A Reminder That You CAN Take A Break From Your Podcast

I don’t know who needs to hear/read this, but you CAN take breaks from your podcast. 

Sometimes you may need to take a break because your personal or professional life is going through a transition and you need to put some of your creative work to the side to focus on something big like a move or health concern. For parents like me, you may find you want to take some time off before school starts to make sure you can focus on getting everyone ready.

If your podcast is an outlet for your creativity, like mine usually are, and you’re having trouble or it’s losing its appeal, pushing through may be the answer for some, but for most those are signs of incoming burnout.

There’s no right or wrong way to take a break from your podcast. I have a few clients who podcast in seasons and take some time off in the summer before starting a new season. And I had a few podcasting clients this year who opted to rerun older episodes with updated intros and outros to keep their weekly schedule consistent. No matter what you plan to do, be sure to let your audience know, either on the podcast or on your social media channels, website or newsletters.

During your break, you may find you have some breathing room away from the podcasting process where you can take a step back and see how to improve and create more efficiency in the next season or batch of new episodes.

Speaking of breaks, I’ll be taking one of my own from taking on new consulting and podcasting editing projects for the next few weeks.

While my podcast editing and consulting calendar is closed at the moment, I’ve been asking around my network to find folks I’m happy to recommend for your podcasting needs. If one of your goals for 2022 was to outsource podcast production, you’re in luck!

I’m especially thrilled to have such a great response to a Tweet I put out seeking connections to podcast production resources — I’m especially excited to have connected with a number of folks in the space who are LGTBQ+-friendly too! I’m glad to see more discussions about working with folks in the industry who are committed to uplifting and promoting marginalized and underrepresented voices.

I can understand how Carrrie Caulfield Arick theorizes marginalization breeds podfade in her recent post over on The Podcast Host and I hope to see more discussions about this and talk of resources and solutions..

Podcasters — If you’re seeking to streamline your podcasting process, check out the responses to the Tweet here! (Embedded above)

While most podcasters agree that consistency is one of the most important aspects of growing a loyal and captive audience, it’s unrealistic for most of us to be able to do the same thing day in and day out. Our lives change from season to season, month to month, week to week, etc.

If you can get out an episode of your podcast every single week, fantastic! But if you’re finding you’re having trouble sitting down to write or record or edit, on top of marketing and growing your audience, you may need a break just to catch up. And that’s OK! That’s what breaks can be for.

One thing I’ve found helpful during breaks is to connect with other podcasters and take the time to check out what they’re doing. Sometimes breaks away from your work is a great time to see how others are using the medium and possibly get some inspiration from them. When I had ended my first podcast and before starting my second, I actually created an 8-week giveaway segment for the Epic Film Guys podcast. It was a 5-minute clip in which I gave hints about various movies for the audience to guess and send in their answers for a prize, but putting that together and having friends in podcasting trust me enough to create a segment for them was the taste of the creative freedom I needed to me to create my solo podcast, The Story Behind, which went on to receive a Webby nomination and which I wrote a book based off of.

Above all else, it’s YOUR podcast. As of right now, there is no podcasting higher authority to say, “Your podcast MUST have X many episodes” or “You can’t just take a break from the free podcast you put out to your audience!” — and if there ever is, consider that my cue to leave podcasting. Until then, give yourself permission to take a break from your podcast. At least every once in a while 😉

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