Where to submit your new audio drama

When you create a new fiction podcast, you should share it to appropriate media outlets and communities. I didn’t know this when we started Roommate From Hell, and we didn’t get many listens until we finally got noticed by some of these outlets.

Before you promote your show anywhere, make sure it’s listed on all the major podcast platforms, especially Apple, Spotify, and Google. Most third-party apps scrape Apple’s catalog, so getting listed on Apple is essential.

But also make sure you’re on Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict, and Overcast. I think you can get on most of these simply by entering your show’s RSS feed into the app’s search bar, finding it, and subscribing to your own show.

Then send your show to:

Email newsletters

• Fiction Podcast Weekly: The best, most comprehensive newsletter about audio drama. Updates of all kinds on shows, events, opportunities. If you submit to one newsletter, make it this. (One of the editors, Sarah Golding, also runs Audio Drama Hub below.)

• Audio Dramatic: Bi-weekly AD newsletter by Elena Fernández Collins, aka Ely. Includes capsule reviews of new shows, always positive.

• Find That Pod: Recommends five shows a week, and has asked for more AD submissions.

• The Listener: Long shot for a new show, but Caroline Crampton recommends three new podcast episodes every weekday, so she's always looking for new stuff to try.

• Inside Podcasting: Another long shot, unless you have an angle interesting to other podcasters.

• Podnews: Daily podcast industry news. Lists a couple of new/returning shows at the bottom of each issue. Seems to pick up on emailed press releases about launches.

• Great British Podcasts: If you’re British.

Sites

• r/audiodrama: A subreddit for audiences and creators. Creators are encouraged to post about their shows at any important juncture: a launch, a new season, a trailer. When you post, include a paragraph about your characters, story, tone, and genre. Link to your show’s Apple, Google, Stitcher, and Spotify pages, and your RSS feed for everyone else.

• Audio Drama Hub Facebook group: Great giant hangout of AD creators, including some big names. Sometimes puts the "drama" in "audio drama." Find one of the regular self-promotion threads, but also get involved in the community like you would in r/audiodrama.

• Podchaser: Hopefully this will beat out the competition to be the IMDb of podcasting. The AD community seems to love it. (Podchaser publishes the Fiction Podcast Weekly, above.)

• The Bello Collective: Blog/newsletter that covers all kinds of shows but especially indies and audio drama.

• Audio-Drama.com: Huge catalog of all audio dramas the site can find. They post their latest shows every week.

• Wil Williams Reviews: Podcast critic with a specialty in audio drama. Wil is also co-creator of the urban fantasy AD Valence. They used to have a newsletter but it's been dormant for months.

• Audio Drama Debut: A short podcast that plays three or four show trailers in each episode.

Check each outlet’s submission guidelines. Be polite, describe your show in specific terms, briefly describe your length and number of episodes, and don’t self-deprecate.

When you post in forums like Reddit and Facebook, include a paragraph about your characters, story, tone, and genre. Link to your show’s Apple, Google, Stitcher, and Spotify pages, and your RSS feed for everyone else. Include the cover art. And read and comment in other discussions without talking about your show.

What did I miss?