The Podcast Asylum

Drill Sergeant Tee Morris has just informed us that his podcast, The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy, is suffering from Comment Deficiency Syndrome.

Specifically, the Sarge has noticed an unexpected shortage of audio comments just as he was planning to prepare a Mail Call episode. Never in 29 regular episodes and 10 special editions have the Survivalists failed to produce a superabundance of comments. In fact, the number and frequency of the comments were what inspired Tee to start producing Mail Call episodes.

Clearly, it was time for the Asylum to step in and investigate the cause of this problem.

The most obvious cause of Comment Deficiency Syndrome is not providing listeners enough ways to contribute comments. Nevertheless, CDS can strike even podcasters who announce their call-in number, blog address, and e-mail during every show.

The best way to prevent Comment Deficiency Syndrome is to play, read, and respond to listener comments right away. Because podcast listeners are just as narcissistic as podcasters, they will tolerate a longer show length if it gives them the opportunity to hear themselves.

Of course, in order to play comments right away, the podcaster has to produce regular and frequent shows.

If you find yourself suffering from Comment Deficiency Syndrome, try listening to For Immediate Release for lessons in producing a proper comment-driven show. Alternatively, you could emulate the model of Inside PR, where audio comments go directly into the podcast feed so everyone can hear them immediately, or create shows from collected audio comments, as Carmen Van Kerckhove has done with Addicted to Race.