Last week we walked through the framework for deciding whether to pull the plug on a recorded episode: when to salvage, when to spike, and how to know the difference. If you haven’t read that piece, it’s worth starting there.
This week we’re covering what comes next: the conversation you have to have with the guest once you’ve made the call. Because deciding not to publish is the easy part. It’s much harder to tell a guest you’re not publishing their episode.
Most podcasting advice skips this entirely. There are endless guides on how to book guests, how to prep them, how to get the best out of them on the day. Almost nothing on what to do when things go wrong and you owe someone an honest conversation. That gap is worth closing, because how you handle this moment says a great deal about your professionalism, and it has real consequences for your reputation in whatever community your podcast serves.
Why This Conversation Feels So Hard
Before getting into the how, it’s worth naming why this feels difficult in the first place.
Part of it is the inherent awkwardness of delivering unwelcome news to someone who gave you their time, their expertise, and their trust. Guests show up as a favor. They prepare, they clear their schedule, they come ready to contribute something. Telling them that the result isn’t usable feels, on some level, like telling them they failed, even when the reasons are more complicated than that.
Part of it is the professional stakes. Depending on your niche, the podcasting world can be surprisingly small. Guests talk to each other. A host who ghosts a guest, or delivers the news clumsily, or throws the guest under the bus, will develop a reputation that precedes them. A host who handles it well, with directness and grace, often ends up with more goodwill than they started with.
And part of it, honestly, is that most people just haven’t thought through what to say. When you don’t have a script for an uncomfortable situation, the temptation is to delay, to soften, or to avoid it entirely. None of those serve you or the guest well.
The Principles Before the Words
A few principles should govern this conversation regardless of how you deliver it.
Be direct. The guest deserves to know what you’ve decided and why, without having to decode three paragraphs of diplomatic softening to find the actual news. Leading with the decision: “I’ve decided not to publish this episode,” is kinder than burying it, even though it feels more abrupt. People can handle a clear answer. What they struggle with is uncertainty and ambiguity.
Be honest about your reasons, but don’t overexplain. You don’t owe the guest a full post-mortem on everything that went wrong. A brief, honest explanation of why you made the call is appropriate. A detailed critique of their performance is not. There’s a meaningful difference between “the conversation didn’t reach the depth I need for my audience” and “you read from your notes for forty minutes and turned the middle section into an ad for your course.” The first is honest. The second is true but not necessary to say.
Take your share of the responsibility. If you let vague answers slide when you should have pushed, say so. If you didn’t redirect early enough when the conversation drifted off topic, own that. This isn’t false modesty. It’s accurate. Most flawed recordings have contributions from both sides, and acknowledging yours makes the conversation easier for the guest to receive and easier for you to have.
Don’t over-apologize. An apology for your own missteps is appropriate. Excessive apology for the outcome (repeated sorry’s, elaborate expressions of guilt) makes the conversation about managing your own discomfort rather than being straight with the guest. One clear acknowledgment is enough.
What to Actually Say
The message doesn’t need to be long. In most cases, a direct email of three to four short paragraphs is exactly right. Here’s the shape it should take:
Open with the decision. Don’t warm up to it. “I’ve listened to our recording and I’ve decided not to publish the episode.” That’s the whole first paragraph. The guest now knows what they’re reading.
Give a brief, honest reason. “The conversation didn’t reach the depth I was hoping for, and I don’t think it would serve my audience the way it stands.” Or, if more specific: “There were stretches where I felt we were covering surface territory rather than getting into the substance of your work, and I don’t think editing can fully fix that.” Keep this to two or three sentences. You’re explaining, not litigating.
Acknowledge your part. “I also think I could have pushed harder on follow-ups in a few places instead of moving on. That’s on me, and it’s something I’m working on.” This lands better than it might seem. Most guests will appreciate the honesty, and it reframes the conversation from “you weren’t good enough” to “this didn’t work for reasons that belong to both of us.”
Acknowledge their contribution. Say something genuine about their expertise, their work, or the topic. But do not deliver it as flattery, but as a real acknowledgment that they came prepared to do something valuable even if the recording didn’t reflect it. If their book matters, say so. If their expertise is real, say so.
Offer a genuine path forward, if one exists. If you’d welcome a written contribution, a future conversation on a tighter topic, or a re-record under different conditions, offer it, but only if you mean it. An empty offer is worse than no offer because it leaves the guest in limbo, waiting for a follow-up that never comes.
Delivery: Email or Call?
For most situations, email is the right choice. It gives the guest time to process the news without having to manage their reaction in real time, and it gives you the ability to say exactly what you mean without being thrown off by an unexpected response.
A phone call makes sense if the relationship is close. For instance, if this is a long-standing collaborator or someone you know well outside the podcast, or if the situation is particularly sensitive and you want to make sure the conversation feels personal rather than clinical. In those cases, the call is the more considerate option. But for most guest relationships, a well-written email is both sufficient and appropriate.
Whatever you do, don’t ghost. Not responding, going quiet, and hoping the guest forgets is not a strategy. It’s a way of avoiding discomfort at the guest’s expense, and it will follow you. If you’ve decided not to publish, the guest deserves to know promptly, directly, and from you.
After the Conversation
Once you’ve sent the message, give the guest time to respond. They may be disappointed. They may have questions. They may push back on your reasoning. You don’t have to defend the decision at length, but you should be willing to respond with the same directness you brought to the original message.
If they’re gracious about it, acknowledge that. It costs something to receive this kind of news well, and saying so is appropriate. If they’re not gracious, resist the urge to get defensive or to re-litigate the recording. You made a judgment call. You communicated it honestly. That’s what you can control.
Tell a Guest You’re Not Publishing Their Episode
The hosts who build lasting, respected podcasts are the ones who treat their guests well at every stage, including the stages that don’t make it into an episode. How you handle the conversation nobody wants to have is part of your reputation, whether or not anyone outside the two of you ever knows about it.
Be direct. Be honest. Be brief. Take your share. And then move on to the next episode.
Contact The Podcast Wizard
Need a little more guidance? That’s what Podcast Wizardry is here for. Send me a DM on the Podcast Wizardry LinkedIn page (fastest) or via my Contact Us page. I’m happy to help you make the most of your production.