Issue #272 of The Fiction Podcast Weekly is brought to you by Back Fires.

In 1946, a crew of California convicts fights wildfires in exchange for their freedom. Thirty years later, while researching the history of American prison labor, a British journalist uncovers evidence suggesting a wide-ranging cover-up of inmate deaths. Listen to Back Fires - a new full-cast historical fiction podcast.

News, Roundups, and Announcements

• ​Indies Want Podcast Measurement Standardisation, Survey Suggests, by Katie Paterson
• Thank you, Apollo! AJ Churchill included us in this roundup of fiction podcast resources for people trying to find good shows. Digging Deeper: How to Find Hidden Gems in Fiction Podcasts Beyond the Mainstream Hits.
• ​Alternative Stories has launched its Kickstarter for The Dex Legacy, Season 3, the story of a dysfunctional family at the head of a tiny, dangerous nation.
• Congratulations to:
  • 🌟 The 2024 shortlist for the Independent Podcast Awards, including Am I Old Yet? Boom, Misper, Night Falls, Ramon Fear's Terror Tapes, and The Dial-Up,
  • 🌟 The winners of the Iowa Podcast Awards, including Myths of Myria for Best Fiction Podcast,
  • 🌟 The Austin Film Festival 2024 Script Competitions Semifinalists and Second Rounders,
  • 🌟 The nominees and winners of the T.O. Webfest, especially Candy Claus, Private Eye, Hovering, Table Read, Tempo and The Invicta Collective for Best Fiction Podcast
  • 🌟 The nominees of the Black Podcasting Awards, particularly Stone and TwentyOne 21, for Best Scripted Fiction Podcast
• ​Reversing ​the Algorithm for Women in Podcasting Tom Webster discusses the gender imbalance in podcasting and how to re-calibrate the scales. "Proactive curation – taking a stand on something new and unfamiliar – is the only way to stop the flywheel. It means male hosts actively promoting shows hosted by women. I can’t emphasize that enough."
• "The podcast industry is still being built, brick by brick, and like any structure, if you neglect a crucial part, the entire foundation can collapse," wrote Talib Jasir, founder of Afros & Audio, in An Open Letter to The Podcast, Tech, and Media Industries on LinkedIn.

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Creator Resources

• ​Maximizing Exposure: A Guide to Promoting Your Podcast With Your Own Roku TV Channel by Roku and Amazon Fire TV developer and marketer Jason Wilkinson. Seems fun, but I'll be honest: I don't know anyone who uses Roku. Do you? Does your audience?
• Is your podcast on YouTube? Hype: Giving fans a stake in the success of their favorite emerging creators, by Jessica Locke for YouTube's Official Blog. "If a video's been out less than seven days from a creator with under 500K subscribers, you can "hype" it... The more hype it gets, the higher it climbs on a new leaderboard with the top 100 hyped videos from the week. Anybody can hype up to three times per week. In the future, we plan to allow fans to purchase additional hypes, unlocking another revenue stream for creators, too."
• ​Mic Positioning: Eat your Lunch, NOT your Microphone, by Joe Zieja on YouTube, because friends don't let friends get crazy with the plosives
• ​Headliner announces Automation for X and Threads, meaning that you can now post your podcast's audiograms directly to X and really annoy Melon Husk by posting content that messes with his worldview.
• ​How to set up your first home studio, taught by editor and producer Shawn Allee for Radio Boot Camp, 22 September, 1pm to 3pm Eastern.
• ICYMI: Audio Drama Equipment for All Fiction Formats (& Budgets!) by Matthew McLean
• ​Do I need a Discord server for my indie project? and Etiquette For Producers/Directors/Content Creators, by Lady Stardust for Voice Acting Club

Opportunities

• Paid Writing Opportunity for Historical Fiction Podcast. Details about the job expectations and how to apply are in the Agnodice Writer Pitch Deck, at the end. Offers $500 for six episodes. Deadline: 30 Sept.
• ​The Early Deadline to enter the Webby Awards is 25 October. The Scripted (Fiction) category is in the Shows section, but Individual Episode or Limited Series & Specials don't have a fiction award option. Fees range in price from $85 for students to $665 for Ad Campaigns. If you're an independent, non-student creator, it may cost $395 to $465.
• Casting Call: Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau Fictional Story Narration, Podcast Voiceover. Note: the role is an anti-voodoo activist, not Laveau. I know, I was heartbroken too, but it still sounds good. Deadline: 24 September.
• If you're going to write something for the 11th Hour Audio Challenge, and you haven't started yet... tick tock.

Milestones & Debuts

• ​Clawmoor Heights A Truefolk Historian Risks Professional Ruin When Drawn into the Turbulent Affairs of a Dying Baron and his Idle Children as he Attempts to Preserve his Family’s Legacy.
• ​All At Sea February is the captain and lone sailor of the Zenith, a longliner traversing the Pacific Ocean. But time is wrong, the sea is empty, and the world is quiet.
• ​Bond Beyond Blood Evelyn Green, a hard-hitting journalist, and Thomas Wright, a detective-in-training, become unlikely partners as they investigate the peculiar deaths of ex-detectives.
• ​DS Billings Mysteries Detective Sergeant John Billings has risen swiftly through the ranks to become one of Scotland Yard's youngest detectives: privately, he struggles with the demons of loneliness and morphine addiction.
• ​SNPR: Supernatural Public Radio A local radio station, WKUG99, and its newest reporter, Salem Woods, who has to cover the occult and the uncanny for newbies (like himself).

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