Discover What Podcasts Worth Listening Here

I'm David Curry from Melbourne Australia. My background is in advertising and I've been a longtime podcast listener.

My podcast is called The 5 Minute Podcast Review. The idea sprang from my listening to a huge range of podcasts and having plenty of recommendations for podcasts whenever asked. Basically the idea for the podcast is to suggest new and existing podcasts each episode in the word-of-mouth way that you'd mention a podcast worth listening to over the dinner table or to a colleague at work. All in 5 minutes of less per episode. No long reviews or interviews - just enough information for a listener to decide if a mentioned podcast was interesting to them and worth checking out.

Because my subject is "podcasts" my listenership is diverse - basically anyone interested in discovering or having podcast recommendations.

I really started the podcast because I found myself recommending podcasts all the time. Being interested in podcasts and an avid listener, I also wanted to do my own podcast - it suddenly became obvious I should record and podcast my recommendations.

I felt there was a growing niche for very short podcasts - so deliberately focused on episodes 5 minutes or less.

My first episode went up in November 2016 and I've produced an average of 3 episodes a month since then.

My aim was to produce a an episode weekly - so 4 to 5 episodes a month. However I'm averaging out at around 3 episodes per month. The key time factor is not so much producing the episodes - but making the time to actually listen to at least a few episodes of any podcast I cover on The 5 Minute podcast review. It would have been easy to simply list podcasts I hadn't listened to - maybe just reading the show notes - but the fundamental idea of The 5 Minute Podcast Review is that I talk about podcasts I have actually listened to - and in most cases am a regular listener to.

I tend to write most episodes over a few days - spending an hour or so in the morning at my local coffee shop - then recording once I have 3 or 4 new podcasts reviews written up.

The 5 Minute Podcast Review and all my recording gear is self-funded.

So far I take no sponsorship or advertising. The key interest for me at the moment is building an audience - and the creative activity of creating the episodes and having a self-imposed deadline.

I use a Rhode Broadcaster microphone into a Zoom H6 recorder. I edit in Adobe Audition and use Libsyn for hosting. I'm particular about the sound quality - and aim for a full broadcast quality standard.

So far the growth is all organic. I've deliberately avoided marketing to family and friends - preferring instead to slowly build "real" listeners.

The key thing I would share with aspiring podcasters is to take the time to fully script your podcast before recording - or if it's a pure interview / conversation podcast - then to fully write down the talking points. You are not as good an "off the cuff" speaker as you think you are. Scripting, in a conversational style, helps sort out your thoughts and enables you to choose and use the exact words you'd want to say - but may elude you in front of the microphone.

The podcast really does speak for itself though show notes, including full transcripts are at 5minutepodcastreview.wordpress.com