinct.

Not the show with the most episodes.
The show that feels like it could only come from one person.

Which creates a slightly inconvenient reality for anyone who’s been following the “best practices” playbook:

• Consistency is no longer impressive

• Volume is no longer defensible

• Optimization is no longer a moat

Those weren’t unfair advantages. They were temporary ones.

And temporary advantages don’t survive automation.

So what actually holds up?

Not scale.

Not polish.

Not even efficiency.

What holds up is friction.

The things that don’t scale well:

• a specific point of view

• a voice that isn’t interchangeable

• choices that are a little too weird to optimize

• ideas that take longer to form than to publish

In other words, the parts of podcasting that always felt a bit inconvenient.

Friction is valuable because it slows you down just enough for judgment, taste, and specificity to come through.

The strongest defense against AI sameness is not “human vs. machine” but generic vs. genuine. Content holds up when it shows lived perspective, emotional intelligence, and a recognizable stance, because those are the things AI can imitate in surface form but struggles to own in a way that feels earned.

According to a comprehensive study by Carnegie Mellon University, AI language models can mimic writing styles but fail to capture the subtle emotional intelligence that makes human content truly compelling.

There’s a version of this moment that feels discouraging:

You can’t compete on output anymore.

But there’s another version that’s a little more freeing:

You don’t have to.

Because if a machine can do your strategy better than you,
it was never really a strategy.

The advice used to be: just keep posting.

Now the bar is slightly higher:

Have a reason to exist.

I’m David Beckemeyer, host of Monetize This!—a lighthearted, contrarian podcast that pokes fun at the podcast-industrial complex and all the “best practices” we’re told to follow.

I’m looking for guests who:

• Have tried the usual growth and monetization advice

• Have opinions about what worked, what didn’t, or what’s just plain weird

• Don’t mind laughing at the whole thing (including themselves)

This isn’t a “tell us your funnel” interview. It’s a relaxed conversation about what actually happens when real people make podcasts—and how often that clashes with the advice.

If you’re a podcaster who’s a little skeptical, a little curious, and up for a fun conversation, I’d love to have you on.

📬 Reach out: monetizethispodcast@gmail.com
Or reply here / DM me and let’s set something up.

Most podcasts don’t fail because people run out of things to say.

They fail because people start chasing something they never clearly defined in the first place.

In this episode of Monetize This, I talk with Donald Dunn—who runs multiple shows, built a podcast network… and makes exactly $0 from podcasting itself.

Not as a failure. As a choice.

We get into why monetization advice often misses the point, how burnout actually happens, and why the most important decision you can make about your podcast has nothing to do with downloads.

A Few Takeaways

1. Most podcasts don’t fail—they drift
They start with one intention and slowly absorb expectations from the outside.

2. Burnout isn’t about talking—it’s everything else
Editing, promotion, distribution. That’s the real job.

3. Monetization comes later (if at all)
Trying to force it early usually leads to disappointment—or worse, bad decisions.

4. The podcast might not be the business
For some creators, it’s the portfolio, the proof, or the entry point—not the revenue stream.

5. You have to decide what this is upfront
Because the work, expectations, and outcomes are completely different depending on that choice.

About the Guest

Donald Dunn is the founder of Barracks Media and host of multiple podcasts, including Spirits and Stories. His work focuses on storytelling, mental health, and helping others share their experiences—often outside of traditional monetization models.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Barracks Media

Monetize This! is for podcasters who are tired of being treated like a funnel, a brand, or a growth chart.

Sometimes the podcast is the thing.

And that’s enough.

Welcome back to the only podcast newsletter where growth is optional, monetization is suspicious, and “content ecosystem” is considered a cry for help.

This Month’s Big Lie

“How to turn listeners into clients consistently.”
Ah yes, the old belief that podcast audiences are just unopened wallets waiting for your proprietary conversion funnel. Sometimes listeners are just… listeners.

Honorable Mention

“The ONE SPREADSHEET that reveals your authority.”
If true, accountants would dominate podcasting.

Guru Watch

Recent nonsense from the podcast-industrial complex.

• “Ads don’t work. Content doesn’t work. Cold outreach doesn’t work. Conveniently, only my free guide works.”

• “This is free” is often followed by something that definitely isn’t.

• Kind of ironic to tell people to stop using ads… through a paid ad funnel.

Things That Actually Help

At the risk of confusing everyone even more about the dreaded download, this piece has some genuinely useful insights. It argues that download numbers can be misleading, incomplete, or inflated depending on how different apps and platforms count listens—meaning the dashboard might not be the truth you think it is. Worth reading if you’ve ever felt emotionally manipulated by a graph.

Podcast Strategy Weekly

Your podcast downloads are lying to you

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3 months ago · 8 likes · 10 comments · Chris Stone

Small Win Of The Month

The small win for this month is much more than a “small” win. It’s getting this podcast (and now newsletter) off the ground. Thanks for listening and subscribing.

Hit reply with your win, big or small.

Ask Monetize This!

Q: Should I start a podcast to land $10K–$100K clients?
A: You should start a podcast if you want to make a podcast. If you want clients, there may be faster ways than learning RSS feeds.

Q: Is podcast guesting a guaranteed trust machine?
A: No. It’s one tactic. Also depends on many factors, including reach and fit.

Q: Why do gurus say every other tactic is dead?
A: Because fear converts better than nuance.

Q: Is a free guide ever really free?
A: Emotionally, no.

