
Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart.
| Publishes | Weekly | Episodes | 979 | Founded | 11 years ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | CareersBusinessFiction | |||

A cold open can hook a reader with nothing more than voice. In this episode, our hosts explore what makes a voice-driven opening work — cadence, rhythm, authority, and a clear reason to care. We break down how aesthetic voice differs from mechanical ... more
Grounding a reader starts in the very first lines of a story. Where are we? Who are we with? What kind of story are we in? Our hosts explore how emotion, context, and sensory detail work together to create immersion, and why action alone isn’t enough... more
In this episode, we explore what it really means to set reader expectations at the beginning of a story. We talk about how openings communicate the shape of what’s to come — from genre and tone to the kind of emotional ride we’re inviting our readers... more
To celebrate Mary Robinette’s birthday today (!!), she is taking us inside the craft (and emotional engine) of her short story “With Her Serpent Locks,” using it as a case study in beginnings, control, and creative “leveling up.” Our hosts dig into g... more
People also subscribe to these shows.




I’ve tried listening to 10 different episode, but there’s hardly any actual content. It’s like a 3:1 ratio of ads, preamble, and self promotion to helpful content
I recently found this podcast and am enjoying the actual content—but there’s roughly 4 minutes of ads at the top and another long batch in the middle. It ends up feeling less about the writing content and more just a delivery vehicle for ads, ads, ads.
7 minutes of commercials before episode even begins. This show is all ads and has gotten less helpful over time.
Great advice but for a 20 minute episode, 10+ minutes are ads.
What a great find after scrolling through podcasts. Wonderful guests in purposeful conversation; I’ve learned so much!
Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.
How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #100 | |
Apple Podcasts | #63 | |
Apple Podcasts | #86 | |
Apple Podcasts | #65 | |
Apple Podcasts | #180 | |
Apple Podcasts | #198 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
This show centers on craft, theory, and practical technique for writers, with a steady emphasis on beginnings, grounding, tone, and genre expectations. Episodes dissect how to hook readers early, how to set up narrative goals, and how to balance story structure with originality, often pairing actionable homework with discussions of larger concepts like myth, tone, and perspective. Listeners are treated to a mix of concrete tips, thoughtful analysis, and occasional industry-facing topics such as pitching, income diversification, and the writing life. A notable strength is the ability to translate complex craft ideas into accessible, bite-sized guidance suitable for busy writers at multiple stages of their careers. The show's longevity and re... more
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Writing Excuses. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Writing Excuses and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Writing Excuses, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Writing Excuses, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers Writing Excuses has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with Writing Excuses:
1. The New Yorker: Fiction
2. Helping Writers Become Authors
3. The Book Review
4. Poetry Unbound
5. Fiction Writing Made Easy | Top Creative Writing Podcast for Fiction Writers & Writing Tips
Writing Excuses launched 11 years ago and published 979 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Writing Excuses from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Writing Excuses. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on Writing Excuses include:
1. Dr. Tara Lepore
2. Erin Roberts
3. Charlie Jane Anders
4. Charles Duhigg
5. Christopher Schwarz
6. Chuck Tingle
7. Mark Oshiro
8. Kate McKean
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.