Yeah, I think a lot of people don't realise how much work and skill goes into podfic, both creative and technical. But it's kind of weird, because these same people will swoon over an actor's interpretation of a character without being like "Well, they didn't write the script though, so who cares?"
On the other hand, to be fair, I do also think a lot of the lack of interaction is more benign and along the lines of people downloading stuff to listen to later and then because there's the extra steps of remembering to go back to the AO3 work and write a comment based on your memory of the podfic maybe days later, it's less likely that they will comment. This was also the basic conclusion I drew from the phenomenon of people leaving rave reviews of fic in private discord servers where the author would never see it and then not commenting on the fic itself. I don't think it's a deliberate snub, it's just that ever extra step is a place where more people fall off, since commenting it already something only a minority of readers do.
I think it's also a platform thing? Like I get next to no comments on AO3 for my vids if it's not posted for a con or a vidding event, but I think that's because people mostly are not going to AO3 for vids and will scroll past them in the tag. But I have no interest in uploading vids to YouTube where the General Public will stumble across them in non-fandom contexts, so it is what it is to a certain extent.
Honestly, vidding and making podfics has kind of been good for me in the sense that it's made me value making fanworks as an end in itself as opposed to being as caught up on what people think of it/tell me about it. Although, very much at the same time, it's also nice to appreciate and recognise people's work and artistry, and I am glad that I participated in that weekend listening jam to do that.
no subject
On the other hand, to be fair, I do also think a lot of the lack of interaction is more benign and along the lines of people downloading stuff to listen to later and then because there's the extra steps of remembering to go back to the AO3 work and write a comment based on your memory of the podfic maybe days later, it's less likely that they will comment. This was also the basic conclusion I drew from the phenomenon of people leaving rave reviews of fic in private discord servers where the author would never see it and then not commenting on the fic itself. I don't think it's a deliberate snub, it's just that ever extra step is a place where more people fall off, since commenting it already something only a minority of readers do.
I think it's also a platform thing? Like I get next to no comments on AO3 for my vids if it's not posted for a con or a vidding event, but I think that's because people mostly are not going to AO3 for vids and will scroll past them in the tag. But I have no interest in uploading vids to YouTube where the General Public will stumble across them in non-fandom contexts, so it is what it is to a certain extent.
Honestly, vidding and making podfics has kind of been good for me in the sense that it's made me value making fanworks as an end in itself as opposed to being as caught up on what people think of it/tell me about it. Although, very much at the same time, it's also nice to appreciate and recognise people's work and artistry, and I am glad that I participated in that weekend listening jam to do that.