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: 100

PodCraft by Alitu: Honing the Craft of Podcasting
Podcast Episodes
What’s Missing From Your Process? With Joe Casabona [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:21
On this episode of Podcraft, we have a special episode swap with our good friend Joe Casabona from Podcast Workflows. Podcast Workflows provides insights into how to improve your podcast systems and workflows — allowing…
What is Podcasting 2.0? And Why Should I Care? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:24
Podcasting has a tonne of strengths, but one of its biggest is its decentralised nature. A podcaster can upload their content to a hosting provider, and it can be consumed and enjoyed by people via many different platfor…
Email List & Social Media Strategies to Build a Podcast Community [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:48
As we'll often tell you, you don’t need to use social media at all for your podcast.But many do. And if you want Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or any other platform to be part of your podcasting strategy, then it makes se…
AI Tools to Nail your Video Podcasting & How to Grow on YouTube [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:40
In this co-hosted episode, Colin and Jeremy Ryan Slate discuss a whole range of AI tools to streamline podcast production workflows, particularly a video podcast, and share insights on fueling podcast growth on YouTube.…
Top Promo & Growth Lessons From Successful Indie Podcasters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:15
Just like the proverbial tree in the forest, is your brilliant content even brilliant if nobody hears it? On this episode, we're going to pick our Indiepod Legends' brains about all things promotion, growth, and marketin…
Balancing Time, Workflow, & Content. The Nuts & Bolts of Podcasting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:52
We know from previous episodes that consistency leads to podcasting success - but how do you actually become consistent? It’s all well and good to say, “Go out there and create lots of episodes,” when you might be intimi…
How Consistency Leads to Podcasting Success [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:01
Almost all the benefits of podcasting stem from one thing – and that’s consistency. If you publish quality content over a prolonged period of time, you eventually hit a critical mass of episodes you can now call your “ba…
From Doubt to Determination: Pushing Through the Podcasting Dip [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:03
What really makes someone a successful podcaster? Is it a certain number of episodes, downloads, or reviews? Is it whether content creation has become their full-time job? Or could it be because they've been recognised w…