Let's Define What You Really Want (or Need) In a Podcast Editor

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What are you really looking for in a podcast editor?

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It's time to get specific.

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If you wanna take the work that we've been doing over the last few episodes and turn it into a list of what you want and need.

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This is the episode for you.

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Welcome to Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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My name is Bryan Entzminger.

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I'm a podcast, editor and manager at TopTierAudio.com.

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This show is intended to help you be able to find the right podcast editor for you.

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Whether you're looking for your first editor or your next editor in season one, we're gonna help you get

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clarity on what you really want before you start connecting with editors and then provide you with

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the tools to make the right decision for yourself.

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This show is sponsored by TopTierAudio.com, where we provide podcast production services for

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multi-passionate coaches, trainers, and consultants.

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Be sure to stick around to the end, and I'll tell you how you can get a free tool to help you organize

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your thoughts and make sure you don't miss anything.

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Welcome back to Hiring a Podcast Editor.

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I appreciate you being here and I really hope this show is helping you to clear the fog a little and get a firm

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handle on what you're looking for in a podcast editor over the last few episodes, we've laid the groundwork to help

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you to understand and communicate what you're looking for.

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And if you've missed those episodes, I would recommend that you go back and go through those because this is designed to help.

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Lay that foundation.

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And then we're trying to move this forward.

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So this is the next in the series over the last few episodes, we've gone through a process of imagining

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what that ideal future might look like for you.

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We've identified some things that maybe are falling off of your plate or just not getting done.

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Currently.

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We've identified what style of editing you're looking for, and we've also highlighted some roadblocks and

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constraints, but now it's time for us to do two things.

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The first is we're going to take a little bit of time considering any other non-ED editing services we might need.

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And then we're gonna start trimming down the list.

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We've spent the last few episodes, brainstorming ideas.

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We've really been in brainstorming mode, but now it's time for us to begin calling that list down just a little bit.

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I'm gonna start.

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The non-ED editing services.

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Now, if you've been going through this process, you probably already have some of this work started.

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In fact, the work that you've done is probably going to be more valuable for you than what I'm gonna share with you today.

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So I would recommend that if you've got notes, go back to those and refer to those.

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However, on the off chance that you might have missed something, or you maybe just want to hear

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what I've got to say, I'm gonna share a few different ideas of non-ED editing things that you might.

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Some of these are gonna be things that editors might do.

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Some of these might be things that producers or podcast managers do, but I'm gonna go through this list because

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this will hopefully help you to identify some of the other things that you might be looking for as you

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consider what that ideal future might look like for you.

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And I'm gonna break 'em down into a few categor.

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First up.

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I'm thinking about audio.

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We've already talked about editing, but there are other things that can be done.

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For example, sound design or composition or advanced audio repair.

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I tend to think that these are complimentary to editing, but they're not.

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Strictly editing.

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So those might be things that you're interested in thinking about sound repair.

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If you tend to record in less than ideal situations because of the nature of your show or how you

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capture the audio, that might be something that you want to look into as part of a service offering.

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So that.

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If you get something that's recorded, not as well as you would've hoped the person you're working

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with might be able to help restore some of that.

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Now just be aware that these other value added services do come at a cost.

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And so if you can, I'm always gonna suggest that you bias toward capturing a great recording.

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But if you think that there's the possibility that audio repair might be.

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Maybe add that to your list of things you might be looking for beyond audio.

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I'm also thinking about video, right?

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Podcasts can be video and I'm not just talking about YouTube.

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Podcasts can be video, not all media hosts support those, but they can be video.

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So do you need somebody that can do video editing for you?

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Do you need somebody who can create those audiograms or those moving wave graphics?

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What about graphic design?

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Do you need somebody that can help with design?

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Episode specific artwork, maybe for social media, maybe for a blog post, maybe custom

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artwork for in-app displays, that kind of thing.

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What might you be looking for in terms of that?

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Or are you looking for any of that?

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Again, you may not find this in an editor, but some editors offer these kinds of things.

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We've also got things like consulting, or maybe even bordering on a producer role.

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Do you need somebody who can do technical consulting for you?

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Who can help you with your audio or technical aspects of your show?

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What about content strategy?

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Do you want somebody who can help you define your content strategy and maybe suggest.

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Topics or things like that.

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Those are things to consider.

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What about scripting and story design?

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Do you need somebody who can help you craft a story out of what you've created depending on the kind of show you have,

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that might be something that would be important to you?

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I, I would also suggest that maybe even transcriptions might be important to you, especially when you start

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thinking about things like accessibility, for people who are hearing impaired, or maybe just prefer to be able to read.

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Are you looking for somebody who can offer you transcriptions?

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And sort of beyond just transcriptions, there's also other elements of writing.

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Do you need somebody who can do some writing for you like titles and teaser or episode descriptions?

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What about blog posts?

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Do you need someone who can actually function as a high level copywriter to help you write copy to

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promote your show on social media, or maybe help you write your email newsletter or things like that?

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Do you need somebody who can help you with the writing and.

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It's not necessary that you're going to fund all of this in one person, but let's get it all out on the table because we're

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gonna start after we do this, calling that list back down.

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What about administrative things?

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If you're a very busy business owner or nonprofit leader or something like that, there's a chance

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that you don't actually have the time available that you would like to invest in your show.

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So do you need somebody who can help you with things like.

