Champs of Spoken-Word Audio, Forgive Me, casting calls, competitions, and Good Tape seeks pitches

Issue 303 of The Fiction Podcast Weekly is brought to you by Do We Need to Champion Spoken-Word Audio in a World of Video Hype?

Do we need to work harder to preserve or even champion this medium? Matthew McLean asked some of the busiest pros at The Podcast Show for their feelings about whether or not the magic of audio needs a protection spell, and if so, how to make that magic happen. Get the long and the short of it: Do We Need to Champion Spoken-Word Audio in a World of Video Hype?

News, Roundups, and Announcements

• Podnews reports, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Independent Podcast Forum has been postponed…Separately, entries are flooding in for this year’s Independent Podcast Awards, which are taking place in October. The absolute final deadline for entries is Thursday 19th June, so there’s still plenty of time to get involved.” Go get ‘em, Tiger!

• Ashley Carman’s post on LinkedIn summarizes her latest Bloomberg story discussing what constitutes meaningful audience engagement metrics and massive inaccuracies. “My buddy quoted Warren Buffett: “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.”

• Newly updated roundup from The End, for your enjoyment: Messages From…? 

• Forgive Me’s crowdfunding campaign for Season 4 has just a few hours left!

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Creator Resources

• Why Podcast Research Matters More Than You Think This might not seem relevant to fiction podcasters, unless you make shows like 1972, Harlem Queen, or Back Fires. But, a reading guide based on your research makes excellent bonus content or publicity. Citations matter! Join the grand tradition of sharing knowledge!

• Tying Up Loose Ends: Short Topics for Your Audio Drama Writing Practice Writing vs. money, ego, brief throughlines, and more are the brief topics Sarah and Lindsay share in the season finale of ADWIT, The Audio Drama Writers’ Independent Toolkit.

• Engineering Remains a HUMAN Art Form Bonnie Tikkey’s LinkedIn post demonstrates that “empathy isn’t an AI preset.”

• Do you have great behind-the-scenes learning experiences or other creator resources to share? Let us know!

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Opportunities

• Casting Call: Audio Theater seeks voice artists in NYC for “absurdist comedy theater. Many short unconnected sketches.” Listing expires 6 June.

• Casting Call: MOAM seeks “voiceover artists with a slight New England accent for a true crime podcast. This is to read out some archive and will be about 500 words each.” Listing expires June 5.

• The Dig Awards’ Audio & Podcast category “includes podcasts, audio dramas and radio shows that tackle and cover relevant international stories using an investigative angle, original reporting techniques and a distinctive approach.” Deadline: June 1.

• Call for pitches: Good Tape seeks writing or art pitches (or sponsor inquiries) for The Threat Issue by June 30, 2025.

• ICYMI: The BBC’s International Audio Drama Competition 2026 has an upcoming deadline: 11:00 GMT, 4 June.

• Silver Sound’s Biannual Sonic Dash is a 48-hour international competition to create a 2-minute audio piece entirely from scratch. Register ASAP. The contest starts on 20th June and ends at noon on 22nd June.

Milestones & Debuts

• Fabric. After her parents’ death, Leyna Canary discovers a cache of strange audio tapes hidden in their attic, each labeled with an unfamiliar name — Lucas Canary.

• Mage In The Machine. "If you're hearing this, then one of three things has happened, none of them good." Oz Grimhallow is cursed to act as an interreceptor of fates most horrible. Every episode presents a new horror that was meant for someone else, but now directs its attention towards our humble computer repair tech.

Keep sharing good stories.

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