Celebrating Five Years of Podcasting!

When I started my true crime podcast Missing in the Carolinas five years ago, I thought I would be focusing solely on missing persons cases in North and South Carolina. My creative muse had other ideas. Little did my muse know that scanning old newspaper archives would lead me to intriguing crimes from the past (many with no digital footprints) and inspire me to broaden the context of my storytelling. 

I’m not going to lie–it’s been a labor of love. I don’t have a team, other than a few family members (you know who you are!) and I don’t make a profit off the podcast. I believe that I could make money off the show if I were a more successful business person, but my mind is forever more focused on the content.

I’ve learned a lot–how to create an RSS feed, how to record and upload episodes, how to use various types of editing software, ways to create intriguing content, how to organically grow an audience, and how to produce a great interview. I also have enough research and content now to publish a true crime book, and that’s high on my list. Another positive thing that’s come out of this podcast is that it inspired me to write a novel in the suspense/thriller genre, and I believe having a strong podcasting platform has attracted the attention of agents. While I’m still waiting for an offer of representation, I’ve been motivated to outline and and begin writing another book in the women’s fiction genre. The creativity flows on.

I’ll admit I sometimes get reviews that hurt my feelings, but I try to take them in and then move on. These critiques discuss everything from my choice of recording equipment to my decision to share interviews with other true crime authors and professionals in related fields. I’m pretty sure I had a person I discussed in a recent podcast episode posting a few negative reviews a few weeks ago (he’s awaiting trial for murder). At the end of the day, I tell myself that I’m producing a free podcast for people so I can take these critiques with a grain of salt if I need to for my mental health.

Here are some other stats from my five years of podcasting:

8,464 followers on Spotify.

More than 605,000 downloads across all podcasting platforms.

Weekly, original podcast scripts on a variety of missing persons cases and true crime from the Carolinas.

Organic growth with little to no advertising dollars spent and a few effective promo swaps with other podcasters in the genre.

While there are days I consider quitting podcasting and going back to writing full time, I’ve decided to stay the course for now. The beauty of not being tied to any contracts or advertisers is that I can exercise the right to have creative control over this product and brand that I’ve built. And that brings me comfort.

If you are a listener of the podcast, I’d love to know what your favorite episodes have been so far!