Overdue Update - January 2025

Summary

Overdue Podcast: January 2025 Update Summary

Released on January 6, 2025 by Headgum

Introduction

In the special January 2025 edition of Overdue, hosts Andrew and Craig provide listeners with an insightful update on the podcast's developments, primarily focusing on changes to their Patreon offerings. Titled "Overdue Update - January 2025," this episode serves as a comprehensive guide for both current and potential patrons, outlining new features, tier adjustments, and future plans to enhance the listener experience.

Patreon Updates

A significant portion of the episode centers around the revamp of Overdue's Patreon page. Andrew initiates the discussion by announcing the upcoming changes aimed at delivering more engaging and consistent content to supporters.

Andrew [00:55]: "We have been promising for a while now that we've got some changes to our Patreon page coming."

Tier Breakdown and Enhancements

The hosts meticulously detail each Patreon tier, highlighting the benefits and introducing new perks across different subscription levels.

1. $1 Tier – Cozy Community

   Entry-level patrons gain access to the Discord community, where they can:

   • Participate in voting for the annual OD Awards.
   • Discuss episodes before and after their public release.
   • Share their current reads and discover other podcasts.

   Craig [01:53]: "You don't have to love Garfield to come in."

2. $3 Tier – Dusty Bookshelves Newsletter

   Introducing the Dusty Bookshelves newsletter, this tier offers:

   • Monthly deep dives into episode research.
   • Book recommendations and assorted cultural musings.

   Andrew [02:22]: "Dust off your bookshelves."

3. $5 Tier – Q&A Streams

   Patrons at this level enjoy exclusive monthly Q&A and hangout streams, fostering real-time interaction with Andrew and Craig. These sessions allow listeners to:

   • Ask questions about recent episodes.
   • Engage in community discussions.

   Craig [05:03]: "Monthly Q and A streams that are exclusive to patrons at the five dollar level and above."

4. $7 Tier – Ad-Free Experience

   For a seamless listening experience, the $7 tier offers:

   • An ad-free version of the show, eliminating interruptions.

   Andrew [07:36]: "An ad free version of the show."

5. $10 Tier – Long Read Bonus Episodes

   Subscribers receive early access to extended episodes, providing:

   • In-depth analysis and discussions on selected long-form reads.

   Craig [09:04]: "Early Access to whatever long read we're doing currently."

6. $25 Tier – Project Promotion

   This premium tier allows patrons to:

   • Promote personal projects on the show.
   • Secure spots for their projects after a set period.

   Craig [09:21]: "If you have a project you want to plug, subscribe up there and after a few months we will book you a few spots on the show for your project."

Introduction of a Free Tier

Acknowledging the diverse audience, Andrew and Craig announce the forthcoming addition of a free tier, broadening accessibility while encouraging support through various subscription levels.

Andrew [06:34]: "Here's where you anti capitalists can get in on some fun."

Content Changes and Experimental Episodes

The hosts express their intention to diversify content beyond books, venturing into other media such as films. They share their recent experience attending a screening of "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" and its subsequent discussion.

Andrew [12:19]: "Craig and I both went to an AMC in Philadelphia with the Dolby Digital sound and shaking chairs to see the film Sonic the Hedgehog 3."

This experimentation aims to cater to listeners who enjoy varied discussions, blending book analysis with conversations about popular culture.

Future Plans and Upcoming Reads

Looking ahead, Andrew and Craig outline their reading schedule for the coming months, featuring:

• Children's Book Week: Celebrating literature for younger audiences.
• Public Domain Selections: Exploring books that have recently entered the public domain.
• "The Jungle": An upcoming read focusing on food industry practices.

Andrew [14:18]: "Later this month, we're reading the Jungle, which is about how we don't generally find, like, rat parts in our meat."

Community and Support

Emphasizing the importance of their Patreon community, the hosts express gratitude towards current supporters and invite new listeners to join. They assure that core content remains accessible to all, regardless of financial support.

Craig [11:11]: "Truly, at the end of the day, the Patreon project does make the show possible. If we did not have it, we would not be able to do the show in the way that we do it."

They reaffirm their commitment to maintaining a thriving and inclusive community, essential for the podcast's continuity and growth.

Conclusion

Wrapping up the update, Andrew and Craig encourage listeners to engage with them through various channels, including social media and email. They reiterate their dedication to evolving the podcast while preserving its foundational essence.

Andrew [16:53]: "Try to be happy anyway. That was a headgum podcast."

