Episode 15
Chapters: Podcasters' Homework
In making a transcript as instructed in the previous episode, you have possibly also generated suggestions for chapter markers. So, let's add the chapters to your audio file so the lovely modern podcast apps can display them to your audience.
Task
- Manually input, or edit, chapter timestamps, headings, pictures and links.
Find podcasting resources, links and extra listening at Creativityfound.co.uk/podcasting
Disclaimer
Things change. Technologies improve. What is discussed in this episode is correct as of end 2024 or early 2025.
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Transcript
Welcome back to Podcasting 2.0 in Practice.
Hi listeners, this homework is just for the podcasters, so if that's not you, you can nip off to the common room and take a well deserved break.
Okay podcasters, let's add some chapters.
As I mentioned in the transcripts homework episode, you can choose to have these automatically inserted if you are using, for example Captivate's Spark AI or Buzzsprout's CoHost AI. You can also adjust the inserted chapters using the instructions I'm about to give for manually adding chapters.
If you have used an external system such as Swell AI or Podium as discussed in the previous episode, you will be presented with a list of timestamps and suggested chapter headings which you can manually apply to your episode.
In Captivate, you can do this at the point of uploading your episode or after that by going to Episodes and clicking on the desired episode.
To get to the Edit Episode screen, scroll down and click on the drop down for Chapters.
You can either play the audio and double click on the waveform at the point you want to add a chapter, or if you have timestamps, click on the Add Chapter button and type in the timestamp for the start of the chapter in the relevant box. Add a chapter heading, then a photo file and link if required. You can edit or delete your chapters from this screen at any time.
If you use Captivate's Spark AI, these boxes will be automatically populated, but you can still go in and make changes as described.
Don't forget to scroll down and click on either Update Draft Episode, Schedule Episode, or Update Episode, depending on where you are in your publishing schedule, after making any changes.
On Buzzsprout, go to the episode you want to add chapters to and click on Add Chapter Markers.
This will change to View/Edit Chapters if you already have chapters in place. Click on Add New Chapter and input your timestamp, chapter title and link and image as desired.
Then click Create and input the info for the next chapter.
If you have used Cohost AI, then the chapters will be automatically input, but you can change these by adjusting the timestamps or chapter heads as required and add pics and links if you want. Don't forget to click on Save and Update after making any changes.
On RSS.com, click on the icon of a bookmark with a plus sign, click Add Chapter, then type in the timestamp for the beginning and the end of the chapter. Add your chapter heading plus a photo and link if you wish, then click on Save.
Your hosting company may do things a little bit differently, but from the advice I've given here, I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to add chapters on other hosting companies. Visit creativityfound.co.uk/podcasting to find out more about my guests and access lots of useful podcast resources.
If you'd like to get in touch, you can send a boost, but if you haven't got to that lesson yet, feel free to reach out to me on my Instagram account @podcasting2.0inpractice.
