Is it OK to Take a Podcast Break During the Holidays?
You might be wondering, “Is anyone listening to podcasts over Christmas? Will my show suffer if I don’t put out an episode on Thanksgiving?”
Yes, people are still listening to podcasts during the holidays. They are still commuting. They are still cooking dinner and doing other activities that they do while listening to your podcast. And because so many podcasters do take holiday breaks, if you publish an episode, it has more space to shine.
But your show won’t suffer if you take a week off, and this might actually be a good idea.
Podcasting requires a lot of dedication and work, and a week off during the holidays could be the perfect time for you to rest and recharge. It’s more important that you look after your wellbeing than it is for you to never miss a day of cranking out new content and risk burnout.
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Photo by Jakob Owens.
5 ways to podcast during the holidays (or not)
You’ll feel less stressed if you make a plan now about how you want to tackle podcasting during the holidays. Here are five options to consider.
Encore episodes
If you are super busy during the holidays and want to take a podcasting break, replaying a fan favorite that’s at least a year old is one option. Add an intro mentioning that this is a special encore presentation. Don’t abuse the replay option; fans get a little fatigued if you only give them reruns.
Podcast swap
Play someone else’s show. Is there a podcast that you love that has a related audience? Reach out to them and ask if they’re interested in doing a podcast swap, you air one of their episodes and they can air one of yours. This is a good way to build relationships and promote the work of people you admire. When you both have time, you could consider interviewing each other on your respective shows.
Don’t put out anything
During the holidays, it’s OK to take the week off and not release a new episode. Let your audience know the week prior that you’ll be taking time off to recharge with friends and family. Your listeners will totally understand, and likely appreciate your values.
Share a holiday message
Send out a brief ‘happy holidays’ message, expressing your gratitude to your listeners and letting them know that you’ll be back the following week (or whatever your cadence is) with your regularly scheduled programming.
Put out a new episode
Publish as normal. You might want to do a solo episode around this time since your guest might be off the grid during the holidays and not in a place to promote.
If you can, batch record and edit a few at a time so you never feel like you’re scrambling, and never have to worry working on your show during holiday festivities. It’s always less stressful when you have a few episodes in the can.
But life happens and sometimes you don’t have anything in reserve, and that’s OK. In fact, you could use the holidays to take a little break from your show so you can batch record and edit a few episodes to get ahead of the game.
To sum all of this up
Do what feels right for you. If you need a break or don’t think your listeners want to listen to a show during the holidays, don’t release a new episode. If you want to put something out, do that. Your listeners will not punish you for taking a week or two off. Just give them a heads up if you choose to do that.