#getting into this podcast going “I’m about to get so niche” and meaning it I guess.

[ottosbigtop]

Mods are asleep post nonsense

[specialagentartemis]

Having listened to the Graphic Audio full-cast audobook for All Systems Red, it was fun but I have some thoughts about the voice acting and direction. So now I’m just daydreaming about “if I had Billionaire Money I would buy the audio rights to TMBD and direct and produce another full cast audio version with voice actors handpicked and paid lavishly by Me.”

The cast being:

All Systems Red:

Murderbot: Kevin R. Free is the voice of Murderbot to a lot of people. I would think very hard about this but it would be a foundational return to form. However I feel like I want to reach out and find a non-binary VA because it's a niche that's been tragically underrepresented in Murderbot VAs. I joked before about Vico Ortiz playing live-action Murderbot but do they want to try their hand at voice acting?

Mensah: Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs. Voices Captain Lovelace on Wolf 359. Has incredible talent and range and does the Intrepid Galactic Explorer so well.

Pin-Lee: Emily Woo Zeller. An audiobook narrator I've consistently liked.

Ratthi: Stephen Dookie. He plays the part of Polites in Epic: The Musical and he's excellent in a very sweet, upbeat, friendly way.

Gurathin: Sungwon "ProZD" Cho. I'm picturing somewhere in the range of his Miles Edgeworth voice for this.

Arada: Michelle "Vixy" Dockrey. She's a singer not a VA but her voice sounds so nice.

Overse: Tanja Milojevic. Her range is incredible.

Bharadwaj: Rukhmani Desai (Captain Tripathi, The Strange Case of Starship Iris. She has that calm, reasonable, rational, desperately kind character voice she plays well in Starship Iris that I think would go well for Bharadwaj)

Volescu: Zach Valenti. The vibes are right.

Additional voices by Tanja Milojevic and Zach Valenti. Yes all of them.

Artificial Condition:

ART: Janelle Monáe and I mean it

Tapan: ItMe of InCo Podcast

The ComfortUnit: also ItMe because an important part of listening to faer acting is realizing in awe how fae voices so many characters at once and make them all sound distinct.

Tlacey: kinda thinking Ariela Rotenberg. she does smugly confidently evil very well. However we cannot discount casting ItMe for this role also

Additional voices by Tanja Milojevic and Zach Valenti.

Rogue Protocol:

Don Abene: Emma Sherr-Ziarko. She also deserves to be an intrepid space leader again.

Miki: ItMe again in InCo Season 2 Updated SAWA mode

Wilken: me. I want a part. I could totally be a badass evil space assassin

Gerth: does Gerth even have any lines.

Additional voices by Tanja Milojevic and Zach Valenti.

Exit Strategy:

Serrat: Zach Libresco. this casting + Janelle Monáe as ART were what drove me to make this post in the first place.

The Combat SecUnit: Ellen McLain in GLaDOS mode. All 2 lines it has.

Network Effect:

Amena: Ishani Kanetkar (The Strange Case of Starship Iris, The Godshead Incidental, excellent VA for a proud and curious but scared young person)

Iris: Jordan Cobb (Janus Descending, Primordial Deep, excellent VA for a gritted-teeth calm scientist in a strange and dangerous place)

Seth: Avery Brooks (I know it is not the 90s anymore. but. Captain Sisko. I can imagine <3 )

Martyn: Alexander Siddig / Siddig El-Fadil (Dr. Bashir). They're TV actors but! I want them as the Ship Captain Husbands

The rest of ART's crew: other podcast VAs I love who I haven't come up with a role for yet. Kristen DiMercurio, Beth Eyre, James Oliva.

Supervisor Leonide: Claudia Christian (Commander Ivanova on Babylon 5 <333 )

Eletra: Michaela Swee who is very busy working at An Actual Hospital but I have a billion dollars in this dream scenario so I can pay her to take a day and record like 4 lines

Ras: Zach Valenti. This is very important.

Three: Jackie Andrews who plays R. J. McCabe on Starship Iris and Elinor Lopez on The Pasithea Powder has the right Vibes For This

Zach Valenti as the Additional Voice of every goon and target who gets the shit scared out of them and/or dies.

Fugitive Telemetry:

Indah: Molly Olguin maybe. she could Be Indah. Absolutely means we need Jackie Hedeman to have a role in FT too.

Tifany: Michelle Agresti (Wolf 359, Arden)

Aylen: Tracey Sayed (also Arden)

Jollybaby, Tellus, Balin: I would open the floor to the delightful Murderbot fandom. Who wants to voice a Preservation bot

Additional voices by--well you know the drill.

[bedtimestoriesforbrokengirls]

The Daily Dad

Things you might want to know, for Dec 19, 2023:

23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9 million users — It’s probably too late and my warnings are pointless, but please kids… don’t give something as valuable as your DNA to a for-profit company that views security as a cost-center. It’s not just the millions of 23andMe suckerscustomers who have lost control of their genetic identity… their family members are compromised, too. Maybe it’s just me, but finding out you’re actually 8% Neanderthal isn’t worth giving the Russian mob the blueprints to your ancestry.

COMIXOLOGY, RIP — I was there at the start, with my little iPhone 3GS, ready to plow through a digital comic collection in Guided View mode. I was certain Comixology was going to save the comics business, and revitalize the audience. Now here we are at the end, nothing has been achieved, and a decade of progress has disappeared into the Kndle app, never to be seen again. Fucking A.

Using the iPad Pro as a Portable Monitor for My Nintendo Switch with Orion, a Capture Card, and a Battery Pack — Okay, I eat this kind of shit up. It’s absurd on a practical level, but it’s the kind of thing I’m likely to try, just for the hell of it.

Here’s what intentionally crashing a plane for YouTube clicks gets you — To paraphrase Robin Williams: the ability to crash a plane for attention is God’s way of telling you that you’re making too much money.

Facebook Messenger Rolls Out End-to-End Encryption by Default — About fucking time, Zuck. I guess he figures the petabytes of pre-E2E conversations that they can use to train their LLM will suffice, so it’s time to let the peasants have their privacy.

Noah Hawley: How 'Twin Peaks' Influenced My Work — If you were between 16 and 30 in 1990 and had any sort of creative impulse, Twin Peaks influenced your work.

What Did It Mean That Howard the Duck Was Trapped 'in a World He Never Made'? — The ‘80s movie and modern MCU cameos don’t do justice to the comic book Howard of the 1970s. He was dark and weird and absurd and (?) sexy and grown-up in a way that other comics on the spinner rack hadn’t been in decades, and I was enthralled.

The use and misuse of evolutionary psychology in online manosphere communities: The case of female mating strategies

The Bizarre Cottage Industry of YouTube Obituary Pirates

Warner Bros. Reverses Course on 'Coyote vs. Acme' After Filmmakers Rebel

‘Now and Then,’ the Beatles’ Last Song, Is Here, Thanks to Peter Jackson’s AI — The song is very good, and the technical skill and care that went into its recovery is just as interesting. The video is just goofy fun, very much in keeping with The Beatles pre-breakup sensibilties. Overall, a delightful and unexpected treat in a year that was full of absolute bullshit.

Apple Now Selling Standalone USB-C AirPods Pro Case for $99

Texas sues Pfizer with COVID anti-vax argument that is pure stupid — I feel like most headlines featuring “Texas” or “anti-vax” should always include “pure stupid” as well.

How TV Executives Ruined Everything

Humane Debuts $700 AI Pin With 'Laser Ink Display' — Do I think this will be a success? No. It’s too niche and weird. But as a signal of life beyond the smartphone, it’s an intriguing development.

DAK and the Golden Age of Gadget Catalogs — As a household, we didn’t receive a ton of mail as a kid… we saw only a fraction of the junk that hits my physical mailbox these days. But every few months, the DAK catalog would arrive, and I knew I was in for at least a night or two of nerdy, consumerist joy. Page after page of discontinued, misconfigured, or too-oddball-for-the-general-market gadgets were waiting to tempt me with deep discounts on things no one really needed. Sheer bliss, I tell you.

How to Stop Your Kids From Ruining Your Apple Music Recommendations

Prince's Purple Rain puffy shirt is up for auction — You’ve gotta figure Prince’s clothes would fit an American Girl doll.

Audible's Moriarty podcast understands what makes Arthur Conan Doyle's arch-villain survive

The Real Reason You (Still) Watch Reality TV

[nerves-nebula]

The problem with being very passionate about a mlp fanfic is that.... it's a mlp fanfic. Nobody is going to read it no matter how you go on about it being your introduction to eldritch horror as a child and how it inspires you to write romance without writing romance (that might be the aromantic part of my brain latching on to the main protags yearning for connection but never really going the romance route but still!!) and how it weaves it's theme of music theory into it's horror elements without being too cheesy... But like I said no one is going to read it cause it's hundred of thousands words long and also an mlp fanfic

Cheers I’ll drink to that. If I share fanfiction with someone it means I’m really PUTTING MYSELF OUT THERE and fanfiction is soooo niche. so I get it.

Funfact about me though, I had a summer internship one year and ran out of podcasts/books to listen to and somehow ended up listening to a discord x fluttershy fanfic that’d been uploaded to YouTube as like a whole production with art and music and everything. It felt embarrassing and I didn’t wanna be caught listening to it but I did (generally) enjoy it.

Got blindsided by applejack x spike shipping though. That really took me out. and I’m not sure if I ever finished it but I was obsessed with it for a solid 3 weeks so. You never know man.

[uc-beepboop]

I’ve been trying to put this into words. A bit of a blarg of word vomit to tell y’all about my love for this podcast and most importantly why ok?

1. It’s difficult to get me into things:

But once I’m hooked, I’m hooked. Hello yes, and now with the benefit of me working a job, I am part of its patreon base for more content gobble gobble. Yep that marketing for the short episodes had me essentially sold. Hayley and Gus really thought of a podcast up my niche: I’m a busy person and unfortunately usually don’t have the time/attention for something that has long episode lengths.

2. Characters: I love media with a huge cast of characters

And for this type of podcast it’s literally built into its structure. A big pitfall other media has with a large cast is that some characters will obviously be more fleshed out than others. Sure, that happens on the pod, even Gus and Hayley mentioned something about determining “main characters” in each arc for a talkback ep, but there’s usually no one that quite undeservingly is not fleshed out due to writers choice. Constraints are 1) the short timespan the podcast has to fit and 2) the fact that this is a live ttrpg and stuff happens on the spot. Anyways back to my point. I love a large cast of characters because I love seeing things from different points of view and we see the world of UC through so many perspectives it’s just brilliant. And having each guest lead the reigns of their character as they play leads to this very natural expansion of what society is like in various corners of this imaginary universe.

Also yes I’m a fanfic writer I love when there are lots of existing characters to stuff my bizarre imaginary stories with.

3. Unabashedly diverse

Props to inviting guests with a variety of backgrounds. It’s easy to say this, but let me just break it down to everyone the lengths that unprepared casters has traversed in this way.

The default, you could say stereotypical, person who plays ttrpgs like D&D is this nerdy white boy that plays with his nerdy friends in the basement.

There have been pushed for narratives that default from that: Dimension 20 being the one that pops out into my mind. But oftentimes without an established company with connections to employees that already have different backgrounds, it’s difficult to find a group of people with a diversity to perspectives. Naturally, like sticks to like. It’s just the way things are.

But Gus and Hayley have made a structure that allows for rotating guests AND has made an effort to reach out to get different voices on their lovely pod. Great move.

