The Three Albatrosses Of Podcast Fiction
You’re probably aware that I’ve retired from podcasting, and may have read my cautionary thoughts to New Media creators regarding the dangers of relentlessly providing Free content without considering its long-term effects. Here’s another post for New Media creators — podcast novelists, specifically.
I’m blessed to say that I have observed the ascent of the podcast fiction movement for the past five years, and directly contributed to it for the past four. I do not know how much influence and impact I’ve had on this model and community, though I have greatly benefited from it in creative, emotional and monetary ways. Contrary to the misinterpretations of a few pundits, I have a deep love for, and belief in, the Free and podiobook models, and insist they have personal, professional and creative worth. It is because of this love and belief — and the great admiration for you creators, many of whom are personal friends — that I write this post. To love a thing requires to love it for its beauty, and promise … and potential pitfalls.
Based on my longtime observations, I see three great albatrosses affecting the podcast fiction author space, which most creators do not wish to acknowledge. Ignoring these issues will compromise the long-term viability of the model and community so many have worked so hard to create.
The First Albatross is the deification of influential and successful podiobook First Movers such as Scott Sigler, Seth Harwood, Mur Lafferty, myself and others. Based on the blogo- and podosphere reactions of my recent retirement announcement alone, it became clear that — to creators — my role in this movement represented more than what I personally perceived it to be. There was hand-wringing about the Free model, meticulous dissections of my announcement, respectful acknowledgment of my (and our) accomplishments, surly rhetoric, and indifference. I kinda dug the indifference, as it illustrated how small and isolated the podcast fiction community isn’t merely perceived to be, but is.
This idealization of First Movers — who are, in the end, humans who happen to be great writers (with the exception of myself; I’ve always called myself a no-good hack) — is dangerous territory, particularly when it hails from other creators. First Movers deserve this title because they blazed the trail, and greatly benefited by sensing and catering to an emerging need. Podcast fiction’s First Movers helped create the models, methods and precedents that the present-day thriving podcast author community (more than 300 strong, by my reckoning) now enjoy.
The problem I’ve observed is that despite the explosive growth in the number of creators, there is little innovation in the model or method by newcomers. New creative or promotional precedents are not being set. Many of today’s podiobooks authors precisely follow First Mover steps and innovations, outright ignoring the reality that once these innovations occur, they are less likely to be seen as “new and fresh” in the eyes of audiences when they are repeated. This means nearly all creators are following well-tred paths … and in the process, contribute nothing new to the experience or our community.
With few exceptions (horror novelist James Melzer being one), there is much First Mover mimicry occurring in this space.
The Second Albatross feeds off the first: The podcast fiction space is in danger of becoming irrelevant. The fishbowl teems with Johnny-Come-Latelies who simply preach to the converted (if they preach at all) — i.e., to the audience First Movers and a few savvy newcomers slaved to create. No meaningful attempt is made to engage fresh blood beyond this audience … an audience that has likely stagnated in size, and may be shrinking.
Ultimately, this means the responsibility to continually evangelize the podiobooks model to new audiences — and present author-powered innovations to the existing community — often falls upon the shoulders of First Movers (who are decreasing in number). We’re five years into the podiobooks model; all podnovelists should have audiences far larger than they presently have. I’ve wondered if there’s been a meaningful, resonant increase in brand-new listeners since 2007.
This is the failing of creators who do not evangelize the cause. Read this, and then breathe it: You are ethically obligated to promote the living shit out of your work, and reach beyond the community’s self-created comfortable confines to do so. From my hard-line perspective, anything less than an absolute commitment to your own success undermines the very reasons you got into this game.
The Third Albatross is The Publication Anomaly. Based on a half-decade of observation, it appears that podcasting one’s novel doesn’t much impress Big Publishing. A publishing insider I know has told me that the Glory Days of publishers eying the podspace for new talent are over. This may or may not be true, but the goal of publication — and bestseller success — has been mythologized by podcast novelists to such a myopic degree that it runs the risk of blinding new creators to the very reasons why a blessed Less-Than-10 Podnovelists have been picked up by Big Publishing in the first place: Hard Fucking Work.
