WASHINGTON — As a regular listener of the podcast version of the nationally syndicated radio talk show “Don and Mike,” I’ve been a little worried lately.
Just about every day since the locally produced show has been available as a free regular download on iTunes, it has kept me company on my two-hour commute to and from work. But last Friday was host Don Geronimo’s last day, and I don’t know yet whether the rejiggered version of the show will hold my attention.
Fortunately, there are lots of other entertainment options out there in the podcast world. Lately I’ve been trying out some free, downloadable books provided at a site called Podiobooks.com.
Never heard of it? I hadn’t either, but some of the 196 titles available at the site aren’t bad. The books here are mostly by authors who couldn’t get deals for their manuscripts, but two writers have attracted such large online followings through the site that they’ve managed to land deals with major New York publishers.
Horror writer Scott Sigler, one of the pioneers in this area, began regularly posting readings of his first book in March 2005. “EarthCore,” broken up into 45-minute chunks that he posted on a weekly basis, won an audience of 10,000 listeners. His second book, “Ancestor,” did even better, scoring 30,000 subscribers. A small Canadian publisher signed on to release his third book in a small paperback run.
This month, Sigler’s fourth book debuted in a hardcover release for the first time, from Crown Publishing Group. Crown has printed an initial run of 100,000 copies of “Infected,” Sigler’s bloody tale about a parasite that turns its human hosts violently insane. That’s a high figure for the book industry, where mostly unknown authors usually get an initial print run of only a few thousand.
“There’s a big chip on our shoulders,” Sigler said of his fellow authors in the podcast community. “We’re sitting on these giant stacks of rejections, and we’ve got an attitude: ‘We’re going to show you it’ll sell. We’re going to show you we’re right.’ “
Crown publisher Tina Constable indicates that podcasts could become a source of new material for publication. “We are always looking for new outlets and fresh voices throughout the book acquisition process,” she wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Podcasts are a perfect place to discover dynamic content and talent that comes with a built-in audience.”
Sigler’s editor says the company has been impressed that Sigler fans have requested promotional materials about the book to try to spread the word about the new hardcover edition of “Infected.”
Without a publisher’s PR team to get the word out, podcasting authors have had to dream up innovative ways to promote themselves to build their audiences.
Author J.C. Hutchins, for example, raised the profile for his podcasts by getting actors and directors to record short promotional clips that are incorporated into his weekly recordings. Famous zombie flick director George Romero, for example, recorded one such clip when Hutchins tracked him down at a fan convention. At Hutchins’ Web site, a “minister of propaganda” routinely sends his readers on missions that vary from burning CDs and passing them along to printing out promotional postcards and slipping them onto shelves at the local bookstore.
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