How to create a podcast RSS feed
Background & Intention
The intention here is to create an RSS feed file that can be manually added to any podcast player and, via the player, be managed like any podcast. It shouldn't require any third-party hosting apart from uploading the RSS file somewhere, and isn't intended to be submitted to any podcast platforms for syndication. (Hypothetically, that should be possible if you fulfill the platform's requirements, but that's outside the scope of this guide.)
The background is that it's inconvenient to create an RSS feed for individual podfics (whether a single-"episode" podfic or a multi-chapter that's either posted all at once or as a work in progress) using any over-the-counter podcast hosts. Either they require public syndication (like Spotify for Podcasters[1], formerly Anchor.fm), or you'll need to pay (for most podcast hosting services, including WordPress), and either way you have to host your audio on that platform as well as your regular hosting, which is inconvenient. Most podcast hosting services are also structured around having a single podcast, and not several "podcasts" for which separate RSS links are desired.
Alternatives
If you just want a simple RSS feed and you host your files on the Internet Archive, you can use the archive's search to generate an RSS feed based on search terms. This RSS will be podcast player compatible, but will be limited in terms of cover art & title etc. GodofLaundryBaskets has an excellent guide at Create an RSS Feed on Archive.org which also details the caveats. An additional caveat is that, since this depends on search, your posts will need to be indexed, i.e. when you uploaded them, you can't have set them to noindex: true. At present, there's no way to change this once a post has already been created.
Cautions and Limitations
(email and scraping)
Citations
- ↑ Hi there, We are reaching out with important information about your podcast distribution. From November 6, 2023, all shows published on Spotify for Podcasters will also be distributed to Spotify. You are receiving this email because we have detected that your show is currently not on Spotify. There is no further action required from you. If you do not want your podcast to be available on Spotify, please reference this guide to delete your Spotify for Podcasters account. For more information about distributing your podcast through Spotify for Podcasters, please visit this article. Thanks, Team Spotify for Podcasters [email received 4 October 2023]