Have you listened to Chronscast yet?

[Christine Wheelwright]

I do listen, but generally in the car (which is not conducive to leaving a review). Perhaps discussing an author in each episode (rather than a single book) might work better (although I realize a horrendous amount of prep would likely be needed).

 

[THX1138]

I have listened to a few episodes but haven't as of late due to 'Life'.
I am looking forward to hearing the most recent episode (18) regarding "Watership Downs" here soon as time permits.

 

[Dave]

I have listened to a few episodes but haven't as of late due to 'Life'.

This is exactly the same for me. I liked those that I did listen to, but I've had some health issues and also been busy with family.

I do find the length a problem. The conversations are worth actually listening to, rather than being some background noise, and the only time I have a couple of hours to spare is generally while driving in the car. I haven't been driving quite as much recently. I thought I'd catch them up later, but they have just piled up instead.

As for "reviews," it's nothing personal. I never do any of them! Despite everyone asking for them, and the endless spam texts and emails I get asking why I didn't complete them. You can read my other posts on "***** reviews"! Why have we allowed "reviews" to become so important and to have so much weight, when they are generally such inaccurate drivel with unreliable scorings?

 

[Toby Frost]

Because of the algorithms, I suppose. More reviews means more notice which means more views. At least, that's the case with books. I really, really wish it wasn't so, that quality would win out simply by virtue of being good, but it just does not. Promotion is everything.

 

[Dan Jones]

Toby's right...

Because of the algorithms, I suppose.

It's an unfortunate reality that The Algorithm, which could be an Iain M Banks antagonist, does run the show, and upticks mean views. Having said that, I never really set this up for the numbers - honest, I didn't - I did it to meet interesting people, learn new things, galvanise what's already here at Chrons, to learn (and teach) a few things for myself about writing, and also to help me organise my (and hopefully others') own thoughts in these areas. And I think we've managed most of those things pretty successfully. On the question of reviews, it'd be great to get a few more star ratings - Spotify seems to be the easiest platform to leave a review, and Apple and Google are good as well. If people can do so, great. If not, I'll have to continue on the slow march of "organic growth".

I like listening to long-form podcasts, and there are many many of them out there. Which is probably why I've cultivated one in that image. But just this week I listened to one with Ellen Langer and it's almost 2 hours long - I've had to listen to it in instalments, because finding 2 solid free hours is practically impossible. But listening to it in chunks is just fine. I'm working on the next episode, and may just pop it out in two sections - the first half to discuss the book in question, and the second to have the more general talk about the guest and their line of expertise. We'll see how it goes.

I also noticed a comment on how the guests weren't experts in the book / film they chose. I'd probably counter that by saying that, actually, where people are genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about a particular thing, and they happen to work in the field that that thing originated from, they're probably as close as damn as you're going to get to an expert. For example, I'd challenge anyone to say Tade Thompson isn't a walking talking encyclopaedia of knowledge, understanding, and trivia, about comic books. Or that Richard Sheppard isn't an expert on horror. And, on top of that, in the second half we get to talk about the guests' actual expertise. So we talk to agents about agenting, publishers about publishing, etc etc. So I'm hoping we provide at least some useful and interesting information.

Ok, last point. On the name of the podcast. It's not searchable, is it? I get that, and I've often thought about altering it - I like the name, it's short and snappy, and does what it says it does, but there are no key words in there. So I'm thinking something like, "Chronscast - the Fantasy, Science Fiction & Horror Podcast" just to add a little searchability in there.

New episode today or tomorrow, hopefully! And it will be on Uprooted, by Naomi Novik, featuring Anne Perry, publishing director at Jo Fletcher Books.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I think part of the problem might be an increasing, insidious, creeping general view that "stuff on the Internet" is often free to find and consume, so why would you leave a review? Toby is right. For some reason, and beginning some years ago, reviews began to be difficult to obtain. I think a prevailing view is simply to consume and not bother. Taking into account all my work, I estimate a review proportion of about 1 in 20. Or it could be worse - 1 in 50. Sadly, I suspect that statistic applies to Chronscast.

 

[elvet]

About reviews, it may also be the demographic. I've owned my business for over 25 years. We have an older clientele, and are very much a less tech dependent type clinic. I have 81 google reviews (that I couldn't care less about since we haven't taken new patients for two years now). Two new clinics in town are very much tech oriented , with online appointments, web shopping, 100% computerized and digitalized. They've both amassed hundreds of reviews in about 2 years.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I recently ordered a tv ;80” (I might add; seeing Star Wars on it felt like 1978/1997 again )

I had three emails from them requesting reviews. I already had. My response was ‘I’ve just spent £x, that’s my review!’

I personally don’t think ‘things used to be xyz’ is a wise way of looking at the world because it makes us obsolete amongst the generations who are born into it and used to it.

