Hard as it is to believe, 10 years ago today, I published my first podcast episode. It was about five months before Serial catapulted the medium into the mainstream, so I can say I was podcasting before it was cool.
In the decade since then, I have published more than 375 episodes covering three novels. This passion project has become part of the rhythm of my day-to-day life: edit and write a couple nights a week, record on Sundays, publish on Mondays, binge write and record during holidays, and pause every fourth weekend to catch my breath.
Along the way, I actually started to figure out a thing or two about how to make a podcast, and it showed in the quality of the more recent work. The podcast has also offered a wonderful outlet to develop and maintain creative muscles that I didn’t get to use much in my day jobs, and I have in turn incorporated some of those skills into my day jobs.
By far the most rewarding aspect of this decade-long experience has been the connection with listeners. I’ve been fortunate to have found an audience — however niche — that seems to genuinely enjoy this work and appreciate the existence of these English retellings of classic Chinese tales.
Over the 10 years of this project, I’ve seen podcasting go from an overlooked medium to an overhyped medium, from something pursued by unknown enthusiasts to something dominated by celebrities, from something people did with no expectation of financial gain to something people do with the specific aim of financial gain. The economic fortunes of the medium soared, crested, and plunged as the realities of the media business caught up to the hype.
Watching those ups and downs makes me glad that I never strived for my podcasts to be anything more than a passion project, published for no reason other than that I enjoy producing them, that some number of people seem to enjoy listening to them, and that they seem to be contributing some value to the public.
I’m also very glad that I got into podcasting when I did, at a time when the medium’s conditions encouraged you to try your hand at podcasting. In contrast, its current environs would discourage you (or at least discourage me) from trying it, which is ironic given that, from a technical standpoint, it’s immensely easier to start a podcast now than 10 years ago.
I was first drawn to podcasting in the early 2000s, and most of the shows I listened to back then were passion projects on niche topics by non-famous people who were figuring it out as they went, speaking to an audience that cared more about their common interest than about production quality. That made it ok to sound amateurish when you started, to make mistakes (and to own up to them), and to appeal only to a relatively small population of fellow enthusiasts. It all contributed to an intimacy between the creator and the audience that I found really appealing.
I still remember the host of one of my early favorite podcasts announcing in an episode that he had been approached by a potential sponsor and asking the listeners to vote on whether he should have ads on the show, out of concern that the audience would find ads off-putting. That sounds positively quaint today, when so much of podcasting seems to be more of an exercise in branding, marketing, advertising, thought leadership, lead generation, and celebrity chasing.
All of this makes me glad that I long ago stopped worrying about download counts on my own podcasts. I’ve been fortunate to have received some financial support from listeners, for which I’m immensely grateful. That helps cover the costs of producing the shows, but I would be doing these podcasts even if I was getting zero money from them. What really make a difference for me are the kind emails from listeners, telling me how the podcasts have helped them discover these tales for the first time, reconnect with the stories of their childhood, or share something they enjoy with a spouse, a sibling, a parent, a child, or a friend.
So, thank you to everyone who have made the last 10 years so enjoyable! Here’s to the next 10!
Top image: Background image by Barthy Bonhomme