The SP/PM/PN merger raises questions, London Podcast Festival, TAFCON on the horizon, Keeping the Zoo, and more

Issue 316 of The Fiction Podcast Weekly is brought to you by Should I Include a Host Photo in My Podcast Cover Art?

A 2022 study by a German market research agency says podcast cover art must contain an image of the host. Is this the right option for all podcasts? 😒 Katie Paterson refines the data and serves it up for you: Should I Include a Host Photo in My Podcast Cover Art?

News, Roundups, and Announcements

• Tin Can Audio shares an update on YouTube: Spotify removed many episodes of The Tower, due to alleged copyright infringement. Amber Devereux said, “The generous explanation here is that because we have released the soundtracks to the series, it’s set off Spotify’s automated systems and they’ve pulled off anything that they think might contain infringing works.” Independent podcasters with original music, please check your Spotify feeds. Audiences, thank you for pointing out when something doesn’t feel right.

• Twila Dang’s recent post on LinkedIn, and Building Castles in the Sky: Will Sounds Profitable and Podcast Movement deliver on their promises? by Good Tape’s founder, Dane Cardiel, react to the merger between Sounds Profitable, Podcast Movement, and Podnews. These pieces feel like a call to re-examine what podcasting is really about.

• Who Killed the Narrative Podcast? by Eric Benson for Rolling Stone focuses on narrative non-fiction, but the principles are relevant for anyone who makes multi-layered listening experiences.

• Celebrate ten years of The London Podcast Festival, 4-14 September!

Do you have feedback or suggestions for improving the Fiction Podcast Weekly?

Share your thoughts in this brief survey. Thanks!

Promote Your Podcast, Business, or Service to Audio Fiction Enthusiasts

With over 1700 subscribers and an average open rate of 47%, the Fiction Podcast Weekly is a brilliant place to advertise. We have options to fit every need, want, and budget.

• The Top: Be the main sponsor of an issue for $99 per week or $340 for four weeks.

• The Middle: Purchase a Classified Ad for $28. These sit in the middle of the email and have no accompanying graphics.

• The Bottom: Get your link and logo in our Supporter gallery for $4.99 a month or $50 a year.​

​Do you have audio drama or fiction podcast news to share with us? Let us know!

Creator Resources

• Coming Soon to Kickstarter: TAFCON, The Audio Fiction Convention will be a one-day event bringing together creators and fans of audio fiction. If funded, the event will take place on July 14, 2026, in Boulder, CO. Sign up now to be notified when the Kickstarter campaign goes live.

• Start to Write Audio Drama. In this intensive one-day course at Faber’s HQ in central London, you’ll get hands-on teaching from Caroline Raphael, the former BBC Head of Radio Drama, to explore the fundamentals of creating compelling audio drama. 27 September.

• Do you share your audio fiction podcast on YouTube? Check out our roundup of the Best Video Editing Software for Creators by Colin Gray.

• Writers! Watch the replay of these live streams with Asa Merritt and Sarah Rhea Werner: How to write a masterful ghost story (according to one of the greats) and This science fiction short story defies genre, tone and reality itself, plus many more.

• HEY, GUESS WHAT? This newsletter is also available in lovingly crafted, ultra-condensed audio form. The Fiction Podcast Weekly is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Classified Ads

Get your brand, product, podcast, or service in front of over 1700 fiction podcast enthusiasts. Place a classified ad of up to 30 words in an upcoming Fiction Podcast Weekly email newsletter issue for just $28.

​Fiction Podcast Weekly Classified Ad Form​

Do you know someone who'd enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to a friend and share the Fiction Podcast Weekly love. Or, share it on social media and tag us with #FictionPodcastWeekly.

Opportunities

• The 11th Hour Audio Challenge is back!

• The MacDowell Fellowship (Spring/Summer) is an international artist residency that offers exclusive use of a studio, accommodation, and three prepared meals a day for up to six weeks. Deadline: 10th of September.

• The Arts Recovery Grant is a $1000 grant for artists who have been impacted by Hurricane Helene and/or Milton to safeguard their practices, and prepare for emergencies. Deadline: 3rd of September.

• Scottish BPOC Writers Defining Our Space Call Out - a call for pitches from Black writers or writers of colour based in Scotland on the theme of “Space.” Any and all interpretations of the theme are welcome. They accept pitches in text, audio and/or video format — audio must be less than 3 minutes. Selected artists are paid an artist fee of £150. Deadline: 31st August.

• The Shrew Series Call Out is for women-identifying artists and writers based in the U.K. to participate in the Shrew Series, a collection of performances around the themes of womanhood, which a performer will read for an audio series. Submitted pieces should be 3 to 5 minutes long and may be monologues, poems, spoken word, or comedy sketches. Applicants must be 18+. The deadline is 31st August, noon BST.

Milestones & Debuts

• Keeping the Zoo debuts the 11th of September: a zoo is short on money but big on warm-hearted colleagues and animal shenanigans.

• Haunts and Haints: Stantonville Stantonville is a fictional city built for kinfolk (this ain't TN), where, as somebody's grandma once said, a hard head makes a soft a—.

• Severed Connections In Echoton, people go missing, stories don’t add up, and some things are best left unheard.

• Endgame A man stumbles into an FBI field office, says the name of FBI Special Agent "Carmen Ayres" and promptly dies.

• Sincerely, Sidney Sidney Harshbarger was a failed 1960s advice columnist, until she was transported to 2024.

Keep sharing good stories.

The Fiction Podcast Weekly is supported by: