When you publish an episode, you need to enter information about it so that it appears correctly in your publication destinations. To speed up your publication process, you can enter default information that appears automatically in the Episode Details form.
For example, if you know that your episodes will almost always have a clean rating, you can use defaults to select Clean so that it always appears automatically in the Explicit field when you're preparing an episode for publication. The default saves you from having to select that option every time you publish an episode.
The information you enter as default is just a starting point to help speed up your publication prep. You can always change any default settings when you publish an episode if they don't apply.
To set up episode defaults:
- If you have more than one show, make sure you select the show you want to set defaults for before you start.
- Click the
icon on the lower-left side of your Libsyn account. The Settings menu opens.
- Click Episode Defaults. The Episode Defaults form opens.
- Enter the information you want to appear automatically when you prepare an episode for publication. You can leave any field blank if you don't want to enter a default for it. See the table below to learn more about your options.
Category Enter the category for your episode. For more information about episode categories, see the "Category" section in About Your Episode Details. Permalink Points To Enter the URL you want your publication to point to. For more information about your options, see the "Permalink Points To" section in About Your Episode Details. Update ID3 Tags Select one of the following options:
- Import from MP3 File: Select this option to automatically turn on the Populate Form with ID3 Data option when you publish an episode. This option uses the information in your ID3 tags to import all relevant information to Libsyn. For more information on this option, see the "Populate Form with ID3 Data" section in About Your Episode Details.
- Export to Episode MP3 File: Select this option to automatically turn on the Update ID3 Tags option when you publish an episode. This option takes the information you write in the Episode Details form and uses it to update the ID3 tags in your episode's media file. For more information about this option, see the "Update ID3 Tags" section in About Your Episode Details.
- None: Select this option to leave both ID3 options in the Episode Details form turned off when you publish an episode.
Explicit Enter whether your episodes are clean or explicit. For more information about ratings, see the "Explicit" section in About Your Episode Details. Season Number Enter the season number you're currently on. When you change to a new season number, remember to come back to this field and change it. If you don't use seasons for your show, leave this field blank. Episode Number Enter the episode number that you are currently on. For example, if your next publication is episode 6, enter 6. Libsyn automatically tracks your publications and increases your default number by one when you publish to help with episode numbering and to speed up publication. For example, if you enter 6, the Episode Number field will automatically be labeled with a 6 in the Episode Details form when you prepare your next publication, and the publication after that will automatically be labeled 7, and so on. Schedule Release Select None if you don't want to set up a default schedule because you need to set up a different schedule every time you publish. If you want to set up a default schedule or a default custom schedule, see Understand the Schedule Release Options below. - Click Save. Next time you publish an episode, the information you entered above appears automatically in the Episode Details form for your new episode.
Understand the Default Schedule Release Options
If you have a set schedule for preparing episodes and publishing them, you can set up a default schedule for your episodes. For example, if you usually prepare your episodes for publication on a Friday and release them on the following Monday, you can set up Mondays as your default publishing day.
Schedule One Date to Publish Your Episode to All Your Destinations
This option lets you set up one default time to publish your episode to all of the publication destinations you've connected your show to, including podcast directories, websites, and social media sites. To do so:
- In the Schedule Release field, select Set Schedule for All Destinations.
- In the Download Availability field, select one of the following options:
a. Media files are always available: Choose this option if you want to make your episode available to share before the date you've scheduled it to be published. This option is useful if you want to share your episode with someone who needs to listen to it before the general public does. (Note: Libsyn stats will begin to track your episode as soon as you make it available to share.) b. Media files are available based on the release schedule: Choose this option if you don't want your episode to be available to anyone before the scheduled time for publication. - In the Release Type field, select one of the following options:
a. Release Immediately on Publish: Select this option if you want your episode to be published immediately to all of your publication destinations when you click Publish. b. Delay Release by Number of Days: Select this option if you want your episode to be published to all of your publication destinations a specific number of days after you click Publish. Enter the number of days you want to wait for your episode to be published in the Release Delay field, and enter the time you want to publish the episode in the field to the right of it. c. Delay Until Next Day of Week: Select this option if you want to publish your episode on a specific day of the upcoming week after you click Publish. Enter the day of the upcoming week you want to publish your episode in the Release Day field, and enter the time you want to publish the episode in the field to the right of it. - Click Save to save your defaults.
Set Different Publication Days for Different Destinations
This option lets you set a different release date for each of the publication destinations you've connected your show to.
- In the Schedule Release field, select Custom Release Schedule.
- In the Download Availability field, select one of the following options:
a. Media files are always available: Choose this option if you want to make your episode available to share before the date you've scheduled it to be published. This option is useful if you want to share your episode with someone who needs to listen to it before the general public does. (Note: Libsyn stats will begin to track your episode as soon as you make it available to share.) b. Media files are available based on the release schedule: Choose this option if you don't want your episode to be available to anyone before the scheduled time for publication. - In each of the publication destination fields, select one of the following options:
a. Release Immediately on Publish: Select this option if you want your episode to be published immediately to all of your publication destinations when you click Publish. b. Delay Release by Number of Days: Select this option if you want your episode to be published to all of your publication destinations a specific number of days after you click Publish. Enter the number of days you want to wait for your episode to be published in the Release Delay field, and enter the time you want to publish the episode in the field to the right of it. c. Delay Until Next Day of Week: Select this option if you want to publish your episode on a specific day of the upcoming week after you click Publish. Enter the day of the upcoming week you want to publish your episode in the Release Day field, and enter the time you want to publish the episode in the field to the right of it. - Click Save to save your defaults.