INTERVIEW: ‘The Girls’ podcast paves new way for YA fiction
Image of The Girls: Courtesy of Macmillan / Provided with permission.
The new journeys being charted between the written word and the audio world are exciting for both podcast listeners and book lovers. Last year, Steal the Stars broke new ground with an original, serialized podcast about an extraterrestrial under lockdown at a secret facility, and then Tor released the novelization.
This year’s success story appears to be The Girls, a new podcast in collaboration with St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and Macmillan Podcasts. The series of audio episodes, produced by Matie Argiropoulous, complements the reading of Courtney Summers’ new book, Sadie (out in September). Both follow a similar story, but they can be enjoyed together or separately.
The Girls follows radio personality West McCray as he searches for Sadie, a woman who is hellbent on dishing out justice for her sister’s killing. McCray wants to find Sadie before things turn south, and this journey sends him deep into the crime that has so greatly impacted Sadie’s family. Lovers of podcasts should enjoy The Girls, but also appreciators of genre fiction and true-crime tales as well.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Kathy Doyle, vice president of podcasting for Macmillan, and Matie Argiropoulous, producer of The Girls. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What attributes make for a quality podcast in the thriller genre?
Doyle: “Great writing and character development, addictive storytelling, and solid production values that contribute to a compelling listening experience that you absolutely want to binge because you can’t wait to find out what happens next. We worked with the brilliant director Jordana Williams from Gideon Media on our collaborative Tor Labs Steal the Stars audio drama. During production, she would talk about doing her job with her eyes closed. That’s so smart because it led to her directing the show and its cast with a keen focus on the listening, not the visual, experience, which can be left to the imagination. It’s also vital that all elements of the podcast — from the script, to the background music, and voice acting — work cohesively to create suspense. We believe we’ve achieved all of this with The Girls, based on Courtney Summers’s hot new YA novel, Sadie.
What can fans of YA novels expect in the new podcast The Girls?
Doyle: “So the book’s story line includes an obsessive reporter who starts a podcast to track Sadie’s journey to find her sister’s killer. Our six-part series brings those chapters to life, featuring a cast of more than 30 and an exceptionally produced audio drama. It’s the perfect way to introduce Sadie to readers who will then want to experience the full novel — or to bring readers to the podcast format to hear the characters tell parts of the story in a different format.
“It’s also just a great show for true-crime podcast lovers, or young adult readers who want to try a podcast for the first time with a stand-alone short series. The first of the six weekly episodes [dropped] Aug. 1. The seventh and final episode will feature some great bonus content — an interview with Courtney Summers, the author of Sadie; Melissa Albert, the author of The Hazel Wood; and Sara Goodman, editorial director of Wednesday Books. You can find The Girls on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app. The complete, ad-free audio book releases Sept. 4 for those who want the full experience.”
Do you believe there’s a lot of potential in the crossover between novels and podcasts?
Doyle: “Of course! We get a lot of book-focused sponsors for all of our podcasts, and we believe in viewing an author’s platform holistically so a podcast can be a fantastic way to extend his or her reach with readers and fans.
“We’re trying something new and innovative with The Girls, which has such a close tie-in to the novel. You don’t need to read the book to understand the podcast, but if you do read the book first, you may want to extend that experience with the podcast. Likewise, if you listen to the podcast first, you’ll want to read the book to get even more perspective and detail.
“With all the buzz about the novel, we also believe it’s an excellent way to get the young adult audience into the podcasting space specifically for The Girls, but with a secondary goal of helping them see there’s a whole world of exceptional, untapped content available to them via podcasts if they’ve never experienced the format before.
“Two other great examples of books and podcasts working together are Steal the Stars, which I referenced at the beginning of this interview, and our Savvy Psychologist weekly podcast. Steal the Stars began as an audio drama collaboration with Tor Labs and Gideon Media. When the season ended, Tor Books published the novelization and an audio book with bonus content. In March, we released How To Be Yourself (a book on dealing with social anxiety) with the popular Savvy Psychologist host Dr. Ellen Hendriksen. About half the sales for that title are for the audio edition, which is significantly higher than what we usually see with a trade book and a great sign that podcast listeners are also book buyers.”
What inspired you to produce The Girls?
Argiropoulous: “I’m a big fan of Welcome to Nightvale, My Favorite Murder and This American Life, and I think The Girls hits on what I love most about those podcasts: a compelling narrator, fascinating crime and stories of seemingly common people who turn out to be multifaceted and complex.”
What do you recommend to potential fans: Read the book first? Listen to the podcast first? Both at the same time?
Argiropoulous: “It’s a bit of a personal choice, as each format is a unique and compelling experience. The full audiobook is one of our biggest productions of the year at Macmillan Audio, including a 30+ person cast and incorporating the podcast and prose of Sadie while bringing these two styles together seamlessly. If you want to get the audio drama portions sooner and are a fan of true crime or fiction podcasts, check out The Girls, which releases on Aug. 1, a month before Sadie is published. And finally, you don’t want to miss the novel itself, too, especially if you’ve read Courtney Summers’s novels before. Her writing is dark and lyrical.”
How does one build suspense in an audio format?
Argiropoulous: “Most of the suspense is found in the text and amplified through the storytelling of our wonderful actors. Sound design helps to add texture to the experience, but it’s really down to writing and performance.
How important is background music to The Girls?
Argiropoulous: “I think background music is crucial in setting the tone for The Girls. It calibrates the mood and pace for how our story will unfold.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Girls is now available from Apple Podcasts and on other podcast apps. Sadie by Courtney Summers will be released in September. Click here for more information.
