'The Power of Podcasting' offers a comprehensive exploration of podcasting, blending practical insights with context and storytelling techniques. Lots of technical details throughout.

This book is part how to guide and part history of podcasting. I wish it gave more details on how to do your own podcast but it was still a good read.

This book wasn’t at all what I expected. I wasn’t able to finish it. I thought it would be holistic and the thinking behind powerful podcasting but it is focused on the technicalities of producing a podcast, very detailed.

I actually quite enjoyed this book, I have been dabbling with the idea of starting a podcast for a while now, and was interested in learning more.

This book has short, concise chapters, making it easy to read in stages if all you have is a few snatched minutes here and there, as was the case for me yesterday with Miss Alice (now 5 weeks old) suffering from a wretched spring cold.

Thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest opinions.

Thank you NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Power of Podcasting, by Siobhán McHugh, is an insightful look at what Podcasting is.

My interest for podcasting has risen over the last few months and I wanted to know more about it. McHugh delivers a well structured narrative, combining the past, present and future of podcasting. Additionally, the almost ‘how-to guide’ approach is rather reassuring for any aspiring future podcaster. The book is a mix between a reference book and a guide.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in podcasts or plans to embark on a podcasting journey!

thank you for accepting my request to read the book! this was an interesting and insightful read. for someone who does not read nonfiction that often, this was easy to get into even for a beginner like me and someone who does not know much about podcasts before the book.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Colombia University Press for an advanced copy of this history and how-to guide on podcasting and its future.

I am relatively new to the world or podcasts. Before when I would listen to friends or co-workers rave and swear by podcasts I would point out that they finally discovered radio. These same people had made fun of my preset NPR radio channels in the car, and my love of old radio serials like The Shadow or the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I finally began listening when I saw a podcast actually on pulp heroes, which I enjoyed immensely. And from there I was hooked. Like most I dream about well not being on the air, but doing the research or the writing for a podcast, even to edit sound and help shape the narrative. If I ever do I will have to thank Siobhán McHugh. The Power of Podcasting: Telling Stories Through Sound is a complete look at the history, production, developing and the influence of podcasts, complete with examples and plenty of encouragement.

The book begins with the basics the history and development of podcasts, audiences for what works what might not, and the similarities and differences with normal radio shows. McHugh explains the art of interviewing, how to research, build a rapport and the importance sometimes of editing and when to just stay silent. Diversity is talked about, with interviews from indigenous and minority people creating and developing podcasts about their world and experiences. Their is section on Serial, one of the most talked about podcasts, and the aftereffects the success had on the medium, both good and bad. For the last half McHugh describes her work on three different popular podcasts from Australia, where the ideas came from, the work involved, reactions and even more importantly what worked, and what should have been changed.

The book is incredibly informative covering everything in podcasting that a neophyte might want to know. McHugh draws on her own history in both podcasting and media, with plenty of interviews from others and outside sources. As someone who is used to sharing gathering information and sharing stories McHugh has a very nice writing style, conveying information not in a lecturing or TED talk discussion but in a conversational way that instructs as well as entertains. Plus the excitement McHugh has is infectious, a lot of people have an idea about podcasting, this not only fuels that excitement, but gives a solid bedrock of advice to build on. Plus there is a helpful section on other podcasts to listen too, so that was helpful also.

A very complete guide to a medium I knew only by sound, and not how much work it took to get to my ears. Recommended for anyone interested in starting their own podcasts, at just about every level from writing to producing to editing to being on air talent.

Note: I received this book as an ARC from Columbia University Press.

As someone who listens to podcasts daily (and who has teetered on the edge of starting one of my own), this book was a must read for me. McHugh details in this book the history of podcasting, case studies on popular podcasts, and gives the reader tips on what the makeup of a good podcast entails.

