How to Improve Your Writing for Podcasts

Writing for radio and TV (and similarly for audio and video podcast) is a different skill compared to print writing. In print, you have a bit more leeway to be descriptive with language, whereas when you're writing for someone to read out loud, the goal is to be clear and concise.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• a script
• computer or notepad for writing

1. 

   Be very selective of what goes into your stories. Most stories have lots of interesting details, but for a podcast that's meant to deliver information effectively, the announcer can't afford to be rambling. Stick to a theme.

2. Once you figure out what is important, concentrate on being direct with language. Try to make each sentence convey a specific thought. Long sentences that may be impressive to read on paper will go over people's heads when audio or video is the only means of attaining the same information. Keep sentences short.

3. Use active verbs; get rid of passive verbs. Active verbs force you to write in the subject-verb-object format which is helpful for broadcast.

4. 

   When applicable, tell stories about people. Listeners are intrigued by interesting characters.

5. 

   Think about your audience, and write so that they will understand what you are talking about. This may influence your writing style, whether you choose to write more conversationally, and whether you include certain lingo that the common person may not understand.

Tips & Warnings

• If there is extraneous information that is worth mentioning, but may not fit into your podcast, you can always add it onto the website, or whatever page the podcasts are streaming from. Also, you can provide links within the podcast for people that are listening to it on their computers or have access to the internet.
• If your podcast centers around news or journalism, make sure the words in your story are objective. You can make a solid point by presenting facts, and you can elicit emotion without including hyperbolic adjectives.
• Simplify whenever you can get away with it without compromising the story. This is especially true with numbers. Don't tell people the amount was $937,280 if you can just say "almost a million dollars." It will just be confusing.
• Each podcast is different. There are general guidelines that have merit in many situations, but there are particular rules for each genre. The great thing about the free medium of podcasting as it is now is that there is room for individuality and experimentation.