Welcome to the softer cast, a podcast for small business owners and creatives who want tender podcast advice without any tech bro bullshit. I'm Amelia Frooby, and I'm the founder of Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio for women and non binary entrepreneurs. On this show, I answer your questions about podcasting. Things like, should I put my show on YouTube? Can I just record it on Zoom?

How much do editors really cost and how many downloads should my podcast be getting? Yeah, I'll even answer that question. Every episode of the softer cast is really practical, a little magical and less than 10 minutes long. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the show and share it with your podcast bestie. Then head to the show notes to check out our free resources.

No matter where you're at in your podcasting journey, we're here to support you. Join us on the softer side of podcasting.

Hello, and welcome to the softer cast, a podcast for everyone out there who wants thoughtful podcast support without any tech bro b s. I'm Amelia Freebee. I am the founder of Softer Sounds Podcast Studio and the host of this here podcast. On this show, I answer your questions about podcasting. Really, you can submit questions at the link in the show notes or below if you're watching on YouTube, and I will answer them.

So let's dive into today's question. I have been doing a lot of sales calls recently, and today's question comes from kind of a compilation of the question I've heard on all of these calls. And that question is, how do I know when it's time to hire a podcast editor? I'll say that again. How do I know when it's time to hire a podcast editor?

Well, what a great question. Definitely a great question to be asking if you're on, you know, a discovery call with a podcast production studio. But I think this is a question that a lot of folks ask themselves. And some of you get close enough to, like, do research and reach out to studios, and some of you just kind of hold it in the back of your mind and really maybe never look into it because you don't quite believe it's possible for you to have an editor to support your show. So I wanna dive into this from a couple of different angles today.

And I wanna start with a disclaimer as I often do. And I just wanna say that even though I am in the business of editing podcasts, that's how I support myself, that's how I support my team, we edit shows, even though I'm in that business, it does not mean I think every show needs an editor. So this episode is not going to sit here and tell you, like, you have to have an editor, you know, or berate you for thinking you can go it alone. No. Editing is a really big investment, and I know that if you're listening to this, you are a savvy podcaster who can figure out basic editing on your own.

I love tools like Descript or Anchor or Alitu or Iphonic for easy editing. Easy editing, you can figure out by watching a couple of YouTube videos and just running with it. And I encourage you to do that for as long as it makes sense for you. And maybe that's forever with your show. Maybe you edit your own show forever or you have a VA who edits your show and you don't need to hire a podcast editor.

Again, I don't think that every show needs an editor and I'm not here to like tell you you have to find one immediately. That said, if you're listening to this episode, I imagine you are interested in getting some support for making your podcast. And I love that for you. I am always telling my clients that podcasting is not a solo sport, and a team makes all the difference for your show. So why does a team make a difference, and how do you know when it's time to take the leap and hire 1?

Let's dive into this question. So I wanna start by saying just the 2 things that all good podcast editors will do for you is improve your audio quality and give you your time back. If you are working with an editor, your show should sound great, and you shouldn't have to spend time putting it together. Right? That's the dream.

Right? That is you wanna record and you wanna hand off the audio, and then you wanna get back a beautiful episode. All good podcast editors should do that for you. They should make your audio sound even better without you having to spend any time doing that. And for some folks, that's enough reason to hire an editor in and of itself.

Right? You're like, I want my audio to sound better. I want more time back in I don't wanna spend my time doing this. I want more time back in my day, so I'm gonna hire someone. Beautiful, amazing, love it.

But I find that while those are the amazing effects of hiring an editor, in my experience, they're not really the reason people hire 1 or they're not, like, the motivating factor to actually, like, part with your money and hire the editor. So why do people hire a podcast editor? This question is, how do I know it's time? Well, here's what I can tell you after dozens and dozens of calls with folks who are looking for editors. Generally, when people land on a call with me, it's for one of two reasons.

Reason number 1 is they want to launch a podcast or create a new season of their existing show, but they know that they do not have time to handle all the steps that come between recording and publishing. These are often small business owners with busy family lives, and they have already learned the lesson that they can't do it all, so they know they need support. Like, there's just there's no question. It's like, this podcast is not gonna happen if someone else isn't doing most of the podcasting tech parts of it. And so they know upfront.

Again, like I said, they've already learned that lesson of, like, I can try to do it all, but it will just be miserable for everyone involved. So I'm gonna hire someone to edit my show, someone to write my show notes, someone to publish it, someone to promote it. All these things editors can't do for you. That's kind of one camp of folks who show up on a call looking for an audio editor. Then camp number 2, there are my, like, DIY die hards, and these are the folks who've been creating their show.

Maybe they've done 1 season or 2 seasons or 10 seasons by themselves, and they are burned out. Burned out, like, to a crisp. They are crispy. They are exhausted. How do they know they're burned out?

Well, maybe they've got a huge backlog of recordings to put out and feel overwhelmed at the idea of literally even open opening the folders or files. Maybe that it's just literally living on a SD card or, like, inside their Zoncaster, and they're like, I can't even look at it. It's way too overwhelming to even acknowledge how many, like, unedited episodes I have. Like, The idea of putting them out in the world is too much. Or maybe they've started missing publication dates.

