Podcasting, Podiobooks, and you.

[JRMurdock]

I just wanted to start a discussion on the general feel about 'podiobooks'.

Podiobook: A podcast Audio Book.

Podcast: Internet based 'broadcast' that can be picked up with a 'podcast' client (such as ipodder).

Esentially this is an author putting his/her book into audio format and serializing it (usually chapter by chapter) and putting out one or two chapters per week. So far I've only seen free podiobooks, but you can make a donation at the author's web site. The first (and most popular) is Earth Core by Scott Sigler.

I wanted to know what the general feeling is regarding an author doing this. Technically is doesn't give up first print rights as it hasn't been printed. This also has the potential to gain a huge audience that may be interested in buying another work by this author.

Some other things this allows is the author to have the platform to 'rant', podcast interviews, post more than just the books. This gives readers (listeners) a more personal feel by having the book read in the author's own voice.

Granted some authors are horrible speakers, but for some, this could be a godsend. You could podcast a few chapters to entice potential readers to buy your work. You could podcast 'thoughts' and answer reader e-mails. You could communicate with your reader community on a personal level by answering e-mail on your podcast either before or after your reading. Put out poetry. Put out work that no one else wants to pulish. etc. etc. etc.

To me the media options are truly endless in what an author could do with his/her own podcast.

The best thing, anybody with a microphone and access to a webserver could do this....free.

Thoughts?

J.R.

P.S. In case you haven't guessed, I'm giving this very serious consideration. :D

[Expendable]

Podcasting. Podiobooks.

How long before we have podioblogs?

It's another way of getting your story out there, that's just great. Or you could write a script like the old radio serials, using friends and relatives for voice talent.

[JRMurdock]

Actually, some of the 'podcasts' ARE podioblogs. Just in case you were wondering.

I've subscribed to several and have been listening to them. Many 'listen' like someone reading you their blog. Some are funny. Some are 'scripted', others are podcast versions of radio shows.

Pick and choose what you like. There's an abundance to choose from.

[KatG]

Podcasts seem to be simply a development of the Net. Instead of posting an entire ms. or story or blog or rant electronically on the Net, it's using the broadcast technology that has developed in Web radio, to provide audio electric content for subscribers. In some ways, this is a bad thing, as we're going to get more and more subscription services, which means less and less free info, radio and entertainment on the Web.

For authors, the consideration is not print rights, but electronic, dramatization and audio rights in a work. If you pod an excerpt from a book, it's an excerpt, which can be considered a promotional teaser. If, however, you podcast the entire work, it then becomes a literary property, even if it's given away for free. It might be considered the equivalent of an audio book on tape, since it is a vocal broadcast file (audio rights,) or a dramatization such as a play or film, since it is produced like a radio reading, or some form of electronic production because it is done on the Net and downloaded, or involving all three sets of rights. These things usually take a few years to work out. In that case, it is hard to say how print publishers would feel about those rights being tied up elsewhere or previously exploited by the author. They might feel the market has been shot. They might feel they wouldn't be able to license the full set of rights and so the work is less appealing to acquire. Or they might not care.

Promotionally, it could be useful to the author, along the same philosophy they are employing over at Baen Books with their for-free library of downloadable novels (the novels are published in print and for sale in that form, or were so and are now out of print,) -- that the important thing is to get the author's name and work out there, being read, which will bring the author an audience for other works that are sold. Of course, there's no guarantee that a podcast will do this. You might be giving away work that you might have otherwise been able to license for print or electronic publication. But, if it's a growing trend, and given the popularity of IPod, it might be something to try out if you're willing to go into the unknown frontier.

[choppy]

I would be very excited about this as a reader. In a way, I guess I'm a technological dinosaur. Often when I have long drives I'll go to the library and check out some books on CD.

Now, if I had a little device that allowed me to download a book a few chapters at a time (say enough to correspond to my commute time) I could get a lot of reading done to and from work. Or over whatever other activity I was involved in. It would be nice to have the first chapter free, and then pay for the rest.

Things to consider:
(1) This would have to become mainstream for it to really take off.

(2) People still aren't all that comfortable (in my opinion) with paying for things over the internet. This is changing. More and more people are shopping on line, but for nickel and dime stuff, I think there's a fear that someone will slip in a few extra nickel and dime charges that you don't want and further, don't have the time to pursue.

(3) It has to be pretty streamlined. I don't want to have to buy an "ipod" and then and "ipod storage device", and an "ipod surge protector," "ipod memory card," "ipod podcast book club membership" only to find out that the "ibattery" I bought last year is obsolete and have some sixteen year old kid laugh about how I'm a dinosaur who can't figure the damn thing out. Then have to go out an buy a manual and explain to my wife that I had to go to the bookstore to get a book that explains how to listen to the book that I wanted to read in the first place. (Deep breath.)

(4) I'd want to know that most popular books are available, not just a bunch of would-be authors ranting about how horrible the world is. I can watch the politics channel for that.

[milady]

Huh?

Never heard of them before now.

[Abby]

I find audiobooks necessary to my sanity.

There's at least one podcasting site, Escape Pod, that pays $25 for previously published short stories. That's better than most reprint markets.

What I'm trying to say is that I think podcasts are a great idea, I love it, and I'm sure the industry will grow.