This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to a brand new month. Today's question from a listener, can you make money from a true crime podcast? And if you want to start a true crime podcast, let's say, how would you go about doing it? Not only as a hobby, but hopefully also a money-making project. That's what we're all about, taking something that you enjoy doing, something you're good at, finding a way to make money at it.
So if you like to listen to true crime, I mean, that's like the most popular podcast genre. In this episode, we're gonna explore what it takes to build a foundation for growth and monetization from the start. It is a saturated space, lots of true crime podcasts out there, of course, but a lot of true crime podcast listeners. So we've got Danielle here. She's a fan of the genre.
She's ready to launch a show of her own. She's got a specific idea. She'll tell us about it. How might she grow an audience? How might she turn her obsession into a sustainable hustle?
Let's talk strategy. Can you make money from a true crime podcast? Thanks for tuning in today. Detailed question coming right up. [Music]
Hi, Chris.
Danielle here from Pasadena, California. I am a huge true crime fan, and I've been tossing around the idea of starting my own podcast for a while now. I wanna focus on smaller, lesser-known cases, especially unsolved ones that don't get much national coverage. I already have a few stories I'm researching, but my big question is, how do I stand out when there are already so many true crime podcasts out there? And if I wanna build a real audience or even turn it into a source of income down the road, what should I prioritize early on?
[Music]
Danielle, it is a crowded space, as you said, but there's a lot of listeners too. More and more people listen to podcasts every year. I think it is, I saw the number recently, I forget $20 billion or something, huge industry in terms of ad sales spend as well. So it just means that the bar is high for quality and positioning. If you feel like you have a great story, that's gonna be a big, big part of having a new true crime podcast work well, then you are on the right track.
So let's break it into a couple of phases, getting people to listen and working toward monetization. Phase one, getting people to listen, choose a niche tighter than you think. True crime, of course, is too broad, that's the broad category, but Danielle's already thinking about covering some lesser known cases from small towns. I think that's a promising angle, make it even more specific. Only unsolved cases from towns under 10,000 people.
What about crimes involving forgotten political figures or cross border cases like US-Mexico border towns? For example, could be something else, but I would get even more specific. Next, use episode structure to your advantage, and lots of true crime podcasts do this really well. They don't just retell the case facts. Build tension, use cold opens, make listeners want to binge, get them hooked.
Hopefully there's a payoff as well if you're getting people to listen episode after episode. But basically create a portfolio and treat the first 10 episodes like your portfolio. Plan them out in advance, launch with two to three at once, spend a long time on this. I would put a lot of effort into building really clear and really interesting captivating initial episodes. Don't do any paid ads, share your case research on subreddits, Unsolved Mysteries is a good one, True Crime Podcasts.
You can likely promote your show there, especially if you've got like a short gripping summary of each case or suspect theory for TikTok perhaps. Now phase two, build toward revenue. You likely won't make money in the first few months unless you already have an audience. But that's okay, get people subscribed, try to get interest up so that there are more downloads. And then once you have 1000 plus downloads per episode, you might be able to move to something like Spotify's megaphone or Acast, where you can connect directly with ad partners.
Overall, I think if you treat this like a slow build project with intentional episodes, grassroots marketing, audience first thinking, and just kind of focus on building that value, you're gonna give yourself the best chance at growth and future income. Danielle, let us know if you get it going. We'll give you a shout out here, hopefully bring you some initial listeners. And listeners, let me know what you're working on. Always happy to shout out your projects as well, sidehustleschool.com.
There's some resources, you can ask questions, you can download every single episode in the archive. Of course, you can subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every day. Welcome to a new month. As I said, my name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
