infobangening 2012!

[podmod]

the amplificathon (and the many and varied brains that meld into one podmod) is very pleased to announce the third iteration of the Podbang sort-of-annualish big!giant!epic!sekrit! podfic gift exchange!

now is the time to hold onto your hats, because with this post, we begin PODBANG 2012: THE BANGENING.

whoa! you say! what the heck is that? you ask!

well. you've got questions? we do seem to have a couple of answers. \o/

welcome to the third not-quite-annual podbang faq, presented by amplificathon!


what the heck is a podbang?
it's a word we kind of invented. coined? back in 2009. anyway. it's a scheme to get everyone presents, basically. surprise presents of novel-length podfic. we're encouraging gift givers to look to the various big bang challenges throughout fandom to choose the gifts they want to give--hence the name. (but not exclusively big bang fics! it's just, you know, that's a handy place to start. also, catchy title. we are not immune to gimmicks.)

unofficially and historically, the podbang is...sort of a nightmare for the mods. that's why we didn't have one last year (well, that and...life.) we've heavily revised the framework of the challenge behind the scenes, and somewhat revised the outward-facing bits. if all goes to plan, these changes will make it possible for us to get back on track as an annual exchange!



who is running this thing and why?
::looks around:: appears to be aphelant and general_jinjur. superstitiousme deserves all the credit for originating the idea, and pretty much everyone on twitter deserves credit for gently poking me about this for the past two years. heardtheowl made this year's lovely promo graphics, which you will see in the next post.



what's the timeframe & what are the deadlines?
Oct 1-8:

nominate fandoms using the fancy form that will be in the next post. please do not nominate fandoms if you don't plan to participate. fandoms with enough interest to allow us to match participants up will qualify.

Oct 10-17:

signups! a second fancy form.

Oct 20-21:

assignments go out - they will be a number of different fandoms from the list of fandoms you confirmed! (possibly everything, possibly a subset! we will be distributing these to make sure everyone will get a match.) this will become more clear, but basically, those are the fandoms you can podfic gifts in. find yourself a fic!

Nov 1:

first check in! we will ask you to tell us what fic you plan to record privately! if you are still in the process of talking with an author, that's cool, just tell us so. if things go wrong, then please find a new option and let us know immediately.

if you don't make the nov 1 deadline with a confirmed fic, you don't get guaranteed cover art, though we will still try!

at some point shortly after this deadline we will be making calls for cover artists.

Dec 1:

second check in. we will ask you for a status. we know this is a busy time of year, so please remember that there is no shame in dropping out! if you aren't started recording and ~30-50% of the way into your process, please take a good hard look at what's possible for you. it's not too late to start if you're procrastinating, but be realistic.

Jan 1:

third check in! at minimum you should be 50% of the way through, and optimally further (75%). this is the time to ask for support, and when we will be offering support. we will arrange editing productivity sprints and longer recording sprints. at this point you have a month left, and january is a good month to get stuff done for lots of people! but be realistic about school, work, winter blahs if you are in the northern hemisphere, summer sleepiness if you're in the southern hemisphere, etc.

Feb 1:

this is our hard deadline. you must turn something in. if you are fully recorded, you can turn in raw files, and we will find editing pinch-hitters or assistants. if you are not fully recorded, unfortunately we cannot offer extensions. you are still encouraged to submit if you can, but we cannot guarantee a gift for you (we'll try! we just can't guarantee), and your podfic will be posted as a gift to the community rather than an individual. no files will be accepted for posting after feb 7.

Feb 14:

podbang gifts will be posted throughout the day, and you will find out who loves you and also who you love!

what fics qualify?
any story that is 30,000 words or more, written any time. repodding something is also a valid life choice, if that's what you feel.

if you choose something seriously epic length? you get more glory, in theory. 30,000 is the minimum, but we strongly encourage those who can go for longer fics, or even multiple 30k fics, to go for it. <3 what goes around comes around!



so does the story i read have to have come from a big bang challenge?
nope! it just must be a story of 30,000 words or longer. if you have a fic that comes close but does not hit 30,000, please record an additional story to push it over the limit (additional story can be short or long, your call.)



what if i want to participate with a co-reader?
that would be awesome! you and your co-reader would count as one participant, and share a gift. we are also fine with people participating twice (or more), if they get really excited and want to enter both as an individual and as part of a pair or group of readers. also, you can drop one commitment without dropping all, if it comes to that.



what about crossposting?
once we've announced on February 14, you can post about your recording and/or link to it and/or archive it wherever you want. it belongs to you and your recipient and the whole world, yay!



what format should i save my file in?
mp3, please! if you want to convert to m4b as well, go for it--but the mods are ready to create those files for you, so it's all good. send us the cover art or a link to the cover art, and we'll add that to the podbook files.



do i need to prove that i have the author's (and artist's) permission?
you are the captain of your own destiny, and make your own decisions. we are not going to ask for proof.



how do i upload files?
this is in the works! we hope to have a schmancy form for this by december. if we don't, we'll let you know the other options.



how do i find stories?
we suggest that you check any longform challenges or big bangs that exist in the fandoms that you would like to tell podfics in, and that you browse ao3 and other archives that allow you to sort or search by wordcount. or ask for recs! or check recslists!

