News from the EarBuds Podcast Collective Sonic Universe

🏁How we started

I'm pumped to share that we're finally starting to publish topic-specific podcast recommendation newsletters at EarBuds! Since 2017 — and without missing a week! — I've published an issue of EarBuds on themes ranging from game theory and sports history to escapist audio drama and technology for non-techies, and truly everything in between (and beyond).

We've had such diverse themes (with accompanying podcast recommendations on 'em) over the years because the newsletter's goal is to showcase the breadth and depth of what's available (for free) in the audio universe.

🔬The hypothesis

I suspected this early on and have had confirmed a few times over the years: that the exact unique selling point of EarBuds is also probably the thing holding it back from growing. What do I mean? EarBuds is meant for people who want to discover new, or new-to-them podcasts. Each week, if you buy into the idea of it, you open the newsletter to find a random theme and five episodes on it. You can then choose which you want to dive into. This works if you're ready to receive whatever comes at you. It doesn't work so much if you're interested in a specific topic. Of course, people need different things at different times.

But I've long wondered why the newsletter never garnered hundreds of thousands of subscribers if there are so many millions of people listening each week, and I think I've landed on it: even curated lists need curators. So, welcome to the world, topic newsletters from EarBuds!

I'll continue bringing you the EarBuds newsletter as-is, every Sunday — because:

• I love curating it

• I love receiving so many press releases and pitches

• People seem to love submitting their picks via our curation form

• I think it's an important part of the overall curation of the audio space

📣The solution and announcement

AND I'm also introducing a new initiative. Or, several initiatives.

Our topic-specific newsletters are designed to appeal to people interested in specific topics. Whereas the original EarBuds newsletter is meant for listeners who want to find new podcasts, EarBuds Kids will hopefully appeal to parents (and kids) who want to find kid-focused content. EarBuds History will hopefully appeal to history buffs, historians, or listeners interested in history on a casual level.

The big difference here is that while the people subscribing to EarBuds Kids and EarBuds History may happen to love podcasts and be on the lookout for more, they're first and foremost interested in the topic itself. Like I mention above, people need different things at different times. That's why I'm continuing EarBuds as-is. You can check in on it as you please while really grabbing the majority of your podcast recs from the topic newsletters you're most interested in.

⏭️What’s next?

It's not just Kids and History, though. I plan to expand into more topics, slowly but surely. For now, the way that's working is I'm creating subscriber capture forms for topics as they come up in the general EarBuds newsletter. We started with History because Tara Jabbari curated a list a few weeks ago on Niche History Podcasts. Then, I started Kids because Zoe Goldman curated a list on Kid Podcasts Parents Might Love. Over the next few weeks, EarBuds will publish themed lists on spooky stories, true crime, social activism, and more. And you can expect topic newsletters to be born from them.

So stay tuned! And feel free to suggest topics for me to expand into. As always, EarBuds is community-curated, so we need your recommendations. Here's our submission form.

Discover the latest from our general EarBuds newsletter