I hoped for this from the very beginning when Gus made that comment of there being so few female DMs, I just hoped there would be more fem/enbie voices in the mix (ofc Hayley goes by all pronouns now, but still they are a female presenting DM and that’s still rare!). And what I got was a cast that spand from across the US, occasionally peaking into other countries, people of different ethnicities, people in the LGBT community, new D&D players, other players that have been playing D&D since they were like 5, people of varying professions, playing with people that are in a home game together and some that were total strangers on the internet!

Thank you for that, it means a lot to me personally as a viewer. And keep going: I wish y’all the best of luck on that quest.

4. The opposite of the Mercer effect: the weirdly homegame-esque effect?

This podcast has imperfections, and that is what makes it stand out. Gus and Hayley have been unabashedly transparent, especially compared to other podcasts, about their thought processes, failures but also successes, and every other element that happens over the course of a game. For example, gus has taken a break for this upcoming arc, probably because of the exhausting toll the phenomenal past arcs he’s DM-ed. I’ll say it: d&d is really intimidating to someone that is new. And that element that the hosts mentioned like EPISODE 0 ARC 1 still holds true.

Like look: most D&D podcasts that I’ve heard of have big names stamped onto them. The people in the campaigns are professionals in the entertainment industry, many having their D&D content be something that’s built into their jobs. Many a time, they reside in a similar location and can be in person together for recording sessions.

What do we have from UC? A graphic designer part time musician and an elementary school teacher who was getting her masters while teaching and running a d&d podcast as a DM. And from the VC of arc 10 episode 1, I got confirmation that the DM Amelia works a 9-5 job outside of their amazing work in ttrpgs. Overall? This is pretty insane for most people to pull.

I don’t expect the cream of the crop twists and turns from these folks at all! With all that in their plate, no way. But I’m some ways what we get instead is these two people who are just really honest and transparent from who they are and they talk about their day and it’s like this little insight into what their lives are like. It kinda reminds me of what my home game was like before it got disbanded: it was just a time to meet up with friends and have fun through the medium of D&D.

One day I’ll make this a nice little essay that’s easier to read and not word vomit and had actually been proofread lol. But for now, props to Gus and Hayley, guests, and more. Cheers to what you have created and keep up the good work. Love to see what your creativity cooks up next.

[asherlockstudy]

I think rhett is definitely going through some kind of midlife crisis and I’m put off by his album and the praise he gets for it because 1 the lyrics and message are vapid and cringe, 2 he totally rebranded himself & his social media as soon as he announced it as a project, like it feels so obvious to me that being so preoccupied with selling himself, his “truth”s, and proving his legitimacy is the actual thing that he’s got scars from, not Christianity. (1/2)

Okay it was a bit hard to respond to this because I wanted to ensure that it will remain respectful to R&L, you and the potential readers.

I will preface this by saying: I agree with quite a few of the things you say but I don’t share your frustration and I don’t like putting only one of them on the spot so hard. I will respond point by point to your mail and explain my stance.

Personally, Rhett���s album is not to my liking, however this is not his fault and of course people who like it are totally valid. I don’t like it because I don’t like country music and the lyrics don’t speak much to me either, because I live in a different country, continent, with a different leading Christian dogma and a different culture and understandably the song meanings don’t resonate with me much. I can see though how people who have similar experiences with Rhett can enjoy the album for what it is. When I say “enjoy”, it doesn’t have to mean it will reach the top charts or become an instant classic or that people will be losing their minds over it for long. I don’t think many people have such expectations from either Rhett or Link. They play music but they are not very skilled musicians or lyricists - they are entertainers who still try to find their niche, with a hint of despair.

I disagree about the whole pseudointellectuality thing because I don’t see any intellectuality to begin with. To me, the lyrics seemed purely emotional and personal - like someone writing down what they would like to say to their dad or son without thinking about its musicality or depth for hours. To me, it’s just a decent side project, not the beginning of a big career in music. Then again lyrics in popular music these days are shit anyway, so I don’t see how Rhett’s are specifically the problem. Compared to most songs coming out now, they are fine. I must say though that I have zero exposure to #twitter_exevangelists_girls so I can’t have an opinion on that.

I also understand Rhett’s care to promote his album. Wouldn’t you? Hasn’t Link been promoting his podcasts and listening parties and his connection to Britton from The Voice relentlessly? It is a little off to me too, seeing him promote himself independently from Link and anything Mythical, but objectively speaking, it would be weirder if he didn’t do it.

Regarding the mid-life crisis: well, Rhett had a drive to create something and earn wide acclaim for it since he was a kid. The longer it takes him to achieve it, well, he grows older and he panics. Neither he nor Link are satisfied with GMM’s success as they do not consider it creative or of high enough quality. Ironically, I think they have done things that were underrated, such as their books (I love Bleak Creek), the Hazel song and the Mythical Show. However, they have the very bad habit to shoot down anything they do the moment it doesn’t get the immediate reaction they expect from the fans. This is really unhealthy. For them. It is established that Rhett has an unhealthy need for validation and Link an unhealthy need for attention. But these are qualities that torment themselves way more than they bother us and I believe it’s pretty cruel of us to attack them for mid-life crisis or attention-seeking or whatever, on top of it. I mean, I acknowledge it too but I don’t get too frustrated over this. We are not affected - we can select to pause a video or not pay for a product. Their sense of self-worth on the other hand is insanely vulnerable.

Rhett is definitely manipulative. He is also self-absorbed and arrogant. He definitely wants to force every new opinion he has down your throat. That’s because he is insecure. He has many flaws and he tries to acknowledge and work them out in therapy but you can’t expect him to clap his hands and suddenly be a perfect person. Link has issues too: he’s prone to fits of anger, he is an authoritative control freak and he can be very rude at times. He tries to work on it, also not always successfully. Let’s not forget he is on medication which I believe helps. I am saying this because I don’t feel comfortable with the one sided anti-Rhett talk.

I agree with you on one thing for sure: he stopped being a Christian later than he claims. Maybe what he considers as an end is when he started having regular doubts. He came out to his family as non-Christian much later. However, I think you’re being a little unfair here too. They have both said that it took time to talk to their families and Link even spoke of an incident when his whole family had the need to go to Church and he couldn’t do it. Link has also implied Christy was the last and most unwilling to give up Christianity, or better, the particular Christian culture they were in. This is important. Just because they are not practicing Evangelists or missionaries anymore, it doesn’t mean that other members of their family don’t believe in Jesus or aren’t in the lookout for a dogma where they would feel more welcome and comfortable. Rhett has described himself as a hopeful agnostic which literally means he hopes to become religious again under the right conditions. The most recent photo of Rhett with his son Locke when he drove him to his college depicts Locke wearing a very big cross necklace. Unless he’s exclusively into this for the rap fashion trend, Locke might as well remain a Christian. I don’t think their families owe to us to not be Christians and I also don’t think Rhett and Link owe to us 100% transparency regarding their families or even their own religious beliefs. These are private topics. As long as they don’t convert others anymore and don’t engage in hate speech (which I believe they don’t), I don’t care. They can do whatever they want and they can share as much as they want. I even think they share too much for their own good as then people make demands of them.

As for acting like a victim… they might be. He might be. You never know. It certainly doesn’t always have to do with the money. He certainly has been the victim of his father, who was enforcing these conservative policies on him and still does. The issues Rhett has nowadays and you dislike so much are at least 70% a byproduct of his father’s parenting style. And you might be affected enough to feel annoyed by him but he is affected enough to be almost always frustrated with himself and take it out on himself and others. That’s his and his close people’s problem to figure out, not ours.

Again, to be clear, I acknowledge a lot of these things frequently. I make rants or complaints. However, I don’t have anything against Rhett and I enjoy him in anything Mythical and therefore this mail made me a little uncomfortable because it was too targeted on a single person for my taste.

[badstargateimagines]

Ok how do you think the wraith would react if they were on earth? Like with so many different cultures, music, lifestyles, trends...they're thousand of years old and very smart but also have no concept of human life beyond their own galaxy

Okay so I’m not overly familiar with Atlantis HOWEVER I’ve seen a couple seasons so I’ll give this a go.

First of all I see the Goa’uld as intergalactic fashionistas whereas I see the wraith pretty much as the opposite. The give off the same vibes as I did when I worked at a warehouse and I’d put on the clothes from my floor that Smelled The Cleanest. That kind of sets the tone for this I would say.

I think they’d fuck with pirate metal like I genuinely think they’d be the people at an Alestorm concert rowing an imaginary boat

I also think that they’d like pirates in general like I think they’d fuck w pirates of the Caribbean, spongebob the movie (2004?) and Our Flag Means Death

Disappointed they missed out on the piracy era of humanity

For work I think they’d enjoy working at a warehouse. No thoughts behind that just vibes

I like the idea of them dressing like Y2K mall goths like completely w trip pants and like cradle of filth shirts or smth

Idk if you know where Hamilton Ontario is but I feel like they’d make a Homebase there

I think they’d really like Rottweilers

They would drive Ford F-350s or Dodge Chargers

I think they’d REALLY like carnivals. Like not just going once a year but like following a travelling carnival for like an entire season

I think they’d hate Party Rock Anthem at first but then like everyone they’d actually find that it’s the best song humanity ever created. This is a side effect of enjoying carnivals

I think they’d also just make extremely niche thirst traps on TikTok

They are Machiavelli Enjoyers

Also I think that they’d find technology and then get really into building PCs. They may also venture into working in cyber security

They’d learn about most media via YouTube Poops

They’d really fucking like Dark Souls and GTA

They may also fall down the alt right pipeline like that seems like something that would happen to both them and the Goa’uld but in very different ways

I think they’d be podcast enjoyers but only on their commute

Shutter shades as a result of the carnivals

[mifhortunach]

in review - once again! - 2022

below cut :/

i did... Very Little drawing this year ! - which i’m really not happy about, and i’m not sure how that happened tbh. that said, if nothing else, instead of drawing i got ‘a lot’ of printing done!

it was a good year for like. my Actual Practice - i spent a lot of time in the studio, got a piece (that i still like!) into an actual public show, as well as for the first time sold some work!! I also got to finally mess around with a riso machine, as well as someone offered to show me more litho stuff, so im hoping to pursue that much more in the year :) - as well as finally do a bunch of projects i’ve been putting off for ages & dear god, fckn draw more

====

watched a lot of movies though!!!

ltrbxd says i saw like. 115 or smth, but that’s an estimate bc i went to a couple of shorts showings (as well as fell asleep at a couple :’/ ). it’s been cool!! have finally seen a bunch of genre classics, and had like, a seeing thru the matrix moment~ where i could tell a whole bunch of influences that had affected smth i was watching ! id quite like to try to strike a similar balance this year as well; catching up on like. ‘genre staples’ but paired w the weirdest most niche shit i can find - fingers-crossed! (thinking about putting together a little round-up post of some of the ones i saw this year that really stuck around for me, but idk)

=====

Pods!!

usually i think - and by usually i mean like, last year - i’ve got more to say on this front, but a lot of the pods i really enjoyed this year were hold-overs from 2022-

AMCA: i’m someone who while they don’t care about starwars, DOES really like podcasts about it, which is weird & difficult to explain, but this is still so good!! 5 star podcast, 5 star runtime! everyDAY do i wish they could do a special about dune...

The RETURN of toxic podcast!: as before, a podcast only for me really, and the only podcaster that i do have smth approaching a parasocial relationship with - its just been nice to hear from Ale again!! The branch into ltrboxd reviews as been a fun venture too, imo.