And they're like, at first I put my show out every Tuesday, then it was like most Tuesdays, but sometimes the episodes would go up on Fridays. And then it was like every other week, and now it's like once a month sorta kinda. I don't even know when it releases anymore. And you might feel like scattered and stressed and maybe a little like embarrassed that you're like not keeping up with it. That's another great sign that you're burned out.

Or another common one is that maybe your show's been on hiatus for a long time, and you just can't muster the energy to bring it back. These are many signs for those like DIY die hards again that you're burned out, that they're burned out. And those babes end up on calls with me because they know that they need support, but they're really, resistant, you know, to paying for something they know they can do themselves because they have this narrative that's like, I know I can do it, so I should just do it. I need to make myself do it. And I often work with them on just realizing that, like, that type of self talk isn't what gets us to do things.

And if we've lost that internal motivation to do it, maybe the next right step is to get support. And maybe it's not support forever. Maybe it's just support to get you through that burned out period until your motivation comes back, or maybe you just stay on break until it reappears. You know? There's nothing wrong with being on an extended podcast break.

But, anyway, that's it for an episode on podcast burnout. We'll get back into this episode about when do you know how to hire an editor. So to recap that piece, people normally end up on calls with me. There's kind of 2 camps. The people who know they need support because they've learned this lesson, like they can't do it all.

They got to get help before they even try to begin or begin again, and then the folks who are like really burned out and maybe telling themselves these stories of like, I know I can do it, so I really just should do it myself and I've got to make myself do it, but that's just not working for them anymore. And let me tell you all, I have been both of these people. Really honestly, normally myself, I fall into that second camp of burned out. And when I was talking about that kind of like archetype of the person who's got a huge backlog of recordings that they can't even look at, that was me, 100% with my podcast, 50 Feminist States. I edited I think 3 or 4 seasons all by myself.

And then for that, I can't remember if it was the 4th season or the 5th season, I did this huge road trip. I had a dozen interviews and I could not make myself edit them. And so I had to hire someone. I needed help. I couldn't make myself do it.

No matter how hard I tried to force myself or entice myself to sit down to edit, I couldn't do it. For those of you watching on YouTube, you now get to watch my cat try to, attack my headphone cord. For those of you listening, sorry, that's only on YouTube. But anyway, you hear an interruption, it's probably her. So I empathize with anyone experiencing podcast burnout, and I really try to hold a lot of tender space for the folks who come to Softer Sounds because they're in that place and they need support.

We all need that sometimes. And here's the thing. Too often, in my opinion, people don't look for an editor until their show is on the brink of going away forever. And too many shows do go away forever because the creators can't get the support that they need. And here's the other thing.

I know that if money was infinite, if you had infinite amounts of money, you would have an editor. You'd probably have one already. I don't know anyone who wants to do every single step of the podcast creation project on their own, but I know tons of people who just can't afford the podcast support that they're craving. You know, I live in the same world you do. I know that podcast editors can be really expensive, and I know that many of us as small business owners, you know, at the end of the day, getting an editor comes down to that, like, age old opposition that we get stuck in in capitalism, which is that time versus money thing.

I hate it. Right? It's so familiar and it's so false, but it feels so real and we face it all the time. And I can't tell you if you have more time or more money right now. And I can't tell you if you have quote unquote enough time to edit your show on your own or enough money to hire an editor.

You know, I'm not in your finances. I'm not in your day to day. I'm not in your body. Only you know that for yourself. What I can tell you is that you deserve support creating your podcast.

Everyone deserves support creating their podcast. And there are lots of ways to get support. Maybe you support yourself using our 3 step podcast audit that's on the softer sound site. It's totally free. So maybe you support yourself with that free resource.

Maybe you and a pod friend support each other by listening to each other's shows and spending an hour offering feedback and suggestions, or maybe you pick something that you both want to do and you have an accountability group around it. Another way to get free support from somebody else who's a podcaster who just loves podcasts and wants to give you some genuine feedback. Deep diving into your show, reconnecting with your vision, streamlining your own podcast, and deep diving into your show, reconnecting with your vision, streamlining your work show. You get that sort of expert advice and you take half a day off and you make this like, have this luxurious experience reconnecting with your show so it feels easier to create again. And maybe you do hire an editor who could handle editing your audio, writing your show notes, creating your marketing materials, and more so that you just totally take those pieces off of your to do list.

There are lots of ways to get support for creating your podcast that range from free to 1,000 of dollars and more. But you deserve support. No matter how much money you do or don't have, no matter how much time you do or don't have for your show. So all of this gets me back to my original question. Like, where did we start, Emilio?

Where are we going? So we started with this question, how do I know it's time to hire a podcast editor? Or when is it time to hire a podcast editor? Well, it's definitely time to hire a podcast editor if you're at that breaking point, that pain point of, if I don't get some support, I don't think I can keep making my show. I definitely want you to get support if you don't have the capacity to keep creating your show.

