Author Topic: EA Metacast Aug '09  (Read 36209 times)

Phyxis

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Reply #25 on: September 03, 2009, 01:40:30 AM
[Ben Phillips]

EA Metacast - August 2009

This metacast announcement is going out over the Escape Pod, PodCastle, and Pseudopod feeds, so if it sounds familiar it's because you've heard it before.  Feel free to skip it.  There's no story here, either.  This is a State of the Podcasting Company Address for those who are curious, and I'll also make some announcements about upcoming merchandise, a fun contest with fabulous prizes that's nice and easy for you to enter, and how the two relate.  More on that in a minute.

My name is Ben Phillips. ...



[Steve Eley]

...

First: I'm going to stop owning this company.  As of about, oh, _now,_ Escape Artists, Inc. is beginning the bureaucratic process of reincorporating as a non-profit and filing for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.  This is something we'd talked about internally for a while, and I'd researched it seriously before we became a business at all.


Sadly, this is an expensive and time-consuming process.


Quote
...

If you want to give a one-time donation, that's great, we'd love to have your support.  But the _best_ thing you can do to help would be to click the $5 a month button on any one of our podcast sites.


A good reminder for myself to investigate why the one I set up long ago is no longer working.


Quote
[Rachel Swirsky]

Hello, this is PodCastle's Rachel Swirsky.  Ben asked me to say a few words on behalf of our podcast.

Editing an audio magazine has been an adventure for me.  I have training in theater and a master's degree in creative writing but I'd never tried any podcasting before the launch of our magazine in April 2008.

...


The room you're in needs a bit more audio dampening (i.e., soft wall hangings or acoustic dampening foam) -- there's a fast echo occuring in the background and possibly some bass resonance coming from a desk.


Quote
[Alasdair Stuart]

Hello, I’m Alasdair Stuart and I host Pseudopod, Escape Artist’s weekly horror fiction magazine.
...


There's some occasional compression artifacting showing up ("...inside the house..." just before the 15m46s mark is an example spot).



Dave

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Reply #26 on: September 06, 2009, 07:25:05 PM
I have mixed feelings about all this, I must admit.

Mostly, my points boil down to this- I like hearing Steve on the 'casts. His intros are fun to listen to, and he has one of the best reading voices in podcasting. I don't really care who's running things behind the scenes, but Steve's voice on my speaker is the real reason why EP is my favorite storycast. I like Alasdair just fine, but I hear him enough on PP. Norm's a good guy, but he too has his own outlet on the web. EP without Steve Eley as the host... just isn't the same for my money.

I also miss the blog-style commenting. Now, granted, I have witnessed some pretty heinous snarkery towards some readers and some stories. I've probably been less than charitable a few times myself, although I've always put my name where my snark is- I stopped hiding behind netonymity years ago. But man, I'm on more of these forums than I can count, let alone keep track of. Having to sign up for another one just to leave the occasional five line comment on a story is irksome to me.. Honestly, I probably won't bother- I signed up to the forum mostly just to leave this post. Call me lazy.

Anyway, I'm not pulling my subscription, I still think EA does the best job on the net of consistently pumping great, listenable fiction into my ears; but I stand by my feelings on the issues, and, as invited, I've made my voice heard.

Best fortunes to the whole EA crew, and may all the new shenanigans shake out for the best.

-Dave (aka Nev the Deranged)


El Barto

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Reply #27 on: September 08, 2009, 04:47:24 PM
I had never heard a Metacast before and liked hearing about all the stuff that happens behind the scenes.   And here I was thinking it was easy.   ;)

I have emailed Steve to volunteer my help with the transition to 501(c)(3) status, and am glad to help with that and other stuff. 

Also, I set up PayPal to donate $5 monthly to support your great work.   Keep it up and THANK YOU!

-Bart





Swamp

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Reply #28 on: September 08, 2009, 05:37:08 PM
Question:

If I donate to one podcast, does that a) go to support the authors, costs, etc. for only that podcast, or b) does it go into a big Escape Artist grab bag to support all three podcasts?  I am hoping it's (b), but I am guessing it is (a).

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Come with me and Journey Into... another fun podcast


Russell Nash

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Reply #29 on: September 09, 2009, 08:27:34 AM
Question:

If I donate to one podcast, does that a) go to support the authors, costs, etc. for only that podcast, or b) does it go into a big Escape Artist grab bag to support all three podcasts?  I am hoping it's (b), but I am guessing it is (a).

