Podcast Show Notes — Process and Tools

5 min readSep 20, 2017

An easy guide.

Running a podcast on website already gives you the advantage of providing a customized setup for your listeners. Your website design, features and other elements can be aligned with the experience that you desire for your listeners.

People ask, “Can show notes be customized, too?” The short answer is yes. You may create your show notes in a way that it would match your show’s unique brand.

“Writing is the painting of the voice.” — Voltaire

What is it like to write show notes? What tools can you use? Here’s Podcast Show Notes — Process and Tools.

Different Notes for Different Shows

Each podcast has its own brand. Each offers a unique flavor to listeners. Because of this, show notes vary from one show to another.

Example episodes with show notes of popular shows:

Some provide complete transcriptions for their notes. Others have show notes that only present the highlights of the shows in time stamps. And, there are also those who only provide brief descriptions of what each episode is about.

Two basic things to consider:

1) Purpose of the Show — is it simply for entertainment purposes? Does it aim to inspire, inform, or persuade?

2) Podcast Listeners — what would they want to know about? Are there any resources they can refer to from the episode? What would you like for them to remember?

The questions help you determine what to include in your notes.

Free to be Creative

Show notes tell the listener what the episode is about and include any other information that they may find helpful and/or interesting enough for them to tune in.

Episode links and images can be included in show notes, too.

Here are two example formats:

When conducting interviews, you can have a question-and-answer format or a complete transcription of the episode. You may also consider having brief summaries instead.
When having literary podcasts, you can have a detailed description of the episode. You can also consider identifying the characters, the plot, the setting, and the people involved in producing the episode.

Show notes do not necessarily have to present everything in the episode it complements. It is helpful to remember that people refer to podcasts to listen and not primarily to read. What show notes can do is present the listeners with an “informative teaser”.

Typical Podcast Production Process

Where do show notes belong in a production process? Needless to say, the process takes time. That is why many podcasters seek for help from professional production teams or hire their own staff to help them out.

Here’s what usually takes place…

After a podcaster submits the raw audio to the production team, the audio engineer takes the spotlight and does his magic.

He takes note of each audio file submitted by the podcaster, and checks whether everything is working well. With great panache, he then edits and arranges the episode.

“The success of a production depends on the attention paid to detail.” — David Selznick

Once editing is complete, the audio engineer then notifies the show notes writer. Here’s a basic outline of the basic things that the writer does:

1) Preparation

Take note of instructions from the podcaster — Are there any quotes that the podcaster want to include? Are there any shout outs? Is there a specific detail that the podcaster wants to present in the podcast show notes?
Take note of details about the episode — What is the episode title, description, tags? Are there links to resources?
Download the necessary files — Do you have the final audio of the episode? Are there any images for you to download?
Prepare the template — What is the regular template for the podcast?

2) Actual Note Taking

Write down important details while listening
Create a call to action
Place links where necessary

3) After Writing

Proofread show notes
Save the show notes copy

After completing the show notes, the writer notifies the team about it. Throughout the production process, the producer ensures everything is going accordingly to plan and communicates with the podcaster as is necessary.

Tools for Podcast Show Notes

With the right tools, the writer crafts the show notes in the best possible way he can think of. There are basically three areas of concern where he can use the help of effective tools. They are:

1) Communication — This can never be taken away in a production process. It is critical for the writer to communicate effectively with the team. He can ask if the edited audio is available, when the episode is scheduled for release, or notify the team when the show notes is ready.

Along the way, he may also encounter some issues which his teammates or the podcaster can help him with. For that, it’s important that he communicates with them as is necessary.

Tools commonly used in this area are: Skype, Redbooth, email and Facebook Messenger.

2) Writing — As the writer crafts the show notes, having a convenient writing tool is really helpful. Typical challenges are slow internet connection and power outages.

Tools he can use are: Google Docs and a digital notepad that doesn’t require an internet connection.

3) Listening — Similar to writing, listening requires a convenient media player. Among the tools that the writer can use are: Google Player and the VLC player.

Final Thoughts

Writing podcast show notes involves different tasks and tools. The production process itself requires the writer to stay updated and to maintain a steady communication with the team.

There are clearly no shortcuts to success.

No matter how urgent the project is, the writer takes on the responsibility of making sure that everything instructed has been included in the show notes.

We hope you found this guide on podcast show notes — process and tools helpful. Let us know what you think about it! Feel free to give us a clap or leave us a comment below. We would love to hear from you.