Starter Kit. Idea 318 of 500. Cluster 15
Podcast and audiobook production in three languages, for Sri Lankans abroad and at home
The mechanism, from the book
The proof exists in Malabe. What is missing is a thousand small versions of it.
The first step
Produce one short audiobook chapter or podcast episode in Sinhala, Tamil and English, with clean sound, from an author who agrees to it. Offer it to authors and publishers as a sample, with a price per finished hour. A publisher or author who commissions a full book is the proof, and the listening figures tell you whether Sri Lankans abroad listen.
- Who pays first
- An author or publisher who wants a book to reach listeners in three languages, including Sri Lankans abroad, and pays per finished hour.
- What leaves today
- Books in Sinhala and Tamil seldom reach listeners abroad, so readers among Sri Lankans abroad are lost to the island's writers.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether any support exists for publishing in Sinhala and Tamil.
- Department of the Registrar of Companies. Ask which business registration suits a small production studio.
Check before you spend
That the author or publisher holds the audio rights and grants them to you in writing, and that any music used is properly licensed.
Find out these three numbers
- What would an author pay per finished hour of audio?
- How many listeners did the sample episode reach in a month?
- How long does one finished hour take to record and edit?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.