Tourism to Scotland rose 11 percent in 2014, a Year of Homecoming, while visitors from North America rose by 28 percent, topping 500,00 for the first time. Without question, the new STARZ Channel TV drama "Outlander" was a key factor in this increase and continues to deliver new and repeat tourists to the land "where the men are kilted, the women are winsome, and the whisky is neat."
Immediately upon the announcement that there would be a TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldon's literary series, there was an immediate explosion of the fan base, especially on Twitter. While there had always been a worldwide fan base for the books, news of the TV production gave birth to a staggering online social media fandom, almost overnight! New fan sites, blogs, Facebook pages, Pinterest pages and more were quick to emerge. Among those was "The Outlander Podcast."
Creators and hosts of the podcast, Ginger and Summer, were long-time fans of the "Outlander" books. Just as my desire to share my passion for Scotland and all things Scottish led to my creating this podcast, so too it was their love of the "Outlander" books, and author Diana Gabaldon, that led these sisters to launch their podcast in September 2013 - with no prior experience, except that Ginger was also a fan of podcasts dating back to 2008.
Their efforts have been well received. They've been invited guests at Outlander Roundtables, appeared on the Tartan Carpet with the stars of the production, and have carved out a unique niche for themselves as "fan media." Today the podcast's Facebook page has over 7,500 "likes" and they have almost double that, near 14,000 followers on Twitter.
In this episode, you'll meet Ginger and Summer and get a behind-the-scenes view of The Outlander Podcast!
• The Official Outlander Fan Site
• Diana Gabaldon - Outlander Author's Website
• Mary's Meanders - Outlander tours in Scotland
• The Outlander Kitchen - Historical and Character-inspired recipes from the fictional world of Diana Gabaldon.