Got a podcasting question, dilemma, or petty grievance? Send it in and I may answer it with varying levels of wisdom.

This Month’s Recommendation

For this inaugural newsletter edition, I have to recommend my friend Dave Campbell and his How To Podcast Series.

If you’re looking for sincere, practical podcast advice without the fake urgency, mystery funnels, or “six easy steps to passive income,” spend some time with How To Podcast Series. Dave is one of the genuinely helpful people in podcasting—thoughtful, generous, and focused on advice that might actually improve your show instead of just improving someone else’s sales numbers.

https://howtopodcast.ca

Know a podcast, creator, tool, or weird little gem worth sharing? Send it my way.

Quote To Ignore This Month

“The old playbook isn’t working. This one does.”

Every guru’s autobiography in two sentences.

Seen an absurd guru quote, hustle cliché, or advice-post masterpiece? Forward it for possible public ridicule.

What I’m Working On

Lining up future episodes with a fun mix of podcasters, creators, and at least a couple people who may accidentally wander into the guru danger zone.

There’s also a possible conversation or two with coaching-world representatives, which means journalism may be required.

As always, plans are subject to scheduling chaos, changing moods, and me deciding to record something completely different at the last minute.

Send your ideas or requests. Also, if you have a podcast and have been approached by podcast gurus, you would be the perfect guest. Likewise if your’e a brave guru or just somebody with a good sense of humor about podcasting or other creative endeavors.

Until Next Month

Be well, make stuff, and beware of the platinum mastermind tier.

Join In

Reply anytime with questions, wins, complaints, bad advice, or things podcasting people should be embarrassed to say out loud.

While you’re here, check out a few of my other shows / projects

Outrage Overload Substack

Newsletter icon image credit: Good Ware

There are a lot of ways to “support” another podcaster.

Most of them involve liking a post, maybe dropping a comment, or saying “we should totally collaborate sometime” and then… never doing that.

And then there are the people who actually go to the next level.

Recently, Dave Campbell (host of How To Podcast Series) did exactly that. He took the episode we did on Monetize This with Alex Sanfilippo and he dropped it straight into his own feed.

That’s right. A full-on feed drop.

But more than that, he didn’t just hit publish and walk away. He recorded a thoughtful, generous intro to the episode—contextualizing it, saying kind things about me (which I will absolutely not let go to my head), and teeing it up for his audience in a way that actually invites them in.

It was, in a word, classy.

And also… kind of rare.

Because here’s the thing: sharing someone else’s work—especially when it’s a little “spicy,” a little critical of the industry we all operate in—takes a bit of confidence. You’re trusting your audience. You’re signaling what you stand for. You’re saying, “Hey, this conversation matters.”

Dave did that. And I’m genuinely grateful.

If you want to check out the episode as it appeared on his feed, you can listen here:

And don’t forget to subscribe and comment on Dave’s podcast.

An Open Invitation (Yes, This Is Me Turning Gratitude Into a Bit of a Thing)

Dave’s feed drop also got me thinking…

There are a lot of podcasters out there quietly having the real conversations about this industry. The uncomfortable ones. The skeptical ones. The “are we all pretending this works?” ones.

And those episodes don’t always travel very far.

So here’s an open invitation:

If you’ve got an episode—yours or someone else’s—that takes an honest, maybe slightly irreverent look at podcasting… the business of it, the culture of it, the weird incentives around it…I’d love to hear about it.

Especially if it’s:

• Poking at the “download numbers = success” narrative

• Questioning the guru playbook

• Calling out the shadier corners of podcast promotion

• Or just telling the truth in a way that might make a LinkedIn growth hacker slightly uncomfortable

Send it my way.

Because I’m increasingly interested in doing more of what Dave just did—sharing those conversations with the Monetize This audience via occasional feed drops.

No gatekeeping. No “you must have X downloads.” Just: is it thoughtful, honest, and maybe a little bit dangerous?

The Part Where I Say Thank You Again (But Slightly More Seriously)

Dave—if you’re reading this—thank you.

Not just for the kind words, but for the action. For taking the extra step. For modeling the kind of collaboration that actually makes this medium better.

It meant a lot.

And for everyone else: go find a podcast you respect and do something more than just nodding in agreement: reach out, comment, share.

You might accidentally make the ecosystem a little less terrible.

—David

What if your podcast… isn’t a strategy?

In this episode, I talk with Travis Rhoden, co-host of Bestie Approved—a show that breaks just about every “rule” in podcasting. No niche. No growth plan. No real monetization to speak of.

And yet—it works.

Not in the way the industry usually defines success. But in a way that’s a lot harder to measure: they actually enjoy making it.

We get into the reality behind podcast advice, the pressure to turn everything into a funnel, and what happens when you just decide not to play that game.

This isn’t a “how to grow your podcast” episode.
It’s more like: what if you didn’t?

Links:

https://www.bestieapproved.com/

Key takeaway:
Your podcast doesn’t have to lead to something else.

More from this conversation:
There’s a lot more from Travis that didn’t make the main cut—extra rants, tangents, and behind-the-scenes chaos. Those will be dropping as bonus episodes, so keep an eye out.

About the show:
Monetize This! is a podcast about podcasting—minus the guru playbook. No fluff, no funnels, no “10-step growth hacks.” Just real conversations about what this medium actually is… and what it isn’t.

If this episode resonated (or irritated you), share it with someone who’s overthinking their podcast.