FATT/SANGFIELLE: though difficult to believe, that DID happen this year!! Sangfielle is still so so good, and it got me back into both listening to bluff as well as trying so hard to catch up on ptzn, its just really fckn good what else is there to even say! (Met a lot of v cool people through this as well, which has been so cool :) )

Assorted Seán L@TDF podcasts: while he has dropped completely off the face of the internet - though hopefully not the earth - the man DOES still have years of weird (mostly movie) focused podcasting to go back in on, which i do find consistently compelling!! turns out when u practice putting thought into words and then presenting for long enough you do indeed build a skill. His found footage series (Hundreds of Pixelated Dead Bodies) series is great, and introduced me to a lot of stuff, ditto his other series (hundreds of dead bodies). I’m hoping to get through the big, thoughtful series (ALL UNITS) this year, and maybe I’ll get even luckier and he’ll return to the land of podcasting soon.

I’m sure i’ve missed some on this one, but these are the ones that stood out to me this time round, i guess. i’m excited for the new twioat series also, lol.

=====

i did like, almost no reading, or tv watching, though i did start, and plan - and not finish - a good couple of knitting projects. didn’t get out to see many gallery shows either, which isn’t so great - though i DID manage to have a startlingly good year socially ?

made some new friends, had a whole private theme month devoted to the films of al pacino, and got to see two bands/musicians that i really love play live!! Good Ol’ Stevie P w @silverview (<33) && TWRP - both of which were so so great, and made me wish i got out more lol

lots to be done this year, as per, but hopefully it’ll be fine

[dramaklub]

‼️FORMAT‼️; Red ink is me talking, in the present. This tool will be mostly to add context. The rest is copy pasted directly, the only edits not explicitly stated (in red) are things like spelling and punctuation. I will put the TW in blue ink.

TW: unaliving and childhood SA and the weird aftermath of it. No direct descriptions of it. Just the grey area of the understanding what your relationship with family is supposed to be, and the fundamental misunderstanding of those boundaries I had crying the abuse and after.

Time unknown; for the Club section. most likely past midnight. Most likely pretty drunk:

From Mandela club, puerto Vallarta; bathroom

Post colloquy; it’s like I watch from the outside, im like Casper, i watch people’s lives go, watch them grow up, see them hit milestones. And I would fucking give anything to be them. Not enough though I suppose. What to do?

Idea; the woman in the window? (I was reading this book at the time, meaning of this note is unknown lol)

I keep asking myself ‘what’s wrong with me’ and answering ‘you know what’ and that conversation ends with me being thinking about who I am. What I am. My place. It’s daunting to remember. To be honest with yourself about what people think, about what they’re laughing at when I’m dancing and when I’m making out with someone. It’s unbelievable to them. Hilarious. I’m hilarious. That’s all I’ll ever be. I don’t know how to not be funny it seems. A curse out upon me by I don’t know what. I don’t know why I had to be this person. Why I couldn’t be average. Not Kendal Jenner but Sarah who is insecure about her small judding out belly or non-thigh gap. Why do I have to have this? Why is this me? Why can’t I leave. Why can’t I sign out? I suppose I could but it’s not exactly like deleting my wizards 101 account is it? It’s dramatic and traumatizing to everyone around me. I have to endure because everyone around me will have to live with my death. And not just death but traumatic death. Dramatic. Suicide. As if I brought anything to the table. I don’t. I won’t ever bc I’m nothing. I have nothing. I just want to go home and be comfortable. I want to never leave and be perceived again. But I have to leave and I have to continue to ignore it. me. fucking suffer. It sounds fucking dramatic I know, but how could I describe it. I’m not simply annoyed or bothered by such bothering and annoying things. I’m fucking plagued by them. Will I ever love. Sorry, correction, I probably will, the question is will I be loved. Will be desired after for my body and my conversation. I don’t know, obviously, but Im sure not, either because such a simple thing is obviously off the table, in trying to imagine facing a summer where I could go without trying to overcome some major fear/ anxiety. It’s not for me. I was here for what? Exactly! No se, I have nothing to offer, maybe recommending a specific niche of fantasy books or fan fiction and smut. Perhaps what I have to offer is nothing. Some people have nothing, give nothing. Maybe I gave some life lessons to someone. But someone’s life can’t be summed up to their achievements can they? But aren’t they? How will I live up? How will I be remembered. Something tells me it’s in the manor of my death. Nothing else is worth taking about. I never lit up a room with my smile. I was never outgoing. I’m forgetable no matter how hard I try not to be. God I’ve written so many of these things. Had so many dreams and wants. Why don’t I get them. What’s wrong with me? What don’t I get those nice things? I know why. It hurts though.

At work: 12:13pm in the bathroom

“You’re only as fucked up as your secrets” from the Stevo podcast feat. Shane Dawson. Fuck. I mean that’s not good? Is it. Not in my case. It means I’m really really fucked up. There are things I know. I just know I will never ever ever speak about. To anyone. Therapist, loved one. Absolutely anyone. Because they’re disgusting secrets. They were when I was little and had a very warped view of society. And people. I have family that are not very eager to be friends with me bc they remember something I did that definitely sat right on that line of inappropriate. (Very interesting pov from her on this day bc to be clear this is complete speculation lmao, in this she is talking about my cousins, I’m just not very close to my cousins, we all grew up and what I ‘did’, what im referring to, is one awkward encounter with my cousin - one cousin- not so bad to have cause this alleged shunning lol. Definitely still weird, I dared him to watch porn and I stayed - I can’t remember who decided that good idea lol but i am taking blame- in the room. It was weird for all parties) I don’t even like writing about it now. I mean, here is the thing. I never did cross that line. Not like my cousin did. Never. But I did walk it. Because I think I wasn’t sure how the world worked then yet. I’m gonna be honest and say; idk why I didn’t cross that line. I could have. Very easily. Bc the reason I was even walking it was bc I didn’t know what was right and wrong. (I’m giving myself more grace then she gave herself here; she didn’t cross the line because what she did, did feel weird and wrong and she very simply, didn’t wanna cross the line) I didn’t understand. People told me I would never be kidnapped or raped or touched bc I was an ugly and or fat child. But it did happen and I think I didn’t know what to do about it. It made me feel things I didn’t understand and it made me confused. Bc I thought I was disgusting. My world view at 4 was already based on how attractive I was. At 4. I was already worried about sex. At 4. And with the people I was close with I didn’t understand that line existed. So I happen to walk it. I thought it was normal. And it’s a huge part of my past that I regret and I am ashamed and scared of. I don’t like that idea, that that could be me. I’m scared That that wasn’t a product of my perception of the world that was put on to me at young age, but me. That’s scary. I don’t want to bring it up and hurt someone like that. Like I said I never crossed that line but what if what I did was enough to damage my relationship with them. That’s scary. I don’t want to face that.

And I don’t want to face therapy to talk about it all. I’m at this point and have almost been in it for a year. I’ve made a real mess of my life and I don’t think I will make it worth loving frankly. Maybe I will? But reality is that I probably won’t. I’m waiting to get to the point where I can finally kill myself. I’m okay right now, but I’m trying to get the people around me to a good place. So I can let go. My thought; I know it’s selfish but why should it be? I’m not having a good time right now. I never have. I want to sign out. No I want to delete my account. I’m so fucking done. There are things I want to do of course. God so many things. And maybe if I was someone else I would have done them but I won’t in this life. I just fucking won’t. In video games; if I don’t play exactly how I want to - if Mario didn’t land atop the flag pole- I restarted completely. I would need to delete my start. Is that mentally ill? I mean why should I have to be here? Im an adult, I don’t like it here. I fucking hate it as I am. I love it as someone else. That what makes it sad I think. That I don’t hate all of it. In fact I’m in love with so much of it. But I can’t experience it purely. It’s tainted with my existence.

No need to be worried about this authors state of being, im alive and not actively planning my suicide anymore

[longlivebatart]

Since my friend was kind enough to feature me as their first podcast recommendation, I figured I might as well help pad out their brand-new blog!

Disclaimer: I'm still in my first season, with ten episodes under my belt, but I feel like my experience will help any others who haven't started a podcast yet! This is going to be a monster of a post, so the rest will be under the cut.

So you want to start a podcast. Great! It’s a fantastic way to get your (literal) voice out there. Podcasts are one of the last few truly individual and democratic ways of media- there are no massive corporations trying to get a stranglehold. Anyone with the technology can make one, so  there’s no barrier to entry.

Whether you want to do a fiction or nonfiction podcast, I’m sure you have an idea (or twenty) that you want to do. But you’re nervous because there are so many guides and advice out there. Fear not, I did a lot of research before I started this podcast, so I can share some tips, tricks, and general advice.

Step 1: Get over yourself

This may sound harsh, but it needs to be said. No one will care about your podcast more than you do. That’s just the reality. But as bad as that sounds, there’s a good part too- it means no one will be listening to it as closely as you do. So if you miss an ‘um’ or a click or a whatever during editing, chances are no one will notice. 

You also have to go into podcasting for the right reasons. If your reason is ‘to make a bunch of money,’ then you’re going to be disappointed. Monetization is years down the line and probably won’t be a lot anyway. 

But if your reason to go into podcasting is to have fun or to just share what's unique about you with the world, you'll have a good time.

And I'll be honest, I had a hard time doing this step too. It was me being arrogant but at the same time insecure. I have a speech impediment plus a very thick regional accent and I thought that would hinder me. It didn't. 

Podcasting actually helped me get more confident in myself and remember that what I say matters. So if that's something you're looking for, go for it. 

Step 2: Research

So you have an idea. Or, rather, you think you have an idea. Chances are, your podcast idea is way too broad to appeal to anyone because you’re trying to appeal to everyone. I know, that seems counterintuitive- why would you exclude people from your potential audience when you don't even have one yet? But the more specific you can be, the better. It’s called a niche. So say you want to start a fitness podcast. You don’t want to do body building one episode and then yoga the next. That will just put your listener off because they will think that not every episode is applicable to them. And that’s what you want to do- find a niche so every single episode appeals to your audience. Narrow yourself down, and don’t worry if you think you’re being too specific. I’ll help with that later on. 

You want to ask yourself a few questions- what is the podcast about, why are you making this podcast, who are you making this podcast for, etc. There’s a great article that covers these questions- and more- right here. So answer those questions and you’ll have a great starting point. 

Step 3: Topic

Take that broad idea you have and figure out what exactly you have experience in or just have a lot to say about. Sticking with our fitness example, maybe think of yoga exclusively. And if you can get more specific than that, maybe yoga you can do in 10 minutes, that’s even better. Once you have the idea you want, it’s time to start looking to see who did it before you. Because no idea is completely original, and that’s fine! You will bring something completely individual to the table because there isn’t anyone exactly like you anywhere. So listen to those 10-minute yoga podcasts and see what they did and you can do different. Say you can think of yoga positions you can do in 10 minutes while in a chair. Fantastic, that’s a great niche to fit in. 

For myself, I did a lot of research into art podcasts and didn't find one that was like my idea. That doesn't mean there aren't any out there, it just meant that there were very few. That means a) there's limited competition and b) there's a gap in media catering to that subgroup. And it's ok if your audience is different than what you expect!

Also, be sure you have enough topic to cover multiple episodes. Some guides say 10 episodes, but I say go longer. A lot longer. Try 35 episodes. If that seems daunting, then this isn’t the topic for you. If you can’t make at least that many episodes, you’ll stall out and eventually drop off. And nothing is worse than podcasts that just end without wrapping up. So it’s good to know that before you start. 

