Make Noise: A Creator's Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling

Written by Eric Nuzum

Narrated by George Newbern

This podcast guide won't tell you what microphone to buy, but its insights and guidance will help anyone interested in podcasting better express themselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Dec 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9781666557817

Eric Nuzum

Eric Nuzum has a consistent record in audio, broadcast, and podcasting that few have matched. He has developed a number of iconic programs and been on the front lines of innovation in the evolving podcast ecosystem.

Reviews for Make Noise

[browner56 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Make Noise, Eric Nuzum lays out an agenda that is at once extremely ambitious and directed at a narrowly defined audience: His intention is to explain to would-be creators of podcasts how to conceptualize, organize, and execute their vision in order to launch a successful venture. What the book is not about is how any of the millions of potential users might select or evaluate the podcasts they listen to. However, as the author notes, given that there are currently about 700,000 existing podcasts available to choose from, this is apparently an important problem to address, in terms of both improving current products as well as influencing the development of future ones.Nuzum would seem to be the perfect person to write such a book. He has a lengthy and impressive resume chronicling his work in this area, including program development experience in public radio and creating or producing some of the most popular podcasts in the market today (e.g., TED Radio Hour, Invisibilia). For the most part, he succeeds in translating that experience into practical and insightful advice on how a would-be podcast producer should go about the task of creating and delivering effective content. Beyond the substance of the message he conveys, Nuzum also writes in a down-to-earth style that is especially effective in getting his points across. The use of many illustrative examples from his personal knowledge of the industry is helpful in that regard.The book is divided into ten chapters (including the Introduction), each of which explores a different aspect of the podcast development process. For me, the first several of these chapters contained the most compelling, interesting, and useful material. In particular, the author describes the importance of developing a ten-word descriptive sentence that encapsulates the creative concept as well as the need to visualize the podcast’s specific target audience. Following those discussions, Nuzum addresses the issue of how a good podcast should be structured, emphasizing both the function and the form of the product. Above all else, he stresses the idea that podcasting is all about telling stories and that understating the principles for how to tell a great story is the most important skill to have.On the other hand, some of the material in the last few chapters was less effective at accomplishing the author’s pronounced mission. Specifically, the information on finding an audience through “guerilla marketing” tactics and how to lead teams of creative people were verbose and largely unnecessary to the core purpose. In fact, the latter chapter really read more like an excerpt from a general management textbook than advice tailored to someone interested in podcast development. Beyond that, it is actually difficult to know how to evaluate the usefulness of any of this information until a person actually tries to put it into practice launching their own audio project. Still, Make Noise is an engaging discussion from an author who writes with authority and passion, which makes it a worthwhile reading experience.

[dst_14 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Contains very useful and usable information, but also suffers from the age-old sin of business books, ie. it still manages to be fluffy at times. Would recommend for all podcasters, tho.