Hello, Sword and Scale fans!  Thank you for showing and interest in helping to support your favorite podcast.  Please consider donating monthly and becoming an official Sword and Scale Supporter.  I'd like to take a few minutes to explain to you why this is important...

What it has taken to get here

When I started this podcast in January of 2014, I wanted to create the best true-crime podcast anyone had ever heard.  I spent months before that planning, getting logos designed, getting the website built and the server set up, ordering equipment & software and testing it, and sound-treating a spare room in order to get pristine audio quality.  I spent thousands of dollars of my own money and an inhuman amount of time create this program, which many of you have now come to love as much as I hoped you would.

Between the show's launch and today, there have been 105 hour-long episodes.  This show is very different than most podcasts.  Rather than a live recording of a conversation, we strive to tell a story using immersive production techniques.  Because of this, the average time to produce a single episode is much greater than your average weekly podcast, which oftentimes is recorded live with no editing.

Each of these episodes represents an average of 20-30 hours of research, fact-checking, preparing for interviews, interviewing, recording, editing, mixing, selecting artwork, writing show notes and site maintenance.  That's a total of 2,010 hours, or 251 full-time days, of work.  For the first two years of the show's existence, this was all accomplished while holding down a full-time job in order to pay for mortgage, car, daily expenses, etc.

Imagine working two full-time jobs for two and a half years, with no end in sight.  It's been a lot of work to get to this point, but our true fans continue to make it worth it.

Luckily, since those early days, fans have responded in droves and assisted us.  That assistance has allowed us to hire a small staff to make more regular episodes possible, including the new bonus show we premiered last year called Sword and Scale PLUS which is our version of Sword and Scale which is just for supporters.  Beginning this year, we've announced that Sword and Scale PLUS is now also bi-weekly, which means that if you support us that the $5 level, you'll either get a commercial-free early release of Sword and Scale or a brand new episode of Sword and Scale PLUS...  EVERY SINGLE WEEK!

We ask for your assistance too.  Please give what you can and help us to continue to provide this high-quality content week after week.

The New Show

At the end of last year we launched a new podcast produced exclusively for Patreon Supporters.  It's called Sword and Scale Plus and you can get access to the entire back catalog as well as any future episodes starting at just $5 a month.

At the beginning of Season 5 there are 20+ episodes available for instant access.  Starting this season we will be releasing a new episode of Sword and Scale PLUS every other week, in between early commercial-free releases of the regular Sword and Scale Podcast.  That means, for just $5 between both shows combined, you will have access to a new show every single week.

Please note that Sword and Scale PLUS is not the same thing as Sword and Scale REWIND.  REWIND is an aftershow, independently produced and hosted by Lynette Carolla and Stefanie Wilder-Taylor.  PLUS is a version of the original Sword and Scale podcast, hosted by Mike Boudet, which is available exclusively to Patreon supporters.  It mimics the format and style of the regular show but contains brand new true-crime stories, insider insight, and is designed to provide a lot more of what our audience craves and expects from Sword and Scale.

Please Contribute

Although we have had incredible success with our Patreon, the vast majority of listeners still do not contribute anything.  Our current number of supporters represents less than 1% of our listener base.  Imagine how much more we could do if every listener donated at least $1 a month. 

So please take a moment to think about what this podcast means to you and how many hours of content we've already produced for you.  Then contribute anything you can afford, but consider some of the higher tiers if you can afford it, but even the smallest contribution is extremely helpful.  

Thank you for your continuing support and we hope you enjoy Season 5!

Mike Boudet
Host & Creator of Sword and Scale