LIVE BTR Show with the Authors

The short story Podioracket Presents-Visionaries is complete! We’ve invited the final 8 authors to join the LIVE Blog Talk Radio Podioracket show. Speak with some fantastic novelists such as Mike Luoma, Philippa Ballantine, Basil Sands, Teel McClanahan III, Brian Rathbone, J. Daniel Sawyer, H.E. Roulo, and Phil Rossi. Brian Holtz will be co-hosting with Rhonda Carpenter and, to add even more excitement, there will be book give-aways. Don’t miss out on June 9th at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern on www.blogtalkradio.com/podioracket!

Prize for Comments & Ratings

Now that the anthology is complete, we want to hear from listeners which stories they particularly enjoyed. So, listen to the anthology then leave a comment and rating. Once you’ve left a rating, send an email to heather@podioracket.com and you’ll be entered into the drawing. Win a copy of Handbook for the Criminally Insane. The drawing will be held during our LIVE interview show on Thursday, June 9th at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern on www.blogtalkradio.com/podioracket!

FINAL BTR SCHEDULE

The final calendar for all of this season’s Blog Talk Radio-Podioracket shows contains some exciting upcoming interviews. Find all of them at www.blogtalkradio.com/podioracket

Thursday, May 20th: Paul E. Cooley is a writer of horror, supernatural, and, well, other types of fiction. Most of his stories are rather difficult to classify. Shadowpublications.com his website presents stories every month (when possible) with rants and ramblings at least once a week. Fiction has been his hobby since he was a teenager and led him to get a degree in English from Colorado State University. His newest releases include Tattoo and Closet Treats.

Wednesday, June 2: For those who wish their kids came with an instruction manual… Here’s a book for you. Authors Traci Davis & Vicki Holleman-Perez have written The Momma Guide, providing everyday practical advice for mommas everywhere. The Momma Guide addresses topics are far-ranging as birth, health problems, depression, divorce, death, and everything in between. As inspirational as it is informational, the hefty volume (461 pages) is a handy guide.

Thursday, June 3: We can’t wait to chat with R.E. (Renee) Chambliss. She is the author of the novel and podiobook Dreaming of Deliverance and is the narrator for Kenn Crawford’s podiobook Dead Hunt. She has also hosted some episodes of the writing podcast Unpublished Not Dead that is usually hosted/produced by her friend Kael (aka Eric). Help us welcome R.E. to the show!

Wednesday, June 9: The short story Podioracket Presents-Visionaries is complete! We’ve invited the final 8 authors to join the show. Speak with some fantastic novelists such as Mike Luoma, Philippa Ballantine, Basil Sands, Teel McClanahan III, Brian Rathbone, J. Daniel Sawyer, H.E. Roulo, and Phil Rossi. Brian Holtz will be co-hosting with Rhonda Carpenter and, to add even more excitement, there will be book give-aways.

Thursday, June 10: Welcome Alex White for the final Blog Talk Radio-Podioracket show of the season! Author and artist, Alex White’s The Gearheart recently completed.

In last week’s PRP-Visionaries story #13 Brian Rathbone, the author of The Dawning of Power trilogy, gave us Beyond the Veil. Vincent Pels seeks to protect his daughter in life and death.

Coming up next we have a supersized story from J. Daniel Sawyer, author of Predestination. In the dark-noir story, We Create Worlds, Rick’s VR shop does a healty business in fantasy, vital stress relief for the community. He likes his life, his job, his customers, and his relationship with a certain group of Sicilian gentlemen – life is good. Sometimes, though, fantasies have a way of impinging on reality in a most inconvenient fashion…

Music by George Hrab, Al Philipps and the Woo Team, and Ax Pur, all from Podsafe Music Network. Danielle Ozymandia as Nikka and the college girl.

Blog Talk Radio- Edge Publishing!

Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing encourages, produces and promotes thought-provoking and well written science fiction and fantasy literature. Recent EDGE titles include Gaslight Grimoire (Fantastic tales of Sherlock Holmes). Gaslight Grotesque (Nightmare tales of Sherlock Holmes), and Tesseracts Thirteen (Chilling Tales from the Great White North).

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/EDGEpublishing
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/EDGE-Science-Fiction-Fantasy-Publishing/321935433328

We will be joined by Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston, co-authors of Druids.