No, I really mean it. Hard. Fucking. Work. It’s a level of commitment that would downright intimidate you, were you to walk a mile in these authors’ shoes. Which is probably why so few creators put forth Hard Fucking Work.
The Hard Fucking Work ethic is perfectly (and proudly) represented by my actions, and particularly by those of my friend Scott Sigler. He is our community’s Alpha Dog, our brilliant trailblazer, a living gold standard to which we all aspire … and he deserves that praise, and much more. I’d take a bullet for the man, I admire him so. His great success breeds hope for creators — he has certainly inspired, and continues to inspire, me — but this success (and to a lesser degree, the successes of other mainstream published podionovelists) also creates unreasonable expectations, particularly among newcomers:
“All I have to do is X, and I’ll be a published New York Times bestseller.”
I know this mindset truly exists, for I have seen and heard it in the emails and comments of podcast novelist newcomers. Click the Record button, and you’re on your way to fame and riches.
This is fantastical masturbatory bullshit, and yet the relative mainstream success of a blessed Less-Than-10 Podnovelists is a siren’s song for the lazy creator. “Record, post, tweet” is their sole road map to success, and by doing this and nothing more, they saturate the space with content that has no clear, messaged differentiation than all the other content.
I fear the fate of podiobook authors achieving mainstream success is sealed, and — with a few blessed exceptions — has been sealed since 2007. You’ve met the players; they were the ones in the game long before you. Unless there is genuine, concerted effort from newcomers and veterans to not simply emulate the successful tactics of First Movers, but absolutely outclass and dethrone them with killer stories and trailblazing beyond-the-fishbowl promotion, there will be no more Big Publishing deals happening in our space. And yet, this can absolutely happen, should creators be talented and savvy.
Does this mean the podcast fiction movement is dead? Get your head checked if that’s your takeaway. In my eyes, the podcast fiction movement (much like podcasting itself) has matured, and this maturation begets a host of new challenges — a primary one being that this model isn’t “new” anymore, which must force creators to make meaningful and innovative contributions to evangelism, content and business models. It also presents incredible opportunities for newcomers and seasoned vets who are hungry to bust ass, shake the tree, and outperform the established conventions and emblematic authors who best represent this model.
This is not the time for you as a creator to say, “Me too.” That is the path to mediocrity and obscurity. This is time for you to say, “What’s next?”…
…and then do something about it.
–J.C.
I’m glad you’re writing this stuff Hutch. People need to hear this. Even those of us who aren’t going that way. I’m in that category you mentioned on a previous entry that I’m now forgetting what you called it, but basically I’m in it for the story, not the money. I mean sure a few bucks here and there is nice, but frankly I’m fine with not making enough off my fiction to quit my day job. Not that I love my day job, and I am looking for a better one, but the fact is, during my extended period of unemployment from late August 2001 to friggin June of 2002, I had plenty of time to write and got a word count of approximately jack shit. Basically, I need the day job to keep me honest. I’ve gotten more writing done with my 30+ hour work weeks then when I was filling out applications for a few hours a day, then coming home to rearrange my furniture for the third time that month.
I have now completely forgotten what my point was going to be. Oh well, I’m gonna see what’s on TV. See ya around Hutch. And I do hope I can still sweet talk you into coming on the Casting Game at some point. I imagine it’d be MORE fun to do it now that you aren’t pimping anything at the moment.
What hits home for me (and in a way further validates the posts of J. Daniel Sawyer and myself) is this, ” … must
force creators to make meaningful and innovative contributions to evangelism, content and business models.”
If people are needing a perhaps more blunt translation on the post in general, I’ve put the same argument thus: We as creators are stuck in 2005 rather than looking at what is possible here in 2010 and beyond. Case in point, be proactive and you may survive; be reactive and drown in your quicksand of misconceptions. Awesome post, Hutch!