This is a good time to plan out episodes- you have a bunch of ideas already! There’s this thing that people in the industry call ‘podfade’ where most podcasts fizzle and may even die after 7-10 episodes. I don’t want to happen to you. So make a bunch of ideas, structure them in a way that makes sense, and move from there. 

Step 4: Name

Next up is the name. Now, there are three general camps for names: the branded, the creative, and the descriptive. 

The branded is using your name or the name of your brand. Unless you have a really recognizable brand or you use your real name a lot and it’s easily recognizable, I wouldn’t go this route. Say someone who doesn’t know you finds your podcast, Mike Smith Fitness. Why would they click if they don’t know who Mike Smith is? If I used my name, it would be something like Sydney’s Art Podcast or An Art Gallery Tour with Sydney. Not as grabbing. 

The creative is what I chose. Creative names have to walk a fine line, though. You don’t want to go too obscure, otherwise it will be confusing. Take my podcast. It’s an art podcast with pure descriptions of artworks. So I started thinking of names that would be clever with that. I landed on the idea that bats use sound to ‘see’ the world. And people say ‘long live bad art’. So Long Live Bat Art was born. 

And the descriptive is describing what the podcast is about. Say I went with this option for my own podcast. I would have titled it something like Art Description Podcast. That's good for SEO- search engine optimization- and for letting people know right away what the podcast is about, but I'm not good at that. 

But you will have to go through a lot of iterations to find the best name for your podcast. For Long Live Bat Art I had a lot of ideas, most of them bad. And bad ideas are good, as long as you recognize they’re bad. Because bad ideas spark good ideas. So just don’t filter yourself, write all those ideas down. For example, I had ‘Negative Space,’ ‘Blocking In,’ ‘Illusion of Space,’ ‘A Different Perspective,’ ‘Visionless,’ ‘Echolocation,’ ‘SONAR[T],’ ‘Artistic Vision,’ and a more vague one that was considering using a pun on the term for a total lack of sight- amaurosis. Now, ‘SONAR[T]’ was pretty good, but I looked it up. It was similar to a podcast in French, [SON]ART.

You don’t want anything close to what you’re planning. Best case scenario, you’ll confuse listeners, worst you’ll direct traffic to the other podcast and not yours. And then you have to worry about intellectual theft suits. So just steer clear. 

And if you really want to protect your name, trademark it! Look up trademarking laws in your state and country and follow them. 

Step 5: Social Media

You want to get the names/handles/whatever for the social media sites you plan on using. My suggestion is a website, twitter, and instagram. Unless you think your audience will use other sites, then by all means, use those! 

You also might want to use a community part of a website/app. Start a Facebook group, or use a Discord server. This can be a place for you to interact directly with your audience, and for them to interact with you! 

For a website, you do want to buy a domain. It just makes it easier to give it out to people verbally, which is what you’ll be doing most of the time. So you don’t want a domain with lots of random numbers, or another company’s name in it, you want just a plain domain. And then once you have a domain, most code-free website builders have an option to click that you already have a domain. So put that in and get building! I won’t go into detail of how to do that here, but there are tons of videos and tutorials out there. But just play with it, see what you like. 

Step 6: Format

So you have your topic and name. Great! Now is the time for what form your podcast will take. Will it be an interview style? Will you have a co-host or multiple co-hosts? Will you fly solo?

This is also where you can start to think about if your podcast will be seasonal. And don’t feel like because you don’t have a fiction podcast, you can’t do seasonal. Long Live Bat Art is. 16 episodes a season, posted every other Friday starting from the first Friday in July. That’s 8 months of content. And then the rest of the active time can be spent promoting the podcast. But the most important part of season-based podcast is to RELAX. You give yourself a break. I won’t work for the 4 months off at all. If you’re scared people will forget about your podcast, put those doubts aside. Yeah, maybe a few people will. But if your show is good, most people won’t. Plus, there’s a handy-dandy thing called ‘subscribing’ that means that episodes will be delivered right to your listener’s feed without them doing a thing- they won’t have to remember, they’ll just get the episode.

This is also the time to decide how long your episodes will be. Don’t go searching the web for the ‘ideal’ length because spoiler alert: there isn’t one. Some podcasts are under ten minutes, some are over two hours. The answer for ‘how long should an episode be’ is kinda weird but at the same time super simple- ‘as long as it has to be and as short as you can get it.’ That means cutting all the fat and making sure every second is good content. If you have 45 minutes of great content, then your episode will be 45 minutes. Don’t try to cram 15 extra minutes of nothing to make it an even hour. 

Step 7: Write

Now it’s time to plan your episode. There are some people who like to write a word-for-word script- like I do- there are some that use bullet points, and some use a combination. There are reasons for all of them, and all of them suit different kinds of podcasts and people. 

Scripts are good for people who want to keep everything really tight in their show. They’re also pretty much necessary for fiction podcasts. But there are cons- if you’re not used to reading from a script and it’s a non-fiction podcast, you can sound really flat. And that’s not good listening. So try to write like you talk. Shove your inner English teacher into a closet and lock the door for a little bit. Don’t worry about not starting sentences with ‘and,’ ‘but,’ or ‘so.’ Don’t worry about sentence structure or past participle tense. This isn’t an essay, it’s a podcast script. I didn’t have to worry about that because I’m a former theater kid who got used to reading scripts. But if you don’t have that background, it can sound different. 

When you write a script, I recommend doing a few trial runs BEFORE you ever hit record. You’ll catch a lot of ways you want to change sentences to better suit how you talk. Because how you think you talk and how you actually talk is often a lot different. And don’t be afraid to go off-script! If you think of something you didn’t add, you can go and change it in the trial runs. That’s a lot harder to do later on, but not necessarily impossible. 

Bullet points are the loosest way you can prepare. They’re good for interview podcasts, for example. You want to have things you remember to touch on during the interview without having them word-for-word. But they’re not just for interviews! Do you like having the freedom to explore the conversation with your co-host(s) naturally? Bullet points might be the way to prepare for you. 

Any way you choose, there should be some preparation. You don’t want to sit down to record with just a topic in mind because then editing will be a nightmare. You’ll go off on tangents, you won’t complete thoughts, you’ll meander. Just do yourself the favor of putting some work on the front end so you have less on the back end. 

If possible, read your finished script to someone not on the podcast and see what they think! Ask them questions. Did they get bored or confused? 

And don’t think the episode content, or the meat, of the episode as the only thing you have to write. There are also things called ‘intros,’ ‘outros,’ ‘show notes,’ ‘episode descriptions,’ and ‘podcast descriptions.’ Don’t leave these for the last minute! They’re just as important, and most of the time more so, than your actual podcast recording. 

Intros are the introduction to the podcast. Every episode will be the first time someone listens to your show, and not everyone will start at the beginning. So be sure to hook the listener right away. Think of how long you yourself give podcasts to get you to listen, and be honest with yourself. My guess is most of you said ‘less than a minute’ or even ‘less than 30 seconds.’ And that’s fine! Your time is valuable. And so is your listeners’.

There are a few things most people include in their intros. The most important ones are the podcast name, the host’s name and credentials, the tagline, and a short description of what the episode will entail. Your podcast’s name is important because maybe someone has your podcast in a queue of all the podcasts they want to listen to. Most people listen to podcasts while doing other things, so they can’t stop and click to see what they’re listening to. So be sure to include that. Your name is just as important- listeners want to know a name to attach to the voice. And if you have any expertise in the field, definitely include that! You want to show the listener that you know your stuff and they should trust you. Even if you don’t have credentials, that can be equally as important. I don’t have a background in art, and I make sure to mention that at the beginning of every show. It tells the listener that I’m a beginner, just like they are. That can really put the listener at ease, knowing they won’t have a ton of technical jargon thrown at them. The tagline of your show is important, too. Think of it like a pitch, but slightly different. Say your podcast is about yoga you can do in 10 minutes in a chair. You want to say that! Let people know in one sentence what they need to know. And the episode description is a short summary or a teaser of what’s to come. It’s also helpful to put a little wish at the end. Here’s the intro for all of my podcast episodes: “Welcome to Long Live Bat Art, the podcast for art lovers who don’t see art as much as they want to. My name is Sydney and thank you for taking this slow tour through an art gallery with a casual art lover. Today, I’ll be talking about [ARTWORK by artist]. I hope you enjoy.”

See what I did? I named the podcast- Long Live Bat Art; I gave the tagline, ‘the podcast for art lovers who don’t see art as much as they want to;’ I introduced myself and my (lack of) credentials, ‘My name is Sydney and thank you for taking this slow tour through an art gallery with a casual art lover;’ and I gave a short description that will change from episode to episode, which is what artwork I’ll be talking about and by what artist; and my wish that the listener enjoys. 

Keep. The. Intro. Short. Keep in mind that minute or half a minute time frame. You don’t want the intro to last ten minutes. Potential listeners will skip your episode and possibly your podcast entirely and regular listeners will fast-forward. When you write the intro’s first draft feel free to jam it full of information, but remember to pare it down! Read it out loud and TIME YOURSELF. Keep it lean. 

Outros are just as important as intros. They’re what ease your listener out of the episode and entice them to listen to the next episode. Don’t leave it as an after-thought. Thank the listener for listening, make a call to action or two, and let them know when to expect the next episode. If you don’t know what a ‘call to action’ is, they’re pretty simple. They’re what you want your listeners to do. Tell a friend about the show. Follow you on social media. Leave a review. Subscribe to your newsletter. All calls to action, or CTAs. But don’t shove ten of them in one episode. If you ask too much, then your listener won’t do any. Keep them easy to do- you’re doing this for free, and it’s not a lot to ask your listeners to do something to help out. But keep them friendly! This is my outro: “If you liked this episode of Long Live Bat Art, please consider telling a friend and reviewing to help the podcast grow. You can also follow me on social media. Thank you for listening to this episode, and I will see you in two weeks.” Sometimes, I even leave off the 'follow me on social media.'

My outro anatomy is basic- two or three calls to action, a thanks, and a reminder of when the next episode is. You don’t have to go crazy. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Try to keep the outro as lean as the intro. And don’t feel like you’re tied to your CTA- when you grow, you’ll find the need for different ones and you can always change it down the line.

Show notes are a little tricky. Some people swear by them, some people leave them for their own website. If you leave them on the podcast-listening site, think of them like an interesting bibliography. If you don’t remember what that is, it was the annoying last page you had to include in school essays listing where you got the information. But don’t think that if you don’t do research on your show, you can skip this part. Show notes, along with the episode description, show up under your episode on the podcast listening site, so make them interesting. Especially the first sentence, because that’s often the only thing people can see before hitting ‘see more.’ You want people to listen to your episode, and this is a good way to grab them. When they hit ‘see more,’ you want to make sure that the rest of the show notes are interesting and entice the listener to, well, listen. 

If you used sources, link them in the show notes. If you have social media, link them here. If you have a website, definitely link that here. If you use music, link the credit. If you do transcripts, link that here. And you can even time stamp the episode here. I generally have four or five in Long Live Bat Art- artist bio, story about the scene depicted (if included), the description of the art, my thoughts, and the challenge I pose at the end of every episode. They’re not necessary, but it is nice for repeat listeners to be able to skip to the part they want to hear. But you only get so many characters for show notes- 4,000 to be precise. If you have more than that, don’t fret. Leave a message- something like ‘the show notes for this episode are too long to be put here, so instead read them at’- and then put wherever you have them. 

