Create a Booking Link

A booking link is a public page where guests pick a recording time from your real availability. Share it in emails, on social media, or on your website. When a guest books, the request lands on your Bookings board for you to confirm.

Creating a link is a three-step wizard: Essentials, How it runs, and What guests see. Nothing is saved until you click Create booking link at the end, and you land on the new link's editor with the URL ready to copy.

Before you start

• Connect your calendar so the link only offers times the calendar owner is actually free
• Know how long your typical session runs, plus any breathing room you need before and after

Step 1: Essentials

From your podcast, click Bookings in the sidebar, open the Booking Links tab, and click New Booking Link.

Plan limits

Booking links are pooled across your account and capped by your plan: 1 on Free, 5 on Creator, 25 on Studio, unlimited on Production House and Enterprise. If you're at your limit, the page shows upgrade options instead of the form, with your existing links listed underneath so you can edit or delete one instead. See Plan Limits.

Name the link

Fill in Basic information:

Field	Description
Name	A friendly name for this booking type, shown to guests at the top of the booking page (for example, "Guest interview")
URL	The public address of the page, under book.show.fm/your-podcast/. Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only
Description	Shown to guests on the booking page (optional)

The URL fills in automatically from the name. If another of your links already uses it, the form says which one and suggests a free alternative you can apply with one click.

Live as soon as it's created is on by default. Leave it off to set everything up first and share the URL later; you can switch it at any time from the editor.

Choose the booking mode

Under Booking mode, pick what a booking on this link actually creates.

Mode	What happens
Episode booking	The default. Each booking creates a podcast episode. Confirmed bookings appear in your episodes list and use one of your monthly episodes.
General booking	Schedules the meeting only. No episode is created, no episode allowance is used, and guests don't get an episode prep portal.

General booking turns a booking link into a general-purpose scheduler. Use it for sponsor calls, discovery chats, planning meetings, coaching sessions, or anything else that is not a recording. Availability, confirmation emails, calendar invites, and automations all work exactly the same way.

Both modes are available on every plan. General bookings do not count toward your monthly episode allowance, so a full episode month never hides dates on a general link.

Changing the mode later

You can switch a link between modes while it has no open bookings. Each booking keeps the mode it was made under, so the mode locks as soon as a request comes in. It unlocks once every booking on the link has been declined, canceled, or finished (marked Completed or No-show). Confirming a booking does not unlock the mode, because a confirmed booking is still an open one.

If you need both modes running at the same time, create a separate link for each. That is what booking links are for, and it also keeps each one's name, questions, and availability suited to its purpose.

In General booking mode, step 3 drops show notes and AI guest research, because both attach to an episode that does not exist. Your settings for them are kept and come back if you switch to Episode booking.

Step 2: How it runs

Name the calendar owner

A booking link sells time out of one person's diary. The Calendar owner is that person, and the control does three things:

• Theirs are the calendars checked for conflicts. A colleague's unrelated meeting never blocks your link, and their double-booked afternoon never shows as free.
• Other booking links naming the same person protect each other: a slot taken on one link is blocked on the others.
• Confirmed bookings are created on their calendar first, so guests see the invite come from them.

The owner starts as you, because you're creating the link. Click Change to name any active team member instead, including co-hosts who can't open this page themselves.

The status line under the owner's name tells you what their set-up actually does. A calendar connection belongs to the person and involves two separate choices, made under Podcast Settings → Calendars: which calendars are checked for conflicts, and their default calendar for new bookings. A link always checks the calendar its own bookings land on, too. If something is missing, the status line says exactly what still works and what doesn't, so a link never silently double-books.

Changing the calendar owner affects new bookings only. It also clears the previous owner's calendar choice for this link (see below), because that choice was one of their calendars.

A link works without a calendar, it just double-books

If the named owner has no working calendar connection, every hour you open below is offered to guests regardless of what else is in their diary, and the invite falls to another owner or admin. The link still takes bookings; the status line stays red until someone connects a calendar or you name someone who has one.

Choose where bookings are added

Under the owner, Bookings are added to shows the calendar each confirmed booking is created on. By default that's the calendar owner's default calendar for new bookings.

The calendar owner can send this link's bookings to a different calendar of their own, on any of their connected Google accounts. For example, a host whose default is a personal calendar can send one show's bookings to a shared podcast calendar.

