amplificathon

Note: This post has been in the works for over a year. Thanks to general_jinjur and aphelant for their help along the way and to lunchy_munchy for motivating me to finally finish it. ♥

Go here to hear this meta read aloud by the wonderful knight_tracer!

In podfic meta discussions, it periodically comes up that some people want to leave feedback on podfic but just aren't sure what to say. This post is an attempt to give some new ideas to anyone who would like to expand their repertoire for expressing their thoughts about podfic. It is not meant to pressure listeners to leave feedback if they don't feel comfortable with that. Hopefully it will work more like a toolbox, providing tools that people can use to help them accomplish their pre-existing goals more easily and successfully.

The format was inspired by this post about femslash, and the content was inspired by this post about vid feedback.

Five Ways to Give Great Podfic Feedback

( 1. Say you listened and enjoyed )

( 2. Describe your listening experience: where you were, how it made you feel )

( 3. Comment on the reader's voice and style )

( 4. Highlight specific parts you liked and why )

( 5. Tell your history/relationship with the reader )

Of course, although these are different angles to approach thinking about feedback from, when you are writing your feedback you don't have to stick to just one. You can pull from multiple categories and mix and match to create an awesome piece of feedback. You can also draw on what you know about reviewing other forms of performance. If you feel comfortable talking about theatre or TV or movie acting, the same language you would use to describe those performances can be applied to a podfic performance and make for beautiful feedback.

There are a couple things you might want to avoid: "I usually think podfic is weird, but..." and "sorry if this is creepy, but..." It doesn't feel good to hear that listeners dislike your chosen art form, even if it's embedded in a compliment about this particular instance of it. And it's not creepy to tell somebody you enjoyed their artwork in the way they intended it to be enjoyed, which means no reader is going to be creeped out that you loved their voice, and if they chose to read sex scenes, they're not going to be creeped out if you found those scenes sexy.

So, there it is! Hopefully this will be a useful resource that helps and inspires listeners who want to leave podfic feedback. (For those who want systems to help keep track of the podfic they listen to and remember to come back to it, there are some tips here.) Remember that the five ways listed above are just ideas, not a rulebook. Be creative! Be spontaneous! Be sloppy! To most podfic artists, any feedback is great (and rare) and whatever you put in your comment will be loved and cherished by the recipient.