I need to understand more about how people interact with podcasts, now that I’m editing for one. I have some questions that I’d like to ask you all.
- Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which ones? (If no, please do say so, and you can ignore the rest of the questions.)
- How do you listen to them? At your computer, in the car, while jogging, etc?
- Do you just subscribe in iTunes or another podcatcher and forget, or do you read the websites associated with them too?
- What kinds of products advertised in a podcast via sponsorships would you actually find interesting?
- What are the traits of a good podcast episode in your opinion?
I’m just trying to understand how people inteact with podcasts a little more. I have my own pre-formed theories, but they’re not based on anyone’s reality except my own. Ostensibly, answers to these questions will help me make Escape Pod an even better podcast than it already is.
By they way, let me just say, we’re a paying market, but we can’t pay without the support of our listeners. If you regularly listen to Escape Pod and enjoy its content, please consider making a donation via PayPal. Much like NPR, we’re funded by the listeners.
And of course, if you’re a writer, I want to see your stories. Read our submission guidelines and send your work along!
This week, I purchased stories by: Kameron Hurley, Merrie Fuller, Ian Creasey, David Rivera, Ian McHugh, Tina Connolly, and more. As an editor, I don’t have any agenda other than to find stories that I think are good that will also make good audio productions. I think we have some great stories coming up for the listeners. I hope they and you will agree.
Tags: escape pod, Podcast, questions
I do listen to podcasts. I have enjoyed adventures in scifi publishing (Shaun Farrel, although it is on hiatus) which is news about the industry, and I loved hearing the nebula noms done by Starship Sofa. I just finished METAtropolis. I also listen to science podcasts and NPR podcasts.
What’s important for me:
I want to get them easily and via itunes
I want them read well and to be well-produced (and you’re right, some stories are better that way than others. I really dense story is harder to follow, and some authors styles are harder to follow.
No more than an hour — I can get audiobooks when I need a long story. That’s obviously not hard and fast, but still.
A little intro and a narrator is fine, especially when the narrator is someone I know and like.
Break long ones up by chapters or segments if you can since then I can find where I was if I have to stop and take a music break, or at least roughly where I was. It doesn’t interrupt listening, but it helps with starting over in the middle.
I think the websites are important. They often tell me enough about the story that I decide to get it. I don’t usually subscribe via itunes (I did for Shaun’s which was on a regular schedule), but I usually go looking for a podcast and I do read the websites briefly. I usually get the podcast by following the itunes link for that particular story.
I listen to then when I’m cleaning the house, gardening, or walking the dog. That’s a few hours a week at least, sometimes more. I sometimes listen to then in the car, but most of my drives are short, and I like to know I’m going to have an hour for it.
Products? I don’t think I want to be marketed to much in a podcast (I’d pay for it like a song on itunes first, I think). But if I must be assaulted by an ad I guess ads for webzines, podcasts, books, and cool gadgets would do it — geeky stuff. Trailers for new sf movies that aren’t horror sf. At least those wouldn’t make me mad.
Thanks Brenda, that’s really useful information.
Unfortunately, Escape Pod has significant production costs (paying the authors, sound design, etc), so we have to pay for it somehow. Sponsorships and donations are our two means. We aim to keep sponsorship spots unobtrusive and very targeted to our audience. I don’t think you’ll hear a car commercial on Escape Pod any time soon. I could be wrong, but the only sponsorship we’ve had so far has been Audible.com, and I think those spots are pretty organic to the show. The host generally just talks a bit about a book in the Audible catalog that might relate to this week’s story.
On the subject of advertising in general, I think we hate advertising because they’re advertised to for so many products we would never by. But when it’s something they’re actually interested in (movie trailers, books for ads by authors we like) then they do serve a decent purpose. Hence me collecting a little bit of preliminary information via this post.
Electra and I have been listening to Escape Pod, Podcastle and Starship Sofa recently. We listen on Electra’s computer (with big speakers, of course) and generally need to sit and listen — if I try to do anything else simultaneously I get distracted or can’t hear the story. Thus we listen more often when we have long beaks (Which happen occasionally in Japan.) Currently on my ipod I only listen to music and Japanese lessons (also podcasted.) But when I return to the States I could conceive of replacing the lessons with story podcasts.
