The heart of a good podcast isn’t in expensive mics or a nice  studio— it’s in the idea. We talk through four litmus tests to test the strength of your idea: specificity, novelty, practicality, and repeatability. Honing in on these elements will help you uncover what’s exciting about your idea, and what will make it successful. While this episode focuses on podcasting, these tests are good to consider for any artistic idea.

Consume: Listen to The Worst Idea of All Time and think about how it’s specific, novel, practical, and repeatable.

Create: Take a podcast (or any artistic idea) idea you have and walk through the four litmus tests.
Specificity: Write the one sentence elevator pitch for your podcast.
Novelty: Write one sentence about what makes your podcast different.
Repeatability: Write one to two sentences to describe what Episode 40 would sound like, or what the arc of your limited series would be.
Practicality: Make a list of equipment, people, and how much time you’ll need for each episode

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Credits: Jeffrey Cranor (host) & Joseph Fink (host), Julia Melfi (producer), Grant Stewart (editor), Vincent Cacchione (mixer). Rob Wilson (logo).

Theme written by Joseph Fink. Currently performed by listener Mike Lynch. If you'd like your own cover of the theme song featured on this show, email us at startwiththis@nightvalepresents.com or share it in our membership community.

Produced by Night Vale Presents.

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