Making Podnews: How James Cridland Publishes a Daily Podcast & Newsletter

Making Podnews: How James Cridland Publishes a Daily Podcast & Newsletter

Author: Alitu via The Podcast Host June 12, 2025 Duration: 47:34

Since 2017, Podnews has been an essential daily briefing for podcasters and industry folks who want to keep their finger on the medium’s pulse.

But this newsletter and its companion podcast aren’t just brilliant sources of news, data, and analysis – they also make for a fantastic case study of creating content consistently over a long period of time.

In this episode of Podcraft, I caught up with James Cridland, the one-man operation behind Podnews, to pull back the curtain on how he's built what might be the most consistent content machine in podcasting.

We covered a lot of ground, from why James started Podnews in the first place, to why he chose to publish a daily briefing in both newsletter AND podcast form.

We also talked about tools and workflows. You'll find everything James uses in this Podnews piece, but some notable picks for me are:

We got into some of the more "human" aspects of putting Podnews together, too. How does James manage to take holidays while still publishing every day without fail? How does he handle negative feedback when writing about something not everyone will respond well to? And how does he maintain journalistic freedom when sponsors help pay the bills?

Then there was the growth and reach stuff. How did he market Podnews in the early days? How did it grow, and was that growth slow and steady or 'spikey'?

James also chooses to run Podnews largely by himself, where others in his position might look to build a team of employees. I asked him about his thought process there, and that led to a conversation about how he's thinking about eventual semi-retirement.

All in all, this was a deeply enjoyable case study and a look under the hood of one of the industry's most prominent and prolific voices. So much so that I even manually wrote the shownotes(!!), and who even does that in 2025?

Also mentioned: If you want free podcast coaching on a future episode of Podcraft, fill out this application form as soon as you can!


If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the technical side of starting a show or wondered how to turn your passion into a sustainable project, PodCraft by Alitu: Honing the Craft of Podcasting is made for you. Hosts Colin and Matthew, with their three decades of shared experience, act as practical guides through the entire process. They move beyond theory, offering actionable advice you can use immediately. You'll hear detailed discussions on specific skills, from something as fundamental as selecting your first microphone to more advanced strategies like leveraging live events for community growth. The conversation also tackles the business and marketing realities, exploring how to effectively expand your audience and create revenue from your work. What sets this podcast apart is its balance of deep-dive tutorials on single topics and illuminating interviews with creators who share their own real-world successes and lessons learned. It’s a resource that recognises podcasting as both a creative outlet and a serious venture, providing the grounded, no-fluff guidance needed to refine your sound and build something that lasts. Tune in weekly for a dose of clarity and direction for your own audio journey.
Author: Language: en-gb Episodes: 50

PodCraft by Alitu: Honing the Craft of Podcasting
Podcast Episodes
Is ChatGPT Killing Your Creativity? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:19
"A creative assistant" is a common label many podcasters assign to LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude. There's no getting around it; these tools are incredibly powerful. But what hidden cost do we pay if we outsource cognitive…
Surprising New Data About Podcast Fans Who Mostly Listen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 24:51
According to a new report from Sounds Profitable, Audio Primes are podcast consumers who listen to at least 75% of their content as audio.It's easy to imagine these listeners as eccentric holdouts from a bygone age; in i…
YouTube Can Get You Discovered. But Can It Deliver? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:32
When Apple Podcasts announced vastly improved video capabilities back in February, I'll admit that my first thought was, "Will anyone care?"To my mind, if someone already watches video podcasts on YouTube, what incentive…
"Authenticity" Is Just Lack of Effort? (And Other Hot Takes) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:53
Does agreeing too much make for boring conversations? Will your podcast fail if you don't listen to other shows? And does the definition of a podcast really matter?We tackle these hot takes and more on this week's Podcra…
Do Podcast Ads Do More Harm Than Good? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:22
Back in November, our Independent Podcaster Report found that only 15% of creators were actively monetising their shows. Of those that did, the majority were running ads and sponsorship. If you missed it, ​the full repor…
Does "Owning Your Audience" Confuse Reach With Trust? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:16
If you build an audience on a third-party platform, it's often said that you don't "own" that audience. But does this miss the point of what an audience actually is? That's just one of the discussion points this week as…
Should Podcasting Never Feel Like Hard Work? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:51
"Podcasting should never feel like hard work". It sounds nice, but is it true? If it were that easy, wouldn't everyone have a massively successful podcast?On the latest episode of Podcraft, we’re back with our “agree or…