Hi JC, Great thoughts from someone so experienced in this space!
As someone who is a podcaster, although not a podcast novelist, I think that podcasting has it’s place in the writer’s toolbox of marketing tricks – but it is only 1 string.
It needs to be combined with so much more, and given the amount of time it takes to podcast a novel, perhaps individuals will not consider it worth the effort in the future? I really respect the podcast novelists in this space, and have listened to a number of the books, but have actually now moved onto more info packed podcasts.
However, audiobooks definitely have their place – perhaps as a paid model after publication in print/ebooks. I bought Sigler’s Contagious in ebook format after the free podcast novel Infected.
I also really enjoyed Gary V’s audiobook of Crush It as he went off topic and away from the text, offering extra content to the other versions (this is original!)
Perhaps a combination of information podcasts with novels in podcast format is a good idea – Mur does this, as do you – and I’d like more from Sigler. The audio format has definitely not died though – people definitely connect with your voice.
You turned me onto podcasting and it is definitely rewarding in so many ways!
Thanks JC
Some great thoughts as usual, J.C. I find myself in some relatively rare disagreement with you on #2, particularly the line:
“From my hard-line perspective, anything less than an absolute commitment to your own success undermines the very reasons you got into this game.”
I hesitate to write this for multiple reasons, but damn it, I feel strongly about it. If you were some schmo, I wouldn’t bother, but you’re someone I respect, and I can’t imagine you wrote this intending for everyone to just agree with you.
Anyway, I realize that you have qualified this by saying this is from your own hard-line perspective; nevertheless it strikes me that – hard-line or not – you’re making assumptions about why others of us got into this game. Not everyone does it for the same reasons.
There are other reasons to podcast a novel besides shooting for making a living from writing or shooting to maximize one’s audience. I can understand that those who are trying to do so might resent those who have made the conscious decision not to make the same kinds of sacrifices, but that’s different than us undermining our own reasons for getting into the game. I would hate to see a situation where the awesome willingness of the community to help each other and cross-promote devolved into that kind of resentment. But if I accept the idea that the price for entry is that we are “ethically obligated” to find new and creative ways to expand the audience, releasing podcast novels becomes the domain of either the unethical or the maximally motivated. I think there is room for more, it just won’t always look like the maximally motivated would write up.
Even beyond that, I’d add one more thing. The talent for coming up with creative ways to promote your work is a completely different skill than the talent for writing or editing or recording. If there is one thing I’ve learned in my nearly forty years on the planet, it’s that people who are very talented at something tend to attribute their success to hard work, and people who are very untalented at something tend to attribute others’ success to talent. I’m not sure either group really has the context to make an accurate observation. The truth is somewhere in between.
I do think you are right that large audiences will only come to those who have the combination of talent and hard work to come up with something innovative (or possibly authors with an established print/ebook following who then come to podiobooks).
@Edward: I appreciate your comments, and perspective.
However, I believe that an author who does not vociferously champion the work that he toiled to write, edit and polish … and then spend additional heroic amounts of time to record, edit and release … seems downright foolish. Why put forth the effort if — by not telling the world about it — no one shows up to enjoy the fruits of your efforts? Regardless of one’s ultimate goal, be it mainstream publication or basking in the glow of positive audience feedback, it seems counterintuitive to slave over a creative project and botch its execution due to a lack of outreach. In this case, “execution” means the very goal authors have for crafting and publishing their work: for it to be enjoyed by others. The world ignores those who do not speak up.
As for your comment that the talent for promotion is “is a completely different skill than the talent for writing,” I respectfully disagree. Promotion, like so many other facets of our daily lives, hinges on storytelling, a skill at which writers excel. Do you think I was an effective online marketeer in 2006 before I released 7th Son? Do you think nearly all effective podcast novelist promoters were? No, and no.