The episode concludes with a positive note, underscoring the enduring bond between the hosts and their audience.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Craig [01:53]: "You don't have to love Garfield to come in."
• Andrew [02:22]: "Dust off your bookshelves."
• Craig [05:03]: "Monthly Q and A streams that are exclusive to patrons at the five dollar level and above."
• Andrew [07:36]: "An ad free version of the show."
• Craig [09:21]: "If you have a project you want to plug, subscribe up there and after a few months we will book you a few spots on the show for your project."
• Andrew [12:19]: "Craig and I both went to an AMC in Philadelphia with the Dolby Digital sound and shaking chairs to see the film Sonic the Hedgehog 3."
• Craig [11:11]: "Truly, at the end of the day, the Patreon project does make the show possible. If we did not have it, we would not be able to do the show in the way that we do it."
• Andrew [16:53]: "Try to be happy anyway. That was a headgum podcast."

This update episode underscores Overdue's commitment to enhancing listener experience through diversified content and robust community engagement, ensuring the podcast remains a cherished companion for book enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.

Transcript

[Andrew]

This is a Headgum podcast.

[Craig]

While Andrew and Craig believe the joy of discovery is crucial to enjoying any well told tale, they will not shy away from spoiling specific story beats when necessary. Plus, these are books you should have read by now. Hey everybody. Welcome to Overdue. It's a podcast about the books we've been meaning to read. You've been meaning to read. We've all been meaning to read. This is a special edition. It's our January 2025 overdue update.

[Andrew]

That's Craig. I'm Andrew. Yep. We have a. We. We have been promising for a while now that we've got some changes to our Patreon page coming. That's patreon.com overdue pod just to get the URL out in front of everybody.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Early. That's the main, main thing we're changing. It's. It's like a lot of what is there is staying the same. Like the long reads are staying the same. Like the Discord community and Access is all staying the same. But we're doing, we're making a few changes to just like help us deliver more interesting stuff more consistently.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

And then just making more hashtag content for you and your ears and eyes.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

Okay. Craig, do you just want to go down all the tiers, including the ones that haven't?

[Craig]

Yeah, let me just.

[Andrew]

How do we want.

[Craig]

I'll do. I could do a tier list if you want. I'm not actually doing a ranking tier. We should do a tier list stream at some point anyway.

[Andrew]

Like, like Tears and Rain.

[Craig]

Staying the same. Oh, that's good. Staying the same is our cozy community. $1 gets you in at the Patreon to our Discord community where you can hang out. There's. You can vote on the annual OD Awards. You can talk about episodes with us before and after we release them. You can share what you're reading. You can learn about other podcasts that people are listening to. It's a great time in there, especially if you like Garfield. But like, you don't have to love Garfield to come in.

[Andrew]

You don't have to love Garfield, but it does help.

[Craig]

Or if you don't, maybe you will.

[Andrew]

Sometimes you get hot tips from me about how you can get rid of the special offers on your. On your Kindle E Reader.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

That's something that you're interested in. These are all, these are all benefits that we provide to you in the discord. For just $1 a month. That's less than a fraction of a cup of coffee every day.

[Craig]

New at the $3 tier is the dusty Bookshelves newsletter. Now just dust off your bookshelves.

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Craig]

We've got a monthly newsletter coming your way featuring deep dives on our episode research. We'll be doing some book recs, maybe all sorts of just ephemera from us as cultural omnivores.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I think we'll be posting each month's like book schedule there first now. Like there. Yeah, there and then probably in the discord before we put it out in public. This, the first, first edition of this one has a sort of a research rabbit hole that I fell into when we were doing our Wicked podcast.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Last month where just talk about, talk about what's called the famous 40. The canonical wizard of Oz book. Some written by L. Frank Baum. Many written, many not other. Other people.

[Craig]

Yes. And I talk, you know, like, if we're not doing show stuff, we might be doing stuff that we like, don't have an avenue for on the show. So I am sharing about a children's book series that I love reading with my son called Gossie and friends these birds. They're so cute. You gotta learn about them. You can't love these birds. I do. I actually do. I bought all of these books before Simon could even crawl. Like, I just love them so much and I'm chuffed that he likes them too. So, yeah. That you tune in monthly. It'll drop on the first Monday of each month. You'll get a new newsletter through Patreon in your inbox. We're excited to share it with you.

[Andrew]

Yes. At the $5 tier. So we used to do every other month we did bonus episode recordings and these were always a lot of fun to do and then like, not as much fun to program like you. So it became clear that there was a certain kind of book that did better for those bonus episodes with an audience. Usually it was something a little goofy. And as with a couple of the things that we are changing about Patreon, it simply became hard to keep programming it after you'd done it like 30 other times. But we do want to keep the streams and we are going to be doing more of them actually now. So, Craig, tell them. What?