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Booking guests, or maybe helping you to get booked as a guest or maybe with some PR or some outreach.

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What about somebody who can help you with marketing or understanding your stats?

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What about somebody who can upload and schedule your publications of the, the blog posts?

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If you have those social media calendar, if you have one of those help you schedule your email

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newsletter, what about scheduling your podcast?

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Episodes?

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All of those are things that can be value added services.

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And if those are things that you're looking.

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Then I would suggest that you consider those hi there I'm popping in for just a second to tell you about boom caster.

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If you're going to be recording your podcast while streaming live, either with a co-host or with guests

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or something like that, you're gonna need a service that does that and gives you high quality recordings

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and boom caster is a great service for that.

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They offer an excellent live stream experience.

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And super high quality audio and video recordings.

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So later you can edit those into your final podcast episode.

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You can find them@boomcaster.com or click the link in the episode notes.

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If you use that, you'll also get a discount on your purchase and your purchase will benefit the show.

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So I'd really appreciate that.

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Boom caster is what I recommend for you to capture those great recordings for your podcast.

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Now that we've thought through a few of the things that we.

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Might want to add to the list to kind of create as best we can.

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That comprehensive list of the things that we're looking for potentially in an editor.

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Now it's time to start thinking about how we can trim this list down.

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You've gone through your dreaming process, where you thought through what the ideal future might look like for you.

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We've made a lot of notes about things that you'd like some help with about the structure of your show, all of that kind of.

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Now it's time to start trimming that stuff down.

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So I'm gonna ask you to pull out your notes and we're just gonna start going through those.

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And this is something that you can do on your own, but essentially what you're gonna do is just start not.

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What things are the most important to you?

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They might all be important, but which ones are the most important?

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Are there any that are critical?

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Are there any that you might consider a deal breaker?

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Are there some that might be nice to have?

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Are there others that you go?

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Yeah, that sounded great, but I don't really care about those and it's okay.

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If not everything makes it cut, but it's time to start going through that and prioritizing that.

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And then start thinking through if I'm working on.

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Call it three year horizon where I'm trying to build toward that future, that I'm looking for.

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How might these fit together in a sequence?

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What things need to happen now?

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What are the things that are the most important?

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Now that will start to set me up for that future that I'm looking for?

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What are the things that I think maybe it's too early for like start noting those?

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What do I think could happen this year?

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What do I think could happen next year?

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What do I think could happen the next year after that?

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Until you've got an idea of how this.

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Progress.

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Now I wanna say right often you're probably already thinking this.

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There's almost no chance that this is gonna work out exactly as I've written it down and that's okay.

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You might hop on a call with an editor and discover that something you thought was gonna take you three years to get to.

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They can help you bring that forward right now.

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That's okay.

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You might also discover that something you thought could happen right now.

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Maybe it's a little bit too soon for that.

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That's also okay.

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What's important is that you have.

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Framework of understanding of how you're hoping this will progress so that as you begin having these

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discussions, you have something to not only compare the editors that you're talking with against each other,

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cuz you're gonna talk to more than one editor, right?

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You're gonna, you're gonna talk to more than one person to make sure you're getting the right person.

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You're also gonna wanna compare what you're talking about with them, to what you're hoping might happen so that you can notice

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the things that they might bring to the table that can help.

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Maybe achieve your goal a little more quickly, and you'll notice the things that might drag

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things down slower than you were hoping for.

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All of this is just gonna become part of the recipe that helps you find the right person.

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But this is a very important step to determine what matters, what doesn't matter, what matters a little, and then to

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try and develop that sequence of how things would flow.

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Now when you finish this, , it's probably gonna be pretty eye opening.

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When you start thinking about how much you might be able to accomplish in a period of two to three years, it can also seem

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overwhelming if you try to cram everything into that first year.

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So give yourself a little bit of grace as you go through this and kind of think that stuff through when we come

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back next time, we're gonna take just the tiniest bit of a side step from what we're doing here and just talk.

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The kind of person you might want to be working with.

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And what I'm gonna suggest here is that you look at the next episode as an opportunity to expand

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your horizons around what might be possible.

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And then to start to clarify exactly what kind of person you want to be able to work with, because that will

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then continue to move you forward towards the next step.

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This all.

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Builds on itself.

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I do wanna say if you've made it to the end, thank you so much for being here.

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I really do hope this has been useful for you.

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If you have any questions about this, if something was confusing or something seemed redundant or whatever

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I would love to hear from you, you can email me.

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My email is Bryan@TopTierAudio.com.

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I really would love to hear from you, especially if you have questions where I might be able to help

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you make sure that you're finding the right person.

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If you'd like to be able to get the clarity you need in order to avoid making a hiring mistake, be sure to download our

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guide 15 questions to ask before hiring a podcast editor, you can find it at HireAPodcastEditor.com/15questions,

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and it'll be linked up in the show notes.

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It's totally free.

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We don't require an email address or anything like that.

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We just want to make sure that you have the tools that you need to make the right decision for you.

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That guide has the questions we'll talk about on this show.

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Some instructions and suggestions.

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Even a place to take notes.

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If you wanna get even more out of it, though, be sure to subscribe to this show at HireAPodcastEditor.com/listen

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and share it with the rest of your team.

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Your work is important.

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Now.

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Go out there and make a great podcast.