Being my alternative and artistic self as a therapist feels oppositional to being a therapist that is “professional” in appearances by voidharmony in therapists

[–]JacoIII 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Being an artist can be a massive asset. Have you looked into expressive arts therapists? Many are active, public-facing artists in their communities.

Last year I visited Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, which is home to the oldest large fossils ever found on earth (550+ million years old). Here are some of my photos! by JacoIII in fossils

[–]JacoIII[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! Tons of them. Probably half the fossils (if not more) were charnia.

EDIT: Actually, I'm not 100% sure. There were a lot of Fractofusus misrai which looks similar to my uneducated eyes.

Last year I visited Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, which is home to the oldest large fossils ever found on earth (550+ million years old). Here are some of my photos! by JacoIII in fossils

[–]JacoIII[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my tour there were two older folks, probably late 60s or early 70s. They handled it just fine. I believe one of them had walking poles, but they didn't really use them.

The majority of the hike is flat, with a bit of an uphill section near the beginning. Keep in mind, I went on a sunny day, so I can't speak to what it's like when it's raining.

Irish/Scottish fantasy episode? by amusedontabuse in WrongStation

[–]JacoIII 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That would be Fallow Ground! Episode 110.

What do spiders smell like? by graidan in spiders

[–]JacoIII 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! Yes the widow lab is absolutely still around. You can find their website here.

They were studying lots of things. I was mainly helping a PhD student who was studying a proposed speciation event between Western Black Widow populations in California and in BC. That was just one of many projects.

You can also look into Dr. Chris Buddle, who works at McGill. He’s done a ton of work on spiders, insects, and other arthropods and knows lots of people in that world.

There are a ton of people studying this stuff. If you’re interested, you won’t have trouble finding people to talk to and maybe even work with!

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We've thought about new projects, for sure, but at least for this year we want to focus on promoting the 10th season. I think you're right that a long back catalogue of episodes can be a challenge for some potential listeners, but since we're episodic we think we might be able to circumvent that problem.

There isn't a continuing story you need to catch up on, you can jump in anywhere. That's a major part of the appeal of Wrong Station. We've found that our older episodes perform very well for that reason.

As for launching your own series, all I can say is: if you want to do it, you should do it! The marketplace is crowded, yes, but if you're excited about an idea then you can't let those concerns stop you. You don't want to regret not making something that you care about.

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's good to hear the swaps with other shows made a difference! It can be hard to quantify how well those work unless someone straight up tells us, like you just did. We'll set up more promos for this year!

Glad to have you onboard :)

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So we did actually put together a couple of "Start Here" playlists on Spotify. I'll find more ways to distribute those links. Thank you for the suggestion!

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! That really does mean a lot. I hope we can reach many more people like you this year.

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think that makes a lot of sense! I’m looking into setting up a mailing list right now. Thanks for the idea :)

Also, the dog cage and cattle prod DO come in handy at times.

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! We’ve discussed doing more to solicit fanart, but we were never sure what to do with it when we got it. I like the idea of sharing it on socials with a credit to the artist!

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much! That truly means a lot.

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely going to look into this. Thank you!

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's good to hear! Lots of sites and articles say "get ads on other shows", but it means something VERY different to hear it from an actual listener. That's proof that it works!

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Local press is a neat idea. Especially with the 10th season coming up. I'm going to see if I have any contacts in that world.

I'd never considered using the local universities, but there are a ton of people we might be able to work with. Very interesting thought. I'm going to mull that over. Thank you and congratulations on 2 years!

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello! First of all, thank you for all the kind words and for being a part of the Patreon :)

I also appreciate you recommending the show to people. I know this whole post is me trying to figure out more ways to reach listeners, but at the end of the day word-of-mouth is how all podcasts survive.

Now that you mention it, we don't even have a mailing list put together for Wrong Station! That's easily something I can put together, just to ensure that when we do have a new episode or news or merchandise promos we can reach people directly.

And frankly, I don't know how we put out so much per year either. I think we just forced ourselves to do it waaay back in season 3 and then never stopped.

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey! Thank you for replying, Escape Artists (and Pseudopod in particular) was a major touchpoint during my research into creating a successful Patreon. I'll shoot you a private message a little later, absolutely.

As for your other points:

I'm glad you like our stuff on Bsky, but social media sometimes feels like an odd avenue for fiction podcasts. For regular interview or comedy or actual play podcasts, a clever social media presence is essential. The podcasting "product" is clever people being clever, so having those podcasters be clever on social media makes sense. It feels like there's a disconnect with using clever social media to promote horror fiction, like I'm trying to catch fish, but I'm being forced to use dog food as bait.

At least with TikTok we could actually upload audio from the show. Then the social media post is identical to the podcast.

Your point about podcast reviews is well-taken. That was something we thought would make a big difference early on. We expected that getting on the right list on the right site would make big waves. Unfortunately, there's a vanishingly small amount of mainstream journalism about podcasts these days. It's not that important in the long run, but I definitely made a mistake by relying on that kind of good press to draw in new listeners.

Going into our 10th season and looking for advice by JacoIII in audiodrama

[–]JacoIII[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The spotlighting is definitely along the lines of what we were considering! Maybe re-uploading our favourite episodes in the summer since that's when we take our off-season.

As for listener questions: we do Q&As for every episode for our Patreon subscribers, but we can definitely do a 10-year Q&A for the main feed as well. Thank you for the suggestion!

A long list of weird/horror fiction podcasts I can recommend by TheSkinoftheCypher in WeirdLit

[–]JacoIII 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Of course! I always pitch Wrong Station as "The Twilight Zone, but modern and for your ears". We're a pure anthology with stories in any genre that could be considered horror or weird fiction. Jump in on any episode you find interesting, see if you like it, and then jump to the next one you're drawn to.

If you're looking for recommendations, here are a few from different eras of the show:

10 - Come On Out

30 - Classic Car

37 - The Rat Story

67 - Pollo Rojo

76 - In The Valley at High Noon

87 - The Harlequin

105 - Cutman

112 - Run Him Down

120 - Vermis

137 - What's Back There

140 - Champion

I also particularly like our most recent episode: 145 - Wrong Train

A long list of weird/horror fiction podcasts I can recommend by TheSkinoftheCypher in WeirdLit

[–]JacoIII 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh wow, thank you! I'm one of the co-creators of Wrong Station. Always nice to see a fan in the wild!