These days it seems like everyone makes a podcast, but few rise to the level of being called a successful podcast. What sets apart the experts from the hobbyists? (Hint: know how to tell a good story)

This was an entertaining and informative glimpse into the world of podcasting and a behind the scenes look into what makes a podcast successful from a speaker’s perspective. I would pick this up if I was wanting to gain a basic understanding of podcasting without needing to get into the details of the technology aspect of what goes into editing/audio/distribution of podcasting.

The primary audience would be podcast listeners, podcast makers, and storytellers.

Many details, little structure. A book stuffed full of ideas, but lacking in identity.

In other words, "The Power of Podcasting" is all over the place. It:
- starts with a general introduction to podcasts (legitimate; introductions are great)
- moves on to a short history of some types of radio shows (very fair, there's a connection with radio)
- then it discusses interviews (fine, if you're the interviewing sort)
- only to go into podcasts such as "Serial", "The Daily" and "S-Town" (ok, I guess they're important, but...)
- to jump into the author's own experience creating podcasts (is this a memoir now?)
- to suddenly face-plant into diversity in a discussion where America takes the most important spot (shoot me. Siobhan McHugh is Irish-Australian, so how's this for diversity? Avoid talking about the US, or talk about it less than you do about other places.)
- and finally smash itself against the wall of discussing platforms, money and advertisers (this chapter felt like the book was done and I started reading the appendix).

In other words, it feels like a stream-of-consciousness exposition, admittedly held by someone very knowledgeable in her niche, but possibly on the spur of the moment rather than in a premeditated fashion.

It's got a bit of everything:
- advice for journalist podcasters (research before interviewing, really listen to interviewees)
- general advice (watch out for background noise, use headphones while recording to hear potential ambient sounds)
- mentions of ethical dilemmas (and that they're tough; not how to solve them, though!)
- anecdotes from the life of the author
- lists of people, things, and people doing things
- anecdotes about the author's projects
- lists of podcasts you might be interested in
- examples of sentence-level editing on scripts she's worked on
- mentions of higher-level editing on scripts she's worked on
- anecdotes about the author ending up doing things (like interviewing people, or signing up people to her projects)
- some scattered details about the medium and who the big players are

It doesn't contain:
- clear descriptions of the workflow in her projects
- advice about how to set up a team
- advice about audio editing (except for editing according to intonation, as well as words)
- much depth into anything, really
- clear bigger pictures (the place of investigative podcasts in the larger podcasting world etc.)

The more I read, the more frustrated I felt - there are too many missing puzzle pieces.

Siobhan McHugh's niche is that of investigative, highly polished podcasts, with large teams and loads of money, often sponsored by news organizations - she works on the documentaries of the podcasting world, and her projects revolve around interviews, soundtracks, narrators, editors and so on. She does sing the praises of podcasts as a cheap, easily accessible medium, but one can't help but feel that her book drips of privilege.

If you're here for a history of podcasts in general... you won't find it. If you're here to learn how to make a podcast from A to Z - honestly, there are better sources. If you're here for info about equipment and technology, there's none of that here. If you're here for moral considerations of podcasts, or to hear about the impact of podcasts on listeners, you'll precious little of that here.

If you want to hear about a few investigative, narrative podcasts and get a few recommendations, though, while glancing at the work of one woman in particular, then this might just be your book. Just don't get your hopes up too high.

Never in my entire reading life, my nonfiction book wish has been fulfilled; the perfect idea of the book coming to life and this book doesn't know how to disappoint at all!

I have been waiting my whole life for this book. A book on podcasts which says what it is AS IT IS. No exaggeration. No hyping it up. No making it bland. Yes, how it describes the topic is as as it is. Expect this but also expect to read a lot of fun things about podcasting.

You can expect ten short fun chapters which deals with the art and the basic recipes of podcasting; what you can expect from them and what they deliver.

A very good read indeed. You know the moment of getting the exact taste of your favourite dish after missing it all this time? Well, that's what I got.

Thank you, Columbia University Press, for the advance reading copy.