The day after the Great #Snowpocalypse of 2009, I felt the walls closing in a bit…and the twins inviting me to play with them really wasn’t helping. Fortunately, saving the day was Peter Cox all the way from Central London when he rearranged his schedule to sit down, open up the mics, and talk with me about podcast fiction. Seems that Litopia has opened a floodgate in talking about podcasting, Social Media, and the modern writer, and Peter wanted to sit down with the guy that started it all.

If you don’t know Litopia, you should. Lipopia is  run by writers for writers. It’s a podcast, it’s a blog, it’s a forum. It’s an inside look and a behind-the-scenes look at the publishing industry, and what was supposed to be a fifteen minute podcast…well, we went a little longer…

Enjoy this bit of time travel through the history of podcast fiction, and looking at the present day and possible tomorrows of Social Media in the publishing industry.

Listen. Comment (here and at Litopia). Share.

The other “bloke” is Martyn Casserly, a journalist, an accomplished musician, and now he is an award-nominated podcaster with his one-minute Movie Mantras podcast. (Martyn is also a dad and a good mate to boot…although his opinions concerning the new Craig-Bond films and recent Doctor Who are completely wrong, but I digress…) With the many endeavors he had going, Martyn approached me this Spring to talk about an article he was penning on podcast authors. He was optimistic that Wired Magazine (UK) would pick up the column. So I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

This morning, I checked my Twitter stream and found this waiting for me:

My article about Podcast Authors is up on Wired ! @scottsigler, @sethharwood, @jchutchins, @teemonster all appear. http://bit.ly/Pv53w

Now live on the site, Wired Magagine (UK) picked up  “Novels by Podcast” where Martyn discusses how we authors are giving away our hard work in audio format for free. He also goes into the genesis of the podcast novel and why we do what we do.

“Giving away your stories isn’t a risk… it’s a competitive advantage,” explains Scott Sigler. “If a reader who’s never heard of me has $25 to spend and they’re looking at my book next to a Stephen King book, who are they going to choose? They take King. He’s a proven storyteller. But if King is $25 and my story is free they may try me out first. Why not? It’s no risk to them. If they like me, they buy me. If they don’t they buy King. Whatever happens the customer gets what the customer wants.”

It is a tight article covering successes and milestones; and while many who follow us on Twitter, on blogs, and through podcasts, may consider what we do “old hat” after four years, podcasting — and more importantly, podcasting fiction — is still a brand-spanking new concept to the mainstream market. Articles like Martyn’s and venues like Wired are getting the word out about what we are doing. That’s what is important here: getting people to listen.

Show Martyn appreciation by blogging about this article (and yep, I got it covered from the business perspective over at Imagine That!), syndicating his link in your feeds, dropping him comments on the article’s page, and talking it up on your podcasts. Let Wired know we’re paying attention and appreciate their support, and let Martyn know both on Twitter and on Wired that his words ring true.

Thanks, Martyn. Well done!

VFTQ 130 – MOREVI interview part 2 can be downloaded at www.ViewFromTheQuad.com. Part one can be downloaded for free here, or at the link at the end of the shownotes

ANOTHER extra long episode, this time with the second half of the Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine. In this half, the phone in really gets going, with lots of callers with amusing and intriguing questions.ALSO, we have an EXCLUSIVE about an amazing “Steampunk CSI” project Tee and Pip are working on! In my words, “That sounds so awesome!”

Same drinking rules apply, with two additions. Here is the revised list.

-Tee blows his nose.

-Pip punches Tee or Tee says “Owwwwwwwh!”

-Tee drinks Tea.

-Cian, Pip, Tee or any of the phone-in guests make a terrible joke which bombs, and Cian edits out the silence to make it sound less terrible.

-Anybody refers to the “Tee Morris… You Are Muted” meme from the last call-in show I did with him

-Tee makes a mistake as too what is possible in an online game. (This should put you back no more then four or so drinks. Maybe Tee needs to listen to Starting WoW!)

-Cian lies to a guest caller about his ability to pronounce their name

Links

http://www.viewfromthequad.com/2009/01/18/vftq-129-morevi-exit-interview-part-1 – Part 1 of this epically long interview

http://www.teemorris.com – Tee Morris’s website

http://www.teemorris.com/morevipodcast/ – Morevi: Remastered

http://www.pjballantine.com/ – Pip’s site

This extra long episode (just under an hour) of View From The Quad is the first half of the Exit Interview I did with Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine about Tee’s podiobook, Morevi, which can be downloaded in full from Morevi.net.

Please note that at the time of recording, it seemed that both Pip and Tee were not going to make it through the day. They had a serious case of Con-Funk and a two hour long interview was pretty much the last thing that they needed to be doing.

With this in mind, I have developed a drinking game for this interview.
Take one drink any time one of the following happens
-Tee blows his nose.
-Pip punches Tee or Tee says “Owwwwwwwh!”
-Tee drinks Tea.
-Cian, Pip, Tee or any of the phone-in guests make a terrible joke which bombs, and Cian edits out the silence to make it sound less terrible.
-Anybody refers to the “Tee Morris… You Are Muted” meme from the last call-in show I did with him

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Thanks for listening, and come back next time to hear lots more phonecalls, some terrible humour, and finally find out if Pip and Tee cough out their lungs.

Links

http://www.teemorris.com – Tee Morris’s website

http://www.teemorris.com/morevipodcast/ – Morevi: Remastered

http://www.pjballantine.com – Pip’s site