I haven't heard this question addressed for a few months, but this is the way it was a few months ago:  All of the money goes into a general fund.  At that time there wasn't a tracking of what money came from which 'cast.  The plan was to set up some programming that would allow them to track which donations came from which 'casts. 



Bdoomed

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Reply #30 on: September 09, 2009, 03:55:34 PM
Question:

If I donate to one podcast, does that a) go to support the authors, costs, etc. for only that podcast, or b) does it go into a big Escape Artist grab bag to support all three podcasts?  I am hoping it's (b), but I am guessing it is (a).

I haven't heard this question addressed for a few months, but this is the way it was a few months ago:  All of the money goes into a general fund.  At that time there wasn't a tracking of what money came from which 'cast.  The plan was to set up some programming that would allow them to track which donations came from which 'casts. 
yeah but that was also said i believe right before PP and PC started their own donation buttons... i think that was said during the "can PP get it's own donation button?" period.
this is supported by the fact that if you look at your paypal subscriptions for the $5/month charges, if you have one per podcast you see different subscription numbers/descriptions for those subscriptions.  even if they go to the same account there's some kind of tracking involved... however im not positive :P

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Rachel Swirsky

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Reply #31 on: September 09, 2009, 05:19:35 PM
The funding is not currently tracked. It all goes into the same pot.

I believe the original plan was to have the three podcasts functioning on separate funding, however that was several business plans and economic crises ago. I think changes affecting the apportionment of funding are on the backburner for now.



Swamp

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Reply #32 on: September 09, 2009, 07:04:38 PM
I think that is a good thing
The funding is not currently tracked. It all goes into the same pot.

That's good.  I want to support all of the EA podcasts, anyway,

Facehuggers don't have heads!

Come with me and Journey Into... another fun podcast


Heradel

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Reply #33 on: September 09, 2009, 07:22:50 PM
I think that is a good thing
The funding is not currently tracked. It all goes into the same pot.

That's good.  I want to support all of the EA podcasts, anyway,

Ditto.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


eric_marsh

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Reply #34 on: September 15, 2009, 05:31:09 PM
I've been meaning to support Pseudopod in particular for a while now but money is tight. This pushed me over the edge. AAAAHHHHhhhhh!



davedoty

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Reply #35 on: September 19, 2009, 01:12:31 PM
I still hang out in the fora, but I'm so far behind on the podcasts that I stopped downloading them, and missed this last month.

Money's extremely tight, but I went ahead and put in a $5 recurring.  It also helped to find out that it goes into a general fund - the fact that I couldn't afford to sub to all of them, and couldn't decide which to support, led me to not support any of them.

Hopefully I'll get back to the podcasts - this also led me to download the most recent episode for each, and I've listened to and enjoyed them - but even if I don't, it's worth it to me to support something I think is worthwhile.



AKNicolle

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Reply #36 on: October 02, 2009, 01:20:11 PM
Thanks for posting the transcription. I'm a bit behind with the podcasts, so it was nice to get a heads-up on the situation.

I've been a listener since day 1 of Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Podcastle, and I've even had a story in Pseudopod. I've gotten so much out of these podcasts over the years that I decided it's about time I subscribed. I'll be contributing my $5 per month to each of the podcasts, and I look forward to the years of stories to come :)

Andrew Nicolle
Speculative Fiction Writer / Developer of Story Tracker - a Submission Tracking tool for Writers (iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch / Mac / PC)


m_bey

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Reply #37 on: October 12, 2009, 08:38:00 PM
I think the metacast was a great idea. It's exactly the sort of transparency that's necessary to maintain a user-supported operation.

Props to Norm Sherman for his host status. He's a great podcast personality, like Ryan Seacrest for online audio spec fic. Only less smarmy.

I would like to put more emphasis on Steve's comment that the "three podcasts are being recognized as primary institutions in their genres." The download figures for the escape artist podcasts compare to or exceed the circulation figures for the "big three" print markets for short spec fic.

I've had subscriptions to all three of those magazines, and I don't think I've read more than a tenth of the stories in any issue. Whereas I listen to EVERY SINGLE Escape Artist podcast.

And I was thinking, I paid good money for these magazines that just piled up on top of my toilet tank, but I haven't given anything to something that has given me a lot more entertainment and joy.

So I've donated. Keep up the good work, Escape Artist volunteers, editors, and hosts. Outlets for high-quality short fiction are shrinking, and you are the best hope we've got.


briantomhson

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Reply #38 on: November 12, 2009, 01:13:56 PM
Very nice post with a ton of informative information. I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics from a stand point of knowledge and information
instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.