Weekly Update 4: Episodes 25 - 29 & Racism

This week the creators share an important message about how they feel about racism and the issues facing America today. They also talk about the next episodes, what new illustrations are getting created (spoilers), provide some shout outs to those supporting the cause and introduce our marketplace site and survey listeners can use to share feedback. 

Transcript

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Once upon a time in the land of Redmond, there were three authors who went on the most amazing adventure - to share their bedtime stories with the world.

 Welcome:

• I'm Lynnea 
• I'm Luca
• And I'm Jeremy

 Public Announcement:

We, the creators of Atheria, do not believe in racism and want to make a clear statement about the recent race issues in America.  We are enraged by the continued loss of black lives in America and committed to breaking the cycle of systemic racism that enables it.  We admit that we have a lot to learn and are on our own journey to figure out how and when to be a part of it. We are listening intently and educating ourselves as much as we can to understand our role and may need help. If you are a minority or person of color, please don't hesitate to reach out. We need your input and welcome your feedback. We want kids to be able to see in our stories how they can overcome challenging issues, including racial ones.

 Thank you again for your continued support.  

 Intro:

• Thank you all for your continued support and contributions as we develop The Land of Atheria. Without your support we could not have made it this far. 
• If you're new check out our website for more information and how you can support via our website. It's your support that allows us to continue to develop the Land of Atheria. 

Update on Episodes:

• We've been working on episodes 25 - 29! 
  • We're going to see more of Princess Ellery & Princess Blu!
  • We're also going see some other Keepers, who may not have the purest intentions!
• Plug: If any of our new listeners are interested in being a donor for a character or a location in any of our new episodes let us know, we'd be willing to continue to honor any of our Kickstarter offers.  Note that we're running out of time as we're starting to name everyone and everything officially - so hurry. 
  • $200 for a minor character
  • $500 for a major character
• This is reminding me that I will need to update our Gumroad site with these offerings.

• What this could buy you: 
  • Illustrations from Mario! (we'd like to get two more done, each one is about $75) 
  • Marketing (we can reach ~1,000 people on Facebook with $15/week) 

 Update on Illustrations:

• As some of you may know, we've been working an illustration for episode 8 - The Search for Paul. We have a rendition from our illustrator Mario Stoshevski. It's of the scene where the princesses and O'Lah ride Scorch for the first time. 

 Update on Marketing:

• We've created a Survey Monkey link to help understand our audience and what we should do with the stories. If you haven't checked it out yet, let us know what you think. Anyone who takes the survey will note that there are questions at the end asking what you want to see more / less of. Let us know and we'll incorporate it if we can and it makes sense. 
• We also got our Gumroad website up and running where you can find our coloring book and the first ten episodes transcribed. The Coloring book is $1.99 and the transcriptions are $5.99. This is a great way to continue to support the development of The Land of Atheria!

Update on Equipment:

• So no real update on equipment. We'll have to pause on building out a recording studio until we get more funding. [Shameless plug!]

Other: 

• What was I blown away the most about this week? 
  • Lynnea: We hit 300 listens! 
  • Luca: 300 listens! 
  • Jeremy: Same! 

 Shout out of the Week:

• Big shout out to both Reini Kawobori and Yalina Munez! Reini for providing some great insights on our target market and Yalina who does marketing and gave me some great ideas!
• If I could only learn how to tag friends on a Facebook Page!

Review of the Week:

sean m to the s

Very cool and well written

I love this podcast! It’s great to share with your kids as a bedtime story. The premise is really well thought out and makes for great episode plots. Excellent writing as well!!! Highly recommend.

 Thanks "sean m to the s"!

And thank you all for listening and supporting. Don't forget about our big launch on September 8, when we'll start releasing the rest of the episodes from season one!