Comparison
MicPrep vs Riverside
Riverside is built around the recording session with a remote guest, while MicPrep is built around the three weeks of booking and preparation that come before it.
Comparison
MicPrep vs PodMatch: Finding Guests or Preparing Them
PodMatch is a marketplace that introduces hosts and guests to each other, while MicPrep is the workflow that runs after you already know who you want on the show.
The short answer
These sit at opposite ends of the same pipeline. A matching marketplace answers the question of who to interview when your list has run dry, which is a real problem for a new show or one outside a dense professional network. MicPrep answers what happens next: the invitation, the slot, the questionnaire, the assets, the release, and the prep sheet. If you have no names, matching helps first. If you have names and the admin is what breaks, MicPrep is the piece that is missing.
MicPrep and PodMatch side by side
| What you are deciding | MicPrep | PodMatch |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Book and prepare a guest you have already chosen | Introduce hosts and guests who have not met |
| Where it sits | After the yes | Before the yes |
| Guest sourcing | You bring the names from your own network and research | Discovery is the reason the product exists |
| Pre interview questionnaire | Structured form built for interview prep, answers feed the sheet | Profiles are oriented toward matching |
| Prep sheet | Assembled from the guest answers for the host to read on the desk | Not the shape of a marketplace |
| Editorial control | You decide who is worth an episode and what to ask | You choose from who is present on the platform |
| Consent and release status | Tracked next to the booking | Outside the introduction step |
| Who it suits | Shows with a booking list and a prep problem | Shows that need more names in the pipeline |
What follows on the right is the shape of PodMatch as a category: the workflow it assumes and the buyer it is written for. Both keep changing, so check the current shape of each one before you choose. MicPrep is published by MLJ, SASU and this page is written by Jimenez Julien.
Choose MicPrep when
- You already have a list of people you want and the admin is what slows you down.
- Your guests come from your industry, your listeners, and publicists who email you directly.
- You want the same questionnaire and prep sheet for every guest regardless of how you found them.
- You want a co host or producer to see guest status without asking you for an update.
Choose PodMatch when
- Your show is early and the honest problem is that you do not know who to interview next.
- You want inbound guests who already understand how a podcast interview works.
- You are covering a topic outside your own network and need a way to meet people in it.
Sourcing and preparing are separate problems
A show usually has one of two problems at a time. Either the calendar has holes and you need names, or the calendar is full and every booked name creates a week of admin you did not plan for. Solving the first does nothing for the second, which is why hosts often adopt a matching service, fill the calendar, and then discover the real bottleneck was never sourcing.
It is worth being honest about which one you have right now. Look at the last six episodes. If two slots went empty because nobody was lined up, sourcing is your problem. If every episode happened but three of them were prepped in a panic, the pipeline after the yes is your problem.
Guests arrive from several directions
On an established independent show, guests come from a mix: a listener who emails, a publicist pitching an author on tour, someone you met at a conference, a person a previous guest recommended, and yes, sometimes a matching platform. Each of those arrives in a different format and none of them arrive with a headshot attached.
MicPrep is deliberately indifferent to where the name came from. Every guest goes through the same invitation, the same questionnaire, and the same prep sheet, which is what makes the show sound consistent from episode to episode rather than depending on how much you happened to know about that person.
Prep is where a booked guest becomes an episode
A booked guest is not an episode. What turns one into the other is knowing the story only this person can tell, having a reason to open where you open, and having three follow up questions ready for the moment their answer gets interesting. That work sits on structured information about the guest, gathered early enough to research.
This is the argument for collecting answers in a form rather than in email. A form gives you the same fields every time, which means you can build a habit around reading them, and it gets the guest to do their thinking days before the record instead of thirty seconds into it.
Questions people ask before they choose
Can I use a matching service and MicPrep together?
Yes, and that combination is common. The marketplace produces the name and the initial contact, then the guest enters your MicPrep pipeline like any other booking. They get the same questionnaire and the same reminders as a guest you found yourself.
Does MicPrep help me find guests?
No. MicPrep starts once you know who you want. Sourcing is a genuinely different problem and we would rather be clear about that than pretend to solve it. If your calendar has holes, fix sourcing first and come back to the admin.
I get pitched by publicists constantly. Does that fit?
It fits well. Publicist pitches usually arrive with a press release and no headshot, no pronunciation, and no sense of what the guest can actually discuss. Sending the standard questionnaire turns a pitch into a bookable guest with the same information as everyone else.
Other comparisons on micprep.com
Comparison
MicPrep vs Calendly
Calendly is a general scheduling tool that any profession can point at a calendar, while MicPrep is built for the specific shape of booking a podcast guest.
Watch one guest move through it
A head to head reads differently once you see a single booking travel end to end. In twenty minutes we send the invitation, collect the bio, the headshot and the pronunciation note, and open the prep sheet that assembles itself from those answers. Your recorder stays exactly where it is, because MicPrep never touches the audio.