THE COLOR OF YOUR UNDIES

So, I guess "Blue Heaven" is essentially done.  I've done some sweating 
over the sound levels and equalization, but ears that are far more 
expert than my own (hi Klaatu) assure me that it's not as bad as I 
think.  I believe I sourced the cause of my greatest misgivings anyway: 
crappy little earbuds.  After switching to better ones, it sounds, in 
fact, better to me.  I dunno.  At some point you just have to just let 
it go.  In order to facilitate the spreading of news, I think I'm going 
to have to put up an RSS feed for this show.  I also think I'd do better 
to have a SHOW of this show.

Now, what I mean by that is that it looks like there isn't a heck of a 
lot of interest in one-shot drama.  Shows that get the juice are 
regularly released; ones that people can latch onto for the long haul.  
I actually find that odd, since I'm rather the opposite, seeing 
long-term time investments in stories to be, by and large, a little 
irksome.  Still, everyone's situation is different, and if I was looking 
at a long commute every day, doubtlessly, I'd think differently.

Anyway, people in this Information Age like series, not one-shots.  This 
holds true historically as well, as evidenced by the way television is 
structured, and commercial radio before that.  Food for thought.  I HAVE 
considered doing an anthology-type thing, which would more-or-less put 
my fiction under the umbrella of a single banner, but, again, I'm not 
sure people would go for it, since we're talking about a real 
scatter-shot approach: comedy, drama, science-fiction, children stories, 
and combinations thereof.  That might be hard for the typical listener 
to get a handle on.  Assuming there IS a typical listener.  Which I 
don't think there is.  What I DO think though, is that there are some 
basic desires that many people have in common.  Some of those people are 
fans of dramatic audio fiction.  And most of THEM like their shows 
served up through regular bites.

One thing I've learned since I started doing audiocasts: you're only as 
good as your NEXT show.  That is to say, people only spare you the level 
of interest and affection that is commensurate with their anticipation 
of your future work.  If you can't tell them WHEN that will be 
available, their interest is, naturally, diminished.  It's a funny 
thing: your reputation is dependent upon your past, no question about 
it, but it's also partly dependent upon your future.  People WANT to 
look forward to your work, so that gets wrapped up into your rep as 
well.  Right now, I don't have one that includes a lot of anticipation.  
If I wanted the the largest number of listeners possible, I would need 
to address that.

Under this line of thinking, an anthology is better than nothing, but 
not at all as good as other things.  On the other hand, I DO have 
stories I want to tell that are not part of any series.  In fact, I'm 
getting less enamored of the series format as a whole.  Don't get me 
wrong, I have my favorites, just like everyone else.  I'm a huge Nathan 
Lowell fan.  I've listened to Scott Sigler and J.C. Hutchens, just like 
everyone else.  I look forward to my favorite nonfiction audiocasts with 
a passion.  But that's not what I mean.

The way I see it, there are these stories inside me.  They don't all 
connect.  A few, down the line, might.  In fact, I do have plans for a 
science-fiction series yet to come -- one that will be an audiobook, 
rather than dramatic audio fiction (that is, just me reading -- no sound 
effects and only a little music).  But that's yet to come.  If all I can 
do is offer my shows up through my own teeny corner of the Net, then 
that's what I'll do -- and I can do it entirely on my own terms.  For 
instance, it's bugged me to think I'll be offering "Blue Heaven" in mp3, 
as opposed to just OGG or FLAC, simply because most people might want it 
in that format.  I know that mp3 is all-but-free, as codecs go, these 
days, and in a just a couple of years it will, in fact, be FAIF.  So the 
difference is rather academic.

But then again, so is the color of your underwear.  Who cares what color 
your undies are?  Only you.  Actually, maybe you don't; but for this 
example, I mean.  Who cares if I follow the rapidly-solidifying format 
of podcasts?  It will cost me listeners, but I wouldn't be making money 
off them anyway, most likely, and if they have an interest I'm not hard 
to track down.  Some authors can make it work, and they are very happy 
with the results.  But if I have to write and record in a manner I'm not 
happy with, I figure I may as well just stick with what I'm doing.  
Other people can tell their stories perfectly well in these formats, 
and, again, I might be able to do the same with some of them, but for 
others -- "Blue Heaven" included -- I can't.

By this logic, an anthology show might seem to make sense, but even the 
successful commercial anthology shows of the past have all had a genre 
and format in common.  Doing a scatter-shot of genres, formats, running 
times, and all that, with only my moniker to tie them all together, 
would probably guarantee disinterest.  No, I'll just release stuff in 
the same dribs and drabs as I've always done.  Maybe someday, or in some 
format, that will change, but not right now.

You know, realistically, I COULD probably do an ongoing weekly audiobook 
series.  I can put the words down with enough mechanical skill to manage 
an average twenty-to-thirty minute running time on a regular and ongoing 
basis.  I've done similar things before.  If it IS mostly just reading, 
I could likely push them out with some degree of regularity (assuming I 
could lock in my audio levels and such, so that I rarely have to tweak 
anything).  That's not what I want to do right now, but maybe in a 
while, after I get used to this process.  Burnout would be a danger, but 
having "seasons" would help there, taking regular mental health breaks.

You know, the single biggest challenge here has been my pitiful work 
flow.  I am not taking on any regular or scheduled recording commitments 
until I get THAT horrid mound of chaos under some kind of control.  You 
should just see the directory on my home machine where I keep all my 
"Blue Heaven" working files!  It's like I painted all the work on a pane 
of glass, and then purposely hit it with a hammer.  But I believe 
experience and a desire for structure will provide what I'm looking for 
in that regard.  Which brings me back to my current group of ideas and 
shows.  A series of one-shots, in mixed genres and formats, will help me 
get my house in order.  Then I can get more ambitious.  That's the plan, 
anyway.  Might work.  Only one way to find out.

Wed. January 19. 2011
(c) 2011 lostnbronx
CC BY SA 3.0