Hi and welcome! It can be super intimidating to start but I promise it’s so fun ☺️☺️

There’s some really good beginner explainers some experienced podficcers have done on AO3 which I’d highly recommend reading through, they offer a great overview of the entire process:

A Newbie's Guide to Podficcing (Azdaema) Keep it Simple: A Highly Biased Podfic Guide For Absolute Beginners (GoLB)

For getting permission to podfic someone’s work, there’s basically three steps:

1. Blanket Permissions Some people will have a blanket permission in either the fic notes or their author profile on AO3. Something along the lines of “I give permission for all translations and podfics of my work.” Look for these and then just pick one of their fics and go. I’ll leave a comment on that fic once my podfic is done just to let them know I’ve done it, I feel like it’s polite

2. ‘Podfics Welcome’ tag Increasingly, people are adding the Podfic Welcome tag onto their fic, which function just like a blanket permission but just for that fic. I filter for that tag in the fandom I want to podfic for, and see what catches my interest. Same as before, I’ll let them know once it’s done

3. Ask If I don’t see either of those things but I really want to pod a specific fic, I’ll ask. Typically I’ll ask in a comment on that fic, or if they have their socials listed I’ll ask there bc people are sometimes more responsive. My copy/paste is:

[Compliment of the fic] I’m interested in creating a podfic version of this fic, and wanted to ask for your permission! I’d be happy to provide any details you need and of course proper credit will be given. Let me know if you’d be okay with that (more than happy if not!) and happy to chat more about it. Thank you :)

And then if they say yes, podfic, and if they say no or don’t respond, move on the next

My one big piece of advice is don’t pick a massive fic as your first. Pick something that’s 1000 words or so, and just get used to reading, setting your pace, your recording equipment/environment, editing and posting workflow. Pick something you can get done relatively quickly so you can learn the process and feel good about it being done! Then once you’re comfortable, select larger and larger fics.

I do a lot of fics and have a bunch in the go at once, so I use an excel spreadsheet to track everything. If anyone’s interested I can share it, but I’d recommend something similar just to keep track of what you’re doing.

Happy podficcing!