A French comedy podcast about the true crimes of Quebec... and the Rest of Canada

Audrey and I have been friends for a decade already and we've collaborated on many creative projects in the past, including another podcast (Les rescapés du temps) and a book. We both come from literary backgrounds and are obsessed with all things true crime.
Our podcast is in French and discusses true crime stories which took place in the French-speaking province of Quebec in Canada. Each episode covers a different crime. The cases we cover vary greatly; we talk about anything from murders to kidnappings, including alien abductions and bank heists!

Our listeners are francophiles from around the world. Even though most of our listeners are based in Quebec, some people listen to us from the USA, Belgium and even England. Wish they'd send some fish n' chips our way at some point, that might be nice.
 

We both listen to a lot of podcasts about various topics. We really enjoy true crime podcasts that have a bit of comedy to them, like "The Last Podcast on the Left" and "Let's Go to Court!" because, let's face it, crime is kind of a bummer. When we first thought about starting a podcast, we did some research and realized that it's a genre that's yet to be invested by French-Canadian podcasters. The little light bulb lit up above our heads and we thought we might bring something new to the table with our project. And, of course, teach people about all the horrible things that happened in Quebec, you know.

Our initial goal was just to have fun with it. There were some cases we knew we wanted to cover when we first started, but we've since diverged from those because we keep getting case suggestions by listeners. I know, it's a lovely problem. We've been very happily surprised by the community that has grown around our podcast and we're quite pleased with the project so far.

We released our first episodes in December of 2020 and it took us about six months to release our first episode, from the inception to the actual release... but the recording and producing took about 3 weeks for 3 episodes.
 

We release a new episode every Saturday. So far, we've released about 30 episodes, as of the end of June 2021. It takes us a little less than a week to produce an episode, and we do all the recording and the editing ourselves. Our episodes last about 75 minutes each, except for the short ones, our special "Crime Puffs" (cream puff, get it?)

We both have day jobs, but we find time here and there to do all the work for the podcast. We do it in our spare time because it's a project that really matters to us and it's such fun to do. Also, during the pandemic, it gave us an excuse to check in with each other on a daily basis and see each other on Zoom once a month at least to record our episodes! It's been a lovely time. (But it's not all lovely. I have to admit that doing the research and reading all those old-timey articles is sometimes very tiring.)

So far, the only things we've had to fund were our different marketing campaigns on social media, which wasn't much. Maybe 300$ CAD since we began? We're also going to have some merch soon, so we'll have to pay for the first samples to make sure our shirts fit just right. And then, we hope to make billions of dollars by selling all our merch. I'm kidding, of course.
 

Since our podcast discusses various types of coffee, we've managed to get sponsorships from roasters around Canada who send us their products, like The Roaster's Pack, Roasted Bean Box, Pista and Brûlerie Urbaine. We're almost influencers, but unfortunately a lot less glamourous and a lot more caffeinated.

We found these different sponsor by reaching out to them by email.

It's a different kind of sponsorship, in the sense that we advertise their products but they don't necessarily need to crosspost our episodes or anything like that. For that reason, we don't really have any numbers to show for it - but we have a pretty well-stocked coffee shelf in our kitchen!

Just like Shania Twain, we're in it for love. We get coffee and that's a big plus because, hey, we're pretty much addicted, but we mostly do it because it's a project we love and because we love working together. Nowadays, we've gathered a small community of fans and I'd say we also do it for them. We often receive emails from our listeners telling us they love what we do, and it motivates us to keep going.
 

Our podcasting process is a work in progress, but we're getting there! We started by recording in the same space with a 40$ microphone we bought at Best Buy and the sound was... not optimal. Then, we upgraded to 100$ microphones and the sound was much better! It also didn't hurt that the pandemic measures were toughening up, so we had to record remotely. It was like a silver lining for the audio production side of things.

For the other aspects of production, we edit our episodes on Audacity (which is free and easy to use) and we distribute them on Anchor, which is an amazing distribution tool.

We prepare each episode by writing a script. I know some people just jostle notes, but I feel so self-conscious about the way that I speak when it's not scripted that I would rather not risk it. What if I start stuttering and all our listeners make fun of me forever?

We've had a few guests in the past, and we've just found them by asking around and happened to have friends who wanted to contribute! It's been good because it's alleviated the process a bit, giving us a break from researching. We would record remotely with them as well.
 

We find listeners by doing ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. Should we look into Twitter? I hadn't thought of it. We just run targeted ads for people who are into true crime in Quebec, and bam, we find listeners! Most of our listeners listen on Spotify (35%), but we have a mysterious 28% of our break-down which is unattributed, so there's that mystery to be solved.

We couldn't really say which platform is the most useful so far, but we do have more followers on Facebook than Instagram. (They don't know what they're missing out on, obvi. Kidding, we love our Instafans.)
 

We have so many advices to give! Look at us, only 30 and yet so wise in the ways of recording. Seriously, it's been such a learning experience. Off the top of my head :

- Invest in good equipment. It's really worth it.
- If you can't get sound barriers and that whole shebang, record remotely. It's way easier and you'll thank me later.
- Mind your tone! Seriously, don't laugh too close to the mic. Mics hate happy people.
- Be upbeat when recording. Bland tones make for bland podcasting.
- Don't be afraid to pay for ads. How are you supposed to get more listeners than Joe Rogan if you at least pretend to play in the big leagues? It's like bringing a yo-yo to a gun fight.
- Reach out to possible sponsors. They want to know you exist.
 

If you want to know more about our podcast, or maybe ask why why don't we do any content in English, you can find us all here : https://www.facebook.com/unpeudecrime/

If you want to follow-us on insta and send us stories of you drinking coffee and listening to our episodes, here it is : https://www.instagram.com/unpeudecrimedanstoncafe/