A roundtable discussion on criticism in podcasting with Jake Bible of the Dead Mech fame, Paul E Cooley of the Closet Treats podcast, Nathan Lowell of the Solar Clipper series, and J. Daniel Sawyer of the Antithesis Progression & more. Also mentioned: Association of New Media Artists & Producers and Understanding Podcasting. Personal critique: yes, sound levels are way off. Blame me & Skype, then enjoy!
Serving Worlds is JOHN MIERAU, science fiction & fantasy author, storyteller.
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Thanks for discussing this –
for my part I am not a writer, but I am a contributor to the “podfiction” genre because of the people I know who are enthusiastic about it (I did some narration and music for Paul Cooley, and the full narration of a podiobooks.com book, “Earthbound”)
You covered two big topics, for me one was bigger than the other
1 ) Critiques:
Use them when they talk about your technique, but when they talk about your “content” or “style”, ignore them. Nuff said.
One thing I would say is that when someone offers some critique, its basically because they like something enough about what you do to spend the time composing you a message – so dont ignore the person themselves, even if you are not going to use their suggestion
2 ) “Levelling up” as a pod-fiction creator.
This was the more visionary part for me, because it speaks a bit about the frustrations that you, as podfictioners have- You want the “cream” to rise to the top, that you want fans to appear from new places, and you want to make money.
They are all understandable desires, even more so if you believe that you are the “cream” :-p .
I personally think that what you are doing represents something interesting for the publishing industry. You all know how the “old school” publishing houses are scrambling to find ways to preserve thier businesses, and serializing new books might be one of the possible futures. Great – So why do you guys want to get picked up in a publishing deal with old media?? I think that you should accept the mantles of being leaders and dont look back at the old models. Look forward and refuse to look backwards.
IMHO publishers should be looking at what you do more than you looking at them, and I bet the smart ones already are. And here lies the “rub” – If the podfiction subculure becomes big enough to be of commercial interest, the publishers will wheel in thier top writers, advertising and professional production and small folk like us (ok maybe just me!) will be blown ou of the water. There is only one chance for us (and I think Paul mentioned it in this podcast):
Be prepared to make material that the old publishers wouldnt touch- if you are on the edge or on the fringe. Trouble is, you probably wont make much money from it.
Since discovering it, I think I have concluded podfiction (and e-publication) is the punk rock of the book world. You wont find success in the “classic” way. You need to be a bit more radical!!
Good luck!
Hi fabkebab, and thanks for a great post, I couldn’t ask for a better response to the roundtable we did.
I like your comparison of punk music and podcasting. Use what you’ve got, and for me that means access, creativity, and the willingness to let a lot hang out. It doesn’t mean a gross-out or stunt campaign (necessarily) but it means taking risks.
Thanks for taking part! PS: I loved your music, hope we could work together sometime!
John
Thanks for the great episode. I really think #podcrit and hearing four great authors discussing it in a virtual round table was exceedingly interesting. Thanks also for the shout out and the love. I appreciate all you all give to us. Thank you.
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Great discussion. Thanks for taking the time to hash it out. For someone just getting into this, it is awesome to hear lessons learned from people who have been doing it for a while now.
Much obliged for your feedback, Dan!
Looking back at Fabkebab’s response 15 months later, it’s almost prophetic.