Blook Look Follow-up

Shortly after the Blookable Podcast piece was posted at Future Perfect Publishing I heard from Kathleen Dixon Donnelly, author of Gypsy Teacher series of blooks. In my column I wondered aloud whether or not podcasts could be collected into a marketable blook. Donnelly's response is more in keeping with the traditional approach, print to audio.

"I would actually love to do a recorded version of all the blogs. I really enjoyed volunteering for the Radio Reading Service, and there is nothing similar here.

"I bought a little recorder when we were in Asia, and used it for some interviewing. But when we got back, and the BBC World Service program Outlook asked me for a recorded version of my blog about 'Bathing in the British Isles,' we had a helluva time e-mailing the file. My tech guys at the university said, 'It's such an old system the software doesn't exist anymore.' I said, 'I just bought it last month in Taiwan!'

"So that stopped me. But I think once you get the hang of it, it is easy to do."

In my article I wrote, "Other than interviews or conversations, which may or may not be interesting to read on paper at a later date, I’m guessing that many podcasts are scripted." Donnelly gives real insight:

"You mentioned interviews. For Dixon Donnelly at Sea I did interview students a couple of times. I would write my intro and talk to them a bit ahead of time. Then I would record the intro with them there, and then interview them. I couldn't edit. [One time the phone rang right in the middle. The student picked it up and whispered, 'She's not here' and hung up.] I would then transcribe them--all those years as a transcription typist come in handy!--and edit a bit for the print version."

When I did my post about Hanna Andersson's blook, A Creative Year: the Diary of Hanna Andersson 2006, I left a comment at Diane Gilleland's www.craftypod.com [where I found a podcast of an interview with Andersson] asking if she made transcriptions available from her site. Gilleland wrote to me saying, "I typically do not transcribe the podcasts - there is very little interest in that among my listeners and blog-readers." I'm left to wonder if the topic, crafts, simply doesn't lend itself to printed podcasts. OTOH, for someone like Grandad, who does humor, or someone like Garrison Keillor (Prairie Home Companion), it should be a natural. Right?