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Creating and Publishing a New Episode in Simplecast

Luke Brawner
Updated

 

This article covers the complete episode publishing workflow:

  1. How To Add a New Episode

  2. How To Schedule & Publish New Episodes

  3. How To Edit Scheduled Episodes (Edit Scheduled Date, Unschedule, Publish)

  4. How To Un-Publish Episodes

 

1. How To Add a New Episode

Once you have your episode notes and audio file ready, it is easy to publish a new podcast episode with Simplecast.

Need help with recording and editing your first podcast episode? Check out Absolutely Everything You Need To Start Your Podcast: Creating. 

 

• • •

 

1. Click Add New Episode

Click the "Add Episode" button in the top-right corner of your dashboard.

 

 


2. Enter Episode Details

The left side of the page is where you will enter episode details (title, an audio file, episode notes, etc) and the right side of the page is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) preview that updates in real-time when you add episode information.

 

ℹ️ When viewing the Add/Edit Page on a mobile device or smaller browser window, click on the eye icon to toggle between the Episode Details & Preview columns.

 

 

  • Title: Enter the title of the episode in the text box.
    – The last published episode is listed below as a reference to help you with naming the new episode.

  • Episode URL: Customize the 'slug' of your episode URL, which is the part that comes at the end of the URL. By default, the 'slug' will be the title of your episode. We recommend consistency in naming conventions for your episodes.

  • Audio File:  Click the box to select an audio file from your computer or drag and drop an audio file on top of the box to upload.
    • We recommend uploading MP3 audio files with a bit rate of 128kbps.
    • M4A and WAV files can be uploaded, but they will be transcoded to 128kbps MP3 files.
    • MP3 audio files that are 128kbps or lower will not be re-encoded. Learn more.

  • Episode Type:
    ​– Use 'Full' is when you are submitting a complete episode of a show.
    – Use 'Trailer' when you are submitting a short, promotional piece of content that represents a preview of a show.
    – 'Bonus' is for submitting extra content for a show (for example, behind the scenes information or interviews with the cast). More on episode types.

  • Season #: This option will only be available if your 'Show Type' is Episodic with Seasons or Serial. Click the drop-down menu to select the season or Add a New Season. More on show types.

  • Episode #: This number defines the order of your episode. The last published episode number is displayed below.

7. Episode Summary: Add a brief summary (1- 2 sentences) of what this episode is all about. Plain text only. Hyperlinks and text formatting are not supported.
​
8. Episode Notes: Add a full description of the episode, including topics discussed, section headlines, useful timestamps, and any additional notes or links you may want to share. We recommend also including links to your social media channels and any contact information you'd like to share with listeners. You can use our built-in text editor to format your text (bold and italic text, links, and lists are supported), or click on the MARKDOWN button to switch to a Markdown editor.

 

Note: Images are not supported in Episode Notes.
​

• • •

 

 

9. Contains Explicit Language?: Check this box to let your listeners know if they should expect to hear any explicit language.

 

10. Episode Contributors: List everyone who appeared and was mentioned in this episode. Contributor names will appear in the RSS Feed and in some directory metadata information. 

 

11. Search Keywords: Add relevant search keywords about your episode to help people find it.

 

12. Episode Art (Optional): By default, we will use your show art, but you can upload custom art for each episode and it will display in certain player applications.

  • Click on 'Browse' or drag and drop the image file to upload custom art for the episode.
  • Custom episode artwork is supported by many podcast apps and directories and will also be displayed on your Simplecast website and in your embed players.
    ​
    ℹ️ JPG, PNG, and GIF images accepted (JPG is recommended). Episode artwork should 3000x3000px in size and will be cropped to a square

 

• • •

 

 

14. Episode Privacy: Toggle on for Private to hide your episode from your RSS Feed, Simplecast site, and embed players. You can share private episodes using the share menu options and analytics are collected for private episodes.

 

15. Alternate Episode URL (optional): Add an alternate URL where listeners can find your podcast episode. For example, you may want to direct listeners to an episode page on an external website.
​

16. Upload Custom Recast Artwork (optional): By default, your show cover art will be used when generating a Recast. To use custom artwork for Recast, uncheck the box 'Use default artwork' and click 'Browse' or Drag & Drop image on the box. ​Learn how to use Recast
​
​JPG, PNG, and GIF images accepted (JPG is recommended). Image will be cropped to 1200x855px and should be at least 1200px wide.
​
​17. Recast Border Color (optional):  Click the toggle switch to open the color picker. Enter color hex code or drag to pick a color. Click on the + symbol to add custom color to favorites. Click anywhere away from the color picker to close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. How To Schedule & Publish New Episodes

😎 You can schedule episodes to publish on a future date and time or select a past date in the calendar picker and and publish immediately to a date and time in the past.

 

The following steps take place after filling out the Episode Details and uploading the audio file:


​Click on Save Draft: When finished adding Episode Details and an audio file has been uploaded, click on 'Save Draft' in the top-right corner. You will be automatically directed to the Episode Promotion Page where you can schedule or publish the episode.
​

 

Schedule or Publish Now: Click the drop-down menu and select 'Publish' to publish the episode immediately or check 'Schedule' to select a date and time when you want to publish the episode. Episodes can be scheduled to publish in the future or you can select a past date and publish to that date immediately.

 

To Schedule Episode:

  1. Click the dropdown menu

  2. Select 'Schedule'

  3. Select Date from the calendar picker

  4. Select Time at the bottom of the calendar picker

  5. Click off the minimize the calendar

  6. Click on the green 'Schedule' button

  7. Click 'Yes' to confirm or 'No' to Cancel

 


ℹ️ Scheduling times are based on your Publishing Time Zone settings found in 'Show Settings'. Learn more about publishing time zones.

 

To Publish Episode in the Past:

  1. Click the drop-down menu

  2. Select 'Schedule'

  3. Click the back arrows on the calendar if necessary

  4. Select a past date and time

  5. Click on the green 'Publish' button

To Publish Episode Immediately:

  1. Click the drop-down menu

  2. Select 'Publish' and you should see the adjacent checkmark

  3. Click the green 'Publish' button

  4. Click 'Yes' to publish the episode to your RSS Feed immediately

  5. Click 'No' to cancel the publishing of the episode

 

 

 


3. How To Edit Scheduled Episodes

 

Edit Scheduled Date:

Update your scheduled date and time to a date in the future.

 

Unschedule:

Unschedule episode and set back to Draft Mode.


​Publish:

Publish episode immediately to your RSS Feed.

 

Instructions:

  1. Click on 'Episodes' in the top navigation menu

  2. Click on an Episode Card that is labeled as 'Scheduled'

  3. Click on the ellipses (...) and select Edit Scheduled Date, Unschedule, or Publish

  4. Follow the prompts

 

 

4. How To Un-Publish Episodes or Change Publishing Date

Unpublishing an episode will remove the episode from your RSS Feed, Simplecast website, and all of the podcast directories (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

Note: It can take up to 24 hours for all of the directories to update and remove the episode after an episode has been unpublished.

 

To unpublish and episode:

  1. Click on Episodes in the top navigation menu

  2. Click on the already published episode to open the Episode Promotion page

  3. Click on the ellipsis (...) next to the publish date and time

  4. Click on 'Unpublish'

  5. Click 'Yes' to unpublish the episode and click on 'No' to Cancel.

 


Related Articles:

• • •

 

Still have questions? We'd be happy to answer them. You can reach our Support Team at support@simplecast.com!

 

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