Dan, TJ, Peat, ARU nor I have never asked for stars or reviews.

I’m also a bit shocked with the ‘too long’ stuff… podcasts are not movies. You don’t have to listen to them in one sitting (altho they’re great when you’re doing a big pile of dishes!).

Let me ask this; do you feel Chronscast is representative of Chrons?

 

[Dan Jones]

I’m also a bit shocked with the ‘too long’ stuff… podcasts are not movies. You don’t have to listen to them in one sitting (altho they’re great when you’re doing a big pile of dishes!).

Absolutely - the amount of times I've listened to a 2 hour podcast in one sitting I could count on the fingers of one hand - but the amount of 2-hour podcasts I've listened to overall will be hundreds. I can manage maybe 45 minutes at a time, maybe during exercise, or in the car, or doing housework, and then I hit pause and pick it up later.

Anyway, I will be releasing the next episode as a half-length episode, with the second half to follow two weeks later. I'll maybe do this until the end of the year, and then survey people on how people think it's working.

Finally, thanks to everybody who does engage, both here and elsewhere - it's clear we've built up a small but loyal listenership. Plus, the guests are always very happy to accept an invitation to come onto the show, and I think part of that is the long format, and the opportunity to talk about the things they love, which, when you think about it, doesn't come around that often in life.

 

[Toby Frost]

Let me ask this; do you feel Chronscast is representative of Chrons?

Yes, in the sense that it's the kind of high-quality SFF product that we'd want to put out. No, in the sense that it may only represent a certain band of the membership. Broadly speaking, I think there's an older section of the membership that isn't very interested, and possibly much younger members won't be into it as much as we are (I once heard that "podcast" is the collective noun for middle-aged men!). But that's a vague generalisation.

Personally, I find 40 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes to be about the right length for a podcast.

 

[cyprus7]

I did leave a review back in Dec and a jolly fine set of podcasts they were too.
However, I've noticed since the turn of the year that I don't listen to podcasts in chunks (as opposed to, say, a multi-hour audio book, which I will consume over a period of weeks.)

About fifty mins is my ideal length for fan/writer podcasts e.g. Joanna Penn's.

 

[Yozh]

The length is an issue for me also. I did check out the podcast after you started this thread. I’m a radio listener. I’m used to, for example, “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross. Her interviews as presented are 45 minutes max with renowned authors and scholars. To me, when I see there’s a 2 hour recording of conversation btw host and guest, seems like that’s more like a session tape, and I just don’t want to hear all of that, even if there’s good stuff in it.

I get that it’s a lot of work to craft a 45 minute segment out of three times as much recorded conversation. And that’s probably why there are so many podcasts that are much longer than radio shows. But if a show segment is longer than an hour, I’m not going to listen unless it’s something really special.

 

[Juliana]

Done. I had starred it way back when it first came out, but I've added a review now, too (on Apple).

Re length, under an hour is usually my preference for podcasts, as I can get through it in a couple of listens (I usually listen to podcasts on my dog walks). Anything over and I'm breaking it up into maybe 3 chunks and that makes it easy to lose momentum.

 

[Dan Jones]

Thanks Juliana!

Done. I had starred it way back when it first came out, but I've added a review now, too (on Apple).

Re length, under an hour is usually my preference for podcasts, as I can get through it in a couple of listens (I usually listen to podcasts on my dog walks). Anything over and I'm breaking it up into maybe 3 chunks and that makes it easy to lose momentum.

I'm torn on the whole topic of length. The most popular podcast in the world is The Joe Rogan Experience, which frequently runs to more than four hours for an episode, so clearly there are a lot of people out there who really want and perhaps are crying out for organic long form conversations, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Has anyone listened to the Uprooted episode yet? Be good to get some feedback on this half-length instalment.

 

[HareBrain]

Has anyone listened to the Uprooted episode yet? Be good to get some feedback on this half-length instalment.

I just have. I like the hour-ish format. Even though there was always an obvious break-point halfway through the two-hour version, it somehow felt more daunting than two shorter episodes released closer together. That's humans for you.

 

[Lacedaemonian]

I have listened to a few episodes but haven't as of late due to 'Life'.
I am looking forward to hearing the most recent episode (18) regarding "Watership Downs" here soon as time permits.

That's a great episode

 

[Lacedaemonian]

Apologies for the double post: who records the comedy segments between segments?

 

[HareBrain]

Apologies for the double post: who records the comedy segments between segments?

@AnRoinnUltra

 

[Lacedaemonian]

It's no coincidence that I have voted for two of @AnRoinnUltra stories in the past two contests. Very talented comedy writer and actor (as it turns out).

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

Ha class, thanks very much. Made a full length remake of War of The Worlds featuring two of the recurring characters if you ever want to inflict it on yourself (WotW 2022). It also features the writing and acting of @THX1138

Great to read that, gives a big mental green light to doing more writing