Your Feedback on the Summer of Podcast to Print
This summer, we saw four podcast novels become in-print sensations in a period notable for having the most podcast - to - print events in such a short time. Four books were not just released, they had successful rushes up the Amazon.com charts… four books in forty four days!
In order, they were:
“Brave Men Run”
“Digital Magic”
“The Case of the Pitcher's Pendant”
“Playing for Keeps”
I'd like to get the community's opinion:
To get an idea, did you buy all four books on the day of their respective Amazon rush? No shame if you didn't, I just want to understand your perspective. If you didn't, why not?
Were the releases too close together? Was three events and four books in less than a month and a half too much hype, and too much of a drain on you bank account to fully participate in all three?
Was the fact that the summer was so packed actually beneficial? Did it contribute to each author's success?
If you listen to a lot of podcasts, did you tire of hearing Tee, Pip, Mur and myself interviewed on so many shows in such a short time, or did you enjoy it? Did you buy any of the books because you heard the author on so many podcasts, or one podcast in particular? Did you discover a new podcast you subsequently subscribed to because you heard one of the authors on it?
Which event (Sovereign Summer Sunday, Double Trouble, Heroes of the 25th) had the best author / audience connection, and why? Which one had the worst, and why?
As authors, what can we do better to connect with and mobilize the audience the next time we need the audience's support and help with something? Did any of the four authors do anything this summer that had a negative effect on you as a fan?
Is there anything else you can add to the discussion, whether positive or negative, regarding this summer's podcast-to-print efforts by each of the four authors?
Please note: I'm not trying to create a pissing contest or drag the pond for compliments for myself or for Tee, Mur, or Pip. You can help us by being absolutely honest. It's constructive criticism and legitimate praise that does the most good.
If you like, in addition to the discussion here, consider recording you feedback and either sending it as an mp3 file to mwselznick at gmail dot com or leaving a voicemail at 1-505-349-0386. I'll play the responses on a future episode of Sonitotum.
Thanks for taking part!
6 Responses to “Your Feedback on the Summer of Podcast to Print”
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Hi Matt,
Yes, I bought all the books. First of all, at some level I just wanted to support the community that has provided me with gazillions of hours of free entertainment. Brave Men Run had a jazzy new cover on book I really like. Pitcher’s Pendant and Digital Magic were sequels to books I liked and Playing for Keeps was one I had listened to and I was feeling really threatened by MattFnWallace.
I thought that Double Trouble was the best advertised and hard to miss. I thought Sovereign Summer Sunday had the best interactive content and really made me want to be involved all day. Heroes of the 25th was a work day. What was that about? Anyway, I followed those events on Twitter and people like jchutchins,mattfnwallace and scottsigler made that enjoyable.
I didn’t listen to ALL of the interviews on all of the Podcasts. I listened to some and they were fun. It’s a pretty incestuous community and it appears that authors were kind of over-exposed, but there may actually be some people who don’t listen to every podcast out there.
Really, what I thought was totally cool was all the contributed content. There was some fantastic original work for both Sovereign Sunday and Playing for Keeps. It showed how really talented the little community is and it caused me to look at those works in new light.
I did think this was kind of a busy Summer of new releases, which is great for everyone. I don’t know if the publishers would recognize the release schedules of other authors, but I don’t know if a year or two from now you could generate this kind of excitement when more of the podcast authors have been in print.
My largely disjointed thoughts:
I didn’t buy anything, and I feel guilty about that. The reason why is my budget only allows $20 per month of expendable income. As a natural-born fritterer, that doesn’t last long. So the whole not buying anything deal was totally my fault; shoulda saved up.
I did get a little tired of Double Trouble, because Pip and Tee seemed to be EVERYWHERE. I don’t slight them for it in the least, though. I listened to a few of the interviews, then simply didn’t (kind of the “if you don’t like it, change the channel” thing.)
This year there were a lot of authors doing the Amazon thing very close together. That’s probably mostly out of their control (I’d imagine the publishers decide when the books come out.) It makes me wonder about the long-term usefulness of an Amazon run. What happens when 10 authors are having their run between June and August one year (for example)?
