Featuring your newsletters as podcasts

Want to reach your audience beyond the inbox? With beehiiv’s built-in podcast feed, you can automatically convert your newsletter posts into podcast episodes and distribute them to major platforms like Amazon Music and Spotify, Apple, and YouTube Podcasts — no audio editing or recording required.

In this article, you’ll find a short video tutorial, and step-by-step instructions for creating a podcast show feed, turning your newsletter posts into podcast episodes, and submitting your show to the top podcast platforms. Followed by a series of FAQs at the end to help clarify common questions.

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Watch and learn: How to Turn Newsletters into Podcasts

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How to create a podcast show feed for your publication

1. Log in to your account and click the Settings icon in the bottom-left corner.
   
   
2. Your publication settings will open on General Info. If you manage multiple publications, select the relevant one from the dropdown menu in the top-left corner. Click on RSS in the left panel.
   
   
3. Under Podcast show feed, click on the Create podcast show button to start setting up your podcast. You will only need to do this once.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. A form will appear for you to enter your podcast details. This information will be used to generate a podcast RSS feed compatible with platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more. Enter the details listed below and click Create show.
   
   
   
   
   

   Podcast Details:

• • Podcast name: This is the title of your publication podcast, it’s what listeners will see as the name of your podcast on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
    • Click the Sparkle icon to have AI generate the name of your podcast.
  • Podcast description: A short summary of your podcast that appears in directories and helps attract subscribers.
    • Click the Sparkle icon to have AI generate a podcast description for you.
  • Cover image: Upload an image that is a minimum size of 600 x 600px, this will be used as the cover image on the podcast platforms.
    • Click the Sparkle icon to have AI generate a cover image for you.
  • Author/host: This is the name of the person or brand creating the podcast. It can be your name, your publication’s name, or your company.
  • Podcast email: The email you add here will be the contact email address associated with your podcast. By default, this will be set to the email associated with your publication owner’s beehiiv account, but you can modify it however you wish.
    
    
    Tech Note: The podcast email is used to verify the RSS feed for Spotify Podcasts and Amazon Music and is shown publicly in the RSS feed metadata.
  • Category: Choose the category that best describes your podcast’s theme. This helps listeners discover your show in relevant sections of podcast platforms.
  • Language: Select the primary language for the podcast platforms to use to for filtering.
  • Explicit content: Toggle this on to indicate that your podcast contains any explicit language or adult themes. This is required by platforms for content labeling.

5. After creating your podcast, you'll be returned to the RSS page within your publication settings. In the Podcast show feed section, you'll see your unique Podcast RSS Feed URL  — just click to copy it anytime when you're ready to submit your podcast to platforms.
   
   Below the feed URL, you’ll also see quick-submit options for Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube Podcasts.
   
   Important note: Before submitting your podcast, you’ll need to publish at least one newsletter post as a podcast episode (steps below). Once that’s live, you can use the buttons on this page to submit your RSS feed to each platform — which is a one-time setup per platform. After that, any future post with the audio settings enabled will be automatically distributed as a podcast episode to the platforms you've connected.
   
   
   
   

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How to publish a post as a podcast episode

6. Open a new post draft or select to edit one of your saved posts or templates.
   
   
7. The Post Builder will open on the Compose page. After drafting your post, click on Audience in the top navbar and select to publish to a Web Audience.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Navigate to the Web page from the top navbar, then scroll down to the Enable audio section. Toggle it on if it isn’t already enabled.
   
   
   
   
   Refer to this article for more details on offering an audio version of your newsletter.
   
   
   Tech Note: The ‘Pending’ tag next to Enable audio means your audio is still processing. Once it’s ready, the tag will change to ‘Generated’. This typically takes 5–10 minutes.
9. You’ll first need to select a voice for the podcast episode. Click the arrow in the Choose voice field and pick a name from the dropdown. Click the volume icon next to any name to hear a sample of their voice.
   
   
   
   
   
   Or, if you prefer, you can choose to use your own voice for your podcast. To get started with this, read the How to clone your voice for your podcast audio instructions below.
   
   Tech Note: All changes made in the Post Builder are automatically saved.
10. After choosing a voice, select the Audio content type. This setting controls how your post content is converted into audio.
    Choose from the following options:

• Transcript: The audio will match the exact wording of your post. You can see and edit the audio transcript.
• Summary: The audio will be a concise, AI-generated summary of your post in English that you can edit as needed.
• Custom: Add a prompt describing how you’d like the audio to be generated by AI.
  
