Cori writes:

Podcasts are fun. LibriVox podcasts are particularly fun. Please help me put the “Community” in “LibriVox Community Podcast” and consider contributing to one or more of the podcasts planned below.

11th December: LibriVox and the Daily Commute — travel tips for literate listeners
I’ve noticed people talking in the forums about MP3 players in cars, noise-cancelling ear buds on trains … and I know some of you out there listen to LV while canoeing. Please record / message me any travel-related hints you like! Equipment, cautions, how to choose stories, great-listens for journeys you’ve taken (mention where you were going, too, if you like.)
DEADLINE: 4pm GMT next Wednesday 10th Dec (gives me a bit more time to work on it.)

18th December: LibriVoxing Start-up – quick answers to some/all of the following questions:
* What aspect of a project gets your attention most? (Are you attracted by authors you like, projects BCed by friends, particular genres, or what?)
* How do you decide what to record?
* What do you HAVE to do before starting to record?
* What one piece of practical advice would you give to a completely new LibriVoxer? (please assume they already know about “have fun”.)
DEADLINE: 4pm GMT, Weds 17th Dec.

25th December: The best audio-text things you’ve listened to this year!
Commercial audiobooks, podiobooks, podcasts and everything LibriVox. Let’s really celebrate our ears. Just record your part … though if you have the energy, it would be really helpful if you could pick out a sample of any LibriVox books you mention, too.
DEADLINE: 4pm GMT, Monday 22nd December. STRICTLY NO LATE ADMITTANCE

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Possible Queries and Their Answers:

Why bother? Won’t someone else contribute? Actually, no. Some generous people give very freely of their time and text / voice, but mostly I have to PM people directly and ask for podcast content. It’d be lovely not to have to do that at all this month!

Doesn’t it have to be in some whacky audio file format? How long should it be? Nope, regular MP3 will do. Though if you’d like to send me any other format (small WAV, FLAC, OGG, trained parrot, etc.), feel free! Can be as short or as long (within reason) as you like. 30secs is probably the minimum … 5 mins will probably be edited / pruned. Longer than that, and I’ll probably contact you about your own show / an interview / somesuch.

Isn’t it hard to just talk into a microphone without printed / pre-written words? It differs for people, but myself, yes, I think so. I almost always have a script which I write beforehand. It doesn’t take long … I pretty much type out what think anyway, and then I take a bit of time to polish it up and make it sound great. Give it a go.

I can’t think of anything clever / funny / cool. That’s fine, you’ll get paid exactly the same anyway. (Free PD audiobook of your choice! Over 400 days’worth to choose from!) Our podcasts are just meant to be fun to listen to, so you really can just say anything and it’ll be alright.

I can’t record, is there another way to contribute? YES! Just PM me or email, and I’ll get someone to record what you write. Please state if you have a strong preference about voice gender or accent — although if I can’t match that, I’ll record it myself, so be warned. See contact details on this post, or contribute via the Comments below!

I have a WAY better idea for a podcast than any of these! Neato! It’s a lot of fun to put together a podcast, and if you’d like to give it a go, we’ll help in any way we can (you just need to do the audio, for starters, I’ll upload / blog / RSS-feed it.) Or PM me if you don’t feel like hosting and I’ll use it / pass it on to another host.

I have another question?!?! Just post below and ask it.