by Bob Tinsley
Why should you as a visitor to TVWriter™ be interested in making audio fiction? Why should you be interested in making podcasts? Discoverability, that’s why.
The meaning of the word podcast is evolving to include any episodic, audio-only production whether nonfiction or fiction. Agents and major studios have started trawling through podcasts and their creators for new content and talent.
So here’s the latest news to help you and your podcast get discovered:
Music from https://filmmusic.io
“The Builder” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
- OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS.
Seeking: Audio Drama Scripts.
If you would like to dip your toe into the audio fiction scene without taking on the whole magilla of recording and production, this might be the ticket for you. Hawk and Cleaver is looking for audio fiction scripts in the horror, thriller, and/or sci-fi genre in the 10- to 15-minute range for a new project. Deadline is February 25th.
- RESOURCES, PART 1.
Podcast Revolution: The Rise And Rise Of Audio Storytelling.
This article by Richard Brooks gives a brief overview of the history of audio fiction shows. Every show he mentions is worth a listen to hear how to do audio right. The best takeaway from this is his list of the most influential audio dramas over the past 50 years, as voted on by radio and podcast drama producers. There is real gold here.
http://theconversation.com/podcast-revolution-the-rise-and-rise-of-audio-storytelling-128356
- RESOURCES, PART 2.
The Road to Quitting Our Day Jobs with Patreon.
Sean Howard of Fable and Folly Productions has made just about every mistake it’s possible to make on Patreon. As a result, you really need to follow him (@passitalong on Twitter) and listen to what he has to say. The first link is to a PDF slideshow about his journey as a Patreon user. Whatever you can’t find there you can find on the second link to Fable and Folly’s resource page. Particularly fascinating are the links to his ELEVEN PART Medium series about his Patreon growth experiment.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f6VR4EylqkcFFleuwaHDnCpzr3PsXusC/view
https://fableandfolly.productions/resources/
- WE NEED MORE LISTENERS.
5-Step Social Media Blueprint To Grow Your Audience.
This article by Traci Long DeForge lays out five ways to increase your effectiveness on social media. One of the things she recommends is the use of Audiograms, something that is turning up increasingly often in advice posts. An audiogram is a “video” that shows a static graphic while your show plays. In addition to the method for production she mentions, you can also create one using Windows Photos.
https://podcastbusinessjournal.com/5-step-social-media-blueprint-to-grow-your-audience/
- IF YA WANNA WRITE, YA GOTTA LISTEN, PART 1.
Jarnsaxa Rising.
Lindsay Harris Friel wrote and produced this show about what might happen when Norse gods manifest in the present. Sound engineering and music were done by Vincent Friel. Just above the 60th parallel in the Baltic Ocean, a team of researchers arrives at an abandoned wind farm, to investigate some unexplained energy surges. They discover that the wind farm has become sentient. And hungry. Filled with cliffhangers and action, the two seasons of this show are imminently bingeable.
- IF YA WANNA WRITE, YA GOTTA LISTEN, PART 2.
2019 Audio Verse Award Winners.
The annual Audio Verse Awards are the Academy Awards of the audio world. Shows are nominated and voted on by the audio fiction community. There are three main divisions: improvised production, basically live game-play; spoken word production, one narrator; and audio play production. From the website: “2019 marked a change in how Fiction has been recognized in Apple Podcasts, though early iPod adopters know Audio Fiction to have been there since the early days. The titans of modern audio drama have shown themselves capable of not only using audio to create new stories that have emotional impact, but even inspire their listeners to tell their own stories. Not only are more people listening to stories in audio, today’s listeners are becoming tomorrow’s creators.”
https://audioverseawards.net/2019-winners/
Until next week, same Pod-time, same Pod-channel, keep listening and keep creating.