[Craig]

Yeah, we want to hang out with you. We're going to do monthly Q and A streams that are exclusive to patrons at the five dollar level and above. They are Q and A slash hangout streams. I'm sure we will come to the table with some shenanigans along the way, but this will be a chance for you to like talk to us in real time about some of the books that we've read. Ask us about other things that you or we might be interested in. We've had fun with all of our Q and A shows in the past, but we've struggled to like make them time like to fit them into a schedule that like allows you to ask us about recent episodes. And then by the time that we do a Q and a, we've forgotten 20 of the books that we've read. So like yes, this is a great chance for us to talk to you more regularly and for you to be in community together more regularly. And that's really what we're looking for in the year. They'll usually be in the last week of each month. We'll send out a link, we'll send out a reminder to send us questions in advance. But you can also send show up to the stream, ask questions as they occur to you and we'll answer what we can. So yes.

[Andrew]

And then for this in the newsletter, you know we've got an idea of how they're going to go in our heads but obviously we'll, we'll adjust, tweaking and adjusting based on the things that work well and don't. I think we both have a pretty good detector for when we are we are bombing in some way. I'd like to think so.

[Craig]

Sometimes you can just keep bombing and it wraps around. But not all the time. Sometimes not.

[Andrew]

No.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

$7 tier. Here's, here's, here's where you anti capitalists can get in on some fun. We got we got to add free tier coming.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Paradoxically you can defeat capitalism by giving us money. Well isn't that a fun.

[Craig]

So we enjoyed again similar to the bi monthly bonus episodes, we enjoyed the vote on our monthly schedule project but again kind of became more work than we intended it to be to program those polls and to like plan in advance around accounting for them. I'm sure there are ways we can continue to solicit your input on future scheduling and we always welcome recommendations all the time.

[Andrew]

Yes. Running document for that. Always have.

[Craig]

Yes, we'll continue to but now we're giving you a weekly benefit which is an ad free version of the show. Folks who have been listening a long time generally tell us that they don't mind listening to the ads because they like listening to us.

[Andrew]

To be clear about the ad experience that we curate, we don't handle the booking of those and the selling of the show, but we do have veto power over Advertisers that want to advertise on the show. So we do the host red ads. We do put some work into making those different and listenable every time. Also, we have lost what is an amount of money. I probably don't want to think about turning away pretty much anything wellness related from our ad zone at this point. Would say that's. If not a majority, at least a solid plurality of the ad offers we get is from companies selling various like supplements and, and things.

[Craig]

And we're just not like, we're not.

[Andrew]

We'Re just not comfortable.

[Craig]

We're not gonna vet those.

[Andrew]

You know, if we would not, if we would not use it ourselves, then we don't want to talk about it. But for the ads that we do read, if you would like to skip those without having to dig your phone, especially in the winter months, you got your gloves on. You can't, you can't be touching your screen. Skipping these ads.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

So $7 a month ad free tier.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Coming to the. This is all, all the bonus episodes and the ad free stuff. Like it all funnels into like one extra Patreon RSS feed that they.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

You had to set up.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Depending on if you get whatever your tier, like whatever you're entitled to based on the tier at.

[Craig]

So.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

And then the long read bonus episode tier is staying the same. You're gonna get early Access. That's a $10. You'll get early access to whatever long read we're doing currently. Again, it's Sit me baby one more time. Yes. Send me baby one more time.

[Andrew]

Sit me baby one more time.

[Craig]

Okay, great. And we're going to start releasing those on the main feed much later than we had in the past. We'll wait until the series has concluded. So if you want to read along with us and really engage in that project, that's where you want to be. And then of course at the $25 tier, if you want, if you have a project you want to plug, subscribe up there and after a few months we will book you a few spots on the show for your project. Two months, right?

[Andrew]

Two months.

[Craig]

Yes.

[Andrew]

We have, we have a set number of months that we decided that was.

[Craig]

Yeah. And that's, that's kind of to keep it commensurate with external advertisers. Right. Is to, to have that come through the Patreon, which.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And we really intend that to be mostly for like independent projects and like people doing their own stuff less for, you know, companies doing.

[Craig]

Please don't come to us with, you know, your giant corporation to that tier. Yes. But come to us with the cool thing you made or, you know, your friend made, let us know.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

So that's kind of the rundown again, as Andrew said up top. Like, these are. Some of. These are like new things that we are interested to make, which helps keeps the show fresh and engaging to record on a weekly basis and things like that. And some of them are kind of looking at what we were struggling to do in a way that was engaging and give you something else instead that feels of a similar or even maybe better value and all of this. I think our goal is to like keep the overdue community thriving and cool in. In 2025.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

We've been really grateful for it.

[Andrew]

You know, there's going to be a need for thriving, cool communities that. Yeah, yeah. These days it feels like you could either be one of those. You could. You gotta pick one. And we're gonna try to do both to the extent that it's possible.

[Craig]

And truly, at the end of the day, the Patreon project does make the show possible. If we did not have it, we would not be able to do the show in the way that we do it.

[Andrew]

Show does not work.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Without Patreon.