Episode descriptions are NOT show notes. They’re the summary to the episode. Think of it like the episode blurb of your favorite TV show. Something that entices without giving away the plot. You don’t want to put the twist here. My episode notes end up something like “Sydney has stopped at [ARTWORK] for today’s episode. This artwork was [MEDIUM] by [ARTIST] and shows [SUBJECT]. [INTERESTING FACT ABOUT EPISODE/WHAT I LEARNED/FUNNY THING I TALKED ABOUT].” As you can see, they tend to change a lot, though, so don’t worry if a script doesn’t work. Be sure to under promise and over deliver here. It’s never good to have a description where you promise something exciting will happen and it either doesn’t or appears for a second. If you have a guest, put their name and credentials here! And give listeners who might not know who they are context.

And your podcast description is NOT your episode description. If episode descriptions are like episode blurbs of TV shows, the podcast description is the blurb for the whole series. You want to keep it broad so it encompasses what the podcast is about as a whole, and you want to make it specific enough to cater to your niche. Introduce yourself and your credentials here again so people know before ever clicking any episode. If your podcast is seasonal, write that so listeners don’t get confused if they discover you during the offseason and there’s no new episode. If you’re an interview podcast, put that too. Also put your pitch, what makes you unique here, and maybe even what you want your listener to walk away with or describe the listener to the listener. But be sure to under promise and over deliver again. My podcast description is: “So you want to see art more often than you do, or maybe you just want a fresh perspective on art you’ve seen before. Join your host, Sydney, on a slow tour through an art gallery. Every season will have a theme and each episode will be dedicated to one artwork. You’ll get a brief history of the artist before the description of the work and then you’ll get to hear Sydney’s thoughts on it. Because Sydney is a casual art fan you won’t hear overly complicated technical terms, or if you do then you’ll get an explanation of what the term means in plain English. Long Live Bat Art is seasonal, with 16 episodes a season posted every other Friday from the first Friday in July to 32 weeks later. The rest of the calendar year is the offseason.”

My description might seem long, but it really isn't. The max character limit is also 4,000, but you don’t want to come even close to that. No one likes a wall of text. But my description hits everything I mentioned- describe the listener to them, ‘so you want to see art more often than you do, or maybe you just want a fresh perspective on art you’ve seen before;’ I introduce myself and my (lack of) credentials, ‘because Sydney is a casual art fan you won’t hear overly complicated technical terms, or if you do then you’ll get an explanation of what the term means in plain English;’ my pitch, ‘a slow tour through an art gallery;’ I describe what the listener can expect from the podcast’s format, ‘every season will have a theme and each episode will be dedicated to one artwork’ and ‘Long Live Bat Art is seasonal, with 16 episodes a season posted every other Friday from the first Friday in July to 32 weeks later. The rest of the calendar year is the offseason;’ and what they can expect from each episode, ‘you’ll get a brief history of the artist before the description of the work and then you’ll get to hear Sydney’s thoughts on it.’ Every carefully-crafted sentence in the description has a purpose, which is what you should do. 

Step 7: Music

Music is optional but nice to have. They can help make even the most newbie podcaster seem more professional. Music to start, end, and transition between segments in the episode is fantastic. Music for under your voice is amazing. But don’t think you can choose any music without a problem. Even if you edit or change the music, you can still get nailed with a lawsuit. So keep it to royalty free music sites like purple planet. 

Think of what the vibe or content of your podcast is and pick music to match. Nothing is more jarring than pleasing ambient music before a heavy metal music podcast. You’ll do nothing but confuse and alienate listeners. The heavy metal fans will think the intro music isn’t their scene and click out, and the ones who enjoy the light music will be shocked at the content of the episode and click out. 

Here’s a tip, though. Keep your music softer than what you think it should be. You don’t want the music to overpower your voice. I keep mine at half the volume of my voice.

Step 8: Artwork

Now this step, like the music, isn’t technically mandatory. But I do suggest putting something in the podcast artwork, even if it’s just text on a colored background. 

Since I’m artistic, I drew my podcast artwork myself. But not everyone has that level of artistic skill built up yet, so don’t worry if you can’t do that. The text on a colored background is a great placeholder until you find someone to do your art. 

If you do decide to draw or otherwise create your own artwork, there are some things you should do, as well as some to not. Let’s start with the ‘do.’ Whatever you do, keep it simple. Simple colors, simple text, simple image. My art for Long Live Bat Art is as simple as I could get it- a bat looking at a colored line drawing of The Scream by Edvard Munch and the name of the podcast on the side. 

Second ‘do’- make it interesting. Podcast artwork stands out more than the name because sometimes people stop scrolling when they see colors. So use that opportunity to grab listeners, intrigue them. If possible, make them ask a question. My art makes people think ‘what on Earth kind of podcast would feature a bat looking at art?’ Hopefully, that makes people click and see what that’s all about. 

Third ‘do’- put your name in the art. Keep the text simple and BOLD. You can see my text clearly. 

Now for the don’ts. 

Don’t include images of microphones, headphones, or other podcast equipment. Think of it like a simplified movie poster- they don’t put imagery of TVs or cameras or those black and white striped director clapper things. People know it’s a podcast, you don’t have to remind them. In fact, you want to make people forget that. 

Step 9: Software

You’re going to need something to capture your voice. You can use equipment- like an audio recorder- but you will need software to edit. There are tons of free software out there- GarageBand for Mac, or Audacity. Then there’s paid software, like Hindenberg, Adobe Audition, or Reaper. It all depends on your budget and how comfortable you are with doing it yourself. You can pay someone to edit your podcast, but I do it myself. It was hard at first, but I got better. There’s a learning curve to everything, and you’ll learn as you go.

Step 10: Equipment

Next up is the equipment. I recommend using a microphone other than the one on your phone or computer. There are some really affordable options if you don’t have a huge budget. The microphone is probably the most important part of the technical part of making a podcast. 

There are also some ‘nice to have’ add-ons. A pop filter, a device you fit to your microphone to cut down on ‘plosives’ like harsh ‘b’ and ‘p’ sounds, would be good. I use what's called a 'windscreen' that came with the mic. It's basically a foam cover that does the same job as a pop filter. 

Make sure everything is plugged in or charged, turn on the mic, hit ‘record,’ and start!

Step 11: Record

So now it’s time to record. Awesome, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. But before you start, I’d recommend doing some thinking first. 

Think about the room you’re going to record in. Does it have a lot of hard surfaces sound can bounce off of, or does it have carpet and pillows and furniture that the sound won’t bounce off of? If you’re strapped for cash, use a closet. I know, it seems weird. But the clothes do wonders for keeping your audio good. If you want something with a little more room, try building a pillow fort like NPR suggests for its youth podcast contest. Or use a mover’s blanket. Whatever you do, try to surround yourself with fabric and other soft things. 

Second of all, learn to talk into a microphone. This may sound weird, but it took me some time to figure out. Don’t talk too close, don’t talk too far. Spread your hand in front of your face- your thumb should be at your lips and your pinkie should be at your mic. That’s a decent distance. Also, talk past your mic, not at it. This helps cut down on the not-word noises your mouth makes- the sharp exhales and the clicks and pops. And it might feel weird at first talking to yourself in your space (if you’re flying solo). So imagine what most guides call your ‘listener avatar’ or ‘listening persona’ and talk to this imaginary person. That sounds weird, I know. But it really helps nail down who you’re trying to reach and makes you feel more comfortable. If you don’t do that (I’ll be honest, I didn’t), I recommend setting up some representation to talk to. It could be a photo of a friend or family member, it could be a stuffed animal.

Third, use water. Just do it. Keep a bottle or glass next to you and keep. Drinking. 

Now you should be ready to start talking. But don’t use your script just yet, or just use the beginning of it. Keep a short script, like your intro and outro, handy and keep saying that. Move around, taking verbal note of what you’re doing. Lean forward, lean back, turn your head, talk louder, talk softer, laugh. Do anything you can think of that you might do during a recording. And when you’re done, stop the recording and listen back. There will be differences in audio. Find the best one.

And then take those test files and play them back in different environments- through headphones, through your phone speakers, through your computer’s speakers, in the kitchen, through the car stereo. Take notes of what sounds best and keep them in mind for when you record.

When you’re ready to start recording your episode (I can practically hear the sigh of relief), take lots of breaks. This will save either future you or another editor lots of time during the editing process. Keep the speaking segments short. In Long Live Bat Art, I try to pause every other or third paragraph or so. If you mess up, don’t worry about it. There are a few ways to denote that mistake. Stop, take a deep breath, exhale, and start the entire sentence over. Or, if you prefer, pause, clap, and start the sentence over. The clap will make a spike in the wave form so you can easily see it. The silence will do the opposite- you’ll see nothing and that’s as good of an indicator as the spike. And you do want to start the sentence over, rather than just the part you messed up. Cutting whole sentences is easier than cutting words or phrases. And you WILL change your tone and cadence from take to take. Just do yourself a favor and start the sentence over. 

Remember: the best editing you can do is having a good recording session. So try to keep the audio fairly clean. I don't mean try to do it in one take, just don't clutter it. Take breaks, drink water, and just give it your best. 

If you have more than yourself talking, do yourself a favor- have one microphone per person. That will make your editing so much easier- it’s nigh impossible to edit two people talking over each other on the same track.

If you have different segments, stop recording and choose a different track for each one. I made the mistake of not doing that and when it came time to edit my first episode I almost pulled my hair out. 

This is a tip I’ve seen on one or two guides but really works wonders- record about 15-30 seconds of complete silence in your podcasting space so you know a baseline.

And if at all possible, do your first episode recording and editing before you batch the rest. You'll make mistakes in your first recording that you can eliminate and make good choices going forward. You will also make different mistakes, so try to nip obvious bad habits in the bud. 

Step 12: Edit

Editing makes or breaks a podcast. If you’re editing yourself, it will take time. If you let someone else do it, I would recommend leaving instructions. Listen to the raw file and take notes of the time stamps you want specific edits to be made and what the edits you want are. 

Tip number 1: name every track so you know at a glance what is what. It’s a small step that takes less than a minute and saves you so much time later.

Tip number 2: edit with your ears. This sounds weird, but hear me out. Just listen to the entire recording without making a single change. Take note of what you felt when. Did you laugh? Did you get bored? If you have to, start a new recording (maybe on your phone) to say what happened when. Give context like time stamps or what sentence preceded what you felt. Then when the first listen is done, look over your physical notes or listen to your voice ones. That gives you a good starting point. Some people call this a ‘punchlist’ and it’s basically a first to-do list of what you want to do with your file. 

Tip number 3: edit in passes. Edit for content first, not those random noises in the background or the weird clicks. You don’t want to take out all those little things from a section you end up cutting completely. It’ll save you time, trust me. Between passes, take breaks of at least 20 minutes. This will help you both not get in the headspace of ‘eh, good enough’ and prevent you from getting bored. 

Tip number 4: Have a goal for each editing pass. Say for the first one you want to get rid of weird silences, this way you’ll have less to listen to as you make content edits. Then the second one you’re looking for the obvious mistakes- the sentences you stopped in the middle and then took another shot at. Then the third is those hesitant words- ‘uh’s and ‘um’s and ‘ah’s and ‘like’s and ‘so’s (I’m particularly susceptible to ‘so’s. It’s my crutch word. I especially say ‘and so’ a lot). Keep making goals. 

Tip number 5: Keep the volume consistent- you don’t want listeners turning up and down the volume between episodes or even during them. 

Tip number 6: If at all possible, have someone listen to the recording before you post it. Ask them questions! Did they get bored at any point? Did they have to adjust the volume at any point? Are there any silences or noises you missed? 

