Listen to an Interview with me on Otherppl with Brad Listi

I really loved doing this interview with Brad Listi for his Otherppl podcast. What sets Brad apart is that he goes beyond interviewing the author about their book and really dives into the meat of their life, what made them who they are, what their story is. A lot of times, interviewers recite pre-written questions, or sort of follow the traditional format of interviewing a writer, or fall prey to the superficial premise of the author interview which is promoting the book. But Brad breaks the mold of what an author interview “should” be, and because of that, his author interviews are more like a conversation, one that ends up having kind of an alchemical effect. While my book, Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment, is a lot about a lot of things in my life, this interview also dove deeper into how I got started writing about sex and porn as an investigative journalist. One question caught me off guard, or rather caused me to hesitate considerably. At one point, Brad asked me what was the craziest thing I had seen while writing about sex, and the first thing that came to mind, was, well, pretty out there. Anyway, check out the interview to find out my answer, and make sure to check out Brad’s other Otherppl author interviews with authors who are a lot more famous than me, including Karl Ove Knausgård, Jonathan Franzen, Hilton Als, Maggie Nelson, Tim O’Brien, George Saunders, Melissa Febos, and Andres Dubus III.

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Data Baby Featured on The Book Riot Podcast

The Book Riot Podcast says my new memoir, DATA BABY: My Life in a Psychological Experiment, is “really, really interesting.” You can listen to The Book Riot Podcast HERE and order a copy of DATA BABY HERE.

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The Hustler Diaries Part 6: How to Pitch a Podcast Series

Awhile back, I created a pitch for a podcast series. It wasn’t that difficult. Or, I should say, it wasn’t as hard as doing a book proposal. (Tip: If you ever think something is hard, then think of something harder. Then you will feel like you are doing something comparatively easy. Emphasis on comparatively.)

Here’s how to do it:

Come up with a great concept

If you want to do a podcast series that’s not you conducting boring interviews with people or you nattering on about something that you think is interesting but no one else finds interesting, you should conceptualize a podcast series that’s about something smart, and compelling, and informative. (I won’t share my concept here, but it’s related to my nonfiction book project.) My series is a documentary series. Maybe yours is historical, or true crime, or science. Or all those things. Once you have a great idea, seek out five of your friends, but only reach out to friends who you consider to be your more honest and straightforward friends. Friends who blow sunshine up your ass are not helpful in this context. (Call them next time you get dumped or whatever.) You want friends who “speak their mind” or are sometimes told they are “cruel.” If the assholes you know find your podcast series idea interesting, you might be on to something. Remember friends are helpful. Lying to your face isn’t helpful. If you’ve shopped your ideas around to your crabby, smart friends and gotten the thumb’s-up, it’s time to move forward.

Bang out that podcast proposal

The best thing about podcast proposals is that they aren’t that long. Mine is maybe 12 pages. It includes a one-page overview, a one-page description of the format, several pages that outline what each episode will be about, and my bio. I includes an audio sample and a news article that pertains to my project. The two most challenge parts of the proposal are the overview and the outline. The challenge of the overview is making it succinct and engaging. The challenge of the outline is making it fresh (not just repeating whatever was in the overview) and telling a story that unfolds over the series’ episodes to deliver something new to the listeners by its end. If you spend more than like a month working on this, you’re taking too long. Don’t overthink it. This isn’t brain surgery. This is a podcast series.

Shove it out the door

Once I was done with my podcast series pitch, I delivered it, in PDF form, to my agent. She suggested some revisions, which I made. Then she sent the podcast pitch out to a couple of the biggest producers of podcasts. My first meeting with one of those producers is tomorrow. We’ll see what happens. At this point, you are the parent of a small, weird child you are attempting to give up for adoption—or at least co-parenting. Believe in the kid, and if you’re lucky, someone will love that four-legged, five-eyed, two-headed creature as much as you do.

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What's Next, 2020?

In a recent post, Sree Sreenivasan, a visiting professor of digital innovation at Stony Brook, asked: “What are three tools, platforms, services, skills you’d like to work on/explore/use more/get better at in 2020?” Mine are:

1. TikTok. I haven’t tried it yet.

2. Video. I’d like to improve my video skills.

3. Podcasting. I have a meeting tomorrow about a podcasting project.

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Listen to Me

Not long ago, I had the distinct pleasure of being interviewed by Ken Reid, host of "TV Guidance Counselor," a podcast in which he interviews people about a copy of TV Guide. I picked the issue from Ken's collection that featured the ladies of "Charlie's Angels" on the cover from 1976. You can listen to the episode here or here. We talked about Farrah Fawcett, the presidential possible pee tape, and what it's like when a lot of kids are watching TV alone, but kind of together.

Here's what we discussed:

Ken and Susannah discuss being tall, Berklee, the odd isolation of neighborhoods, being anti-establishment, intellectualism, Charlie’s Angels, hair goals, Farrah Fawcett, Jaqueline Smith, The Shazam Isis Hour, the original Saturday Night Live Not Ready for Prime Time Players, Dolly Parton’s sisters, brunette as protest, The Jeffersons, Holmes and Yo-Yo, having four Real Dolls, how empathy can motivate you to do odd things, sex contracts, 20 years of covering the adult entertainment business, big budget pornography on Entertainment Tonight, sex robots, being a latch key kid, The 3:30 Movie, made for TV horror flicks, being on panel shows, Politically Incorrect, stand up comedy, being a control freak, The Post Feminist Playground, Jenna Jameson, The Mitchell Brothers, Roberta Findley, the false safety of parody, Star Trek, being in love with William Shatner, racist nerds, the varied experience exposure of television, Black Mirror, old man talk, hating progress, virtual reality, eXistenz, Little House on the Prairie, the horrifying mime episode, Monroe’s assault on Too Close for Comfort, Johnny Cash, Variety Shows, Cherry 2000, Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Jackie Brown, The Golden Age, the long slow death of physical media, sad warehouses, looking for humanity, obscenity trials, the hunt for the most extreme, the President and the Porn Star, Japanese weirdness, pee pee tapes, connections made to be broken vs lack of connection made to be made, why Ken would never have Donald Trump on the show, being fueled by spite, what the hell the point of TV Guidance Counselor is, being sad to find out how lonely you were as a kid, but feeling happy when you realize you were alone together with a lot of other kids.

Buy a copy of my digital short story "The Tumor"! It's been called "a masterpiece."

I Guess He Didn't Like My Podcast Idea

Hi Susannah--

Thanks for writing and thinking of us for your series idea. However, I don't think it's right for us, so we'll pass.

Best, --[Redacted]

The Butterfly Effect

Someone sent me a link to this podcast that covers how the porn industry has been reshaped by technology. I listened to one episode and didn't think much of it. For the most part, men struggle when it comes to covering porn. Example 1. Example 2. Exception 1. Exception 2. I'll give the rest of "The Butterfly Effect" a listen.