I have found that the quality of narration makes a huge difference. For example, the narration on “Small Room in Kobold Town” was awesome. (And to risk overdoing compliments, Sarah Tolbert’s reading made the story that she did a lot more interesting, too. I forgot the title, however. Sorry.) I think the main differentiator is the ability of the narrator to create distinct voices for characters without sounding silly — something I’m sure is extremely challenging.
I don’t really listen to ads, but I don’t mind them — I know every publication has to make income somehow. Whatever ads appear are extremely unlikely to catch my attention, however. I guess a lot of people think that and turn out to be wrong but I honestly can’t think of any particular ads that will catch my attention, mostly because I’m a very casual listener. I.e. ads for Audible.com don’t snag me because I’m unlikely to download an audio book, even though I listen to podcasts, especially when my wife puts them on the speakers. Podcasts are less of a time/resource commitment.
Thanks for the response, Roy. Good stuff there. I told Sarah what you said just now and she said “Aww, tell him I said ‘thanks.’”
To answer your questions:
1) I listen to Clarkesworld, Escape Pod, PRI Selected Shorts, Starship Sofa, Terra Incognita, along with a number of science and technology ones
2) Exclusively on an iPod and usually when I am cooking, shopping, cleaning, walking and on rare occasions just sitting down to relax.
3) I research the website before subscribing via iTunes. Sometimes if there is an interesting comment made by the narrator I will go back to the website but normally not.
4) I don’t mind advertisements if they make sense. The audible ones are fine. And if the narrator suggests audio books they like or with a similar theme to the short story I have listened to then that’s more valuable to me. Make it relevant.
5) A quality recording with no background noise, a good microphone and a narrator with a great voice; one that can clearly and consistently distinguish between the different characters.
By the way, I love the podcast. Keep up the good work. And I don’t think it’s rude to ask listeners to contribute a few dollars now and then.
A suggestion: perhaps a donator could also identify memorable stories and narrators. That would give you an idea of what people like, and perhaps reward the writers and narrators with a bonus? Just a thought.
Chris, your suggestion is a good one. I will see if I can encourage that.
Yes, I do listen, occasionally. I tend to do so when traveling or when getting exercise.
Quite honestly, I don’t generally look at the web sites because I consume podcasts at a non-sitting-in-front-of-a-computer time. I subscribe via iTunes, and then scroll through and see what I want to listen to when the moment comes. It’s a very rare occasion that I later visit a site mentioned in or associated with the audio portion.
Personally, I listen in roughly half-hour chunks. Whether that’s all that my caffeine-addled brain can handle as far as attention span, or whether that is the time after which my ears get tired of the work, I can’t say. Longer podcasts are listened to over time, though only if they’re compelling enough for me to come back to them.
Generally speaking, my brain turns off when the ads come on. The kind of advertising that would be interesting for me on Escape Pod would be genre-related — conventions, book signings in my area (hah), new releases, ToC’s of the major publications, etc. etc. Frankly, if it’s just plugging the latest Hollywood blockbuster or reiterating an ad I’ve already seen as a banner somewhere else I’ll almost certainly ignore it.
A good podcast is no different for me than any other media; it’s just another way of delivering content. So that means clear sound, good reading/voice acting, and words worth listening to. Though it might be fun once in a while to do a real old 50’s radio show, complete with special effects à la Gerald McBoing-Boing.
As an editor, I don’t have any agenda other than to find stories that I think are good that will also make good audio productions.
and as we all know, this kind of thinking inevitably leads to great things!
(but seriously, you may want to watch out for such notions.)
I have nothing useful to say about podcasts — when I remember to download them I enjoy, but I am not int he habit of routinely hooking my MP3 player to my computer.
I listen to a few, so I’m always several weeks behind:
Slice of Sci Fi, SciFi Dimensions, Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing (going away),Writing Excuses, Escape Pod, Podcastle, ClonePod, Pseudopod, The Acapodcast, ACapella Originals, and Grammar Girl. There’s more, like Mr. Diety, but I’m not sure they fall in the scope of your question.
I listen to most of them on my iPod while commuting to work, but the musical ones I listen to at home. I subscribe through iTunes and get the appropriate news feeds with Google Reader
What kinds of products advertised in a podcast via sponsorships would you actually find interesting?
