Bingeworthy Year In Review

This is the 54th post of the year, which means I have actually published every week of this past year. Wow!...and...Phew...read on to find out what's coming next

It is hard to believe that an entire year has passed. Woosh! One year ago, I decided to launch this publication out into the world.

This all began with a mission: to help create the Pickleball Effect of narrative podcasting.

Now it’s time for the Year 1 Review and to ask some probing questions: Has this effort, which turns out to be greater than I originally imagined, been worthwhile?

Before I tell you all about me, I want to ask you one question…this will help me to figure out how to prioritize content going forward.

Today I’m going to look back at the year, share some of my favourite posts, I’ll reveal the Best-Performing posts…and then give a sneak peek of what’s to come for 2024.

First, let’s look at the numbers

This project began at zero, and now I’m closing in on 1,000 subscribers….when I look at the chart, it shows a steady climb up, and never down, a steady increase of about 8% each month.

While this is promising, can you help me with this?

Substack allows me to see who is referring and has a leaderboard feature. In 2024 will be pulling together some exclusive content and member-only arenas. And the top-referring folks will get first access, or bypass the paywall for these features….I dunno, I’m still working this out, but it’s going to be grrrr-ate, as Tony the Tiger once said.

My main goal for this publication is to keep it accessible and reach a wide audience. I don’t like asking for money, so I don’t do this much. But the truth is it costs money just to do this before anyone is paid a dime (and I would love to pay other contributors). Do you know a binge-listener?

Why not gift someone a subscription?

I offer group discounts for more than 2 subs:

Or nab my one-time annual deal.

Ok, let’s put that behind us and get on with some more exciting things about today.

What have I covered this year?

This year I have published posts for 41 different shows; 20 in a solo review; 4 in a multi-review; and 12 others were included in a playlist, or a recommendation. Often, they come up in one of my more essay-driven posts. There are another 10-or-so series that I have listened to but haven’t been featured anywhere yet, for various reasons (and might still yet).

About 12 of them were Short (3-5 episodes); 23 of them were Mid-Length (5-8 episodes), and 15 of them were Long (8+ episodes). This might speak more to what’s available, rather than what I prefer to focus on.

In total, this puts me at about 1.2 series per week

I would add more listening on top of, for things that I listen to that aren’t directly related to this newsletter. Yes, I’ve already burned through one pair of AirPod Pros, but my dog is well-walked, my house has been cleaned, and those solo drives are never alone.

This more or less maps onto my publishing record: This marks my 54th post, which tells me that I haven’t missed one week this year, (wow, that’s nuts).

I have an extensive AirTable that tracks all of this information for me

They just announced changes to their Free tier, which means I will have to start paying next month for this. But it’s an expense that’s worth it to keep organized.

On my AirTable database, I also keep track of genre, format, publisher, host, and a huge range of other details. My takeaway from those tags is that I’m covering my bases, between Investigative and Biography, Serialized and Experimental, and others.

I’ve listened to everything from Indie, to NYTimes, to Radiotopia, public radio and iHeart; that’s not going to change. My subject areas have been broadened, between Science, History, Biography, True Crime, Music and Spy-Thriller.

Do you think I’ve listened and reviewed widely? Have I missed a corner (that’s still within my range: original, serialized, narrative-driven and awesome)…let me know below.

Biggest Surprise of the Year

Most of my new subscriptions come through the Substack platform, either based on referrals from other pubs who refer me, or from the If You Like This, You’ll Like That network of Substack. Compared to Medium, or the older version of ConverKit, this is way further ahead in my experience. That confirms my choice to go with this platform over the 10 million other ones available.

It was AMAZING to learn that Bingeworthy is read in 39 different countries (WOW!). And across 44 US states (come on South Carolina, Wyoming and West Virginia, where are you?!). 

The global spread is roughly what I would expect: almost 60% are from the US, 18% from Canada, and then about 5-7% from both the UK and Australia.  

Here’s what I’m most proud of:

There’s nothing worse than putting days and days into something that less than 10% of the subscribers actually read. Thanks for reading!

I thought I could recap some of the wins from this year. Maybe you’ve just joined, or you missed this the first time around. Here’s the winner’s circle recap.

Most Shared Article:

Best Open Rate

And also the very first post…A review of Mother Country Radicals, the Tribeca winner from 2021. It was a good sign of things to come.

Biggest Bump - between Email Deliveries and Email opens (this means it had traction on a social channel or shared by friends)

1. What’s Ahead For Bingeworthy In 2023 at 54%

2. Six Things These Three Shows Taught Me About Good Narration at 31%

3. Solving the Podcast Sphinx Ridde: Podcast Marketing with Tink Media at 25%

4. Some Straight Talk About the Role Of AI In Podcasting at 19%

What drove the most new subscriptions?

What flopped?

I experimented with the video feature for one post…which was not meant to be a video actually, but an extended audiogram, to highlight the incredible narrative writing by Erica Heilman in the Rumblestrip episode called Armand’s Garden.

My guess is that ya’ll are not video people. Duh. This is an audio crowd. Or maybe lots of people read the post, but my metrics only told me about who watched the post….which was not many. Anyway, skip the video, but read the bit about the incredible writing style of Erica Heilman. She’s pretty good at this craft thing.

Later, I noticed that Julia Barton included this episode in The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022. And then later discussed this exact same passage on an episode of Sound Judgement with Elaine Appleton Grant. So, I’m not alone in seeing these details.

What’s changing, what’s new, and what’s different?

I’ve changed the tagline slightly. This has come from a year of watching what catches my eye, how the posts perform, and a bunch of trial and error. I’ve moved away from the general: “About narrative podcasts that are just that good,” and honed in on: “The art & craft of narrative podcasts.”

Monetization Strategies

1. Periodically I will share the Buy Me A Coffee button for one-time donations

2. I’m looking at starting a Classifieds section

3. Starting at Member’s Only Arena (weighting the ROI between an actual Podcast Listening Bingeworthy Club, Exclusive Zoom meetings, and an Audio version of my interviews)…tell me your thoughts below

This is that part of running a publication that is necessary, if arduous (and the part that I avoid first, and for the longest). But I’m game…this will allow me to branch out and do things like offer this seat up to other contributors, and help this grow into an actual distribution channel for great audio….and other great things.

Community Circle 2024 Edition

I’m also looking to expand and do some exciting new things…maybe no one needs any more Lists, but I’m working away on my Bingeworthy Top Listens of 2023 (woot!)

I’m also looking into some new branding and to lock down my visual strategy. Please hit reply on this email if you have a lead for me in this regard….think colours and styles and digital stickers. My Canva ability only goes so far…

Can’t wait for more of this. Truly huge thanks to you for being here, and Hearing and Sharing and Referring, and Commenting and also hitting reply to share an idea or a thought….those are all things that you can do, for free, to support this publication.