1. Open the link's editor (or step 2 of the wizard) while you are the calendar owner
2. Open the Bookings are added to picker
3. Choose Use my default, or one of your calendars (they're grouped by Google account, and only calendars you can add events to are listed)
4. Click Save changes (or Create in the wizard)

Only the calendar owner can choose. Everyone else sees the destination by name, for example "Sarah's 'Podcast' calendar", and never the owner's calendar list. An admin who isn't the owner can click Reset to {name}'s default to put the link back on the owner's default calendar, but can't pick one of their calendars.

A co-host named as calendar owner can't open this editor, so they make the same choice on their own Calendar Settings page, under Booking links using your calendar. See Calendar Integration.

The calendar a link's bookings land on is always checked for that link's busy times. The owner's other links only check it if it is ticked on their Calendar Settings page. Changing the calendar affects new bookings only: bookings already made stay where they were created.

When a chosen calendar stops working

If the chosen calendar's Google account needs reconnecting, or Google refuses a booking on it (because it was deleted, unshared, or can no longer hold events), the booking goes to the owner's default calendar instead, so the guest still gets their invite. The picker area shows a warning until the calendar is fixed or another is chosen.

Choose which calendars are checked

Under Bookings are added to, Checks for busy times decides which calendars must be free before this link offers a slot. There are two choices:

• My usual calendars: the calendars the owner ticks on their Calendar Settings page, plus the calendar this link's bookings land on. This is where every link starts.
• Only the calendars I choose: a list for this link alone, from any calendar on any of the owner's connected Google accounts. Read-only and shared calendars can be chosen, because checking busy times never writes to them. Nothing the owner ticks in Calendar Settings is checked for this link.

The calendar this link's bookings land on is always checked, so in the list it is ticked and locked with a Bookings land here badge.

For example, a host going to a four-day conference creates a calendar called "Conference" and a booking link just for the event. They choose Only the calendars I choose, leave the list empty, and pick "Conference" under Bookings are added to. The link now checks only the conference calendar and adds its bookings there. A host who co-hosts another show with someone who shares their calendar can do the opposite: check their own calendars and their co-host's shared calendar, so guests only see times when both of them are free.

To choose:

1. Open the link's editor (or step 2 of the wizard) while you are the calendar owner
2. Under Checks for busy times, choose Only the calendars I choose
3. Tick the calendars to check. They're grouped by Google account
4. Click Save changes (or Create in the wizard)

Only the calendar owner can choose. Everyone else sees the list by name. An admin who isn't the owner can click Reset to {name}'s usual calendars, but can't pick one of their calendars. Changing the calendar owner clears the list. A co-host named as calendar owner makes the same choice on their Calendar Settings page, under Booking links using your calendar.

Two things are always true, whichever you choose:

• The owner's own bookings on their other show.fm links block a slot here, because nobody can record twice at once.
• Only events marked Busy in Google block a slot. An event marked Free, such as an all-day "At the conference" reminder, is ignored.

When a listed calendar can't be checked

If a listed calendar's Google account is disconnected or needs reconnecting, or the calendar is no longer on the account, the link skips it and keeps checking the rest. It never switches back to the owner's usual calendars on its own. A warning under Checks for busy times names the calendar until it is fixed or unticked.

Set the weekly hours

Under Weekly hours, switch on the days guests can book and set one or more time windows per day. Weekdays, 9–5 fills a standard week in one click, Copy Monday to all open days repeats Monday's windows, and Clear week starts over. The summary line under the grid tells you how many bookable slots the week actually amounts to at your current duration and buffers.

Then pick the Timezone your hours are written in. It is prefilled from your podcast's timezone and is required, because it is the frame every hour above is read in. Guests always see times converted to their own time zone.

Choose your platform

The Recording platform card sets where bookings from this link take place. On a General booking link the same card is titled Meeting platform; the options and behaviour are identical.

• Google Meet: a Meet link is created automatically with the calendar invite. This option needs a connected Google Calendar, because a Meet room only exists inside a Google Calendar event. Without one the option is greyed out and says so.
• Zoom, Riverside, SquadCast, Descript Rooms, Zencastr: paste your reusable room link once. The link is kept private and sent to guests only once a booking is confirmed.
• Other platform: paste any https:// link.
• In person: no link at all. Guests are told to meet in person.
• No meeting link: bookings are scheduled without joining details.

New links start on Google Meet when the show has a Google Calendar connected, and on No meeting link when it does not.