Sponsorship… important, but I usually just ignore ads. Let me explain: Go to My PC is advertising a lot, but I don’t have the kind of job that would require me to use my work machine remotely. If I need email I log in through a web site. I usually don’t need access to my work email.
I also hear a lot of ads for books that are essentially self published through podcasts, Scott Seigler, JC Hutchins, Mur Lafferty, etc. I didn’t like the samples I heard of their novels, and felt that the business model they are following isn’t the one I want to follow, so I stopped listening to them.
For news related shows, I want to hear facts and the hosts have to be enjoying themselves.
For stories I want to have good narrators. I really hate to say this, but I don’t like Steve’s voice on Escape Pod, but the stories are usually pretty good. Of all the narrators I’ve heard, Christiana Ellis and Tina Connolly are some of the best I’ve heard. Ellis’s narration of MK Hobson’s God Juice was so good I could almost convinced I was listening to Hobson read the story herself.
I am a writer, and I do send EP stories, but I don’t worry about the response time because I sent it when Steve said “I’m months behind” and before you came on to the team, so I’m being patient.
Yes. I listen to geeky blather. Geekson, Kate and Hughsey on Nova (basic local radio crap) and Smodcast. Also, Tech blather. TWIT and Macbreak. Then some science with Radio lab.
I listen to them while I do the washing up or some other mundane task and also on public transport.
I occasionally go the the website afterwards if there’s talk of extra video or images of something that I found interesting. THe geekson Forum is the only forum I routinely hang around anymore.
It doesn’t matter what products I find interesting. If the host doesn’t convey an excitment about what they’re pimping I’m going to skip over it or zone out. On TWiT they discuss Audible picksof the week and they sound like they love it. On Smodcast they were pimping ‘ThinkGeek’ and they sounded completely disinterested like they’d never been to the site.
When I record my podcast about Improv theatre I make sure there’s a lot of laughing. It’s an aural medium and you can’t get by with just smiling with delight. You’ve got to make some sound. This may not be so helpful in a short story podcast, but I guess you want people who sound like they’re having a great time.
Fantastic information. Thank you, everyone.
Oh, I listen to podcasts. A lot. Just looking at iTunes now I see: Adventures in sci fi publishing, The Bat Segundo Show, Beneath Ceaseless Skies (which has been excellent of late), Clarkesworld, BBC world service documentaries, Escape pod, Hanselminutes, BBC Friday night comedy, In our time with Melvyn Bragg, I should be writing, .Net rocks!, NPR story of the day, Odyssey writing workshop, podcastle, Pseudopod, The sofanauts, StarShip Sofa, TEDTalks, Thinking Allowed, This American Life, Underwood and Flinch, Weather Child.
I listen on my busted up 1st-gen 5GB iPod, mostly while I’m driving to work, doing the dishes, mowing the lawn or walking. I don’t tend to listen at the computer.
I subscribe in iTunes. I’ve used other podcatchers in the past and though iTunes has its problems, it’s mostly pretty good.
I do visit podcast websites, especially for fiction podcasts — if I really like (or hate) a story, I like to see what others think. I often visit the sites of the tech podcasts too, for further information.
I’m not sure what product advertising would work for me, although I guess the best thing would be products that closely map to the subject of the podcast. For example, .NET rocks and Hanselminutes advertise .NET controls. Perhaps the magazines could place ads in fiction podcasts?
The quality of the audio and narration are critical. I will stop listening if it’s hard to hear or the reading is flat. Other than that, as long as the subject is interesting I’ll listen, even if I know nothing about it (for example half the stuff on In Our Time).
Thanks, Grant. You are a podcast-consuming machine!
I listen to many podcasts — Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Drabblecast, Dunesteef, This American Life, The Moth, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Radio Drama Revival, Well Told Tales, Planet Cruz, I Should be Writing, Pod of Horror, and a few more. I mostly listen while driving, and don’t use a podcatcher. I download from the web sites, and enjoy the artwork some podcasts produce for their episodes. Drabblecast and Dunesteef do this kind of thing. It just adds a little to the experience. My biggests gripe when listening to a podcast, mostly becouse I listen in the car, is when the audio dips, then suddenly rises back up. By the time it comes back up, I’ve raised the volume and now my speakers as shaking.
…are shaking.