Join us on April 22 at 6pm Pacific Time/9pm Eastern Time. Set a reminder!

by Brian Rathbone

Standards are often set by industry leaders, and Amazon has certainly set the pace for ebook pricing and distribution in the past, but pressure from publishers and competition in the marketplace seem to have the online retail giant reconsidering its policies.

Amazon and MobiPocket, a property of Amazon, have long paid a 35% royalty on ebooks sold on their platforms. Publishers and authors have often said that the 65% take for the platform was audacious at best.

Bandwidth and servers are expensive, but they are not that expensive.

With the recent release and success of the Barnes and Noble Nook, along with the realization that a large percentage of Kindle sales are coming from iPhone and iPod touch users, it is no wonder that Amazon would see the iPad and iBookstore as threats to its Kindle sales base. Amazon’s announcement that it will begin paying 70% royalties on qualifying Kindle titles is a sign of the changing times. To qualify, titles must be priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and that price must be at least 20 percent lower than the print book price. There is also some fine print regarding pricing on other platforms, which must be considered. Even with these restrictions, Amazon has made publishing on Kindle far more attractive to independent authors and publishers.

This move could prompt other platforms to raise their royalties as well, since Amazon’s royalty rates are often viewed as the industry standard.

All this competition could result in higher ebook prices for the consumer, but the current trends should put more money in the pockets of independent authors and publishers.

I find myself wondering if the people will not soon demand, by virtue of their spending, DRM-free content. With DRM-free publishing models like that of Smashwords and Podiobooks thriving, might we next see the demise of DRM?

See more about Amazon’s announcement.

Listen

or download.

INTERVIEWS

Jude-Marie Green

Jude-Marie Green is Associate Editor at Abyss & Apex Magazine

Quantum Kiss recently published a fantasy romance she wrote,  Orthogonal to the Astral Plane.

The short story anthology Glorious Madness will appear in 2010

M.H.Bonham

M.H. Bonham is a Podiobooks.com author, and recently released Howling Dead through Dragon Moon Press.

Additional information on M.H. Bonham is available at  http://shadowhelm.livejournal.com/

Follow her on Twitter: mh_bonham

Promos

One Fall from Spencer Baum, available on Podiobooks.com

The Sorcerer’s Secret by J.A. Areces, available on Podiobooks.com.

A small but growing number of Podiobooks.com authors have started using White Wolf Press to see that ebook versions are made to fit into a variety of channels. See White Wolf Press’s list of authors and books here. 

ebooks & White Wolf, LLC

Brian Rathbone firmly believes that ebooks should be a part of every author’s distribution plan. He’ll tell you to get on Smashwords.com and get your work distributed to major players like Amazon, Sony, and Barnes and Noble. He’d tell you to have an iPhone app made of your book and sell it on iTunes. He used to tell people to get on Mobipocket, but when Mobipocket announced they would no longer be accepting new publishers, he knew independent authors were going to miss out on a great opportunity. It was then that White Wolf Press, LLC underwent a transformation from publishing only Brian’s works to being a royalty-paying digital publisher. The primary focus of White Wolf Press is to help authors with published or podcasted novels who wish to establish a presence in the ebook market.

Digital publishing gets author’s works in front of a global audience. It’s a relatively low risk proposition and it compliments other forms of publishing. With no upfront costs and help from White Wolf in lowering the technical barrier, authors can achieve widespread digital distribution of their ebooks.

Making the eBook Push

One author taking advantage of White Wolf Press is Emerian Rich, author of Night’s Knights on Podiobooks.com. Night’s Knights recently released in print, and is ready to push the Mobipocket version. Help support her push day, and get a little bonus!

The Deal

On January 23rd (this Saturday), buy Night’s Knights on Mobipocket!

SPECIAL OFFER!!*
Everyone who buys the Mobipocket edition of Night’s Knights has the opportunity to receive a copy of the Night’s Knights Companion free!

Just follow these simple steps:
1. Buy Night’s Knights on Mobipocket on January 23rd.
2. Take a picture of yourself with your e-device, pc, or phone with Chapter 13 of Night’s Knights displaying.
3. Email the picture to Emerian at: emzbox@sbcglobal.net with your name and snail mail address by February 5th.
4. Enjoy your ebook of Night’s Knights while you await your extras!

