Ad-riddled podiobooks on the horizon?
My last post seems to have caused some consternation amongst the troops. Allow me to alleviate the following concerns:
- Podiobooks.com is not in any financial troubles. True, we’re growing like a weed and sucking bandwidth like there is no tomorrow, but not to worry. The kind folks at LibSyn are sticking behind us. (And if you need a podcast hosting company, I can’t recommend anyone finer.) They have partnered with Kiptronic, a really cool bunch of guys doing their best to allow podcasters (and sites like ours) the ability to spend more time on their passion by hooking them up with potential sponsors of their programs.
- We will never insert ads inside an episode of a book. One of the things I hate about commercial TV is the… commercials. Just when a show gets to a good part, they run a gods-be-damned commercial because they just know I’ve got anal warts. IF we do allow sponsors to mention their products or services, it will not break up or interfere with the content of an episode you are in the middle of. That would be not only wrong, but horridly stupid on our part. You’ll never hear “Before we get on with the rest of this chapter, a brief word from our sponsor”. Ick.
- We will always offer free books. I’ve been approached by more than one author asking about a “premium” section of the site, where they can charge a small fee to access their book. I’m not discounting the idea, but that will not be the mainstay of the site. I’m committed to bringing the best in free audio books in podcast form on this site. If we have a pay section, fine. But I have no plans in changing the original idea: give you killer content for free, and let you donate when you feel like it.
Hopefully, that helps clarify my position. We’re not hiding anything here, folks. What you see (and hear) is what you get. So assuming that you feel better about what we’re doing, and that I have no master plan other than outlined above, take a moment to take our survey, so we can get a more clear picture of how we can inject some capitol (or is it capital) into this grand experiment.
E.
February 10th, 2006 at 4:45 am
Sounds great mate!! Thanks so much for posting this so quickly. Keep up the great job Evo and Co. and take care. C ya.
February 10th, 2006 at 10:56 am
A premium section sounds interesting. However, as a poor college student, I know that an author that chooses to go that route would need to really grab my attention for me to prepay for content. Especially since there are so many talented authors in the free section.
Maybe if you do have a premium section it would be beneficial to make all the sample feeds public. Instead of having to get one from someone who has already subscribed.
February 10th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Evo, I’d just like to take a moment to applaud you. Your upfront approach and willingness to have public discussion are admirable (and rare), in my opinion.
Thanks for all your hard work!
By the way, the same goes for Chris and Tee, who have been nothing but a delight to interact with.
February 10th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Thanks for all the feedback, guys. One thing we’re all trying to do is be as up front as possible. This is a partnership…listeners, authors, and the PB team. We really, honestly view it that way, and we’re thrilled about how supportive everyone has been.
February 11th, 2006 at 11:49 am
I took the survey, and I recommend that everyone who has been avoiding it for fear that its long and boring rest-assured, its only like five questions and they’re all really easy to answer. Total time less than thirty-seconds.
(Some podcasts have been hosting surveys that have been pages deep and I’m surprised they can’t file my taxes for me by the time I’m done. This was hardly the case here…)
February 13th, 2006 at 1:25 am
Evo, You rock. ’nuff said.