Issue #271 of The Fiction Podcast Weekly is brought to you by Back Fires.

In 1946, a crew of California convicts fights wildfires in exchange for their freedom. Thirty years later, while researching the history of American prison labor, a British journalist uncovers evidence suggesting a wide-ranging cover-up of inmate deaths. Listen to Back Fires - a new full-cast historical fiction podcast.

News, Roundups, and Announcements

• It's Friday the 13th: hug a black cat today!
• Podnews reports that Streamyard's pricing has increased dramatically, and they'll apply that price to existing paid suppliers automatically. And, apparently, you can't see those price numbers unless you have an account and log in.
• ​Audacy Podcasts Announces Strategic Partnership with Leading Storytelling Nonprofit The Moth, "to handle sales and distribution for the organization’s award-winning podcast, including video, social and sponsorships for live events." Maybe Audacy will show interest in other not-profitable fiction podcasts?
• ​Podeo Distributes Podcasts to Millions of Taxi Passengers in Partnership with Binary Media, On the one hand, you could potentially give travelers with discretionary income for luxury travel in the UAE a taste of your podcast. On the other hand, I've never found in-car entertainment wildly tempting. Your mileage may vary. ​
• ​Spotify Looks to Pay Video Creators to Put Shows on Platform, reports Ashley Carman for Bloomberg. "Spotify is looking for inventory against which it can sell its video ads product." If your show has dynamically inserted ads, don't get excited: Spotify pulls the audio from the video rather than the RSS feed. "Effectively, this could end up severing the podcasters’ existing audio businesses because anyone who listens on Spotify wouldn’t receive those dynamic ads. "
• Meanwhile, Stan Alcorn shows How Spotify started — and killed — Latin America’s podcast boom, for Rest of World. Danny, it's under-promise and over-deliver, not the other way around, pal. ​

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Creator Resources

• ​Buzzsprout has re-designed the podcast website feature. I love that Fan Mail option.
• ​Apple Podcasts adds chapters and an option for chapter-specific artwork.
• ​Can You Comment on Podcasts? 7 Hubs for Episode Discussion by Matthew McLean and Tae Haahr
• Updated! Podcast Music: Free & Podsafe Music Picks (With Discount Codes) by Matthew McLean and Colin Gray
• ​Writing for Radio: ​​Getting to grips with a new medium, by Matt Kelland
• ​How to end your podcast but keep marketing, by Wil Williams for Podcast Marketing Magic

Opportunities

• ​REVERB seeks an audio editor / post production sound mixer with Reaper experience for a weekly supernatural series with both narrative and discussion elements. Paid position, rate negotiable. Listing closes 23 September.
• ​The Ambies' submission window is open, and early bird pricing ends 16 September.
• Casting Call: Mr. P's Bookstore Podcast. Estranged high school best friends document their attempt to save a failing bookstore while navigating newfound feelings for each other. Casting is expected to be completed by 30 Sept.
• ​A Feature-Length Narrative VR Project Needs Talent + More Voiceover Jobs by Ashley Steves for Backstage
• Casting Call: Into the Frayed​ seeks two male voices, playing queer roles of any accent. Deadline extended to 16 September.
• Casting Call: Ep 3/To The Stars. Miles is the A.I. personality and pilot of a cargo ship. He is on the verge of sentience. Deadline: not mentioned. ​

Milestones & Debuts

• ​Close Your Eyes Season 2 Premieres Sept 26th. A man’s search for his missing brother leads him to a mysterious cult.
• ​Beast Country Phil Ainsworth is 54 and deeply sad. For hundreds of years, the men of his family have led a march into the woods in search of a mystical pig-like creature. But for Phil it is a time for reopening old wounds and facing the reason for all his sadness.
• ​Justice: A Holocaust Zombie Story A young woman finds herself in a global crisis when zombified Holocaust victims begin rising from the mass graves of former concentration camps.
• ​The Heartsick Boys The loneliest man in Philadelphia stumbles upon two million dollars in cash outside a strip mall and takes it. Then everything gets all messed up.

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