[Craig]

So we are so grateful for the people who are already supporters who have supported and have, you know, if you've moved on for whatever reason, thank you for what you've contributed in the past. And if you want to join us, here's where we're at right now. Or if you're a current subscriber, here's what we're going to be doing moving forward. If you want to adjust based on that, on the new information in front of you.

[Andrew]

Yeah. And if you're not able to support financially, like our commitment is still to release like the kind of book based stuff to the main public feed eventually. I know there are other podcasts that have like permanently paywalled stuff or have like a lead time of years and we're not going to do. We're not doing stuff like that.

[Craig]

No.

[Andrew]

At this point. But we.

[Craig]

Oh, we. Yeah. Like this is mostly like if it's not an episode about a book, it can live just in the Patreon, I think is kind of what we're thinking about. We might be doing some experimental pods.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So here's one experiment that's going up at the same. The same time that this update is. Craig and I both went to an AMC in Philadelphia with the Dolby Digital sound and shaking chairs to See the film sonic the Hedgehog 3.

[Craig]

Yep.

[Andrew]

Which is the best of the three Sonic it is films. And I don't think it's. This is not particularly close, but we did see. Based on, you know, we, we had fun seeing the Garfield movie and talking about that.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Which is another episode that's up on, on Patreon. So we saw sonic the hedgehog 3 and then we thought on it for a couple days and then we talked about it for 90 minutes.

[Craig]

We had a lot to say.

[Andrew]

So, yeah, I don't think it's gonna necessarily just be movies or TV or whatever. We're kind of feeling out like what those episodes are going to be about and how often they're going to release. But those are available to anybody subscribing at any tier. That's what we decided. Yeah, just a good old fashioned.

[Craig]

Just here's a bone. Here's. Here's an actual bonus. Like without any cadence currently. Just here's some fun stuff we decided to do.

[Andrew]

But yeah, the nature, the nature of the show where we don't, like, we're not committed to any one series or any one genre of book, we're kind of hopping around a lot. And it's the feedback that we have gotten both like implicitly and explicitly is that like a lot of people are just around to hang out with us. And so if you want to hang out with us talking about some book with a, like a sexy book with a poor understanding of the FBI and also the Mafia, then maybe you'll also want to hear us talk about the movie sonic the Hedgehog 3 with a.

[Craig]

Poor understanding of the UN and what makes Jim Carrey interesting.

[Andrew]

Yes, yes, those two things.

[Craig]

So this is our update. No major like other programming updates for the main feed, you'll continue to get those episodes as usual.

[Andrew]

Yeah, gonna keep doing the same thing we've been doing for years and years and years. Put them out on Mondays.

[Craig]

We ran down the January schedule in our Thornheadge episode. So go listen to that. Get to the end of that episode. You'll hear the schedule for January or check the social feeds per usual. We're already talking about plans for children's book week and to read some books that recently entered the public domain. So we've got, We've got schemes. They're coming at you.

[Andrew]

Also just talking about books that in some way touch on essential advancements to like, public welfare. Oh, that. You know, just strides that we made in the 20th century that now a bunch of idiots have taken for granted and are Just going to decide to tear down probably. So, you know, 20, 25. Here we are. That's where we are.

[Craig]

We're glad you're with us here on Overdue. It's all awesome.

[Andrew]

Later this month, we're reading the Jungle, which is about how we don't generally find, like, rat parts in our meat.

[Craig]

Yeah. Yeah. Anymore.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

For now.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Just to give you a sense of the kinds of things that were.

[Craig]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Trying to find if there was, like a good book about Jonas Salk or something.

[Craig]

Oh, that'd be fun.

[Andrew]

He's a cool. He seems like a cool dude. But anyway.

[Craig]

Okay, if you, the listener, have any overdue questions about this or just about the show, send us an email. Overdue podcast, as always, the social feeds at Overdue Pod. Our theme song is Nick Lauren. Just all that good stuff. Andrew could tell you what the website is, but you probably know what it is.

[Andrew]

Overdue podcast.com or again, patreon.com overdue pod to see all this Patreon stuff directly.

[Craig]

We've been doing this show for over a decade and it's still fun to think up new stuff to do with it. So we're grateful for you, the listeners, and our supporters for this opportunity here to try some new stuff.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Craig]

So I got.

[Andrew]

We hope. We hope it works for you and for us. And those are the two groups of people I'm interested in. All right, everybody, thanks for listening to our little mini update pod. If you have any questions, you can hit us on social or overdue podmail.com. yeah, and yeah, you already said that. I'm just reminding them.

[Craig]

Okay.

[Andrew]

And yeah, I guess we'll try. I guess try. I don't know if I want to read the tagline on the end of a weird nothing episode, but I guess try to be happy anyway.

[Craig]

Try to. That's the tagline for the. For the update episodes. Try to be happy anyway.

[Andrew]

Try to be happy Anyway. That was a headgum podcast.