Do you guys want to hear from me?

Thinking about audio instead of a written blog

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about audio, and specifically, whether I should start doing these blog posts as audio rather than prose. Substack makes it super easy to create podcasts, and it wouldn’t be hard to start pushing out audio material via Spotify, Apple, and a host of other sites.

I like to listen to podcasts when cooking, doing housework, gardening, or driving, but I have to admit, I almost never listen to news, documentary or talk shows. I’m far more into audio dramas (more on that in a future post), and audiobooks (more on that too). So, I’m not really in the best position to judge whether this is a good idea.

To put it in perspective, I’m not thinking of these as 25-minute shows or anything like that. Most of my blog posts would take maybe 5-10 minutes if they were done as audio. Not quite as short as TikTok or Reels, but definitely more along the lines of snippets than full-on shows.

I keep going back and forth on this idea. While I’m definitely planning some audio content for Unhack Your Brain, I can’t make up my mind when it comes to this blog.

The pros and cons of podcasting

Pros

• I have a good speaking voice. People tell me they like listening to me talk.

• I would probably come across much more naturally. It would be like having a chat with me, not reading something that I had carefully crafted. That’s potentially good from a branding perspective (ugh, but you know what I mean).

• Recording audio is probably quicker and easier for me than writing prose, as long as I don’t have to do any fancy editing. I can talk faster than I can write, and I’m less inclined to be perfectionist about every word.

• You can listen to me while you’re doing something else.

Cons

• It won’t have pictures (unless I do it as a video podcast, but that’s a whole different thing, which I don’t want to get into).

• Listening to audio usually takes longer, and you can’t easily skim it.

• Listening to audio requires you to be in a place where you’re not going to disturb other people, or else be wearing headphones. You can read a blog anywhere, any time.

• You have to actively click on something to start the audio: you can’t just read it in the email.

I’d love to hear from you, especially if you’ve done something similar. Do you listen to author podcasts? Would you listen to mine?