  
  
  
  
  

11. Click on your preferred Audio content type to see the full text that will be used to generate the audio. You can edit the text however you’d like before publishing.
    
    
    
    
    
    To revert to your original post text, click Reset. This will remove any edits and restore the default content used to generate the audio.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. Go to the Publish as podcast episode section and toggle the setting on. If you haven’t created your podcast show feed yet, you’ll need to set that up first before you can publish a post as a podcast episode.

 

 

11. Once enabled, you’ll be able to enter the Episode title, description, and upload a cover image.
    
    Click on the Sparkle icon next to each field to have AI generate a title, description, or episode cover image for you.

11. Once the post is published, the podcast episode will publish too — and you’ll be ready to submit it to the 4 main podcast platforms.

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How to submit your newsletter podcast

13. Return to your publication’s RSS settings and scroll down to the Podcast show feed section. Under Podcast RSS Feed URL, you can copy your unique RSS link to manually submit the episode to podcast platforms. You can also click Edit Podcast Details to update any of the information you entered in Step 4.
    
    Alternatively, select one of the supported platforms to post to: Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcasts, Amazon Music, or YouTube Podcasts.
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. Click the arrow next to your selected platform and follow the step-by-step instructions provided in the prompt. When ready, click on the Continue to Apple/Spotify/Amazon/YouTube Podcasts button.
    
    
    
    Tech Note: Most platforms will require you to create an account, paste your podcast feed URL, and some will have you verify ownership of your podcast via email
15. Once your podcast is submitted and approved, any post you publish as a podcast episode will automatically be added to your RSS feed and the podcast platform you set up moving forward.

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How to clone your voice for podcast audio

When setting up your podcast, you also have the option to narrate episodes using your own voice. You can either upload pre-recorded audio for it or record a voice sample directly in beehiiv.

1. When choosing a voice for your audio, rather than selecting a pre-made voice, click on the Clone voice button.
   
   
   
   
    
2. A popup will appear prompting you to set up your voice. Enter a Voice name (required) and add a Description (optional).
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Next, add your audio samples. To add audio you’ve pre-recorded, click on the Upload audio button.
   
   
   
   
   
   You’ll be prompted to upload up to 5 samples. If you wish, click on the Back button to return to the voice options.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tech Note: You can upload up to 5 audio files in MP3, MP4, WAV, or FLAC format (10 MB max per file). For best results, include 1–2 minutes of clear audio with minimal background noise.
   
   To record new audio, click on the Record audio button.
   
   
   
   
   
   Click Start recording to begin recording directly in beehiiv. Or, click on the Back button to return to the voice options.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Tech Note: If your browser requires it, you may see a popup asking to give permission for beehiiv to access your microphone.
   
   Once your recording has begun, you can start speaking. For best results, speak in a quiet environment for 1-2 minutes. You’ll be provided with a timer to show you how long you have been recording, as well as a sample script that you can read from for your recording.
   
   
   
   
   
   If you don’t wish to use the script, click on the Hide script button.
   
   
   
   
   
   When you have completed your recording, click on the Stop recording button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. After recording or uploading, you’ll return to the voice setup screen where your samples will be listed. Click on the play icon to listen to your recording, or click on the X icon to delete the recording.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. You can also check Remove background noise (experimental) to clean up noisy samples. This choice may improve quality for noisy samples, but can degrade clean audio.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. When you are ready, click Clone audio to complete the process. A success message at the top of your screen will confirm your voice has been created.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Back in the Enable audio section, your cloned voice will now appear in the voice dropdown. From here, continue with Step 10 in the podcast creation process.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. If you wish to delete or replace your voice, click the Replace voice button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. A popup will appear explaining that if you wish to replace the cloned voice you have recorded, it will permanently delete your existing cloned voice. If you wish to proceed, type ‘delete’ in the text field and then click the Delete existing voice button.
   
   
   

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FAQs about creating podcasts from your posts

Can I create multiple podcasts for my publication?

No, each publication can only have one RSS podcast feed.

For Spotify and Amazon Podcasts, what email address is used for verification?

The publication Owner’s email address is used to verify the RSS feed for Spotify Podcasts and Amazon Music. This email is also shown publicly in the RSS feed metadata.

Can I change the email address associated with my RSS feed?

The email address in the RSS feed is tied to the Owner of the publication. Apart from changing the owner's email address in beehiiv, you can also edit this when setting up your podcast show by changing the podcast email address.

