How to support podfic & podficcers!

I’ve seen a few “Here’s how to support writers” posts, so here’s one for your friendly neighbourhood podfic people!

Podfic is more well-known these days, but in case you haven’t come across it: think of it as fan-made audiobooks for fic.

If you like podfic and would like to help the people who make it make more of it, here are a few easy tips and tricks:

How to support podficcers as a writer:

Post a permission statement somewhere public! That can be your AO3 profile, your tumblr bio, the tags of your works… Preferably all of the above! You don’t have to give “Blanket Permission,” it can be an “ask first but I’ll probably say yes” or an “leave a comment and I will decide on a case-by-case basis” statement. Or even a “Blanket no” statement, which will spare the podficcers the time and energy to track you down and ask you, only to be told no thank you. If you want to be asked, though, make sure you specify an up-to-date way to contact you.
Share the podfic! If someone makes podfic of your work, the most helpful thing you can do as a writer is share it: accept the related work notification and add the “podfic & podficced works” tag on AO3, but especially share the link on Twitter, reblog the podficcer’s post, etc. You don’t have to rec the podfic or even listen if you don’t want to-it’s not expected of you! You don’t have to say anything but “Look, this exists!” Your audience as a writer is almost always much bigger than the podficcer’s own audience, so by sharing the post with your followers, you will help increase the podfic’s visibility and chances of getting feedback, which in turn will probably motivate the podficcer or inspire other podficcers to record more of your stories/your fandom.

How to support podficcers as a listener:

Give feedback! If you think writers get little reward for their efforts, oh boy do I have news for you about podficcers. There’s a bunch of reasons why it’s logistically harder to leave feedback on podfic (we’ve all downloaded and listened to something & then… forgot to come back….), and readers sometimes don’t know what to say. If you’re looking for inspiration or a place to start, here are some ideas for leaving podfic feedback: Podfic Feedback Toolbox by KLB, and some useful vocabulary to comment on podfic by yue_ix. Feedback on podfic is so rare that I guarantee you that every single kudos notification, comment, tweet, squeeing tags on a reblog, ask or nice AO3 bookmark is cherished forever.
Share the podfic and/or rec it! Maybe new people will be intrigued and give it a try, which will increase the demand, which will motivate your current podficcers and attract new ones, you know the drill.

In general, the more podfic-positive and responsive a fandom, the more podficcers will be attracted to it. So if you love podfic and would like there to be more… You know what you have to do :p

And if you’re new to the idea of podfic and don’t know where to start: There are more than 22,000 on AO3 right now, in a multitude of fandoms, ratings, lengths, voices and styles. You can usually stream them right on the page, and you can always download them to listen to later. It’s never been easier to have a fluffy ficlet keep you company while you do the dishes or to have someone tell you your favourite AU as a bedtime story.

And that’s it for me! Please share this post and feel free to add your own tips or ask questions if you have any. :D Thank you for reading!

copperbadge

A nice side effect of putting a blanket statement in your AO3 profile is that occasionally podfic just…happens. Like you’re going about your day and suddenly there is a podfic for u.

I’m happy to see resources for support for podfic, and not to sidetrack this post but I would also love to see more people making use of their AO3 profile. Mine lists where to find me on social media and also gives blanket permission for podfic, translations, and fanart, which allows other fans to create without having to negotiate with me first, which can be a bit intimidating. It also details my policy that I do not allow my work to be included in collections.

The problem is that not everyone knows to look in profiles because profile use is very limited, so I still get on average about two collection requests a week, and sometimes I get people asking permission to translate or podfic, or contacting me on tumblr to ask about my fanart policy. Which is fine, I don’t mind, but I would love for profiles to just be the standard place people look for that data so they don’t have to worry about reaching out and waiting for a response.

Make today the day you add a transformative works statement to your profile!

#podfic #fanworks #podfic permission #fanwork permission statements

itsadrizzit

luxanna-banana asked:

Hi! ao3commentoftheday reblogged your addition that you keep searchable lists of authors who have permissions. Is there a way for authors to add themselves to the list (is it on a website somewhere), or is it a private sort of thing? Because if authors can add themselves you might consider submitting the link to ao3commentoftheday since there's currently so much interest and people could add themselves.

Hello!

Thanks for this. I will answer here as best I can, as I don't know *all* the specifics of this.

First, there is a list of authors with blanket permission statements on fanlore.com. This used to be the best way to find authors with podfic permission, and anyone can add to the list because it's a wikia. It's tedious, but the best we had for a while.

I know there are also fandom-specific lists, but idk the best way to access this without knowing who the list keeper is.

But! Thanks to the always-amazing Rindle we now have the Fanworks Permission Statements (FPS) List. This is a searchable database (search by fandom and by author/artist), and let me tell you, friends, it has revolutionised my podficcing. If you don't see your name on the list, but you have a blanket permission statement, you can fill out a form on the site to be added to the list. If you want your name removed, you can contact them and make that happen as well. Note that you must have a statement visible somewhere before you can add yourself to the list; just adding your name isn't enough.

Again, thanks for this ask. I'm on mobile so hopefully all the links work correctly. Also, other podficcers, feel free to correct any misinformation that might be in here.

Also...cc @ao3commentoftheday since OP made the good suggestion that I include this for your followers.

#podfic permission #podfic #transformative work statements #podfic permission statements #ao3commentoftheday

itsadrizzit reblogged

ao3commentoftheday

Anonymous asked:

So I didn't know about the Podfic Welcome/Permission to Podfic Granted/Podfic Permission Granted tags until you pointed them out in a post. There don't appear to be a ton of works in them, but maybe that's because it feels kind of hubristic to assume someone would want to podfic your work. Do podficcers actually use those tags to find potential works, or is there some other method?

ao3commentoftheday answered:

I’ll ask the podficcers to chime in here.

What I do know from having seen a few questions here and posts elsewhere is that podficcers like to get permission from the author before they record their fic. Using tags like those or using a permission statement like the one I showed saves them the trouble of having to track you down. I think they’re not used by authors because 1) a lot of people don’t know that podfic is a thing and 2) even if they do know it’s a thing, they don’t know about those tags.

You’re not being hubristic or self-aggrandizing or full of yourself when you’re letting people know that you give them permission to do a thing. You’re just making doing that thing easier.

caixxa

@itsadrizzit i didn’t know these tags were a thing, are they? Should they be campaigned for?

For the anon, I haven’t noticed those tags but I know podficcers quite commonly peek into the author profile to see if there’s a blanket permission statement that welcomes podfic and it’s good if there is (Also for art, translations, spin-offs… whatever you want to mention or RULE OUT too. For example if you aren’t comfortable with translations bc you can’t check the work in a language you don’t understand you can also state “please no translations” in the statement. (I never would oppose!))

Tags would make them searchable, of course, the profile additions aren’t.

itsadrizzit

I, personally, always forget these tags exist.

A lot of people don't use them, I think for the reasons above where OP thinks it sounds like begging for a podfic. But I think in future I will also search with these tags somewhat as it saves the step of opening profiles.

I would encourage people to use both, I think. Making podfic permission a searchable tag sounds like a really helpful thing.

Fellow podficcers, care to weigh in?

#podfic #permission statements #transformative work statements #podfic permission