I also want you to get support before you reach that breaking point. I want you to get support before you're totally burned out. Whether that support is a friend, a Fiverr hire, or a production company like SoftrSounds, I hope you get the support you need to keep sharing your voice and creating your show. And that's the episode. I think this is the first time I'm not totally sure if I answered the question.

So I'm gonna give this one more try, one more go. How do I know it's time to hire a podcast editor? All right. Here are like 5 5 signs. Let's go with this.

Here are 5 signs it's time to hire a podcast editor. Number 1, it is time to hire a podcast editor if you love recording your show, but you dread everything else. If you are pumped to sit down on the mic and record by yourself or do an interview, but like the idea of ever looking at that audio again or putting it online makes you want to just roll over and die, it's time to hire a podcast editor, babe. Number 2, it's time to hire a podcast editor if you are proud of your podcast, but you really wish it sounded more polished and some of your insecurities about the sound are holding you back from growing your show. So if you just can't get over how many umms or likes or background noise or the sound is hollow and you just know that that is keeping your show from the next level of growth, of sponsors, of a bigger listener base, whatever it may be, it's time to hire a podcast editor.

Number 3, it's time to hire a podcast editor if your podcast has been on hiatus for longer than you would like to admit and you need support to bring it back. Again, I use this example before. Maybe you just hire an editor for your next 4, 6, 8 episodes, and then you're back into it and you take it back over yourself, but it's definitely time to hire a podcast editor if you just can't get it off hiatus by yourself. Number 4, it's time to hire a podcast editor. If you feel like you're good at being a podcast host, like you know it, you are, I believe it, but you'd really love a thoughtful ear tuning into your content and just clearing out the random tangents or the questions that didn't land or the story that got told 3 times, you only need it once.

If you want that type of support to take your show again, just so it becomes even more potent, more poignant, more, juicy, more it lands better. If you want that kind of support, it's time to hire a podcast editor. And finally, number 5, it is time to hire a podcast editor if you wish you had a podcast editor. I want to affirm your desire for 1. You want support.

You want an editor. That is enough reason to hire 1, even if you got to figure out how to make that work financially. Okay. Now I think I nailed it. I think those are we got all sorts of answers to this question.

How do I know it's time to hire a podcast editor? And as we wrap up, I feel like I would not be a good business owner if I did not throw in a plug here at the end for softer sounds editing services. So there are a lot of podcast editors out there from inexpensive audio files on Fiverr to very expensive audio engineers who do fancy, fancy sound engineering for your show. At softer sounds, we specialize in high quality affordable audio editing with a softer touch. I like to say that we bridge the technical and the tender.

Our editing packages include high quality audio editing that's done by a thoughtful human to make your episodes sound clear and impactful. They include free transcripts. They include personalized production dashboards, and they also include Voxer support so that you can share your stream of consciousness thoughts with me as you're trying to make your show and you need some help. And they include access to our super special online community called the podcast magic membership that is only for our clients. So that's like a lot for episodes at Current when I'm recording this in late 2022.

I mentioned that we have a for I try to really make our audio editing affordable. And at this point in time, that means a range of, I think, 175 to is it 3.75 per episode? I should look that up before I said those numbers on here. I wanna be transparent. I know that's not in a lot of people's budgets, but I've looked at a lot of editing websites and I can tell you we fall in the middle between the like Fiverr hire and the sound engineers.

And really, I think what we do at softer sounds that no one else does, that I have not found another production company that does, is that we specialize in the topics that are personally important to the folks that we serve. Softer sounds is a safe and brave space for your episodes about reproductive justice and abortion, about motherhood and matrescence, about domestic labor and family systems, about magic and spirituality, about trauma and healing, about anti capitalism and anti racism. You know, we really work on those folks that are those topics that are so important to the folks we serve, to the women and non binary small business owners, humans, people who live with a variety of marginalized identities amidst these systems of oppression that we're all embroiled in. And we make space to have really open, vulnerable conversations about that. Because my goal is to make sure that our clients never feel like they're going in alone with their show.

That's why we have these high quality editing services and the thoughtful, strategic, and emotional support that you need to help you and your show succeed. So that's my pitch. It's time for me to wrap this episode up. I got long winded again. My apologies, friends.

I hope you enjoyed it. As always, there are free resources in the show notes. There's a link if you want to submit a question for a future episode. I am so grateful you're here. I hope to see some of you.

I hope some of you listen in and become softer Sounds clients in the future. I'd love to have you in the fold.

And until next time, my friends, I will see you on the softer side of podcasting. Thanks so much for listening to the Softercast. If you enjoyed this episode, please send it to your podcast bestie. And after you do that, go ahead and drop us 5 stars on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you'd like to submit a question, head to speakpipe.com/softercast to record a message, or email us at high at softer sounds dot studio.

And last but not least, we made some awesome free things for you. Head to the show notes to download our free podcast launch toolkit or our 3 step podcast audit. No matter where you're at in your podcasting journey, we're here to support you. Thanks again for tuning in and joining us on the softer side of podcasting.