
Yes, it’s been a while, but I couldn’t let October 15th go by without observing my fifteen-year anniversary as a podcaster with… a podcast!
This episode is part personal update… part retrospective on the early days of podcasting and, to a degree, indie publishing… part memoir… part rant… and mostly, an expression of gratitude and perspective and hope.
Since I cover fifteen years of creative history in this episode, there are a lot of links. Let’s get to ’em.
Links and Topics Mentioned in This Episode
- The last time I released a podcast.
- The Autumn Project.
- Podcasts I produce: What Matters Most and The Possibility Podcast with Mel Schwartz.
- The current version of Windows when I started podcasting was Windows XP.
- My archived podcasts at the Internet Archive, including the very first episode: The MWS Media Radio Show Podcast / The DIY Endeavors Podcast.
- Harvey Danger, Peter Case, and Kristin Hersh were some of the “mainstream” artists who first released “podsafe” music.
- Jonathan Coulton probably has podcasting to thank for his initial success as a “geek” musician… now he’s a co-host on Ask Me Another, an NPR quiz show, among other things.
- Borders Books and Music.
- The Yahoo! Podcasters Group was the campfire around which we all first gathered. I wanted to give you a link, but it doesn’t seem to be around, or even archived, any more. Which is a shame, because that was where this history was written, thread by thread.
- That quote about sculpture I tried to remember was from Michelangelo.
- Brave Men Run. You’ve heard me say it before, probably, but yes, it was the first novel (and so probably the first book of any kind) with an initial simultaneous release in paperback, five e-book formats, and free podcast editions. You can still get the e-book or paperback.
- I talk about the collaborative spirit of podcasting, and how that intersected with independent publishing. My two biggest collaborative projects with author / podcasters were the fiction anthology The Sovereign Era: Year One and the record Anyman: The John Smith EP.
- I mentioned Writer’s Talking, my live call-in panel show. I need to track down those episodes, which were originally hosted by Talkshoe… which I was quite surprised to discover still exists (but my shows aren’t there).
- Five Minute Memoir is coming back, baby, but not without you.
- Here’s the video archive of I Know This Much. I’ll dig up the audio versions eventually…
- I was going to link to Jetset Studios and the Retroland pilot episode, but all I can find online anymore is the delightful animated series Jetset created, The Velvet Mouse Show. Check it out.
- I help other people make things. Maybe I can help you?
- Seth Godin taught the Internet everything we know about marketing. Any marketing guru online right now is aping stuff Seth Godin wrote about a quarter century ago. His blog and podcast are essential.
What Did You Think About This Episode?
What are your thoughts? Let’s hear from you in the comments!