Set up your show

Setup opens the first time you sign in. You find your show, then answer three short questions: your goal, your channels and your hosts. While you answer them, Podato is already reading your feed (the list of episodes your podcast host publishes) and finding out about your show, so by the time you finish there's something to look at.

1. Find your show

   Under What's your podcast called?, type your show's name and choose Search Podcast. If Podato finds it, you'll see Is this your podcast?; choose Yes, that's it. If several shows come back, pick yours from Select your podcast.

2. Say what you want help with most

   Under What should Podato help with most, pick one: Grow the audience, Save time on admin, Land great guests, Sell something or Build authority. Podato uses your answer to shape what it writes for you. Then choose Continue.

3. Pick your channels

   Under Where people find your show, the Where people listen card lists Spotify and Apple Podcasts. They and the other podcast apps get your episodes from your feed, so there's nothing to switch on. Switch on YouTube if you post there, and Podato writes YouTube titles and descriptions. Under Where you promote it, switch on the places you post, such as Instagram or LinkedIn. Any Podato found on your show's listing or website are already on; switch off any that are wrong. Podato writes social posts for the ones you leave on, for you to copy; it doesn't post them for you. Then choose Continue.

4. Confirm your hosts

   By now Podato has usually found who hosts your show, from your feed, your show notes or the web, so it asks Is this you? (or Are these your hosts?), with where it found them underneath. If they're right, choose Take me to my show, which also finishes setup. If not, choose Change: the names become tags you can remove with their ×, and you type a missing name in the box and choose +. Spell each name exactly as you want it written. The first name is the main host. If Podato found nobody, you get the same box under Show Host. Once you've changed the hosts, Podato won't replace them with anything it finds later. You can change them again any time in Show settings.

5. Watch your show fill in

   You land on Your show so far. For your show's first week it's what Your Show opens on, so you can come back to it from the sidebar. It fills in while Podato reads, with no need to refresh: what your feed says (your hosts, how many episodes and how often you publish), what Podato found on the web, the guests and subjects in your show notes, and how many episodes' show notes it has read. On the free trial it also processes your most recent episode (your three most recent once you've claimed your show, five if you were invited to test) and writes up the newest: show notes, titles and posts, for you to copy (nothing is published). When that write-up is ready, it takes the top of the page, with Open the write-up to read it all. Each part that's still going says how long it has taken, and you can close the page: Podato carries on without you, and emails you when your first episodes are done.

What Podato does while you answer

From the second question on, a Learning your show panel lists what Podato is doing: reading your feed, importing your episodes, searching the web for what's been written about your show, and finding your show on Spotify and YouTube. It saves those links to Show settings, where you can change them. It takes a couple of minutes, and you don't need to wait for it.

What Podato asks later

Setup doesn't ask about spelling or the words you'd never use. Your first write-up uses Podato's default style. The next time you ask Podato to write something, a line above it points you to Show Voice, where you can set UK or US spelling and the words to leave out of everything it writes.

You can change your goal (your answer to the second step) in Show Voice in the sidebar, and your channels in Show settings, under Distribution. Show settings is in the account menu at the top right; on a phone, it's under More.

Next: Process your first episode.