In 2008, I recorded my first crime podcast episode in a closet with a USB microphone and free editing software. There was no "true crime podcast" category on iTunes yet. The entire concept of people listening to crime stories on their phones felt niche to the point of absurdity.
Eighteen years later, Myths & Malice has six active shows, over 1,500 published episodes, and a team of hosts and producers who put out 10-12 episodes a week. Here's what I learned along the way.
Start with One Show. Make It Good.
The temptation to launch multiple shows at once is real. Don't. Every show in our network started because the previous one had found its audience and its rhythm. If you can't sustain one show consistently, adding a second will make both worse.
Consistency Beats Everything
The single biggest factor in growing an audience isn't production quality, marketing, or SEO. It's consistency. Showing up every week, on the same day, with a quality episode. Listeners build habits around your schedule. Break that habit and you lose momentum that takes months to rebuild.
Hometown History has published weekly for years. That consistency is the foundation everything else is built on.
Find Hosts Who Complement, Not Copy
When I brought on co-hosts and additional show hosts, I looked for people with different perspectives and strengths. Wendy brings emotional depth and sharp commentary to Foul Play. Josh and Kim bring spontaneity and genuine reactions to The Haunted Bunker. Justin's documentary approach on Obscura — with over 50% real audio — is completely different from anything I produce.
A network where every show sounds the same isn't a network. It's one show repeated.
Systems Save You
At the scale we operate — 10-12 episodes a week across six shows — nothing works without systems. Production pipelines, editorial calendars, automated publishing workflows, standardized research processes. The creative work of storytelling only happens because the operational work is handled.
I spent years doing everything manually. Building systems was the single most impactful investment I made in the business.
The Business Side Matters
I spent the first several years treating podcasting as a hobby. Revenue was an afterthought. That works when you're doing it for fun, but it doesn't scale. At some point you need to think about sponsorships, premium content, merch, and diversified revenue streams.
Today, Myths & Malice generates roughly $200K annually through a combination of advertising, premium subscriptions via M&M+, and platform deals. None of that happened by accident.
What I'd Tell 2008 Me
Start sooner. Be more consistent. Build systems earlier. And stop trying to do everything yourself. The best decision I ever made was trusting other people to carry parts of the creative vision.