Thinking about doing Podcasts...

[seawasp]

Right now I'm trying to finish up a story for PSTPW Day, but after tha t -- besides continuing to look for an agent -- I would like to seriously devote time to podcasting. I have a podcasting kit/setup that my Loyal Lieutenant gave me, now I have to (A) figure out how to use it and make the results available, and (B) More importantly, figure out what would be worthwhile to DO in a podcast -- and what's feasible.

Never having seen/heard one -- I'm going to change that tonight by listening to an interview that John Wilkerson ("The Jesusgeek") did in two parts, the first part here and the second part here -- I have the impression that they're like radio broadcast segments except without the necessity of advertisements.

What would interest people?

Comments

[chuk-g.livejournal.com]

I am probably not the target audience -- I have heard (or watched) very few podcasts that I wouldn't rather have read in text form. Your impression is accurate to a first order, I would say.

I do occasionally listen to short fiction podcasts. Escape Pod has lots of good ones.

[kpreid.livejournal.com]

Yes, very like a radio broadcast. Except your audience will be people who subscribed to your podcast (or are specifically checking it out), not random listeners tuning in in the middle, so you don't have to explain yourself repeatedly — but people might start listening at any given episode, and possibly even listen in reverse-chronological order. In particular, people interested in your content may be listening for the first time long after the show was recorded, so make sure to provide enough context and time info that any references to current events are resolvable.

If you were anyone else, I'd also caution against over-bombastic intro music after hearing a certain very bad example.

I'm finding I don't have anything to say about what would be interesting topics.

[kpreid.livejournal.com]

After seeing chuk_g's comment I remembered one more thing: remember that, depending on when they listen to podcasts, might listen uninterrupted to the entire episode, or off-and-on in ten-minute segments; they might be in a quiet or loud environment (and are likely wearing earbuds, so no isolation).

Particularly, for the latter, make sure that you have a consistent audio level; a common failure is to have music/sound effects that are VERY LOUD INTRO followed by a long run regular speech which is very quiet, so one must turn up the volume to reliably understand what is said, AND THEN GET BLASTED AGAIN. I understand that taking care of this issue is a common element of radio and TV recording; but note that mechanically applied dynamic range compression can have very unaesthetic results if overdone (though mostly on music, which is presumably not at issue here).

[denelian.livejournal.com]

I thought you had an agent?

erm, don't mind me, sorry.



subjects for podcasts - well, obviously, writer-y stuffs. i would LOVE to hear, for instance, any stories that are funny/amusing about you and Eric Flint. do a podcast that is a "simulated day, as observed by the family pet" [my eldest male human is once again tapping on his favorite toy, the thing with the clicky buttons. i never understood why humans are SO fascinated; it's just a clicky sound. but, pets need what they need. it wouldn't be a problem, except this particular human doesn't just play with his toy - no, he ALSO tells himself stories while he does it. i admit, some of the stories are almost good, show that in some few eons, humans might become more than a domesticated animal. lets observe my eldest male human - we call him Ryk - as he plays with his toy.."] a short story about the Quest you went on, to discover the Secret and Mysterious Postal Address of the Society That Creates Ideas - a Secret and Mysterious Quest EVERY WRITER must undertake, perilous and frought with ... erm ... peril? [i don't think i have ever heard "frought with" ANYTHING but "peril", so please forgive my redundancy. it was superfluous. :) ]


ya know - Entertain Us lol