Devoted to publishing, publishers and to those who craft the written word

Earlier this week, the best-selling author and Buzz, Balls & Hype blogger, M.J. Rose, wrote a podcasting manifesto that every aspiring and practicing writer should read.  After tearing her hair over the miserable state of audiobooks, Rose made this simple point:

"With a potential audience of 30 million plus you'd think the industry would be trying some new and innovative ways to get people listening to books."

With the multiplication of I-Pods and the rise of a podcasting sites, it’s high time that authors take advantage of the easy ways we can share and enjoy digital audio files.  Rose explores two different audiobooks projects during her post: LibriVox, a new project that has volunteers record audio-book versions of only public domain works; and Jitterbug, a commercial site that doesn’t offer downloads for all types of MP3 players, yet.

Rose offered a number of interesting strategies for authors, including:
"How about enabling authors to offer their readers an older backlist book chapter by chapter as a podcast serial to get readers excited about the author's work?"

I followed her advice, and created a story archive at the website, Travel Goat.  They offer a simple, free interface for writers, and I can paste the link inside my blog.  Fledgling writers should follow Rose's advice, putting together a simple, dramatic audio-sampler of  their work.  Books don't have to sit between two covers anymore: podcasting gives writers a cost-effective way to distinguish themselves and provide another viewing option for new readers.