Whoa! Hold on a sec. Don’t go getting all bent out of shape. First of all, I’m not comparing myself to Stephen King, ok? Let’s get that straight right from the get-go.
There, feel better? Good.
Now, let me make my point.
I want to paint a picture for you…
You’re a fan of Stephen King (like me). You’ve just heard that he’s working on a new novel and you’re all excited about it. You can’t wait for it to come out so you can run on down to the book store and hand over your $25 so you can go home and devour the novel in one night.
You with me so far?
The next day though, you hear some more news. Stephen King isn’t going to be releasing his latest novel in the stores. In fact, Stephen King isn’t going to be releasing his latest novel in print, period.
“What!? That makes no sense. How the hell am I supposed to read it now?”
You’re not. You’re going to listen to it.
“Oh, you mean like an audio book, right? I can dig it.”
Sort of. Only you’re not going to get to listen to the whole thing at once.
“Ok, now I’m confused.”
Stephen King is going to be releasing his latest novel via podcasting. He’s going to read it, have a few other people produce it so it has cool music and sounds, and every week you’re going to get to listen to a new episode of the book.
“Wow! That’s brilliant. What a cool new idea. How much will it cost?”
Nothing, and it’s not a new idea.
“Free! Wow! What a great idea. That’s so innovative. What a great way to reach out to his fans.”
*sigh* Nevermind.
The picture I’ve just painted for you pretty much sums up the ignorance of some people when it comes to podcast fiction.
No, I’m not trying to slam anyone or put people down. That’s not my intent. What I am trying to say is that podcast fiction is not new. Ok? It’s been around for about four years and while that may seem new to some, it’s really not in terms of the internet.
So what if Stephen King decided to release his next book this way. Seriously. As a podcast, for the fans and for free. You know what would happen? He’s be hailed as a new-media King (no pun intended, although the press would think themselves pretty clever). Breaking down barriers and exposing a whole new generation to his work via the internet.
People would download the episodes in droves, clogging the bandwith, crashing the site and passing them on to their friends who may have never read any of his work.
The guess what? One day, some kid would give his friend a few of the downloaded .mp3’s and his friend would turn to him and say, “Oh yeah, that’s not new. I’ve been listening to those things for years.”
Suddenly, things would begin to shift. People would start learning that podcast fiction is indeed, not new, and that there is an entire world of it out there. People like Tee Morris, Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins…they were doing it long before King even dreamed up the idea and guess what? They have a loyal fan following too. All from giving their work away for free via podcast.
I’m babbling on about this today because frankly, I’m sick of the ‘giving it away for free’ debates that go on from time to time. When are people, especially established authors who scratch their head at the idea, going to learn that giving your work away for free can do wonders for your career? Ok, so maybe not established authors like Stephen King. Let’s face it, the only thing free you’re ever going to get from him is a napkin he may have left on his plate in the restaurant where he eats and shame on you for putting it up on e-Bay 2 hours later.
But let’s say you’re an author who once published some novels and said novels are now out of print, all the rights have reverted back to you and you can’t for the life of you find a new home for the books or any of your other work for that matter. What do you do? How do you generate interest in your previous and new work so that your fan base beings to grow again?
Answer: You give it away for free.
See, what that will do is allow people to discover you and your work and tell their friends who in turn will tell their friends and so on and so forth.
Hey and guess what? You might get your books pubished again.
“But why would people want to but the book if they can listen to it for free?”
Ugh! You again.
Because they’re your fans and they love you and want to support you and want to see you succeed. You’ve developed a close relationship with them by podcasting your work, giving it away for free and answering their correspondance. They don’t have to buy your book but they want to buy your book.
If you think I’m living in some kind of la-la land look at the facts:
Scott Sigler: Podcasted his novel, Ancestor, and got a publishing deal from it. The book was printed, released and his fans showed their support by buying the book and helping it get to #6 on Amazon.com and these were people that had already heard it for free. Now he’s laughing because there is a good chance his latest book, Contagious, will make in on to the NY Times Bestseller list and his book, Infected, has been optioned for the movies. Hooray for Hollywood!
Mur Lafferty: She released her podcast novel, Playing for Keeps, got a publishing deal and her fans helped it get to #16 on Amazon.com and yes, they had already heard the novel for free. Now she has an agent and things are looking up.
J.C. Hutchins: His podcast novel trilogy, 7th Son, is the most popular podcast novel ever and now he’s got a deal with big players St. Martin’s Press and the first book will be out in 2009 and you know what? There’s no doubt in my mind that every single one of his fans (myself included) are going to go out and buy the book, even though we’ve already heard it all before and for free.
And those ladies and gentlemen, are just THREE authors who have given their work away for free. There’s a bunch more that I don’t have time to mention. Why?
Cause this is already one of the longest fucking blog posts in history.
Anyway, I hope some of you can see the point I am trying to make in all this. If you can’t, you will. Eventually.
Just trust me ok? If you’re a writer, who is having trouble getting published you need to do two things. First, take a good look at your work and decide if it really is good and second; think seriously about podcasting it or giving it away for free in some form.
I’m not saying that you’re going to have the success that the people above had because frankly, podcasting it and putting it out there is just one aspect of it. It is, afterall, a form of self-publishing and if you’re not willing to bust your ass to promote it, you ain’t going nowhere homes!
I’m James Melzer, I’m a podcast novelist and I approve this message.
Now head on over to the Stephen King message board and tell him you want some free shit!
Filed under: Podcasting | Tagged: Free, Podcasting, Stephen King
Exactly.
You sir, are very, very correct!
My own experiences in this endeavor has proven your post above, right. Getting the word out, creating buzz about your stuff, building a fanbase can and will help you get published. I know, because I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. Although I am not published yet, I have recieved interest in my manuscript, both as a published novel as well as it being made into a film.
I go to the horror conventions, and it amazes me that fans know who I am, and have even specifically asked me when will my book come out! I feel guilty because I’ve let time slip away and hadn’t worked on completing it for the longest stretch. I didn’t realise that so many people were following my progress! But because I initially did work hard to generate interest in it from the beginning, a lot of people have come to know my writing. And again, I have not even been published yet! So how can this be?
Because of the stuff I’d posted online for free, and the short stories that were podcasted way back when. It does work, and I support you in your efforts! Keep the faith brutha!
Always my best,
~Robin Eduardo aka “The Zombie Diva”
Yes!
Scott Sigler is right–this is the way forward. Although I don’t see King or anyone of his caliber doing something like this (they don’t need to, after all), podcasting is growing.
And that, of course, is a good thing. I wouldn’t know about Myke Bartlett or Matt Wallace (two of my favourite authors) if they hadn’t given their stuff away for free. I will happily buy dead tree versioins of their books, even if I’ve already heard them for free. Because I like what they do, and I want to support them. I know I’m not alone in this.
If a book is good, it’ll gain listeners. If it isn’t, well, it won’t. But people are more likely to give something a go if they don’t have to pay for it.
The authors who are on to something gain a following, and a built-in audience that’ll help them secure a contract with a publisher. The audience gets free fiction, and exposure to authors they wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. It’s a win-win situation.