Step 13: Hosting Site

Most people think that you post the podcast directly to the app/site where podcasts live. They’re wrong. There’s something called a hosting site that acts as the middleman. Basically, you need something called an RSS feed to post to the podcast app/site. Don’t ask me why because I have no idea. 

Now some hosting sites are free, some are paid, some provide websites as part of the plan, some don’t. My tip is to research the major sites like buzzsprout. You’ll find the one that’s right for you and your podcast.

Step 15: Launch

If you’re thinking the ‘Grand Opening’ route is the only way, you’re wrong. There’s something called the ‘soft open.' It helps to get the kinks out, gives you a chance to get used to the podcast, and helps you overcome that ever-so-annoying imposter syndrome. But I don’t mean ‘tell absolutely no one.’ Tell your friends, tell your family, tell the people closest to you. They’ll be your first audience. 

Most guides I read suggest posting three episodes on your first day. Not only does it give you a chance to get ahead, but it gives listeners a chance to binge. I know I binge listen and don’t always wait for each episode to come out. Because I’m a disaster who often forgets which podcast updates when and I have an ungodly amount of podcasts on my to-listen list (cough, over 200, cough). 

But don’t think that launch is a one-and-done thing. Every single episode will be the first time someone’s heard of your podcast, so treat every episode with that in mind. Make a big deal about it once you’re in the groove!

Step 16: Set goals

Set MEASURABLE goals when you want to track your progress. And don’t think of just what your audience does, though that’s part of it. Set personal goals, too! For example, my first goals for Long Live Bat Art were 50 listeners by the end of the season, and 10 interactions on my social media posts. I also wanted to find out the average time to produce an entire episode and cut it down by 20 minutes by the end of the season.

Keep them short, keep them low, keep them measurable, and keep them time-based. But don’t sweat it if you don’t reach them! They’re goals, not the end of the world. If you don’t meet a goal, reach out to your audience and see what can help you meet the goal. 

If you start to get discouraged and think ‘only 20 people listen to my podcast,’ do me a favor. Try to imagine 20 people in the room you’re in right now. That’s a lot of people. 

At the same time, don’t worry about numbers. Just make your podcast as well as you can and keep putting it out there with social posts and you will get your audience. 

Remember: the best thing you can do for your podcast is to make it good. Don’t bother promoting it if the sound quality or content aren’t as good as you can make it. 

Other tips

This is a space for tips I’ve picked up that didn’t really fit into any of the other steps. 

Build systems. You want to have a process down that you can follow over and over and over and really streamline your workflow. For example, my process for writing looks like: give story of the piece (if it’s particularly obscure or otherwise requires a bit of background knowledge), describe artwork, give thoughts on the piece, do the challenge at the end, and THEN research the history of the artist. I do it this way because I don’t want the history of the artist to influence what I think of the piece or how I describe it. If I find a particularly interesting tidbit in the history that changes how I think, I can add that in my thoughts afterwards! In addition to streamlining how I produce the podcast, if I ever hire someone on, I already have a game plan for what specifically I need help with. 

Do NOT underestimate how long it takes to produce a podcast. I thought I could get it all done in two months. Boy was I wrong. I set a soft launch date and figured I could have it all written, recorded, edited, and transcribed before then. I didn't. And that's OK! I continued to produce it during the season, and that's just fine. Now I set aside enough time to get everything done and I don't sweat it if I have to produce along the way instead of front loading all the work. 

Take. Breaks. Otherwise you'll get burnt out. I already said mine is season based, so in the offseason I don't do anything. It helps me both rest and build excitement for the next season. 

Batch. I mean batch everything. Batch write, batch record, batch edit. If you do each piece individually you'll spend like three times as long. Think assembly line, not craftsman. 

Take time to celebrate your wins. It's not arrogant, it's reassuring yourself that this whole podcasting thing is going well. 

In case someone wants a taste of what the podcast is about, or even has trouble following along with podcasts as I sometimes do, I transcribe each episode. Transcriptions aren’t necessary, but they are nice to have. There is software that does this automatically, and you can pay someone to do it for you, but I do it myself. 

 If at all possible, make a file in your audio program for a template with everything named already and just copy the file for each new episode and change the content. 

Conclusion

If this seems like a lot of work, I hope I didn’t discourage you. It’s really a lot of fun if you choose the right topic. 

Now, you can look at all the guides you want- and I do recommend looking at quite a few- but nothing will prepare you to your satisfaction. So roll up your sleeves, tell that voice that says you can’t do it in your head to kindly shut up, and just do it once you have it planned out. You’ll learn on the way. Give yourself permission to be a beginner. 

But above all, have fun. This is most likely a hobby for you that might in the future generate some pocket change. But the kernel that started this was love. Keep that love there. 

Here's a bunch of resources I found really helpful, in case you want to check them out.

On starting

Shout me loud

Buzzsprout

NPR

Podcast insights

The podcast host

How to choose a topic- Podcast host

How to name- Podcast host

Episode titles- Podcast host

First site guide

Tips

Checklist

Riverside

Castos

Shopify

Buffer

Upwork

Captivate FM

Social Pilot

Profile Tree

Music Radar

Descript

Adam Enfroy

Ryrob

Porch

Nashville Film Institute

The podcast host (again)

Writing

Intro and Outro- the podcast host

Intro- Buzzsprout

Descriptions- the podcast host

Show Notes- the podcast host

Taglines- the podcast host

Equipment

Microphone- the podcast host

Microphone techniques- the podcast host

Editing

NPR

Artwork

Buzzsprout

Well, that's it! All the advice and experience I have at this moment. Hopefully it helped someone out there.

[thiefpodcast]

The path to 1,000 downloads per episode

The goal is 1,000 listeners by year’s end, and I will blog my progress.

Season two progress began in earnest this last week. It’s going a little slow, deliberately, (read my 2023 annual reflection), but I am well in to the initial arrangement of Chapter 5. Remember, The Thief starts out as a recording from a Dungeons & Dragons game, so “initial arrangement” is the step where I edit down the two or three-hour session into the main story. Follow The Thief on Patreon for free for more behind-the-scenes progress updates.

In my 2023 Annual Reflection, I wrote that The Thief’s slow-to-emerge product/market fit demanded attention. As a slow-to-produce and expensive story, I must choose how much time and money to spend to produce a podcast that will likely never be in the black.

And what might that look like? While I share actual numbers with my wittan on Patreon, in an advertising-only model where the average advertisement CPM is $25, we would need something like 20,000 downloads per episode to break even. So, I think I will just hand-wave that out of my mind.

But that is a target, and — I don’t know — Saturday-morning me loves a game.

Traction

In “The Phases of Podcast Growth”, 

Jeremy Enns names the trough of growth between 100 and 1,000 downloads per episode the “traction phase.” There is some validation that The Thief’s audience is out there — award nods, glowing reviews, consistent charting in niche genres — but

To move past the thousand-download-per-episode milestone, you’re going to need to get savvier with your marketing, both in the way you position and create your show, as well as how you get it in front of new potential listeners. … While the core idea might have been validated, there’s a lot of work to be done to refine it into a show makes the most of your marketing.

Jeremy’s advice rings true.

Walk before running

I have paid for a lot of advertisements but some axioms need some real research and qualification:

Does my pitch work?

Is The Thief even findable if sought

Is my audience who I even think they are?

This is pretty interesting.

I’ve already been experimenting with my answer to “What is this show?” My latest iteration is

A fully cast, low-fantasy mystery podcast, starting with the catalytic arrest of a City Watchman, leaving all to the only person he trusts: an undermarket draw-latch named "Symphony."

I don’t call The Thief an actual play — which it is — nor do I call it an audio drama. I don’t mention Dungeons and Dragons because some early anecdotal observations were that, well, people who listen to actual plays may prefer the table-relationship to the story, and The Thief all but strips out the former.

But this is more gut-feel than science, although I do have some data from prior ads that I mean to investigate.

Rough plan

I may write about this later but I’ve largely written off the value of organic social media marketing to [my] podcast growth. The CAC — or cost of new listener acquisition — is poor unless you hit the virality lotto. A good ad has exponentially more listener conversion than a good TikTok.

But I’m not doing myself any favors if I don’t question the - ah - “goodness" of that ad. I need to do the work.

The assets — the logo, the copy — resonate with the audience I want

The audience can find the show if they look it up

They can discover the show by looking up certain keywords

Ads mean I must trust the algorithm to deliver to the right people. But, there are other strategies for finding that audience. Namely, collaborate with folks who already have an audience that would like the Thief.

More on that, later.

[madscarypod]

Using Generative AI to come up with a Podcast Name

In a previous post, I talked about how we used Generative AI tools to create a logo we liked. All that remained to get our podcast started was a good name and spooky theme music.

For ideas, we turned to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has accumulated over 100 million users* in the past few months and has a free-to-use version. I also tried out WriteSonic, which gives you 10,000 free “words” to use with their ChatSonic bot. ChatSonic also claims to be powered by Google Search and can generate real-time content, where this version of ChatGPT was trained only on data up to the year 2021.

I’ll start with ChatSonic. At first, I fed it a simpler prompt just to see how it would respond:

As we mentioned on the intro episode of the pod, we didn’t think “Ghoulfriends” was that bad! But there was a problem: we didn’t prompt it to output names of podcasts that don’t already exist. So, it didn’t tell us that there were already a number of podcasts with some variation of “Ghoulfriends” in their names. It also made a bunch of assumptions, for example - that we’re looking to come off as “lighthearted and fun.” Did it associate these descriptions with “women” or “millennials”? There might be data from its training that suggests that these groups want to be perceived this way. Or did it assume that these traits would be beneficial for any podcast, like “appealing to a wide audience”? This seemed to ignore part of the prompt that we did give it, that this was a podcast about horror movies, which implies a niche audience.

As for “Terror & Tequila” I have no idea where it was going. First of all, it sounds like a podcast about cocktail pairings for scary movies. Also, “…represent the opposing viewpoints of the hosts” suggests that if you hate horror movies, you must love… fun? Is comedy the opposite of horror? It’s clear that ChatSonic has never seen a horror movie. The last part is bizarro too: “the name suggests a party atmosphere.” Like, why?? Millennial women looooooove to party and do tequila shots. I gave it some generic feedback:

Not great output, and the explanations were shorter as my prompts got shorter. Also, sarcastic apology? It was all like “soooooo sorry my answers weren't cool enough for you” and called me a bitch, pretty much. Whatever! And “Nightmare Avenue” basically only considered the “horror” aspect and ignored all of the other details of each prompt. Lazy! I pointed this out:

Less passive-aggressive apology, at least! Alot of millennial pop-culture “girly” tropes here, like calling each other “queen” and being in a “girl gang.” I’m least offended by “Horror Honeys” because maybe it thinks we’re sweet. “Blood Babes” sounds like it's probably some kind of sex kink or fetish. It sure loves alliteration too. We really fucked up by not going with “Blood Babe Final Gore Girl Gang of NYC,” honestly.

Ok, so, with ChatGPT I input longer, more detailed prompts for the most part:

Ah yes, that’s what “Sex and the City” was missing! I’m glad it concluded that “horror movies are all about screams” - now we can stop our research and write a script where everyone screams at each other and then goes out for cosmos. As the kids say, it’s giving “humorous and sarcastic tone”. Maybe it needs more info? Let’s throw chaos into the mix and see what it thinks “sassy” means:

There you have it - they both came up with the same name. ChatSonic arrived at it from “cool or edgy”, ChatGPT from “sassy and sarcastic,” but they both got to "Scream Queens of NYC." I thought it was interesting that ChatGPT hallucinated that we went to high school in Queens - it responded so matter-of-factly! “Horror High: Bronx Tales” has a “catchy ring to it”?? Maybe we can use it for when we tell our inevitable “funny or ironic stories” on the pod. 