In 2006, I was a Photoshop pixel-pushing monkey. Seth Harwood is an English teacher. Last I checked, James Melzer worked at Blockbuster, and Mur Lafferty was a freelance writer. There is no “community building” skills or promotional savvy baked into those professions.
Promotion, like great writing, is a skill that is learned over time, and requires the very same breed of creative curiosity writers use in their fiction. I contend that those authors who believe they cannot effectively or creatively promote their work are hiding behind a straw man of self-consciousness and a lack of confidence … either in themselves or the content they create.
They do not promote because they have convinced themselves they cannot.
Authors who overcome this fear — and I speak from personal experience as I was one of them — will be empowered to approach promotion with the same robust creativity and determination they used in writing their fiction, and — as my post and history indicates — often greatly benefit from it.
–J.C.
Thank you for the thoughtful response, J.C. I believe both of these points to be key topics, as, I think, do you.
For the second point, regarding creative promotion: I completely agree that no author who desires to maximize the audience should allow the strawman of believing he has no talent for creative promotion to justify not doing whatever he can. As I think about what you said, it is likely that my observation about varying levels of talent is pointless given that authors need to keep plugging away, not focusing on what they can’t do.
I guess the answer to the first point is the same answer as a small businessman who does not expand his company when given the chance. He decides that he doesn’t want to put in the extra ten hours a week. He will make less money and have fewer customers, but it is a trade-off he makes gladly to spend more time with his family when his kids are young, even knowing that he might retire five years earlier if he spends the extra time for a couple years now.
The key to both of these issues is being honest with yourself – about goals, about your abilities, and about whether you are doing everything you can with those abilities to meet those goals. And not letting yourself off the hook in the process.
“All I have to do is X, and I’ll be a published New York Times bestseller.”
This mantra is used for many different forms of alternative publishing (self-pub comes to mind). As various surveys have shown (Jim HInes’ recent one for instant) there is no golden path to publication. As you wisely point out, podcasting isn’t any different.
Thanks for the article. It was informative.
Edward,
I want to add that the creative challenges you brought up are dealt with in the creative community proposed by Dan and myself; a chance for authors to step up their game while networking/working with others in the creative space. So you have authors stretching their wings and infiltrating new markets. That is the briefest way for me to explain what we have in mind. Blog posts cover part of the rest.
Let’s go sailing! We have a bird to free from around our necks.
Yesterday I decided to throw a party.
I went to the grocery store. Spent like $200 on seafood and other high end ingredients. Came home, rolled up my sleeves, and began cooking. I cooked all day and into the night. Bought a fridge for my garage so i could have room to keep all the prepped food.
This morning I got up and cleaned the whole house. Took a shower, did last minute prep on the food, laid everything out. Turned the iPod on the party mix. Boarded the dog. Bought sparkly decorations.
It’s gorgeous here. The food is delicious.
Invitations to this party? No. Why would I need invitations? The food’s *awesome*.
People will hear about it.
They’ll come.
And even if people don’t show up, it doesn’t matter. I just enjoy the process of party prep.
(Yeah. I’ve had very little sleep. and I like metaphors. a lot.)
@Mur: Hah! I love the metaphor, actually. I’ve seen a lot of this in the podcast author space, and by my reckoning, it’s a shame. The podcast novel space is so saturated, even the best of “meals” are being outright ignored not out of consumer malice … but out of ignorance.
Creators must pipe up if they want that delicious food to be consumed. And consumption is precisely why the food was cooked in the first place.
Mur: Genius metaphor. Truly genius.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure I want to respond. Mixed feeling and all. Part of me wants to say:
Okay. Thank you for your input.
Another part of me wants to say:
I agree with your basic thoughts
And yet another part of me wants to say:
I disagree (almost vehemently)
I suppose that’s the essense of a conversation. Give and take with that might ultimately end up with increased understanding. A lot of what you say strikes a chord, as it should. While It is nice to have them placed together and explained, the concepts you put forth here are not new as adults who are familiar with the basic marketing concepts of innovation and growth know.
