How Jack Rhysider Grew Darknet Diaries to 2M Downloads a Month

Send us Fan Mail Jack Rhysider turned a one-man hacker-stories podcast into Darknet Diaries, a show pulling roughly 2 million downloads a month and 28 million downloads a year. In this conversation he breaks down exactly how he did it: the storytelling techniques he studied, the marketing campaigns that worked (and the ones that didn't), realistic download benchmarks for new shows, and how the podcast now out-earns his old career as a network security engineer. What you'll learn in this episode: Why Jack hides his face online, and the early doxxing scare that made him a privacy advocate How Ghost in the Wires, This American Life and Reply All shaped the show, and why he almost quit after four episodes Finding your podcast voice: the voice coach, Mr. Robot, Ira Glass and Malcolm Gladwell experiments Telling criminal stories with empathy without glamorizing crime, and why he says "criminal" instead of "hacker" Using Google Alerts (like "hacker sentenced") to find complete stories The email campaign that got Darknet Diaries into The Guardian three months after launch Why Jack publishes his download stats, and the numbers that put a show in the top 50% and top 20% The word-of-mouth call to action that drives growth ("text a friend right now") "Tapping on shoulders": how to land guests who never say yes Separating yourself from your show to handle rejection, criticism and praise Do Apple Podcasts ratings and reviews move the needle? (Jack says no) How blogging about podcasting connected him with Apple, YouTube and hosting companies Growing by going deep into a new community (the dubstep episode) Taking a three-month break, and the "always caught up" content strategy vs. the Gary Vee firehose Monetization: host-read ads, Patreon, Apple Podcasts subscriptions and reinvesting in a team of nine Jack's advice for anyone thinking about starting a podcast Links from the episode: Darknet Diaries: darknetdiaries.com Darknet Diaries public stats: darknetdiaries.com/stats Jack's podcasting blog: lime.link Darknet Diaries episode mentioned: "Chartbreakers" (gaming the Apple Podcasts charts) Books mentioned: Ghost in the Wires by Kevin Mitnick, Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel Buzzsprout Conversations is brought to you by Buzzsprout, the easiest way to start, grow and monetize your podcast. Enjoyed this episode? Text it to a podcaster friend who needs to hear it.