Set length and window

Under Length and window:

• Duration and buffers: how long each session runs (15 minutes to 6 hours), with time held before and after so back-to-back sessions don't collide. None reserves no buffer on that side
• Booking window: read together, nothing sooner than the notice and nothing later than the advance. Your plan caps the advance window: the cap is stated beneath the dropdown, options beyond it are marked Upgrade, and choosing one opens an upgrade prompt instead of changing the setting
• Bookable dates: an optional First day and Last day. Leave either empty for no limit on that side. See Limit a link to certain dates
• Ask for a phone number: an extra field on the booking form, not shown publicly

Limit a link to certain dates

A link for an event, a season or a tour can take bookings only on or between two days. Set First day and Last day under Bookable dates. Either can be left empty. The notice period and the advance window still apply on top.

The days are read in the link's Timezone, not yours and not the guest's. A host based in the UK who runs a link for a conference in New York sets the link's timezone to New York, sets its weekly hours in New York time, and sets the conference days as the first and last day. A slot counts as on a day if it starts on that day in New York, so an evening slot on the last day is still offered even though it is already the next day in the UK.

On the public booking page, guests see when the link takes bookings. Before the first day, the calendar opens on the month bookings start. After the last day, the page says the link has stopped taking bookings and shows no calendar.

Decide how many guests can join

The More than one guest card offers two mutually exclusive models: several people booking the same slot, or one booker bringing additional guests. Both are covered in Booking Forms.

Step 3: What guests see

Add your own questions (optional)

Use Your own questions to collect anything you need before the session. Answers arrive with the booking and in your notification email. Most links do fine with none. Free accounts can add one custom question per link; paid plans can add up to 10.

On Free, click Upgrade to add more to see the upgrade options. You can still add and edit your first question without upgrading.

AI guest research

On Creator plans and up, the AI guest research card collects a few structured answers. When you confirm the booking, show.fm researches your guest and prepares a briefing with suggested interview questions. See Booking Forms.

Shape the guest experience

• Submit button: the button guests press on the booking form. An episode link defaults to Schedule interview and a general link to Schedule meeting; change it to whatever the guest is agreeing to
• Confirmation message: shown on the thank-you screen and repeated in the confirmation email (optional)

Set show notes (episode links only)

Episodes created from the link start with show notes. Leave all three sections on the podcast default, or override any of them with a template or a blank section for this booking type.

Create it

Click Create booking link. You land on the new link's editor with the public URL highlighted and ready to copy.

Edit a link later

Open any link from the Booking Links page to reach its editor. Everything from the wizard is there, organised into five sections you can jump between: The link, What it books, When they can book, What you ask, and After they book.

The editor saves explicitly: edit as much as you like across any sections, then click Save changes in the bar at the bottom. The bar lists what changed, Discard puts everything back, and the chip in the header always tells you whether the page is saved. If something needs fixing before the page can save (a question with no wording, a missing joining link), the bar names it and Take me there jumps you to it. Nothing is lost while you fix it.

Two things in the editor act immediately, outside the save bar:

• The Active switch in the header takes the link on and off line straight away. An inactive link shows guests a short "not taking bookings" message, and bookings already made are unaffected.
• Delete link, under the More actions menu, permanently deletes the link after a confirmation. It is blocked while the link has active bookings.

View booking page opens the live public booking page in a new tab, and Copy copies the URL. Viewing is disabled while the link is inactive or its Active switch is saving. The same view action is available in the Booking Links grid and list.

What happens when a guest books

On an Episode booking link:

1. The guest picks a slot, answers your questions, and submits the request
2. They immediately receive a receipt email confirming their request was received
3. The booking appears in the Pending lane of your Bookings board, and a pending episode is created
4. You confirm it from the board. Only then does show.fm email each attendee their confirmation and guest portal link, create the calendar event with the meeting link, and turn the episode into a draft

On a General booking link, steps 1, 2 and 4 are the same, minus everything to do with an episode: no episode is created at step 3, and the confirmation email at step 4 carries the meeting link but no guest portal link. The booking still appears on your Bookings board, marked General booking.

Bookings are requests until you confirm them

Nothing is promised to your guest at booking time. The confirmation email, calendar invite, and draft episode all happen when you click Confirm booking on the Bookings board. See Manage Bookings.

What's Next?

• Availability: fine-tune when guests can book
• Booking Forms: questions, multiple guests, and AI research
• The Guest Booking Experience: see what your guests see

Inform additional guests first

When you enable One booker brings their own guests, ask bookers to tell people before adding their names and email addresses. The public form requires this acknowledgement. Additional guests receive an invitation to accept or decline, and joining details and any guest portal access require both their acceptance and your confirmation. See the guest experience.