Ship Your Pod

Guide

You film your podcast. Now you have to edit it twice.

Editing a filmed podcast is two jobs. The full episode edit is cleanup: sync the cameras, cut false starts and dead air, level the audio, and write the title, chapters and description. The Shorts edit means finding moments that stand alone, reframing them vertically and captioning every word. Hosts most often hand off the Shorts, because they take hours and need the least of your personal judgment.

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What the full episode edit involves

The long edit is a cleanup pass on a conversation you already like. You line up the camera angles and the audio, choose which angle is on screen at each moment, and cut the false starts, the technical stalls and the long silences while someone checks their notes. Then you level the audio so both voices sit at the same volume and remove hum or room noise.

Around the video you need a title, a thumbnail, a description and chapters. Chapters take a full listen, because you have to mark where each topic starts and name it in a few words.

How much to cut from the long version

Cut less than you think you should. Viewers who choose a full episode want the conversation, including the detours that make a guest sound like a person. Remove anything that loses the thread for more than a moment, anything a guest asked you to drop, and repeated setup such as an ad read you recorded twice.

A good test: if you would skip it while listening on a walk, cut it. If you would rewind it, leave it alone and note the time, because it is probably a Short.

What the Shorts edit involves

A Short is a separate piece of work cut from the same footage. You pick a moment that makes sense to someone who has never heard of your show, trim it so it starts on the strongest line, reframe the wide shot into a vertical one that follows whoever is talking, and caption every word.

Each clip also needs its own hook line on screen, a title, and post text for the platform it goes to. When two people go back and forth quickly, a split screen keeps both faces in the frame.

Why the Shorts take longer than they look

The cutting goes fast once you know which moment you want. Choosing takes the time: you have to watch or skim the whole episode, mark candidates, and then decide which ones hold up without the context around them.

Captions add another pass. Names, places and jargon come out wrong in a first draft, and a misspelled guest name on screen is the first thing that guest will notice.

What to keep and what to hand off

Keep the decisions that only you can make: what the show stands for, which guests you book, which moments you refuse to publish, and what goes out under your name. Hand off the work that takes hours without needing your eye on every frame: finding clip candidates, reframing, captions, chapter timestamps, descriptions and thumbnail options.

A common split is to keep the long edit close and hand off the Shorts. A weak Short is quick to replace, and the full episode is where a viewer decides whether to subscribe. Ship Your Pod covers the Shorts side and the packaging: you send one filmed episode and get back captioned vertical Shorts, teasers, thumbnails, a title, a description and chapters, and you post them yourself. It does not return an edited full episode, so the long cut stays with you or whoever edits it now.

How to brief whoever takes the work

Write a short note for every episode. Spell each guest's name, list the moment you want used if there is one, and name any topic or time range that must stay out. A clear note saves a round of fixes later.

For names and terms that come up on every episode, such as your co-host, your show name or the jargon of your field, keep a spelling list and give it to whoever does captions. With Ship Your Pod, the episode note goes in the "Anything we should know?" box, and recurring names go in Settings > Spelling, which applies from the next episode.

What to check before anything goes live

Watch each Short once with the sound off and once with it on. Check that names are spelled right, that captions match what was said, and that no clip cuts a guest off mid thought in a way that changes their meaning.

If a clip is close but wrong, ask for a specific fix: start two seconds later, drop the last line, correct a word. On Ship Your Pod that is the "Change this" button on the clip, and nothing posts until you choose to post it.

Where Ship Your Pod fits

If the editing is the part that keeps you from posting, send the episode instead. 8 to 15 Shorts come back within a day (same day on Pro), captioned, scored and ranked best first, with teasers, quotes and per-Short titles and post text. You post them yourself, full quality, no watermark. Pro is $149 a month for 12 episodes, 15 Shorts each, plus teasers, quotes and per-platform post text. Starter is $59 a month for 4 episodes. The price goes down every month you stay. Month to month, cancel any time. Pro has a 14-day free trial for your first episode.

Pro: up to 180 Shorts and 36 teasers a month, from 12 episodes. Starter: up to 32 Shorts and 8 teasers a month, from 4 episodes.

On your next episode, write down the times of three moments you would rewind, then decide whether you will cut the Shorts yourself or hand them off with that note attached.

Questions

Should I edit the full episode before making Shorts?

You can cut Shorts from the raw recording while the long edit happens, so neither job waits for the other. Working from the raw file also means a moment you trimmed from the long version can still become a Short.

Do podcast Shorts need captions?

Yes. Captions let someone follow the clip with the sound off, and they help a viewer catch a name or term they would otherwise mishear.

Should Shorts go out before or after the full episode?

Post one or two teasers before the episode goes live so people know it is coming. Spread the rest out after it is up, so anyone who likes a clip has a full episode to go to.

What part of a podcast video edit should a host never outsource?

Keep the final call on what gets published. You are the one who knows what a guest said off the record and which joke will land badly with your audience.

What does Ship Your Pod cost?

Pro is $149 a month for 12 episodes, 15 Shorts each, plus teasers, quotes and per-platform post text. Starter is $59 a month for 4 episodes. The price goes down every month you stay. Month to month, cancel any time. Pro has a 14-day free trial for your first episode. Pro: up to 180 Shorts and 36 teasers a month, from 12 episodes. Starter: up to 32 Shorts and 8 teasers a month, from 4 episodes.

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Last updated 2026-11-04.