January 23rd is Mobipocket push day. If you’ve been putting off buying, this is the perfect time! You can buy your digital copy for your phone, e-reading device, or to read on your pc! And because it’s an ebook, you get it for half the price! Only $5.99 later, you will be swimming around in Night’s Knights goodness. Yum!

Night’s Knights Companion booklet is a must have. Packed with floor plans, character sketches, and fan fic, you won’t believe how much background information and author notes are packed in this baby!

Buy Night’s Knights on Mobipocket now!

*Special Offer ends February 5th, 2010

Please note that Podioracket isn’t paid to endorse any services or products. We do tend to support undertakings that have worked for us. Rhonda R. Carpenter’s The Mark of a Druid novel has been released in eBook format by White Wolf, and Brian Rathbone has just come on board as a permanent staff member. So, while we aren’t paid, and H.E. Roulo put this piece together, we may very well be biased. But only in a good way, I hope.

Brian Holtz

Brian Holtz is the author of Handbook for the Criminally Insane, Collapse at Hiddenverse Three-Three-Two, and Nephilim Push.

Brian is one of the editors for the Podioracket Presents anthology.

“I’ve been writing for about 13 yrs now and have grown to love Podiobooks and its community.  There are many talented writers to find there, and this is just a small way to give back to such a wonderful group of imaginative people!”

Brian Rathbone

Brian Rathbone is a horse trainer turned technology geek turned fantasy author. He is the creator of The World of Godsland fantasy series, and author of The Dawning of Power.

Brian represents Podioracket.com at a variety of conventions and is a permanent interviewer for the regular Raise a Racket podcast.

Find The Dawning of Power at Podiobooks.com.

Follow Brian on Twitter @brianrathbone

 


Information on the four of us who make up Podioracket.com can always be found on our Staff page.

Please join us in welcoming Brian Holtz and Brian Rathbone!

Heather & Rhonda

Listen

Andrea Howe

 Andrea edits Fantasy works through Blue Falcon Editing.

andrea@bluefalconediting.com

Ann Wilkes

Her web site: http://wilkes.zftp.com/

Her newest book is http://wilkes.zftp.com/Lavratt.html

For this project, we’ve brought in a new team member. Please welcome Brian Holtz, the author of several Podiobooks.com novels. Under Podioracket.com’s familiar brand, Brian and Heather Roulo will coordinate and promote Podiobooks.com author’s short stories in one place. The series will be called Podioracket Presents. And the first volume is Visionaries.

Our intention is to give listeners another way to find authors they love.

Since we are trying to make this as simple and easy as possible, initially we are hoping to simply gather together short stories that authors have already created and used elsewhere. If the first season of Podioracket Presents is successful we will be open to new stories in subsequent volumes.

Details for Podiobooks.com authors are available in the guide at Podioracket.com.

Thanks! Heather & Brian

Listen
or download the ep.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Wyken Seagrave Greeting
Grizzly Smith Greeting
Emerian Rich Greeting
Mark Rayner Promo
A. Craig Newman Greeting (New Jersey Writers Society)
Alex White Greeting
Wander Radio and Arlene Radasky Promo
Edward G. Talbot Greeting
Paul Elard Cooley Greeting
Keith Hughes Promo
Jack Hosley Greeting
Arlene Radasky Greeting
The GearHeart Alex White Promo
@dahayden Greeting
Mick Bordet Greeting
Wyken Seagrave Promo
Lone Wolf Sage Co Greeting
A.P. Stephens Greeting
Craig Robertson Promo
J.D. Sawyer Greeting
Mick Bordet and Arlene Radasky promo
Keith Hughes pirate greeting
Collin Earl and Chris Snelgrove Greeting
Paul E Cooley Promo
Philipa Ballantine Greeting
Brain Rathbone Promo
Drew Beatty Greeting
Podioracket’s H.E. Roulo and Rhonda R Carpenter Promo

Listen

or download the ep.

INTERVIEWS

Mike Luoma

Alibi Jones

Mike Luoma’s Website: http://glowinthedarkradio.com/

Email: glowinthedarkradio@gmail.com

Twitter ID: MikeLuoma

Michelle M. Walsh

Theme and Variations Anthology
Music Themed Speculative Fiction

Website: http://www.themeandvariationsanthology.com/