Why Scripted Podcasts are Less Effective
Scripted podcasts, where someone writes out their words and then reads them, might have more issues than just coming out as stilted.
When you rely strictly on your own output, you run the risk of missing things; if you have someone serving as an interviewer, they can help draw out more detail. Also, many people enjoy hearing that back and forth delivery – it becomes a conversation instead of a speech and it draws a listener in as a third party. This particular tactic is popular in talk radio and it serves dual purposes because it not only gives a better delivery, but it makes a listener part of the conversation.
If I want to listen to someone reading a script, I’ll just grab an audio book. This works well if I don’t have time to sit down and actually read something. Shortcut Content uses audio as its primary information gathering source, first because the interview process is much easier; and second, because it leads to deeper questions with more well-rounded answers. Our podcasts are actually a byproduct of our process and it’s really an edited and written blog post that becomes our finished product. Using audio is a more natural way of producing written content for a site and although it may be a matter of opinion, if I’m going to listen to something, I’d rather listen to a long form book.
It’s pretty easy to figure out when something is being read from a script and yes, there are some successful podcasts out there that are done that way. You can actually read the transcript of those podcasts as you follow along, but that has never been my personal preference. Some people are not very good writers, although they may possess plenty of knowledge in the subject they’re speaking about. If you don’t excel in writing, you need to flip the whole process and start with the spoken word, then write it down. The idea is to produce fresh conversation which in turn produces good, solid written content that can be edited for better content delivery.
Since we all can’t be a TV or radio journalist trained to write and work from script, we have to adapt our process if we want to produce clear content. If you think about Paul Harvey, who most definitely worked from a script, he developed a unique style that didn’t come about overnight. We don’t all have time to allot in developing a style, so we need to do the next best thing – speak first in a conversational manner, and write second in an edited and precise format.