Comments

[cybel]

Just a slight uncertainty, probably due to my difficulty in focusing:

Podbang will be split between both the LJ and the DW comms? Not run just from DW like the amplificathon challenge?

[aphelant]

It's a challenge that can be run from both because it's pretty much just sign ups, then mods posting the gifts at the end. There is very little interaction between the mods and participants on the actual comms.

[cybel]

Thanks!

[helens78]

I am confused by the last box! This is just for nominations, so do squicks and triggers need to be listed anyway?

(Also, are there usually Dear Podbanger letters? Because those are always so helpful! ^_^;;)

[fleurrochard]

I was wondering about that box as well...

[aphelant]

I've answered the question here. :)

[aphelant]

We've asked for squicks/triggers/etc in the nomination form because we're still figuring out the best way to handle them in the sign ups process, so the information we're getting, and the discussions they're generating, are extremely useful to us. You don't have to fill them out now, but if you do it is more information for us to work with. :)

The assignment portion is going to be blind, so a Dear Podbanger letter isn't feasible. Sorry!

[helens78]

I went ahead and filled them out! ^_^

Yikes, totally blind, no way of getting any extra information other than fandom? /o\ I just get really nervous when doing gift fanworks! What if I end up recording something the recipient already knows they hate? What if I end up recording something the recipient can't even listen to? AAAAAAAA. *flails*

[aphelant]

You'll be given a lists of squicks/triggers you should be thoughtful of when choosing your story, but whether they're specific to your recipient or not will also be blind. So...that's something, at least? :D?

[elaineofshalott]

I'm probably not quite up to doing one o' these by myself, but if anyone is looking for a co-reader, I'd love to be involved. I don't know how that would work with the fandom nominations form, but...just putting that out there.

[colls]

I've never recorded LONG fic, but am tempted. :)


I have a couple questions

- Would something like an anthology or collection of podfics related to a fandom/theme/author be acceptable or is this for one piece of fiction only?
- The nominations form mentions that you can't accommodate requests for het/gen/slash, is that only for the nominations? I'm more concerned about recording as I prefer to record gen and wouldn't want someone to be disappointed.

[sunspot]

Both of these are my questions also!

[aphelant]

I replied to these questions here. :)

[sunspot]

Thankssss!

[aphelant]

Podbang's mission is to generate long podfics, so it's for single fics that are 30,000 words in length (or close to 30,000 words, with an additional podfic to cover the difference). Anthologies or themed stories are not allowed, sorry! (but they totally fit the Amplificathon challenge model! come back in like 6 months? :D?)

During the sign up process participants will not be able to specify pairing preferences, so your assignment will be to make a podfic in one of the fandoms chosen by that person, adhering to a no-fly list (squicks, triggers, etc). So if you prefer to read gen, that is totally cool, and since there's a dearth of long gen podfic out there it's also welcomed in a wider sense. :)

[colls]

OK, I thought that might be the case re: the single fic.
And yes - the amplificathon was so very fun, I look forward to it coming around again!

Thanks!!

[binz]

Hi! This looks super awesome and I got utterly, tail-chasing excited, but now that I'm looking at the signup sheet, I'm worried. I'm relatively fandom monogamous when it comes to my own output (whereas consumption is all over the place), and since my main fandom and occasional other fandoms are all relatively small (only one for sure has fic options that are 30k or longer), I'm not sure I'm the right audience for this. I'd really only be comfortable reading in one fandom; if I go ahead and nominate it, am I committed if it ends up that my fandom doesn't make the cut? (Never mind the second level of, what if I'm the only one who wants to record/receive in that fandom...)

[podmod]

don't worry! the way this works, being recording-monogamous is perfectly okay - that's why we're making sure there's interest from multiple people in listening to ALL of the fandoms. as long as you're flexible about what someone records for you (and we're going to ask people to give more than one fandom for listening, in sign-ups proper), then all is well! <3 your fandom is on the 'on the edge' list, so you have a strong chance! (having seen your nom, i can say this confidently.)

[binz]

Thanks for getting back to me. :)

I don't see my fandom on the "on edge" list-- am I just missing it? I could try to drum up some enthusiasm, but I want to make sure I have all my information right before I do. Thanks again!