Invoicing as a Podcast Producer

Podcast production lives somewhere between project work and a subscription: some clients want to be billed per episode, others want a flat monthly retainer that covers everything. Fee-Lion handles both — you can price episodes as units, track the edit hours that actually pile up, and roll it all into one invoice your client pays by card straight into your own Stripe.

Decide how you bill: per episode or monthly retainer

Most podcast producers land in one of two camps. Pick the model that matches the client in front of you — you can run both at once across different clients.

• Per episode — clean and predictable when output varies month to month. You bill for exactly what you shipped.
• Monthly retainer — best for a steady show. A flat fee bills itself on a schedule and you stop chasing the same number every month.

Bill per episode with units

Build an estimate or invoice where each episode is a clean line item:

1. From the Estimates sidebar item, start a new estimate for the show.
2. Add a unit line for episodes — set quantity to the number of episodes and the rate to your per-episode price. Four episodes at $300? Qty 4 × $300.
3. Add extra unit lines for add-ons that aren’t every show: show notes, audiograms, a video version, a guest-booking fee — each as qty × rate.
4. Set your tax and deposit %, then save. Your defaults for these live at Settings → Preferences under Estimates, tax, and deposit, so you’re not retyping them each season.

Once the client approves the estimate in their magic-link portal (no login required), one click on Convert turns it into an invoice with a Pay button.

Set a monthly retainer that bills itself

For a show you produce on an ongoing basis, a recurring invoice is the move:

1. From the Invoices sidebar, create a recurring invoice for your client.
2. Add a fee line for your monthly production fee — something like “Podcast Production — Monthly” at your flat rate.
3. Set the schedule to monthly, then invite the client to enroll in auto-pay so the retainer charges their card on its own.

Tip: Mixing models? Keep the steady base on a recurring retainer and bill one-off extras — a bonus episode, a live recording — as a separate per-unit invoice. The client gets a predictable monthly charge plus clear line items for anything outside the deal.

Track your edit hours so nothing slips

Editing time is where podcast margin quietly leaks — a “quick” episode turns into three passes of noise cleanup. Track it as you go and the real hours make it onto the bill.

1. Use the Time tracker to log edit sessions against the client — run the timer while you work, or add a manual entry after.
2. When it’s time to bill, pull that tracked time onto the invoice so the final number reflects the actual edit, not a guess.
3. If you front any costs — a transcription service, a music license, a remote-recording tool — record them as expenses attributed to the project so you can see your true margin per show.

Send one invoice your client pays by card

Whether you billed per episode or on retainer, the client experience is the same: they open the invoice in their portal and pay by card. The money lands in your Stripe account (a small platform fee applies) — no waiting on a transfer from us.

• Episode units, tracked edit hours, and any rebilled costs all sit on one invoice, so the client sees the whole show in one place.
• Paid by check or bank transfer instead? Record that as an offline payment so your books stay reconciled.
• Coming from another billing tool? Bring your clients and history over at Settings → Data Import before you start invoicing.

What’s next

• Set up a monthly retainer with recurring invoices
• Bill tracked time to an invoice
• Turn on auto-pay
• Connect Stripe to get paid