Miscellany

Covering Costs

Since starting my short story podcasts, I have spent several thousand dollars on editing and podcast hosting services. While I can afford these expenses now, I will have a bit less disposable income when I enter retirement in a few years. To keep bringing you these tales, I needed a way to make them a bit more self-sufficient.

For the past few weeks, I have been experimenting with different podcast hosts and methods of trying to derive enough income from Litreading and Readastorus to help defray their costs.

For a short time, I experimented with a special subscription model, but initial tests were disappointing. Plus, it would have meant keeping many stories behind a paywall. 

I thought about asking for donations, but that seemed whiny and maybe even a bit tacky.

I finally decided to follow the path of least resistance – despite my personal disdain – advertising. However, I will never allow the stories themselves to be interrupted by commercials. Ads will only play at the beginning and the end of the podcasts.

Lots of Listeners 

With all the new stories posted in the past month, Listenership has grown dramatically. Both podcasts combined are now garnering between 1,500 and 2,000 downloads per day. If we can get that up to about 2,500 downloads daily, we should crack the top 50 podcasts on Apple.

Please help me bring these stories to more people. Tell your friends and family. If you have a favorite story from Litreading or Readastorus, share it on your Facebook timeline or Twitter feed.

Raving Reviews

Wow. Your reviews for Litreading have been amazing! Thank you. Here are two of the most recent reviews posted at Apple Podcasts:

From the United States:

“The narrator provides a wonderfully expressive voice to old stories, renewing life in them. This podcast is a terrific way to be exposed to both familiar and unfamiliar classic stories.”

From Great Britain:

“I do a little happy dance every time a new episode comes out!”

If you like the podcasts, please consider leaving a review for both Litreading and Readastorus (since little ones don’t tend to write reviews, I hope moms and dads will help).

Thank you for LITsening!