Music in the podcast provided by: https://filmmusic.io
“The Builder” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
by Bob Tinsley
PAY ATTENTION!
Why should you 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. Google now makes podcasts searchable, especially if they have transcripts, and why wouldn’t they.
More people are using voice search, and voice search returns audio results. Both agents and major studios have started trawling through podcasts and their creators for new content and talent.
So PAY ATTENTION! Here’s the latest news.
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- I TOLD YOU SO
Dr. Death, a true-crime podcast on the Wondery network, is being adapted into a TV series starring Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater. It follows the efforts to bring down a neurosurgeon who killed or permanently injured over 30 people.
The podcast has garnered 50 million listeners since its debut in 2018. Wondery also has two other podcasts that have been turned into TV series, Homecoming, up for a second season, with Julia Roberts and Bobby Cannavale on Amazon, and Dirty John with Connie Britton and Eric Bana on Bravo.
https://www.papercitymag.com/culture/dr-death-podcast-turned-tv-series-dallas-neurosurgeon/
- AGAIN, I TOLD YOU SO
11 Buzzworthy Podcasts Being Adapted Into TV Shows. Of the 11 shows under development are three on HBO, two each for FX and Amazon, and one each for USA, Showtime, Oxygen, and Bravo.
https://www.themanual.com/
- SHORTER IS BETTER?
When Creating Content, Size DOESN’T Matter. In this article on the Jacobs Media website, Fred Jacobs, Radio Hall of Fame inductee, talks about length vs. content. He starts off talking about ads, but, not to worry, halfway down the page he brings in podcasts. His bottom line: There are no rules.
https://jacobsmedia.com/when-
- PODCASTS ARE GETTING SHORTER
Megaphone Pods analyzed the 549 podcasts in the Apple Podcasts Top 200 list over the last five years. They are beginning to see spikes in the 2 – 5 minute range. A lot of those are quick updates, but there are also podcasts whose regular episodes are that length.
The largest growth has been in the 0 – 30 minute length, 15% of episodes in 2015 to 34% in 2019 so far. This increase was taken out of the one to one-and-a-half + hour sector which went from 37% in 2015 to 13% in 2019.
https://medium.com/megaphonepods/podcasts-are-getting-shorter-a876cfa2f56a
- WRITING FOR VOICE-FIRST DEVICES.
In this article Amy Stapleton, founder of Tellables, introduces a new market for writers. It’s so new that no one quite knows what to do with it. Start paying attention to voice-first devices like Alexa and Google Assistant. If you don’t get in, you could be hurting your discoverability.
https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/2019/06/writing-for-voice-first-devices.html?m=1
- THE PROBLEM WITH VOICE-FIRST DEVICES
Why Podcasts Aren’t Doing Well on Smart Speakers. This article reports on a panel discussion at the Podcast Movement 2019 conference. The panelists were leaders in the Voice-First movement.
In addition to the big problem listed below, they offered a list of possible solutions that mostly had to do with education of both podcasters and listeners and simplicity. In addition to pointing out the big problem of most people not using their Alexa or Google Assistant to listen to podcasts, they offered a list of possible solutions that mostly had to do with education of both podcasters and listeners in simplicity.
https://www.amplifimedia.com/blogstein/2019/8/19/why-podcasts-arent-doing-well-on-smart-speakers
- LONGER IS BETTER?
Reader, I Downloaded Him: Boom Times For The Literary Long Listen. This awkwardly titled article primarily covers audiobooks, but it applies just as easily to Audio Fiction. Mastering and controlling your attention while listening to audio ultimately feels good.
- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
The Hollywood Reporter Has Podcasts. Who knew?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/topic/thrpodcasts
- SPOTIFY IS LOOKING FOR MORE PODCAST CREATORS
Spotify Tests An In-app ‘Create Podcast’ Button. There is now a button in Spotify’s podcast library labeled Create Podcast. The nice thing about it? No special equipment is required. When you press the button you are transfered over to Anchor (more below) which allows you to record, edit, and distribute your very own words of wisdom. And maybe even get paid for it.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/28/20837357/spotify-anchor-podcasts-button-create-in-app
- MAKE A PODCAST WITH ANCHOR
Anchor, which is available as an Apple or Google app and as a desktop program, allows you to record anywhere on your phone, tablet, or desktop, edit (they’ve made this so simple even a first-timer can do it), add music, transitions, and sound effects, bring in guests from anywhere there is a telephone or internet connection, host it, distribute it everywhere people find podcasts (including Spotify), and monetize it through commercial sponsors or on a Patreon model.
And what does all this goodness cost? Not one red cent. So now you have no excuse.
- PODCAST MOVEMENT 2019
Last week one of the biggest podcasting conferences in the world was held in Orlando. Podcast Movement 2019 had around 3,000 attendees who came to see and listen to 370 speakers in live shows, panels, and small face-to-face gatherings. This is the first year Podcast Movement had an audio fiction track. Audio fiction is no longer an outlier.
SPEAKING OF AUDIO FICTION…
Did you know that all audio fiction entries in TVWriter™’s PEOPLE’S PILOT 2019 pilot script competition are eligible for the two major category prizes plus special prizes and a reduced entry fee?
Learn all about it at: https://peoplespilot.com