As I’m sure you’re all aware, I record a weekly podcast. It’s a silly little sci-fi short story thing. I do it because I enjoy the format and the opportunity to learn new tricks (like audio editing! So much to learn!), but I also hope that it will, one day, help me be financially independent.

Or at least close to financially independent. At this point in my life I’d settle for “less of a burden” most days. But I digress.

Since the podcast started in June, it’s seen pretty consistent and steady growth. Not constant, there are weeks that are better and weeks that are worse, but it’s definitely trended in the correct direction.

Until last week. Last week was the first big drop in numbers since the podcast started. It was averaging about 150 listeners a week, and last week it barely got 70. No reason that I can tell for why (there may be an issue with it being too quiet, but that shouldn’t stop people from downloading it because they wouldn’t know it was too quiet until after they downloaded it?). And this week looks like it will be weak again.

There’s nothing I can do about that. I don’t advertise the podcast (I barely have the budget to afford hosting it), so it’s not like there’s a knob I can turn that will get more people to hear about it. So I just have to accept that sometimes the numbers go down, and they’re probably out of my control.

That stated, I’m recording another episode (or two… hopefully three!) today, which is all I can do. I can only focus on the things that I can control: making a good story. And then maybe, if I do it long enough and well enough, people will find me.

I think I’m going to retire my standard sign-off… although obviously I still hope people out there are staying safe and healthy!