How to set up a podcast with no budget

I call This Gun in My Hand a podcast with no budget, a cast of one and a crew of one, but there are negligible costs. At some point I bought a microphone for $15. It had one of those microphone jack plugs which meant I couldn't use it anymore after I got a new laptop that had no microphone port. After that, I started recording sound through my phone and uploading it to my laptop for mixing. 

Apart from that, I'm giving this advice with the assumption that you have enough free time to write, record and edit your show. If you're doing an unscripted podcast, maybe writing and editing aren't necessary. I assume you have a laptop, microphone and/or phone that can record or edit sound files, and that you have electricity and internet connection. 

Here are some steps to follow if you want to do it yourself without spending any other money.

1. Create a website that has an RSS feed.

To be considered a podcast or picked up by most podcast apps or websites, you'll need a website and a way to turn posts on your website into an RSS feed. I think I started off setting up a free site on blogspot dot com. That was gobbled up by blogger dot com, but you can still do most of the same things there as far as I know.

Register on the site. Search within the site or search the web for how to set up an RSS feed. That's a sort of web address that can be used by apps or other websites to keep track of your latest posts or blogs. When you're running it as a podcast, those apps will take the first mp3 or audio link on each blog post and treat it as your podcast episode. Be careful if you want to link to somebody else's podcast episode or any other audio file in a blog post, because that might mistakenly get treated as a new episode on your podcast.

2. Write a script.

Or don't. Whatever. I'm doing an audio drama so I write a script with a bunch of notes about how lines should be delivered, what music or sound effects to use at different points. You could improvise an audio drama if you're amazing and/or fearless. Anyway, I write bits and pieces which I compile into an episode. Then I go over it and over it until I get sick of it and decide it's as ready as it'll ever be.

3. Record your episode.

If recordings made on your phone or laptop sound clear enough, go for it. I imagine audio aficionados cringe when they hear my recordings. They can sense what microphone is being used, the ambient temperature and humidity in the room as you were recording, and which hillside the grapes were grown  on for the merlot you sipped as you were recording. They'll never be satisfied. Get two of them talking about which brand of turntable or record needle is superior and you can sneak away and get back to recording.

I downloaded a phone app called "Voice Recorder." I'm trying to act out different voices so listeners can tell the characters apart. If I'm doing a Southern accent or a gravelly voice or a high-pitched teenage girl, it would be difficult to go back and forth from one accent or type of delivery to another, recording all the lines in a row. So I record all the lines from one character, then start a separate audio file for another character. After I finish recording, I transfer them from my phone to my laptop to edit them.

4. Edit your episode.

Or don't. I can't twist your arm. You're gonna do what you want. 

I use Audacity. It's free to download. It's been around for years so there's lots of discussion on the web or Youtube videos advising how to use it, ranging from basic instruction for beginners to specific things like how to make a robotic voice. I know maybe 10% of all the functions and tools available in it. 

5. Host audio files for your episodes somewhere.
This part might be confusing because you already created your website with RSS feed. The episodes get hosted on that website, right? No. Or maybe they could be. I should probably read up on that. What I do is post audio files of my episodes on archive.org. Then I copy the url of the audio file on archive.org, and I paste that into my blog post. If you want to do it that way, you'll need to create an account there.

Archive.org will host your stuff if you let it be public domain or if you use a Creative Commons license. That means you're allowing listeners or users of your stuff to copy it and share it under certain conditions. You might allow people to share it as long as they say you created it (CC BY or "Attribution" license). Or you might allow people to share it as long as they don't make money off it (CC BY-NC or "Attribution-NonCommercial" license). Or other options. If you want to keep full copyright, you might need to find a different website to host the audio files.

6. Promote it.

I post links to new episodes on social media and different groups that seem like they'd be interested. Places where they wouldn't consider it to be spam, or they allow this kind of spam. I am not great at this. If you find a good way to get attention without dumping money into it, tell me what I'm doing wrong.

7. BONUS! Put pictures on it.

Audio is great. Audio is enough. But people love their dang video and some of them still think a picture is worth a thousand words. You could post your own art or photos on your blog, including on each episode post. I don't trust my own art so I find public domain or CC licensed photos and art from websites like digitalcomicmuseum.com or archive.org or Wikimedia Commons, or searching Google and selecting Tools > Usage Rights. I use a free image editing tool, paint.net, and make collages or just take parts of images. I use those in my blog posts and upload them to archive.org with each episode.

Then because Youtube might still be the second most popular search engine, I create short videos consisting of only that one still image and all the audio. I'm not saying you should "pivot to video." I'm saying supplement your audio by making a version for Youtube addicts who never leave that site.

8. Wallow in cash as you bask in all the glory and attention you will receive.

Ha! Just kidding. Get involved with some groups or online communities and at least you can exchange episodes, get feedback, maybe exchange promo commercials. Have fun! Things that don't make money are worth doing.