{"id":4898,"date":"2019-03-18T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.libsyn.com\/?p=4898"},"modified":"2019-12-24T14:39:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-24T19:39:25","slug":"rockin-libsyn-podcasts-big-gay-fiction-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libsyn.com\/blog\/rockin-libsyn-podcasts-big-gay-fiction-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockin’ Libsyn Podcasts: Big Gay Fiction Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"

This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Q & A with Jeff from Big Gay Fiction<\/h2>\n
\n

When did you start podcasting?<\/h3>\n

The \u201cBig Gay Fiction Podcast\u201d<\/a> premiered on Monday, November 2, 2015. The show\u2019s been weekly ever since, including more than a dozen bonus episodes along the way.
\nIt took about a month to gather the material, record and edit the initial episodes. We did four not only to give listeners immediate other things to listen to if they liked the first episode.<\/p>\n

That also gave me practice at producing episodes since the technical side is all mine to manage.<\/p>\n

Why did you start podcasting?<\/h3>\n

Will, my co-host and husband, and I are readers and writers of gay fiction, primarily gay romance fiction, although we sometimes look at other genres that include LGBTQ+ characters.<\/p>\n

We wanted to create a show that focused on this genre that we love in a way that no one else was doing. In addition, the show serves as a way to promote our own books with the hope that, as we talk about the books that we love, listeners might want to pick up the ones we\u2019ve written.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the name of your show about and what is it about?<\/h3>\n

The show is the \u201cBig Gay Fiction Podcast\u201d and it\u2019s for avid readers and passionate fans of gay romance fiction. Each Monday we have exclusive author interviews, book recommendations and explore the latest in gay pop culture.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.<\/h3>\n

Most everything is done on either a 27\u201c iMac or, if we\u2019re on the road, a 13\u201d MacBook Pro. Our primary mic is a Blue Yeti and video capture is with a Logitech webcam.<\/p>\n

Currently the show\u2019s audio and video is recorded using QuickTime and then I edit the video and make audio adjustments in iMovie. The video edit is then used to produce an AIFF file that I take to Audacity for any further audio adjustments and creating the mp3 file.
\nFor the first year or so of the show, I produced the audio and video separately, but after several sound comparisons it didn\u2019t seem worth the time to do that.<\/p>\n

So now it\u2019s one edit with a slight bit more work for the mp3 file because iMovie compression creates a larger than necessary file.
\nWhen I\u2019m producing on the road, I record video with an iPhone 8 or our Logitech camera, depending on the setting, along with a Shure MV5 mic.<\/p>\n

In a pinch though, we\u2019ve occasionally captured audio with the built-in iPhone mic with acceptable results. For our interviews, we typically capture audio and video with Skype and the Ecamm Call Recorder for Skype.
\nOn the website side, I use hosted WordPress in a pretty basic setup. Blog posts are used for episodes and pages for the more static information.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a fan of Elegant\u2019s Divi theme for the podcast website (along with our author websites) because it\u2019s so easily customizable for layouts.<\/p>\n

How have you promoted your podcast?<\/h3>\n

Social media is the most common with Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We also distribute video versions of the podcast on YouTube<\/a>. We view this as secondary distribution, but it does provide discoverability and we\u2019ve seen some instances where our YouTube views will spike if we have an author people have an interest in seeing then while they talk.<\/p>\n

We also create separate versions of our interviews, which we release on YouTube two weeks after the show\u2019s release, so the interviewee can use them for promotion. Those also help SEO for the show overall since they\u2019ll tend to show up if the interviewee is searched.
\nSpeaking of video, in November 2018 we started live streaming the episode recording session. Sunday mornings, around 7:30 PT, we\u2019re on Facebook Live and the people that join us get to ask questions that we\u2019ll answer between segments.<\/p>\n

This audience, of course, gets to see everything that goes wrong\u2013all those times the words become a jumbled mess. We leave the videos up too so anyone can check them out.<\/p>\n

The live audience doesn\u2019t get the whole show since the pre-recorded interviews only go out in the finished show, but it has been a fun way to interact with the audience and give them a behind-the-scenes look at the recording.
\nSome of the best promotion we get is from our guests, who are primarily authors, telling their fans about their appearance on the show.<\/p>\n

We also attend two or three events during the year, which helps get the word out. Often we\u2019ll do bonus episodes (sometimes live) at these events which helps generate interest as well.<\/p>\n

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?<\/h3>\n

How awesome it would be to do. We figured we\u2019d have a good time with it, but it\u2019s turned into much more. Getting to talk to so many authors and other content creators has been an incredible experience\u2013and when we started we didn\u2019t expect to turn into the interview-based show that we are.<\/p>\n

As a reader, it\u2019s great to discuss a new release with an author AND as an author it\u2019s inspirational to hear from them how they create their stories.<\/p>\n

\n

If you are a passionate fan of gay romance fiction this is THE. PERFECT. podcast for you! What are you waiting for? Subscribe!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

If you are looking to amplify a specific genre or are an author yourself, have you considered podcasting? We would love to help you get started! We have a monthly Podcasting Quickstart<\/a> where we make sure that you know the nuts and bolts of what you need to do to get going, and if you are pretty well versed and are ready to get started we have awesome plans! Get started today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community! Q & A with Jeff from Big Gay Fiction When did you start podcasting? The \u201cBig Gay Fiction Podcast\u201d premiered on Monday, November 2, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockin-libsyn-podcasts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t