Which podcasts to pitch: choosing the shows that build your record

The instinct is to chase the biggest show that will have you. It is the wrong instinct, for a reason that only becomes obvious once you look at what an appearance does after the audio stops playing. Downloads fade in a week. The episode page, the host's vouch, the transcript and the link to your site last for years, and their value depends on the show's subject, its reputation and its web presence far more than on its audience size. Here is how to choose with that in mind.

The five things a show needs

A subject that is yours. The show has to be about, or regularly cover, one of the two or three things you want to be known for. An appearance on a general interest show adds a page about you that says nothing about your field, which helps your name and not your expertise. Ten shows in your subject make you the person for that subject. Ten shows across ten subjects make you a frequent guest.

Episode pages on the open web. Some shows exist only inside an app with no public page per episode, or publish a page that is a player and nothing else. Those appearances are invisible to search engines and the AI assistants. You want a show whose episodes have real pages, with a title, a description that names the guest, a date, and ideally a transcript. Check an existing episode before you pitch.

A host who writes show notes. The notes are where your exact name and your link go. A host who publishes "Episode 41 with Maria" and no link has given you half an appearance. Look at three recent episodes: are guests named in full, are their sites linked, are the notes more than one line?

Still publishing, and consistently. A show that has released eight episodes in the last three months is alive. One that released its last episode in the spring is probably done, and your episode, if it ever airs, will sit on a dying site. The podcast index puts active shows at under half a million out of millions ever created; most of what is listed in a directory has stopped.

Guests like you, and a few bigger than you. A show that has booked people at your level is a show that will book you. A show that has also had a few people a step above you is a show whose audience and host are worth being associated with, and whose guest list will make your appearances list look right. A show that has only ever had household names is a long shot; a show that has only ever had nobody is a weak vouch.

Size, and why it is fourth on the list

Audience matters, but it is the easiest thing to overweight and the hardest to verify. Hosts rarely publish numbers, and the ones who do often round up. Rankings in the apps measure momentum, not reach. A small show in exactly your field, with a diligent host and good episode pages, will do more for your record than a large general show where you are one of three hundred guests this year and the notes say "links in the description" with no links.

Where size does matter is the host's vouch and the chance of being heard by the right person. So the rule is: subject fit first, web presence second, host diligence third, then size. A big show that passes the first three is a prize. A big show that fails them is a day's work for a download number.

Sequencing: the first ten

Order matters because hosts look at where you have been. Start with three or four shows squarely in your subject, mid sized, with good pages and good notes, where you can get booked without a reputation. Those give you an appearances list that says the right thing. Then pitch upward, citing the first three. Then, once you have ten, add one or two adjacent subject shows to widen the audience without blurring the record. Do not start with a stretch pitch to the biggest show in your field; even if it lands, your appearances list will have one big name and nothing beside it, and the next host will wonder what happened.

Reading a show in ten minutes

You can score most shows without listening to a full episode. Open the show's own site, not the app. Does it have one? A show with only an app presence fails the web test immediately. Find the most recent episode page and read it: is the guest named in full, is there a paragraph about them, is their site linked, is there a transcript or chapter list? Open two more episodes and check the dates against today. Then scan the guest list on the show page for names you recognize at your level and above. Finally play three minutes of the middle of an episode, not the start, to hear whether the host asks follow ups or reads from a list. Ten minutes, and you know whether this is a show that produces a page worth having.

Two shows, one choice

When to say no

Say no to a show outside your subjects, however large. To a show with no public episode pages, unless the host will also post it on YouTube with a description. To a show that wants you to pay to appear; those pages are discounted by every system that reads them and by every host who recognizes the show. To a show that has not published in four months. And to a panel episode where you are one of five voices and the notes will list five names and no links, unless the other four are people you want to be listed beside.

Saying no feels expensive when invitations are rare. It is cheaper than a record full of appearances that say nothing about you.

A scoring sheet

Ten points available. Pitch anything scoring seven or more. Six is a maybe if the subject fit is perfect. Below six, the appearance will cost you more time than it returns, and your time is better spent finding a show that scores eight.

Building the list