I tried a few iterations where I gave it specific words to work with. For example, include "slice" in the name. But it was becoming increasingly evident that the pun aspect was the issue. Finally, I gave it this prompt for kicks:

Umm, yes - I will now refer to men in NYC as “Gotham Ghouls”. “Midnight Massacre” might be a good name for, like, a metal band - adding that one to my Notes app. It's interesting how there's a gender association with that phrase, though, it seems neutral to me. Probably because men be massacre-ing IRL, I guess. “Horror in the City” sounds like a dating podcast, amirite.

Anyway, overall, I preferred using ChatGPT. It provided more relevant answers after refining prompts, better ”understood” descriptive words, and the free version seems pretty robust. ChatSonic seemed to have limited access to data (or different types of data), gave lazy answers at times, and isn't free to use for further experimentation.

Although we didn’t go with any of their suggestions, both were good brainstorming and ideation tools. From this exercise, we realized that most horror puns were mad corny. We also realized that the complexities of our POV and the overall vibe we were aiming for were challenging to articulate, and certainly too tough for either program to predict since it doesn’t already exist in their training data. This inspired us to get down to the bare bones (ha!) of what we’re trying to achieve with our podcast: figure out if something is mad scary or not. And voila - we had our name.

Also, again, a takeaway here is to be as specific as possible with prompting, or try giving it examples to get closer to what you’re looking for. Or, go completely opposite and try a prompt out-of-left-field to see if the results are interesting. I found it great for spitballing and getting our creative juices flowing. Just remember that it can’t generate anything entirely “new”, has no taste, and hasn’t gone through all the necessary childhood and lifetime trauma to be actually funny. 

*HBR IdeaCast podcast: "How Generative AI Changes Productivity"

[grabyourluck-blog]

Top Online Business Questions & Answers

New Post has been published on https://www.referral-master.com/top-online-business-questions-answers/

Top Online Business Questions & Answers

I get a lot of questions about how to build a business online. Here’s some of the top questions and answers to help you get your own online business started and profitable.

Q. I keep hearing that I’ve got to get people to know me, like me and trust me before they’ll buy from me, but how do I do that?

A. You’ve got two choices, and I recommend you do both. First, position yourself as an expert in your field. If you’re not an expert, surround yourself with experts by interviewing them, letting them guest post to your blog and working with them. Second, be generous. Give away great content that instills confidence in your abilities and expertise that builds your reputation. Offer free tele-classes or podcasts, guest post on popular blogs with info-packed posts, and author a book or report.

The better your free content is, the more people will trust you and your content. As an added bonus they’ll also be more likely to share your content with others, thereby helping you to build your reputation and your following.

Q. Is there a way to reach a wider audience while simultaneously delivering more value to my current customers?

A. You might consider lining up some partnerships or joint ventures in your niche. First, make a list of the areas your customers are interested in. You’re not looking for direct competition here, but rather complimentary sub-niches. For example, if you teach how to do Forex with a certain method, your customers will likely be interested in how to trade on Forex with other methods, and even how to invest in other areas besides the Forex market.

Once you make your list of areas, choose an expert in each that you’d like to partner with. Go online to get their contact information and then approach them with a win-win-win reason of why they should partner with you. They should benefit, you should benefit and of course your customers need to benefit as well.

Do something together that you can offer to both your customers and your partner’s customers, whether it’s a free webinar with an offer at the end, or creating a series of videos together, or even creating a new membership with a free introductory period. This will add value to your customers and theirs, as well as expanding your reach to a wider audience.

Q. I’m just a newbie in my niche – how do I approach the “big dogs” and get their attention so they’ll partner with me?

A. Two words – help them. Comment on their posts, share their stuff through social media, ask if you can re-post their work to your blog, etc. Find a way to be of service to them so that you can get on their radar and start building a relationship for the long haul.

Note that the bigger the person you’re targeting (IE: The larger their following and the greater their influence in your market) the longer it’s going to take to attract their attention as someone they might want to work with. It’s recommended that you begin by targeting more accessible people and work your way up to the giants of your industry.

Also, consider writing a book, devoting one chapter to each “big dog” you are targeting. In this manner you can make friends with these players, and some of them will actually end up promoting your book to their audience.

Q. I keep hearing that I need to “have a story” to share with prospects. What does this mean?

A. In a marketing context, ‘your story’ is what led to you doing what you do today. For example, someone who teaches basketball techniques may have been a lousy basketball player themselves until they learned and mastered certain fundamentals and techniques that caused them to become an all star player. In a nutshell, that’s their story. Of course they’re going to want to embellish with details, such as how rotten they felt when they got laughed at for missing the easiest of shots.

The purpose of having your own story and sharing it with your readers is to make a connection. Someone having trouble making the junior varsity basketball team wants to know you went through some of the same trials and tribulations they are experiencing. This bonds them to you and causes them to be far more receptive to your message. Remember, “birds of a feather flock together.” Once they realize you’ve been through the same struggles they’re currently going through, and that you not only persevered but overcame, they’ll want to know exactly how you did it.

Q. But isn’t that manipulating them?

A. Not at all. You are showing that you have indeed walked in their shoes, experienced their problems and found a solution that works.

I heard a story once that illustrates this beautifully. Imagine you’re in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language. For days you’ve been struggling to understand and be understood. Then all of a sudden someone says hello to you in your language, and asks how you are. How would you react? No doubt you’d rush up to that person and start talking, feeling that you finally are making a connection with someone. Imagine the relief you would feel, finally being able to communicate, to understand and most of all to be understood.

Telling your story does the same thing – it creates a bonding connection that lets the prospect know that you understand what they’re going through because you’ve experienced the same problems they have.

Q. If I want to create a product or success system based upon my own personal experiences, how do I go about that?

A. If you’ve become really successful at something, you have a ready-made product you can sell to others who want to master that same skill. Here’s how to get it into product form: Recall where you were at the beginning of your success. What was the first thing you did? The second? Write down everything that you did and put it into step-by-step form.

Now you’ve got the ___ number of steps to accomplishing ___. Name it something appropriate, get the domain for that name and start marketing it. You could do it as an ebook or audio/video course, or you could offer it as a series of webinars or even one-on-one coaching. Each step will represent one chapter in your book, or one webinar, or one coaching session.

HOT TIP: You can use this exact same process to partner with anyone who’s mastered a skill others want to learn. Interview them extensively to discover exactly how they reached their success and then create the product based on the interviews. Split the profits with the expert and rinse and repeat with more experts or the same expert and different topics.

Q. I have a friend and fellow marketer who’s continually writing posts for other people’s blogs. I think she’s foolish because she’s giving away her valuable info on other blogs instead of using it on her own to boost her standing in the search engines. She says it’s worth it because she’s getting new prospects through her guest posts. Who’s right?

A. You both are correct, to a degree. While it’s true that placing her best content on her own blog may help to get her site ranking in the search engines, SEO is always a gamble. On the other hand, guest posting on popular blogs practically guarantees exposure to new prospects as well as new alliances with the blog owners.

When your friend guest posts, she’s hopefully targeting blogs that already receive plenty of traffic interested in her particular niche. This will help her to gain exposure to new audiences and get her endorsed by leaders in her field (the blog owners).

Q. I’ve contacted blog owners about being a guest blogger for them, but because I’m new in the niche I don’t get much response. What can I do?

A. Begin by posting repeatedly in their comments section. Join in the conversation, add relevant comments, ask good questions and answer other people’s questions. Hyperlink your name to your website to get new visitors (this is automatic when you fill out the comment form – just be sure to fill out the website URL box as well as your name, and your name will become a hyperlink to your URL.)

Use a catchy, memorable photo on all of your posts. Register your email address along with your photo at: en.gravatar.com

By taking part in the community, the blog owner will likely notice you and will be far more receptive next time you offer to do a blog post. In addition, visitors to the blog will also begin to recognize you and visit your blog as well.

Q. I write a newsletter, but lately I get the feeling that no one is reading it. What am I doing wrong?

A. You may need to get back in touch with your market to find out what it is they want to know. Go to forums and watch social media to find out what they’re talking about and especially what they’re asking. Ideally you should be answering their questions and helping to solve their problems, because when you do that they will read every word of your newsletter.

Q. I HATE writing headlines and subject lines, and I don’t like using headline templates. Any ideas?

A. Interestingly enough, your best headline is often buried inside your copy or your email. You already know all the best selling points about your product, how best to present it, who your target market is, and how to craft the best call to action. So forget the headline, write your copy or email, and then go back and reread what you just wrote. Oftentimes you’ll find your jewel of a headline right there inside your copy, just waiting for you to pluck it out and place it at the top.

[icinch]

Top Online Business Questions & Answers

New Post has been published on https://www.cinchhomebiz.com/top-online-business-questions-answers/

Top Online Business Questions & Answers

I get a lot of questions about how to build a business online. Here’s some of the top questions and answers to help you get your own online business started and profitable.

Q. I keep hearing that I’ve got to get people to know me, like me and trust me before they’ll buy from me, but how do I do that?

A. You’ve got two choices, and I recommend you do both. First, position yourself as an expert in your field. If you’re not an expert, surround yourself with experts by interviewing them, letting them guest post to your blog and working with them. Second, be generous. Give away great content that instills confidence in your abilities and expertise that builds your reputation. Offer free tele-classes or podcasts, guest post on popular blogs with info-packed posts, and author a book or report.

The better your free content is, the more people will trust you and your content. As an added bonus they’ll also be more likely to share your content with others, thereby helping you to build your reputation and your following.

Q. Is there a way to reach a wider audience while simultaneously delivering more value to my current customers?

A. You might consider lining up some partnerships or joint ventures in your niche. First, make a list of the areas your customers are interested in. You’re not looking for direct competition here, but rather complimentary sub-niches. For example, if you teach how to do Forex with a certain method, your customers will likely be interested in how to trade on Forex with other methods, and even how to invest in other areas besides the Forex market.

Once you make your list of areas, choose an expert in each that you’d like to partner with. Go online to get their contact information and then approach them with a win-win-win reason of why they should partner with you. They should benefit, you should benefit and of course your customers need to benefit as well.

Do something together that you can offer to both your customers and your partner’s customers, whether it’s a free webinar with an offer at the end, or creating a series of videos together, or even creating a new membership with a free introductory period. This will add value to your customers and theirs, as well as expanding your reach to a wider audience.

Q. I’m just a newbie in my niche – how do I approach the “big dogs” and get their attention so they’ll partner with me?

A. Two words – help them. Comment on their posts, share their stuff through social media, ask if you can re-post their work to your blog, etc. Find a way to be of service to them so that you can get on their radar and start building a relationship for the long haul.

Note that the bigger the person you’re targeting (IE: The larger their following and the greater their influence in your market) the longer it’s going to take to attract their attention as someone they might want to work with. It’s recommended that you begin by targeting more accessible people and work your way up to the giants of your industry.

Also, consider writing a book, devoting one chapter to each “big dog” you are targeting. In this manner you can make friends with these players, and some of them will actually end up promoting your book to their audience.

Q. I keep hearing that I need to “have a story” to share with prospects. What does this mean?

A. In a marketing context, ‘your story’ is what led to you doing what you do today. For example, someone who teaches basketball techniques may have been a lousy basketball player themselves until they learned and mastered certain fundamentals and techniques that caused them to become an all star player. In a nutshell, that’s their story. Of course they’re going to want to embellish with details, such as how rotten they felt when they got laughed at for missing the easiest of shots.

