Editor Interview: Manawaker Studio Flash Fiction Podcast

very small audiobooks

Nature: Futures
Bards and Sages
Arachne Press
Science Fiction Daily
Asimov's

Roger Zelazny
Ursula Le Guin
Issac Asimov
Philip K Dick
Anne Nocenti
Ryan North
Randall Monroe

Where most short fiction podcasts have a very specific theme or genre, MSFFP has a broad mix of genres - from a diverse collection of contributors - and instead focuses on a sense of story and place. Our stories are chosen, mostly, for their ability to evoke presence (and to sound nice when read aloud).

Flash Fiction is short. I don't mind reading lots of it to find the stuff that's just right for the podcast, and I'm not always sure what that will even be. I'm often surprised by the topics and styles of story that make the cut, so don't self-reject. There is no story too weird, too normal, too dramatic, too direct. If it's well-written, and still works when read aloud, it stands a chance of being selected.

I'd rather not give even more fodder to writers for self-rejection. The Ideal submission gets a story to me, and follows the sub instructions. ;)

I don't have a lot of detailed instructions to miss, as long as the stories get to me, I'm good.
The most common error is probably selecting the wrong project in the submissions portal.

I like to see a short bio, but publication credits are irrelevant to my process (unless they are the credits for the story I'm about to read). The shorter the cover letter, the better. Just "Here is my story, thanks!" is plenty, and even that's not really needed. I just want to read the story. :D

Sometimes I can tell right away that a piece won't work, but f that happens, it's often technical. Something that would be difficult to record correctly for the podcast, either because of my skill or equipment, or just because I have a pretty good understanding of what makes a good audio story, and some things that work in text just don't work on a podcast. Otherwise, I almost always read to the end to see where the story goes, partly because - even if it wasn't hitting me at first - the end might surprise me and turn it around, and partly because I like reading stories, and usually want to finish after I start.

None. I'm the sole reader/editor for the publication. I might have to read a piece a second time to decide, but it never goes to any other desk for consideration.

This isn't my only project, but every Wednesday (ideally) is set aside just for reading MSFFP subs. I put on music without lyrics (I have a special Spotify playlist for these occasions) and I read subs all day long that day. Then one day per month (usually the last monday) is set aside for recording and editing all of the podcast episodes for the following month. It used to take a lot longer each episode took a full day when I first started the project) but I've gotten a lot faster at recording and editing in the last few years. I've also gotten faster at reading and evaluating submissions, but since the volume of submissions has gone up even faster, I'm usually a little behind, despite. :O

If a piece requires a lot of, I'll just reject it. If it only needs a few changes (especially directed at making it work better audibly) I'll suggest these changes, but never as a condition of acceptance.
Sometimes small changes will still be made during the recording process. As I perform the piece I might find that a sentence flows better slightly reworded, or a speech tag needs left off or something else minor, and I don't seek approval for these small changes. They are part of the performance, not part of the text.

I do! I nominate all of the SFF episodes for the Nebulas. If an author has a good idea of someplace else their story should be nominated, they should let me know. :)