For many podcasters out there, podcasting is an activity that is done on the side and not an income-providing endeavor. Very few people are paid to podcast. However, there are also many ways you can earn an income from your podcast. From asking your listeners for donations to getting sponsors or utilizing affiliate marketing, there are many viable options when it comes to podcast monetization.

Related read: 3 Easy Steps To Accepting Donations For Your Podcast

In this post, we’re going to look at another equally viable option of monetizing your podcast – selling your own products. Now, you may be thinking, “Hold the phone, I don’t have any products to sell!” But I’m here to inform you that indeed you do! And we’re not talking about merch (although that could be something to consider down the line!). For the purpose of this post, we’re paying particular attention to products that require minimal or one-time input and effort on your part with regards to time and money, but which can generate and yield continual income, essentially giving you more bucks for your bang. 

And while I’m not quite certain the above (newly invented) idiom works as well as its more famous counterpart, I do know that the following suggestions can definitely work as ways to monetize your podcast. Let’s dive right into our three main categories of the ways you can create income from your podcast by creating and selling your products.

Related read: Host-Read Ads and Affiliate Marketing: Strategies to Monetize Your Podcast

1. Repurposed Content 

The first category of products you have to sell comes from repurposing your content, which is often one of the most efficient ways of monetizing your podcast. So let’s look at some of the products you can create by repurposing your valuable content. 

Ebooks

Your loyal listeners already find your content valuable, as it keeps them coming back for each episode. Why not turn your worth-while content into an eBook and give your listeners even more value? If you transcribe your podcasts, you’ve already laid much of the foundation for writing an eBook. With some rearranging, a little editing, and a few new additions or research, you’ll soon have a brand new product that you can then sell via your website, on Amazon, or on any other such platforms. If you also keep a blog for your podcast, then you’ve got even more content to draw from! Ebooks can prove to be a very profitable product. There’s little to no physical cost involved, besides your time, and it is an attractive prospect for your listeners as they can get easy access to your content and can receive even more benefit from your knowledge and insight. 

Related read: The Top 5 Benefits of Transcribing Your Podcast

Journals 

Another way to repurpose your content is by turning it into journals. A journal is characterized by its focus on a very specific topic, and by being shorter than a book. Journals are most commonly used in the academic arena and so this option would largely depend on the type of content you are creating. If your subject matter is more academic in nature, it will lend itself more readily to the journal format. In terms of effort, you would have already done the majority of the research when compiling your podcast episodes, so what would now be required is compiling it correctly.

Journals are immensely popular and highly valuable resource material in the academic community, particularly for the vast amount of engagement they cultivate between users. They are also a compact way for readers to gain more knowledge on a specific subject. In terms of monetization, once compiled, your journal could be uploaded to your website where your readers can purchase access to the content. A common practice is to provide a small portion of the journal for free, and require a purchasing fee for the rest of the material. 

Online Courses

Online courses are another great product you can create as a way to monetize your podcast. It’s also versatile as it does not need to relate solely to your podcast content. Of course, you could create a course based directly on your content, but you could also create a course based on something else entirely but still within your niche. You even have the option to create an online course based on something you’ve had to learn whilst on your podcasting journey! If you’ve established a loyal audience, chances are they will be willing to pay for access to even more of your valuable content and to be able to continue learning from you. However, it is your responsibility to create something worth their additional support! Once you’ve created your course, use your website or platforms such as Udemy or Skillshare to make your content available to your listeners.

Related read: 7 Benefits of Turning Your Audiobook into a Podcast 

2. Printables

Another clever way to monetize a podcast is to create and sell downloadable or printable resources. This category of products is information-focused rather than being repurposed content, but they should supplement or enhance the information given in your podcast, or help the listener in some way in relation to the content of your podcast.

The printables you create can directly or indirectly align with your podcast. For example, you may have an educational-focused podcast as you are a teacher. As a teacher, you will most certainly be designing worksheets, homework sheets, lesson plans or other templates for your own classroom. Why not make these available to your listeners as a download for a small fee? Your loyal listeners would have already established trust in you, and so would also trust what you use in your own classroom, making it highly beneficial for them to purchase your content.

On the other hand, your printables may be indirectly aligned to your podcast. You may be a part-time entrepreneurial podcaster, but also a full-time mom. Anything you’ve created to make your own job easier – fun cleaning schedules, fool-proof recipes or chore rosters – could easily be turned into templates and made available for purchase online. Remember, people will readily purchase something that solves a problem they are having or makes their life easier in some way. They will purchase even more readily from someone they trust. If you say something works for you, they will believe that it will work for them too.

Again, your podcast may be more academic in nature, so why not create content cheat sheets or helpful content-related charts for your listener to purchase. Your audience will not mind paying for these additions as long as you’re providing valuable content! 

Related read: How to Improve the Discoverability of Your Podcast

3. Yourself

I bet you didn’t think of yourself as a saleable commodity! More specifically, your expertise, knowledge, and skills are commodities that you can sell as a product to monetize your podcast. There are numerous ways this can be done, but we will look at three in particular. 

Live Events

If you’ve created a loyal audience, you can monetize your podcast by selling your time. One way to do this is by hosting and selling tickets to a live event. This could be anything from a live podcast recording to group discussions, depending on your topic, content, as well as your audience. Hosts of great podcasts become role models or idols in their field, and most listeners would jump at the chance to meet their favorite host in person. The key to maximizing the monetization of these events is keeping the structure simple and the content and opportunities valuable.    

Related read: How to Promote Your Podcast if Marketing is Not Your Strength

Public Speaking Events

Once you’ve established yourself as an authority within your podcast niche, and have grown your number of loyal listeners, you could also offer your time for public speaking engagements in exchange for a fee. Conferences, universities, or retreats are just a few events often looking for public speakers. As a podcaster, you offer an added bonus of an already-established audience. Organizers of these events would highly value the extra ticket sales your endorsement of the event would provide! You could even host and sell tickets for your own public speaking events, particularly if your niche lends itself to a lecture format.

Workshops or Webinars

Lastly, you could also monetize your podcast by selling a limited amount of spaces to attend a workshop or webinar. Your workshops could be used to teach your skill to some of your listeners or help the attendees hone their own craft while giving them the opportunity to meet you and learn from you. Your webinars could be used to explore your content more thoroughly and to allow for in-depth Q&A discussions. However, it is important to remember that in order for workshops or webinars to be successful, you must include a great deal of additional valuable content and without merely regurgitating your podcast episodes. Essentially, you must make sure that the value you provide matches the price tag. A lack of new, valuable content would make the purchase of a ticket to your next workshop or webinar highly unlikely!

Final Thoughts

These are just some of the ways you can create and sell products to help monetize your podcast. Look at your podcast with the above information in mind to see which product(s) align best with your show and the ones you could create with relative ease in order to maximize your return. Remember, the beauty of most of the suggestions given in this post is that they will require a one-time effort, and through the marvel of automation and modern technology, can provide you with ongoing sale opportunities to monetize your podcast.