The purpose of having your own story and sharing it with your readers is to make a connection. Someone having trouble making the junior varsity basketball team wants to know you went through some of the same trials and tribulations they are experiencing. This bonds them to you and causes them to be far more receptive to your message. Remember, “birds of a feather flock together.” Once they realize you’ve been through the same struggles they’re currently going through, and that you not only persevered but overcame, they’ll want to know exactly how you did it.

Q. But isn’t that manipulating them?

A. Not at all. You are showing that you have indeed walked in their shoes, experienced their problems and found a solution that works.

I heard a story once that illustrates this beautifully. Imagine you’re in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language. For days you’ve been struggling to understand and be understood. Then all of a sudden someone says hello to you in your language, and asks how you are. How would you react? No doubt you’d rush up to that person and start talking, feeling that you finally are making a connection with someone. Imagine the relief you would feel, finally being able to communicate, to understand and most of all to be understood.

Telling your story does the same thing – it creates a bonding connection that lets the prospect know that you understand what they’re going through because you’ve experienced the same problems they have.

Q. If I want to create a product or success system based upon my own personal experiences, how do I go about that?

A. If you’ve become really successful at something, you have a ready-made product you can sell to others who want to master that same skill. Here’s how to get it into product form: Recall where you were at the beginning of your success. What was the first thing you did? The second? Write down everything that you did and put it into step-by-step form.

Now you’ve got the ___ number of steps to accomplishing ___. Name it something appropriate, get the domain for that name and start marketing it. You could do it as an ebook or audio/video course, or you could offer it as a series of webinars or even one-on-one coaching. Each step will represent one chapter in your book, or one webinar, or one coaching session.

HOT TIP: You can use this exact same process to partner with anyone who’s mastered a skill others want to learn. Interview them extensively to discover exactly how they reached their success and then create the product based on the interviews. Split the profits with the expert and rinse and repeat with more experts or the same expert and different topics.

Q. I have a friend and fellow marketer who’s continually writing posts for other people’s blogs. I think she’s foolish because she’s giving away her valuable info on other blogs instead of using it on her own to boost her standing in the search engines. She says it’s worth it because she’s getting new prospects through her guest posts. Who’s right?

A. You both are correct, to a degree. While it’s true that placing her best content on her own blog may help to get her site ranking in the search engines, SEO is always a gamble. On the other hand, guest posting on popular blogs practically guarantees exposure to new prospects as well as new alliances with the blog owners.

When your friend guest posts, she’s hopefully targeting blogs that already receive plenty of traffic interested in her particular niche. This will help her to gain exposure to new audiences and get her endorsed by leaders in her field (the blog owners).

Q. I’ve contacted blog owners about being a guest blogger for them, but because I’m new in the niche I don’t get much response. What can I do?

A. Begin by posting repeatedly in their comments section. Join in the conversation, add relevant comments, ask good questions and answer other people’s questions. Hyperlink your name to your website to get new visitors (this is automatic when you fill out the comment form – just be sure to fill out the website URL box as well as your name, and your name will become a hyperlink to your URL.)

Use a catchy, memorable photo on all of your posts. Register your email address along with your photo at: en.gravatar.com

By taking part in the community, the blog owner will likely notice you and will be far more receptive next time you offer to do a blog post. In addition, visitors to the blog will also begin to recognize you and visit your blog as well.

Q. I write a newsletter, but lately I get the feeling that no one is reading it. What am I doing wrong?

A. You may need to get back in touch with your market to find out what it is they want to know. Go to forums and watch social media to find out what they’re talking about and especially what they’re asking. Ideally you should be answering their questions and helping to solve their problems, because when you do that they will read every word of your newsletter.

Q. I HATE writing headlines and subject lines, and I don’t like using headline templates. Any ideas?

A. Interestingly enough, your best headline is often buried inside your copy or your email. You already know all the best selling points about your product, how best to present it, who your target market is, and how to craft the best call to action. So forget the headline, write your copy or email, and then go back and reread what you just wrote. Oftentimes you’ll find your jewel of a headline right there inside your copy, just waiting for you to pluck it out and place it at the top.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Yesterday’s Canadian CPC leadership election highlights how significant members of Stephen Harper’s cabinet have gone on to bigger things, years after Harper faded into obscurity. Maxime Bernier (I mean, what he’s doing now doesn’t give him more political power than he had a minister, and now that Poilievre is running the CPC they’ll almost match him so he’s probably done, but he’s raised his personal profile a hell of a lot), Erin O’Toole, Candice Bergen, Jason Kenney, and of course Pierre Poilievre himself. It’s mainly the most right-wing ones who’ve gone up since the end of Harper, though. The Red Tories are lucky if their careers have taken anything but a sharp dive. Lisa Raitt’s doing pundit podcasts and Peter McKay’s a broken shell of a man.

That doesn’t say great things about the direction and momentum in Canadian politics, even if we’re still holding on to a basically reasonable ground at the federal level, at least. It leaves me to wonder how many of Justin Trudeau’s ministers will take their political careers to better places after he loses. It’s a weird situation, because some of the ones with the most seemingly promising careers (Jody Wilson-Raybould, Jane Philpott, Catherine McKenna, Andrew Leslie, Harjit Sajjan) have already either left politics or at least started doing it with a much lower profile, under a variety of rough circumstances. Obviously Chrystia Freeland is going places, but it’s a sign of the lack of other candidates as much as of her own potential that she’s always the first name mentioned as alternatives to Trudeau for Top Liberal, whether that’s meant figuratively or literally (as party leader).

You just don’t get the same extent of high-profile names in the Trudeau cabinet, and maybe that is down to there being some truth in the accusations that too much power is concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office under this Government. It’s not great that this is so clearly where things are going, but I’m already looking at how strong an Opposition the Liberals will be able to mount after the Conservatives take back Government, and I don’t love what I see. It’s not just about who will be specifically still in the party as MPs, I’m think of what high-profile people associated with the Liberal party will still be in important parts of Canadian politics anywhere. I'm trying to predict the future landscape, and the Liberals are just not well set up right now.

Anyway. Thank you for indulging my post-leadership election thoughts, which I realize were a bit niche. I will go back to updates about Frankie Boyle’s Twitter page soon (actually you can have one now, he made a joke about how Charles should sing a Lion King song when he takes the crown).

[sex-obsessed-lesbian]

Getting Started with Erotic Hypnosis

[I don’t really use Tumblr anymore, but I’m crossposting this from Fet to have somewhere public to link to it! These days, I’m most active on Twitter @sexobsessedlesb, my smut lives on ReadOnlyMind, and my files live on YouTube.]

So you've heard some folks evangelizing at play parties, you've read some hot smut, and you've decided you're excited about Erotic Hypnosis™. Well, I don't blame you, cuz it's objectively the hottest kink (she said, objectively). But how do you start practicing it for yourself? I mean, you can do what I did and just sort of flail until you somehow found yourself firmly embedded in the community, but if you want a slightly less chaotic approach, here's where I might start:

Read(/Listen)

The "Bible of hypnokink" is Mind Play by Mark Wiseman. This is probably the best place to start for anyone interested in this kink!

9 Persisting Misconceptions About Hypnosis, a zine by sleepingirl and GleefulAbandon

Two Hyp Chicks is a delightful, educational, and often v hot podcast about hypnokink by sleepingirl and cckitten.

Hypnotic Amnesia by Lee Allure and DJ Pynchon is a bit more niche, but still a super neat window into how this kink works and one of the specific, rad things you can do with it.

Wank

Go read/watch some porn. Seriously. There are some links in the preamble above, I'll wait. Take the porn with a grain of salt, because it's not necessarily realistic, but it can definitely give you a sense of what parts of this play turn you on, which will help you figure out what in the hypno-sphere you actually want to get up to. A handful of specific suggestions:

ReadOnlyMind is the shiny new hub for hypno-smut and smut for its related kinks!

In particular, the #real-play tag (and probably handful of analogous tags) contains smut about erotic hypnosis as it's practiced in real life, rather than fantasy mind control stuff

The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive is probably the biggest repository of written material, though also very inconsistent in quality, and can be Problematic(tm). Still, it has been responsible for many orgasms in its time

Mesmerotic: real hypnokinksters doing real hypnokink and being extremely fuckin’ hot about it!

Entrancement: this is the real deal. Erotic hypnosis done by an actual erotic hypnotist, it actually gives you a pretty good idea of how this sort of play might work

Jukebox is a rad and particularly prolific writer. I mention him in particular because he has so much stuff out there that if you browse his archive, you're sure to find a story or two that catches your eye

Other authors that I particularly like:

My smut lives here

h-sleepingirl

EllaEnchanting

Ari (see also: Tumblr)

And dream-operator

Go to Classes

Honestly, the best way to learn about this stuff is to go to classes! Look for your local hypnokink group—if you live in/near a reasonably-sized city, I bet you have one—or go to one of the many rad hypno cons out there. Here's a list of groups and conventions.

You can learn from people who have been doing this for a while, and maybe even more importantly, just meet some people!

Meet Humans and Chat

You can find experienced hypno-players with whom to shoot the shit either in person (at classes/cons/events) or on the interwebs. There are a lot of us on Twitter (e.g. I'm over there as @sexobsessedlesb, look at the folks I follow) and a few stragglers remaining on Tumblr.

It's also pretty probable that your local hypnokink group has an online chat (e.g. a Discord server). Ask!

Practice

Honestly, this is the hardest and most useful part. If you wanna get into this kink, practice is key! It's the only real way to develop these skills—and this is true on either side of the pocketwatch, as it were. How to do it, though?

With a play partner

As either a 'tist or a subject, it's easiest to learn the ropes with an experienced partner to guide you through. You can find play partners at events or on the interwebs, as mentioned above. (Note too that hypno is particularly well suited to long-distance play—you don't need to be in the same place with these folks to practice with them!) I'd add: at kink events, mention hypno in your cruising post! There are hypnokinksters everywhere, I bet you'll get some responses.

You can definitely practice this stuff with someone else who's new to the game, though, as long as you both communicate lots! Talk about what does and doesn't feel good, and experiment until you find stuff that works for you. And don't hesitate to reach out to your hypno-scene contacts for help and advice!

For 'tists: if you feel uncomfortable making up your own inductions, you can start reading from scripts, to get a feel of how hypno works! But I'd encourage you to start making stuff up as soon as possible, because it helps you gain fluency, and ultimately makes you a better hypnotist.

By yourself

Self-hypnosis is a great way to practice hypnokinky stuff! There are a lot of greatttt hypnosis files out there. Some folks I'd particularly recommend:

My stuff :-)

Lee Allure 

Chew Toy

The Secret Subject

Ella Enchanting

DeepDiscourse

Impish

Tennfan

Imaginatrix

Sinister Denial

For hypnotists: if you're comfortable with it, I definitely recommend trancing a little yourself, just so you can get a feel for what it's like, and better understand your subjects' experience. Regardless of whether you personally want to practice trancing, I'd still recommend listening to some files and getting a feel for how other hypnotists do things—it'll help you develop your own style!

With a pro

Paying a professional for a session—whether it’s play or a lesson—is a great way to dip your toe in hypnokinky waters while knowing that you’re in good hands. Check out:

Dahlia Lark

Imaginatrix

Sinister Denial

Lee Allure

Anyone in the Twitter-spheres of these fine folks