Welcome to the New Media, Pt 3

This is the third in a three part series. We've covered how we can now listen to music and how we can listen to podcasts. Where do we go from here?

Most people who know me will be able to tell you that I'm a pretty avid reader. I'm constantly reading some book while I have two or three waiting in the queue to be read after finishing the current one. If I don't have something waiting to be read when I finish, I can always go back and read through a book or a series that I've already read before. I have no problem reading a book multiple times if it was a quality book. However, there are places where I haven't traditionally been able to read books. I don't usually read in the car since audio books are too expensive and I'm too lazy to go to the library and find them. I also can't read while I'm shoveling out from under a foot and a half of snow. Well, at least, I couldn't until now.

There's a growing trend among some authors to adopt the "try before you buy" mentality that I wrote about previously with music, and these authors aren't merely allowing you to read sample chapters. They're offering you the majority of the book. Through one of the podcasts to which I listen, I heard about a site called Podiobooks. The point of Podiobooks is to allow an authors to promote themselves by letting the reader get to know their work. They record the books (sometimes mildly abridging it for space) and upload it to Podiobooks. When a "reader" comes to the site, they can peruse the works available in the genres. When they find a book that piques their interest, they can listen to a sample or subscribe. When they subscribe, they are given the option of how frequently they want the work to be released (daily, monthly, etc) and they are given a personalized feed for their podcast catcher (the program which is tasked with downloading the podcasts). The user is then able to listen at their leisure. Admittedly , the choice of genres is currently a bit small with most of the works being of the fantasy/sci-fi/horror realm. Keep in mind, though that this is still a fairly new concept and that the works are mainly tailored right now for the early-adopter crowd. We saw this with podcasting as well where most of the early, popular shows were tech/geek related, but they've since broadened out to include a wider range of shows. The same will most likely happen with podcasted books. After you have enjoyed a book, you are encouraged to give a donation to the author through Podiobooks. You pick the amount and at least half will go directly to the author which is significantly better than traditional royalties. Or, if you prefer, most authors make a print version of their books available.

Here's what I've listened to:

1. Earthcore by Scott Sigler - Sci-fi/gorefest - One of the first podcasted novels, this is the story of what happens when a mining company goes a bit too deep. Not for the feignt of heart as Scott puts his characters through the wringer and no one is safe.
2. Brave Men Run by Matthew Wayne Selznick - Sci-fi - The author discribes the work as what would happen if John Hughes wrote the X-Men. There are people with strange abilities among us that are refered to as Sovereigns, and this story focuses on one very interesting adolecent. Quite possibly my favorite podiobook yet.
3. Ancestor by Scott Sigler - Sci-fi/gorefest - Again, this is a Sigler work that focuses on a company that's just trying to make a buck and, in this case, help people when somthing goes horribly, horribly wrong. They thought they were bio-engineering the progenitor of the human race that could be used to harvest organs for transplant. They were wrong. Hillarity ensues. No, wait, that's not right. Horrible and, in some cases, ironic deaths ensue. This book isn't available at podiobooks since Scott has branched out with another company to be releasing his work as pocasted novels. You can find them at his website, scottsigler.net.
   
4. A Different Point of View by TD-0013 - Sci-fi - Short skits on the Star Wars universe from the perspective of a storm trooper. Very, very funny.

You know, looking back on it now, that's a lot of sci-fi. Then again, that's what I read mostly anyway. Now it's just a matter of you finding something that will interest you on Podiobooks.