First of all, on behalf of all of us, I just want to say THANK YOU for all of your initial support. Yesterday, we recorded our first episode with Noel Rappin and it was AWESOME. It was so awesome, in fact, that I couldn’t wait to get started on it.

The editing process is not easy. I pride myself on complete, quality audio editing and a typical episode takes me from start to finish ~ 5-9 hours. I even attend each recording live in a producer role to remind the panelists of segments that need to go in each episode! Sometimes, I’ll even ask that they go back and record certain parts for listener clarity.

After the interview is completed, the editing process itself includes editing out your typical slips of using “ums” and “ahs”, pulling together long and short pauses by panelists and guests, talking out sections where people mess up and/or start over, and editing out other nervous mistakes such as repeated words, slips of the tongue, and other blips. It also includes much, much more.

As a Penn State graduate with a Professional Writing major and Communications minor, I am also super inclined to remove other unnecessary English faux pas (but, so; so, and), and edit down sentences to make everyone’s sentence structure as concise and cohesive as possible. There’s no need to say the same sentence twice in two different ways. K.I.S.S. and all that jazz, you know what I mean?

I do not use special programs. I do not simply go in and level and compress audio. I don’t just stick intro and outro music on the beginnings and ends of shows. I edit every second of audio in each episode by hand. I listen to what people are saying and in the back of my head, I am always asking myself, “How can I make this person sound more awesome?”

After I am done the audio editing process, I go back and re-listen to the shows to make sure there aren’t any mistakes that I missed, because normally, of course there are! I edit out more “ums and “ahs” and unnecessary words and pauses. While I am doing that, I glean show notes from each episode and gather links to articles, talks, websites, etc. that were mentioned in each show. In essence, each show gets twice-over, quality control sessions.

I then pull it all together and release the episode. I publish it to RSS feeds and package everything up into a nice, little blog post for the world to enjoy. I send the shows out for transcription, and once those come back, add them in and check over them to the best of my ability.

But wait!!! My job doesn’t even stop there! Because I care about the shows that I produce, I am also very active on social media, whether it be from the actual show account or my own. I am also very vocal in Slack communities and will give behind the scene peeks into each episode process, just ask! I also work before each show is even recorded. I prepare the guests and tell them what to expect. I connect them with the panel and our listeners in various ways so that they don’t enter the conversation blindfolded and so that they have ample time to prepare to make an episode as great as possible for especially YOU as the listener!

Now here’s what I need from you to keep the show going:

We have a Patreon crowdfunding site.

We have perks for said Patreon site. If you donate just $1, you’ll still be added to our Slack Community where you’ll get exclusive opportunity to ask questions to our guests and get behind-the-scene sneak peeks and chat-time with the people you love to hear. Even if you only donate for a month, you’ll still be included in our Slack community. For life! (aka, we won’t kick anyone out if you choose to end your Patreon-age.)

We need $950/month to publish 2 episodes per month. We are going to give you two episodes per month, but we are so into giving you more. We want to do weekly episodes which doubles that cost to $1,900.

Remember how I said that we recorded our first episode of >Code yesterday? Well, we also published the show yesterday, nine hours after recording it. Normally, I ask for a week of turnaround time (transcription included) from all the other shows that I do.

Here is my personal perk for you as listeners of this particular show:

If we meet our $950 mark, you will get two shows per month and you will get the show the very same day it records. Transcription will follow a few days later. That is a process that I, myself, can not speed up.

If we double our goal, you will get four shows per month and you will still get the show the very same day it records. It’s a win/win. I get to give up more shifts at my “other job” and you get to listen to hot off the press magic-ness that is the panelists and guests of >Code.

Right now, we are completely panelist and listener supported. We are open to having a corporate sponsor or two. Our goal is to not flood the shows with 3 minutes of ads in the beginning of the shows. We’d like to spread them around and make them easy on the ears, while advertising companies and products we believe in that we also believe could benefit our listeners. If you know someone who we should reach out to, please get in touch with me directly at: mandy@greaterthancode.com.

Thank you again,

Mandy Moore(@therubyrep, DevReps, LLC)