Guide to starting a true crime podcast for beginners

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Do you love reading and discussing true crime?  Do you like listening to true crime podcasts?  Have you ever thought about starting your own true crime podcast?  This would be a great way to spend your time on something you already love.  And by giving exposure to true crime cases, you could be serving the greater good since cases could get solved!

You might think that is too hard to do.  But it’s actually easier than you might think.  Lots of the best crime podcasts out there started with people with no experience in podcasting.  And now they are making seven-figure profits!

Before You Get Started

So before you get started, you might want to start brainstorming about your ideas for your podcast.  I’m sure you’ve thought about it before.  Some answers you should start thinking about include:

  • Do you want to be the only host?  Or do you want a co-host (or co-hosts) you can play off?  Obviously, both can (and do) work great – but it’s something you might want to decide before you get started
  • Do you want a general crime podcast?  Or do you want a more specialized point of view?  Some of these include:
    • Crimes that take place in a certain area (such as the Midwest in the United States, a country such as Ireland, a state like Texas, etc.).  Obviously, if you do this, you should pick an area you are interested in & are familiar with.  And there can be some advantages here – like you knowing the cases better if they are local.
    • Demographics: You could make your focus based on other demographics, like focusing on crimes against children, crimes against a certain minority, group, etc.
    • Missing person cases: These would be cases where a body was never found (like the case of Natalee Holloway) rather than a case where a body was found (such as Molly Bish).
    • You could exclusively focus on crimes made by serial killers.
    • You could focus on crimes that have paranormal theories behind what really happened.
    • And there are so many other ideas that you may have!
  • What do you want your podcast title to be?  The answer to the questions earlier (what you want your focus to be on and who the hosts are) could dictate the title.  You want it to be unique enough people can find you but not so unique that when someone saw the title of your podcast they would have no idea it was a true crime podcast.

What You Need to Get Started

So starting a podcast may not be as hard as you think, but it’s also something that you can’t just start right away.  There are a few things you’ll need to get started.  You can check out our checklist for starting a podcast here.

Making Money From Your Podcast

Another key question you need to ask yourself is whether or not you want to make money off of this podcast.  Since making a great podcast can be a time-consuming thing, chances are you will want to make money.  At the very least, you’ll want to cover some of your startup costs.  And you might want something to cover other expenses, like if you want to travel to a location of a true crime.  But beyond that, as I said earlier, there is a lot of money you can make from true crime podcasts.  We go over how to make money from your podcast here.

f you don’t want to make money, obviously, that is fine.  But if you do, then you need to consider registering a business and getting an LLC.  This protects you legally and is really important.

Conclusion

If you love true crime, then you can have a great time starting your own true crime podcast.  Not only could you be pursuing a passion of yours, but you could help solve crimes and you could make money doing what you love, too.  And you can totally do this even as a beginner.  Just follow our checklist and get started today!