Publishing Platforms?

Workbench
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Good day, my fellow podcasting peeps-

AnnieP here. I’m needing clear-eyed input here. Why have you chosen the platform you use?
@members
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Off the table is I have more than one podcast. That will NEVER be my issue (haha)

Please be as precise as you can. If it’s about features, which features?

Mochos besos, in advance
AnnieP

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@AnnieP I use Simplecast because

  1. It is the choice of the Podcasting Workshop and I was able to get it to work.
  2. I’m very much in the drive to Publish Podcasts rather than find a new Home.
  3. Even so, one night I thought “what if I end up wishing I had picked something different from the beginning? So started checking out others I’d heard folks talk about - such as Descript and Hindenburg - which I think publishes as well as edits. Just figuring out which words mean editing software and which mean hosting platform - is still a challenge for me!
  4. Concluded I’m probably never going to need something MORE complex, more versatile, MORE talented, or MORE expensive than Simplecast
  5. But if I do, by then, perhaps I’d be able to solve any issues that arise.
  6. Customer Service and Support normally figure into my decisions a lot and I’ve heard that Simplecast doesn’t provide much service to users. Maybe that’s part of its affordability. Hoping I can “stay within the lines” and not rattle it.
  7. Jey gets unbelievably informative around this in his “Podcasting Journal” Podcast and especially covers the FREE Anchor.
  8. Miss you on Saturdays! :disappointed_relieved:

PS - I did this mostly to get practice in shaping my own thoughts around your question. When the others start responding - I’ll be watching too. It’s going to be so good!

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Captivate was my choice because:

  • I know one of the founders and some of his colleagues and I like their down-to-earth approach (Mark is a podcaster who runs a podcasting host company, so he knows what podcasters look for)
  • the interface is very easy to use
  • they regularly bring out new features
  • it’s very easy for me to embed podcast episodes in my website
  • it was easy to submit my podcast to many different directories and podcast apps (Apple, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, etc.)
  • I can have a separate login for my Virtual Assistant
  • you can have a private podcast (I use my website for this, but if I ever switched it, that would be good)

When you use Captivate you pay by an amount of downloads (12,000 downloads per month for $17/month, paid annually), not per podcast, so you could potentially have 5 podcasts in one Captivate account. https://www.captivate.fm/features/

There are also Q&A sessions, some kind of co-working sessions, a free course you can take, etc.

There is a free trial you can take advantage of, too, I think it’s 7 days.

What else would you like to know?

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I’m using Simplecast for both Little Box of Quotes and Podcaster Community. The critical feature is being able to set a “custom URL” for each episode. For those two shows, I set that… so people who click-or-swipe-or-whatever in their podcasting app of choice, the go to a URL of my choosing, not to the Simplecast web page for the episode. I’m currently preparing to shift Movers Mindset from being self-hosted, to Simplecast too.

Cost: 15/mon for up to 20,000 downloads, 13.50*12 (iirc) if you pay for the year up front.

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Thank you, @maryjlrowe @GermanWithNicole & @craigconstantine

You did a great job giving me a great deal to think about

See you all soon
AnnieP :disguised_face:

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Good job, @maryjlrowe
Miss you too.
AnnieP :heart:

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@GermanWithNicole
The website issue caught my eye as well as the customer service aspect. We will be putting a link at my website for my podcast

Nicole, is the backend for the website directly to captivate? Or one of the other not Spotify platforms?
AnnieP :disguised_face:

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I don’t understand your questions, @AnnieP , so I’m not sure if this is what you want. Please do clarify if this isn’t what you’re looking for:

  1. Captivate is the host and I can embed each episode or the entire podcast on my site. It links back to captivate because that’s where it’s hosted.
  2. You can choose which platforms your podcast gets catalogued in, and you have to set them up one-by-one.

Captivate was recently acquired by some English media conglomerate, which I didn’t care for and couldn’t research very well, however the company has essentially remained the same.

I think of the host like a book publisher and each host like a library. You can choose whether your “book,” published at Captivate, is available a specific library–or not. :slight_smile:

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Yes, you’ve nailed the answer @GermanWithNicole

There are often links buried in a website that users never see or understand that they are there.

e.g. for me the free short story download listed at my website is actually housed on a platform called bookfunnel and I capture email addresses with Mailchimp so when someone wants that short they give me their email address and they receive the link to the download. So, that submit button on my website is actually doing more than it appears. Probably more than you ever wanted to know. LOL :disguised_face:
Thanks, AP

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Excellent to hear.

Oh, I work with that all day every day. I’m a geek who looks for the links. Ha! :slight_smile:

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@AnnieP

I’m quoting @GermanWithNicole re: Captivate.fm.

“Captivate was my choice because:

  • I like their down-to-earth approach
  • the interface is very easy to use
  • they regularly bring out new features
  • it’s very easy for me to embed podcast episodes in my website.”

New features introduced recently are time-savers for show notes. I’m learning how to use the podcast scheduling feature and the show notes (really new stuff.)

I use Hindenburg journalist pro for the editing software. It’s easy to use, I think.

Lovelace

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