How often does the podcast feed update?

Your RSS feed updates automatically each time a new post is published as a podcast episode.

Can I preview the audio version in draft links or previews?

Unfortunately, audio previews aren’t available in draft links or post previews. If you want full control over what is read aloud, we recommend choosing the Transcript audio content type (step 11 above).

How does the podcast feature handle merge tags?

For best results, always set fallback values for any merge tags in your post. This ensures the audio plays smoothly even if a tag value is missing. Learn more in our guide on using merge tags.

Why does my RSS feed include iTunes-specific information?

That’s expected. The RSS feed is structured to work across all major podcast platforms, and iTunes metadata is standard for Apple Podcasts and others.

How can I publish an audio podcast in a different language?

Select either the Transcript or Custom audio content types (step 11 above). If using Custom, be sure to include your preferred language in the prompt instructions.

Do I need to do anything after submitting my RSS feed to podcast platforms?

Nope! Once approved, your podcast feed will automatically update with new episodes each time you publish.

How long does it take to create the RSS feed?

It may take up to 10 minutes for your podcast feed to generate.

Is there a character limit for podcast posts?

Yes. The maximum length for audio newsletters and podcasts is 20,000 characters. Any content beyond that will be excluded from the audio.

How can I confirm my episode was added to the RSS feed?

After your podcast episode is published, it will appear in your RSS feed with its title, description, and audio file URL.

Is there a way to refresh my RSS feed?

RSS feed refreshes happen on the podcast platform side, not within beehiiv. Each provider has its own process and instructions. For example, here’s how to refresh your podcast on Apple.

Can I delete my RSS podcast feed?

Not yet, but this functionality is in development.

Are podcasts available for email posts, web posts, or both?

Podcasts are created from posts sent to a web audience (steps 6-12 above). If your original post was sent via email only, you can duplicate it and send the duplicate to a web audience to enable podcast settings.

Can I use a previously published post to create a podcast?

Yes. Simply select to edit the existing post, go to the Web page, enable audio, and toggle on Publish as Podcast Episode. If your Podcast Show Feed isn’t set up yet, follow steps 1-5 first. It may take up to 10 minutes for the episode to appear in your RSS feed.

What happens to my podcast access if I'm on a free trial of the Max plan and don’t upgrade?
If you're on a Max trial, you'll have access to the audio podcast features during the free trial period. However, if you don't upgrade at the end of the trial:
• You won’t be able to create new podcast episodes.
• You won’t be able to edit your podcast show details (e.g. name, description).
• Your existing RSS feed and published episodes will remain active.
1. Create or sign in to your Apple account.
2. Log in to Apple Podcasts Connect.
3. Click + to add a show, then select Add a show with an RSS feed.
4. Enter your beehiiv RSS feed URL.
5. Allow a moment for Apple to process your show details.
6. Review your podcast details, then click Publish.
What are the steps to take for Apple Podcasts?
Submission is a one-time process. Once approved, your podcast RSS feed will be monitored by Apple Podcasts and all new episodes will be automatically added to the platform each time a podcast enabled post is sent.
1. Create or sign in to your Spotify for Podcasters account.
2. Enter your beehiiv RSS feed URL.
3. Verify your ownership via your email address.
4. Review your podcast details, then submit for approval.
What are the steps to take for Spotify Podcasts?
Submission is a one-time process. Once approved, your podcast RSS feed will be monitored by Spotify and all new episodes will be automatically added to the platform each time a podcast enabled post is sent.
1. Create or sign in to your Amazon Music Podcasters account.
2. Enter your beehiiv RSS feed URL.
3. Verify your ownership via your email address.
4. Review your podcast details, agree to Amazon Music's TOS, and submit for approval.
What are the steps to take for Amazon Music?
Submission is a one-time process. Once approved, your podcast RSS feed will be monitored by Amazon Music and all new episodes will be automatically added to the platform each time a podcast enabled post is sent.
1. Create or sign in to your Google account.
2. Inside YouTube Studio, create or access your channel.
3. Click Create, and then select New podcast.
4. Click Submit RSS feed.
5. Enter your beehiiv RSS feed URL.
6. Verify your ownership via your email address.
7. Review your podcast details and submit.
What are the steps to take for YouTube Podcasts?

Submission is a one-time process. Once approved, your podcast RSS feed will be monitored by YouTube Podcasts and all new episodes will be automatically added to the platform each time a podcast enabled post is sent.