By Corinna Kloth
About the Podcast
Hosted by Madix-3 and inviting a different up-and-coming litrpg/progression fantasy author each week, CritRPG is your One-Stop-Shop for everything LitRpg, Progression Fantasy, and Royalroad!
Warning! This Podcast may contain traces of writing advice, talks about video games, anime, and tips on how to market your books in the Progression Fantasy space.
Tell us about yourself/selves.
M: Hi, I’m Max, 36 years old, and from Berlin, Germany! I’m many different jobs in a trenchcoat, but mostly, I want to work together with people I like to help them succeed.
How did you get started with The crit rpg Podcast?
M: I was at an office job and needed a break, so I took a day off and went to the spa. I’d already been writing (again, and seriously, this time) for a few months at the time, and had met a lot of great friends through my discord community. I’d called it CritRPG on a whim, because most of us were writing LitRPG or Progression Fantasy at the time. As I was sitting by the pool and reading a book I unfortunately didn’t enjoy, I wondered what I could do to get my friends some more exposure. Something came over me and suddenly thought “I should do a podcast”.
(I always liken it to the old meme with the cat from the Bjork video that says “I should buy a boat.”)
So when I asked my writing buddies if anyone wanted to hop in, Haylock Jobson (of Heretical Fishing fame) jumped on the chance, and I just kept going. Over 100 episodes, one every week!
How would you describe your podcast?
M: A very loose format held together by 5 core questions, some duct tape, and my chronic addiction to puns.
To me at least, podcasts that are very strict on their routine don’t feel all that right. I always would much rather get to know the person behind the book, the author, and what makes them tick. How do they write, why do they write, and what are they interested in writing. That sort of thing.
What’s the most challenging and most satisfying part of running a podcast?
M: It doesn’t pay at all, is one thing. I earn about $250 a month, and $100 of that comes from my friend Travis Deverell aka Shirtaloon. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to keep the podcast running for so long, but even with all that money, after material, hosting, and paying an editor (Jamie from BigbadAudio.Ca who is just a pure gem), I am already down about $50, and that’s before my own time.
That is offset, however, by the mails I get from people telling me that the podcast inspired them to write. In times like these, with jobs falling away at all sides, its so important that we reconnect with the arts to talk about what makes us human. If I can help with that at least a little bit, I have made a positive impact on someones life, and that feels better than I can put into words.
what’s one of your favorite episodes?
M: I have many very strong episodes that I love, but the one with Johnathan McClain and Seth McDuffee comes to mind immediately. Many friendships have been forged in the course of the podcast, but this one episode really stands out because I could almost feel the connection building as we talked. I’ve recently had the great pleasure of meeting Johnathan and Seth both at LitRPGCon in Denver, and I can confirm they are as cool in real life as they are in the podcast.
What’s your uploading schedule, and what can we expect from crit rpg in the upcoming months?
M: It used to be once a week, on Sundays, at 12PM German time, but I recently had to go on hiatus. I have founded a video game studio that’s taking up most of my free time, and I just can’t justify the work I’m putting into finding a guest, interviewing them, an uploading the result, let alone the promotion the podcast would need. I also hit a pleateau about a year ago, and nothing I do has won me the algorithm’s favor. Accepting that ithe show would probably never be Diary of a CEO or The Joe Rogan Experience wasn’t as hard as one might imagine, though. To be honest, I don’t know what I’d do with that level of fame and scrutiny. Making an impact on a small group of people who can then change the world feels much better.
That doesn’t mean this is the end, though. There are going to be new episodes sporadically, if I can find cool people the interview, and the mood strikes me! 🙂
Where can listeners find talking book publishing?
M: https://critrpgpodcast.com or https://linktr.ee/madix3
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