Edward Champion, Managing Editor at Reluctant Habits and Audio Drama Producer talks to your host Vahe Arabian of State of Digital Publishing. Reluctant Habits is devoted to books, films, arts, technology, and culture. It has been singled out by the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian The Los Angeles Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Details. Edward Champion discusses how audio dramas have progressed, his audio production work in podcasting and radio plays, establishing niche audiences, institutional support from an independent standpoint, and advice for artists looking to create authentic and genuine content.
Episode Highlights:
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- How is Season 2 of his audio drama going?
- Edward Champion has been a writer, podcaster, and written and directed 27 radio plays.
- What is The Gray Area?
- How has The Gray Area grown and what strategy is he deploying for season 2?
- Edward Champion talks about long-term audio drama goals and other incentives for monetization.
- Edward cares about the craft of acting and making sure his actors are paid for their work.
- What does it take to create a niche following?
- How does Edward think that artistic entrepreneurs have been able to be more successful?
- There is a strong appetite for bold, specialized content.
- You can only control the effort you put into your operation.
- Is there a need to rehash content or creating companion content to capture new audiences?
- Art often functions in a way that it is so distinctive that it is often appreciated after it’s initial release.
- What are some of the lessons that Edward Champion has learned from testing content?
- Workflow and organization are key for creating audio dramas.
3 Key Points:
- Create your niche audience by being authentic and being mindful of who is supporting you as well as who wants to support you and reach out to them.
- Institutional support tends to seek out independent artists after they make an impact.
- Edward Champion sends beta listeners and beta readers rough drafts of content for feedback to see if multiple people address the same issues.
Tweetable Quotes:
- “In the last three years, I have basically marshalled most of my energies towards The Gray Area, which is an audio drama entailing an interconnected anthology series. So, all of the stories can be experienced on their own.” – Edward Champion
- “One of the most exciting aspects of working in digital media and doing things independently is…niche audiences…you strategize and you reach out to people and you have conversations, you will find loyal supporters.” – Edward Champion
- “What do we do to actually create meaningful human connections with our audience? I don’t view an audience as a metric. I view an audience as people.” – Edward Champion