Of all the promo stuff, the one I thought sounded awesomest was Sovereign Summer Sunday. Unfortunately, I missed the whole thing (IIRC, I was out of town.) The appeal there was hearing in-universe stories by other Famous Authors. Of course, Mur Lafferty is doing something similar with her Stories of the Third Wave, but those aren’t all stories. Having released the SotTW stuff leading up to the launch date in the podcast feed made it easier to get, though.
I’d try to organize this better, but it’s late and my brain is shutting down. :)
Yes, I bought all the books because I want to support my friends. However, Tee and Pip did a signing at a local indie bookstore and I felt it was just as important to support the indie bookstore as supporting my friends. I bought their book at the store.
No, I didn’t listen to all the interviews. It got to be a bit much. As for the other promo stuff, I really enjoyed your webathon. Tee and Pip’s thing didn’t work out for me. The site wasn’t Mac-friendly.
I think the future of Amazon runs depends on the fall-out of this year. If, a year or two from now, the publishers tell y’all that the only thing that matters is the total number of books sold, not what is sold on a single day, then the Amazon runs will cease. If the single day sales have an impact, then they will continue. However, I wonder how many people don’t buy because of the runs. Does having such emphasis on single day sales leave people thinking that if they happen to be on a tight budget and can’t afford it that particular day, then their purchase 1-2 weeks late doesn’t matter?
For me, this hasn’t been so much the Summer of Podcast to Print as the Year of Podcast to Print. It all started with Seth Harwood’s Jack Wakes Up, followed shortly thereafter by Infection from Scott Sigler. I bought both of those (though I special ordered Sigler’s book from a local bookseller rather than doing the Amazon rush), then bought Brave Men Run and Playing For Keeps on their respective Event Days.
Of the Event Days that I paid attention to, I think yours was probably the best, Matt. I managed to take about an hour out of my day to watch your streaming video and listen to one of the short stories set in the Sovereign universe; that was pretty cool. Plus, I got to crack on Sigler and P.G. Holyfield in the chat room. Bonus!
I have a few concerns (call them complaints, if you like) about podcast authors breaking into the print market:
My wallet is only so deep. Four Event Days this year ran me about sixty-four bucks (that’s an estimate; I don’t have my receipts in front of me), which is way more than I generally spend on four books. I think you guys have all written fantastic books and I do what I can to help, but eventually I’ve got to take a good look at my personal Return on Investment for participating. Sooner or later, a deserving podcast author who manages to break into the print market is going to be missing my sales because I just can’t afford to keep shelling out sixteen dollars (or more) for a single paperback. Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine got the short shrift because I had to choose between spending thirty-plus dollars on their books or seventeen on Mur’s; I just couldn’t justify both. Mur won because I’d read the Lulu version of Playing For Keeps and participated briefly in the early days of the podcast version.
The hype machine gets tiresome after a while. I love Twitter, but when 90% or more of the people I’m following are tweeting non-stop about the podcast-to-print book of the moment, the value of following those people decreases dramatically. There’s no conversation on Event Day: it’s all pleas to purchase the book and reports of how the book is doing in various categories on Amazon. Out of curiosity, I took a quick sampling on the afternoon of 25 August and found that 17 of 19 tweets on my Twitter home page were Playing For Keeps-related. Kudos to Mur for generating that kind of buzz and fervor. Unfortunately, anything that wasn’t related to her book was buried in the hubbub and probably missed. Don’t get me wrong: I did my share of evangelizing, but I set limits: one blog post to announce the Event Day beforehand, then a tweet to let folks know I bought my copy. Beyond that, it’s just noise. My DVR makes skipping television advertisements a very simple matter; on Event Day, I often wish I had a DVR for Twitter.
I have yet to see any evidence that these Amazon rushes are accomplishing anything apart from making the author realize how ardent their fans are. “We’re going to make the suits at Amazon stand up and take notice!” seems to be the battle cry, but can you show me something that indicates Event Days for these books are anything more than a blip on Amazon’s radar (if that)?
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