We’ve all read your previous post and the vast majority of us commended you for your honesty and expressed our understanding of your motivations and personal decisions. That being said, please be cautious as actions speak louder than words.
I personally chose to avoid the general melee that resulted from your last announcement as I personally believed I wouldn’t contribute anything truthfully meaningful to the debate. I shall do so this time as well.
@James: You’re certainly welcome to contribute to the conversation any way you wish; I believe your perspective would provide value to the discussion. Unfortunately, I do not understand your cautionary comment that “actions speak louder than words.”
I agree that the basic concepts fueling this post are, as you say, “not new as adults who are familiar with the basic marketing concepts of innovation and growth know” — but I contend that they are mission-critical and must be articulated, as these simple tenets are being outright ignored by many creators in the podcast fiction space.
If these concepts were indeed common knowledge, far more creators would be differentiating their content in meaningful ways … and the creator and audience communities would be benefitting far greater than they presently are.
Thanks, Hutch. I needed this. I don’t know if you saw my tweet a while ago, but you have answered it nevertheless. ^^ I want to teach my writer friends about podcast fiction, because, as far as I know, I’m the only one who listens to it (almost too much). I haven’t actually podcasted myself (yet), so these blog posts are totally useful. Thanks!
Also, you helped me get those creative juices going today. Lol, I’ve been at a bit of a block lately.
Uh, I don’t really have anything insightful to add. Just thanks.
My feeling has always been, from the first time I heard about podcast fiction, that the content is what counts. The story has to grab people, and the production quality has to be good enough that the story can shine through. If neither the story or the production quality are good enough, then all the marketing and promotion in the world won’t make a difference.
The harsh reality is, most people won’t “make it” in publishing–no matter what path they choose to follow (querying agents, or going indie) to try to get to that end. So you can do as much as you can to get the word out there about your stories, but nothing is going to guarantee success.
I’m guessing that there are fans of those “First Movers” who were inspired by what they heard and so decided to become podcast novelists themselves. Any maybe people like that continue to follow in the “First Movers” footsteps, because why would they diverge from the path their idols used?
But there are also podcast novelists like me, who wrote the stories first, and then discovered that podcasting them would be another way to share them with others. I was happy to learn that there was a built in audience for podcast fiction–it means that people are getting to experience Dreaming of Deliverance who probably wouldn’t have otherwise, but I’ve never thought that podiobooks listerners were my only audience, or that I should solely rely on that audience.
I _am_ trying to expand and get listeners from other sources. My main character is a runner, so I’m trying to engage the online running community. Among other things, I’ll be doing a Runners Roundtable Podcast (http://runnersroundtablepodcast.blogspot.com/) on April 7th, and I’m hoping that will help new podcast listeners become aware of podiobooks in general, not just Dreaming of Deliveance.
So I agree that we need to figure out ways to expand our audience–think of new groups of people (people who already are familiar with podcasts are best, because they’ll already know what a podcast is) to approach and not sit back and rely on the built-in podiobooks audience. But I also believe that content trumps all. If your content doesn’t speak to people and engage them and grab them so they want to listen or read more, then it doesn’t matter how innovative your marketing is.
And the truth is that there a gargantuan pile of content out there in the world, and most of it won’t resonate with a huge audience.
So I’m doing my best to get the word out, but I’m trying not to get too frantic about it, because the end result really is out of my control. What is in my control is the enjoyment I derive from creating stories and sharing them with others. That’s something I can count on. And it’s pretty great!
Awesome. Watching Seth and Scott make their latest moves has had me thinking along these lines. All of these ‘podiobook’ authors are just shooting stuff into the ether hoping for some sort of return. I’m not even sure that Seth will see much of any profits on his soft-cover books. But Seth’s Collector’s Edition, now that’s something worth owning. Beautiful, highly crafted. You don’t even have to read it to appreciate it. Let the trailblazing continue.