FAQ
– (more or less) Frequently Asked Questions about the Magic of Eyri Podcast –
What is a podcast anyway?
That answer gets its very own page!
Where should I start the podcast?
With the first episode! All of the episodes are listed in order on the Episodes page.
Do I have to pay to download episodes?
Nope, the podcast is free to download. But if you are feeling generous, go ahead and make a donation via PayPal.
So, this podcast was based on a book you wrote?
Yep. I started the podcast in April of 2009. The original novel was published in May of 2007.
Who published the novel?
I did. I published the novel myself through Lulu.com, an online Print-on-Demand service.
Why did you self-publish?
It seemed like a good idea at the time. If I could do things over again, I wouldn’t have gone that route, at least not right away.
However, self-publishing was a great learning experience and it has opened a bunch of doors for me and allowed me to make some great connections.
I am interested in having the original novel re-published by a traditional publisher.
I have your book and I found a few spelling/grammar errors.
That isn’t really a question, but yes, a few things got past my editor and myself. That is one of the failings of self-publishing. But, I have a few books released by big publishers with errors. Pobody’s nerfect.
Why are some episodes longer (or shorter) than others?
I base the scripts on how I want the episode to end. I go for a better ending point over a set time limit, so I’ll take a shorter episode with a better ending over longer episode with a mediocre ending.
Why don’t you do longer episodes?
The way my scripts work, I don’t always know how long an episode will be until it is finally edited. I shoot for twenty minutes, which is a good length for commuters and people exercising, etc.
Plus, editing an episode takes a long time, so I don’t know if I could handle two 40 minute episodes a month.
How come the characters in the podcast say different things than what they do in the novel?
What works in print doesn’t always work for audio, so I have to make changes sometimes. Also, I tend to ad lib when I’m recording, and if I like that over what is in the script, I’ll keep it.
Why do some of the episodes in the first season (ep 001 – 021) have cast names listed at the end, and the more recent episodes don’t?
The fake names/credits thing was something that wasn’t as funny as I thought it was, so I stopped doing it. Plus, I got tired of thinking up fake names for all of the voices I was doing. It was more trouble than it was worth, and as I said, not that funny.
How do you make your episodes?
I use a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder as my microphone, I connect it to my iBook with a USB cable. I record the whole episode all the way through (except for the guest voices) in Audacity. I edit the episode in GarageBand.
Prior to the summer of 2010, I would record each of the parts individually (ex: record all the Steve lines, then go back and record all of the Zeroth lines), and piece it all together in GarageBand.
Now, I do the whole thing “live to tape,” which has sped up my production considerably.
Your narration in the early episodes can be kind of boring.
Wow, another non-question.
Yeah, I know. The early episodes are a bit rough. The first season was my learning how to create a podcast and how to “voice act,” so there are some growing pains. You gotta start somewhere.
Look at an early version of your favorite comic strip and now look at the most recent one–they will be very different as the artist’s style develops. The same goes for this podcast.
I’m learning as I go, and I get better with each episode. Listen to an episode from the first season of The Simpsons and compare that with a new episode, the voices are very different.
Why do you only release two episodes a month?
If I could do an episode a week, I sure as heck would. But, I have a day job and other responsibilities that take priority. The every-other-week/two-a-month model works the best for me at the moment.
Have you ever won any awards for this podcast?
In 2010 I had the honor of being nominated for two Parsec Awards (Best New Podcaster and Best Comedy Podcast). The Parsecs focus on speculative fiction podcasts (sci-fi, fantasy, etc). At the moment I don’t know if I’m a finalist or not.
Why do you pronounce the names of places and/or characters differently in some of the episodes?
To make sure you are paying attention.
Who did the cover art for the novel?
That would be my friend Michael Church. I hired him to do the cover for me.
I’ll add more as they pop up.