Why give your shorts away in anthologies?

I’m writer Mike Luoma, with work in two new anthologies: a short with artist Ben Ferrari – “Souverain: Under God” – in Lady Fight: Aggression from Earthbound Comics, and a short story – “Alibi Jones: Vacation” – in Podioracket Presents: Visionaries. But I’m not getting paid directly for either. Podioracket’s Rhonda Carpenter asked me to tell you why a writer would want their work to appear “for free” – Why write a script for Earthbound without getting paid? Why “give away” a short story to Podioracket Presents: Visionaries?

For me it’s the value of exposure – letting people know my work exists. With both Visionaries and Lady Fight  I benefit from the combined promotional muscle of all involved, as my work appears alongside the work of more established creators. Their audiences have a chance to sample my stuff, and vice versa.

The Vatican Assassin Trilogy (Vatican Assassin, Vatican Ambassador and Vatican Abdicator), my Synthetic Marmalade and Alibi Jones are available free at Podiobooks, and I’ve seen listening translate into sales. In theory, new people hear the “Alibi Jones” short story and go on to listen to or read my other books and buy them in some form… in theory. And I haven’t actually “given away” the “Alibi Jones” story. All rights belong to me – Podioracket has non-exclusive rights to feature my work. The story’s not yet in print anywhere – so I am thinking of other ways to use the work and “monetize” it.

I benefit from the exposure Earthbound Comics generates – Lady Fight was a 2009 Project Fanboy Award Nominee – and I get books at cost to sell at retail price myself, a creator’s agreement that isn’t much different from putting out my own books. The exposure should help promote my new comics: the drama Everybody Lies with artist Juan Carlos Quattordio and the first issue of the graphic novel adaptation of Vatican Assassin with artist Cristian Navarro. Writing for Earthbound also establishes me as a comic book writer, gets reviewers familiar with my work and so more likely to review my own releases, and that in turn should encourage more people to buy my books.

Lots of hoping and guessing… and luck, timing… and inspiration. Wrote a short that didn’t have a home – and then Podioracket put out the call for Visionaries. Read Ben Ferrari’s “Souverain” story in the first issue of Lady Fight and an entire mini-trilogy of stories for her exploded into my mind. I pitched the ideas to Ben and he loved them! There were sublime coincidences which led to my work appearing in each collection. There’s also a trust factor involved – and in repeated cases thus far both Podioracket and Earthbound have proven trustworthy. This makes the potential promotional value of including my work in their books worth exploring.

The ultimate goal is to get people to buy my books. Hope you’ll do some exploring – links follow:

Find all of Mike’s books’ links at Glow-in-the-Dark Radio – Mike Luoma’s Website:

http://mikeluoma.com

http://glowinthedarkradio.com

Lady Fight: Aggression from Earthbound Comics:

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3352

http://earthboundcomics.com 

Podioracket Presents – Visionaries:

http://www.podiobooks.com/title/podioracket-presents-visionaries

http://podioracket.com

 From Mike’s Glow-in-the-Dark Radio Comics:

Everybody Lies:

http://www.indyplanet.com/index.php?id=3264

Vatican Assassin #1:

http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3144

Listen now

or download Podioracket Ep-05

Show Notes for Episode 5

INTERVIEWS

In this episode you will get a taste of Mike Luoma’s actual poetry and song from Synthetic Marmalade!

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

Email: glowinthedarkradio@gmail.com

Twitter ID: MikeLuoma

Dave Hit’s Website: http://bloodwitness.com

Email: hittman@davehitt.com

Twitter ID: Hittman

CONTESTS:

Philippa Ballantine’s exciting Weather Child  contest requests that you listen to the book and give it a review. Send Philippa an email at pip@pjballantine.com and you will be entered to win a signed copy of Chasing the Bard, Digital Magic and a ‘hamper of New Zealand goodies!”

Teel McClanahan III announces his contest! Tell him what Forget What You Can’t Remember is about and you could win a free autographed print version of one of his books or you could have a character named after you in an upcoming story! Email him your entry at teel@modernevil.com. Full contest info at www.modernevil.com.

New contest for Rhonda R Carpenter’s site at www.themarkofadruid.com. Join the site and then click participate on contest seven. There will be three winners in this contest. It ends April 26 so hurry! 

NEWS

The Write Stuff:

What’s new in publishing? This is really new! The Write Stuff is a reality publishing-deal contest for ABC. Arlene Radasky, our own Podiobooks.com author of The Fox, recorded a video promo for the series. Siglar, who has his hands in everything, will be a guest judge for the first season of The Write Stuff.
“The Write Stuff will show the blood, sweat and tears required to make it in the publishing industry. Pure talent isn’t enough — viewers will get a glimpse at the discipline, mental toughness, thick skin and the old-school worth ethic required just to break into the business.” — Scott Sigler, New York Times Bestselling author of INFECTED.  

Thanks to Mark Eller of Mercy Bend for giving us the scoop on this story, and we look forward to interviewing him in the future when he goes live on Podiobooks.com.

Nina Kimberly Call to Arms!

Check back for the special post on who has joined the revolt, and who has surrendered! Learn which Podiobooks.com heroes have been suggested as our champion against Nina, and then—listen to the final confrontation! Will teenage barbarian Nina Kimberly take over the Internet? Never Surrender!

TIP FROM AN EXPERIENCED AUTHOR

Our tip this episode is from David Lee Summers, author of the Old Star Saga. He reminds us all to network and gives great examples of how he found contacts for the many aspects of putting out a Podiobooks.com book.

PLUS:

Welcome new Blog Talk Radio listeners!

Thanks to Podiobooks.com for adding Podioracket.com to the Podiobooker feed! See, we told you they rock!

NEW RELEASES:

• Synthetic Marmalade by Mike Luoma Literature Poems, lyrics and spell.
• Homesick by Paul J. Joseph Science Fiction
• The Market For Liberty by Linda and Morris Tannehill with the voice of Ian Freeman of Free Talk Live narrating.
• The HeavenField - Book One by Ian G Hulme Science Fiction
• Kronos by Jeremy Robinson Science Fiction

COMPLETED WORKS: 

• Forget What You Can’t Remember by Teel McClanahan III Fiction. See his Contest and you could win!
• The Gateway by Steve Simons FOR KIDS: Excellent for younger listeners!
• Eden by Phil Rossi Science Fiction
• The Sphere Of Travel (TSOT2) by Steve Simons Science Fiction FAMILY FRIENDLY: Safe for family listening! 
• 8810 by Nicholas Taylor Humor
• Sleepwalker by Keith Latch Horror/Dark Fantasy

Mike Luoma, author of the Vatican Assassin Trilogy, has begun releasing his newest Podiobooks.com offering.  Synthetic Marmalade is a collection of “Poems, Song Lyrics and Magic Spells written by Mike Luoma over the past 20 years”

Want to know a little about Mike?

“Mike Luoma writes novels, comic books, songs and poems while he’s not on the air as a radio host in northern Vermont. The final book – Vatican Abdicator – of his “Vatican Assassin” science fiction trilogy was recently released (they are available on Podiobooks). The fourth issue of his comic book series “Panthea Obscura” is coming out this month. And Synthetic Marmalade finally sees release as an audiobook this month as well.”

Want to know even more about Mike?

We’ll be interviewing him for an upcoming episode of Podioracket.com.  Be sure you are subscribed to the RSS feed either through our site or iTunes.

Special Episode Announcement

And while you wait for our usual fun, quick-hit Podioracket.com podcast, we’re going to give you an early release of our very first special.  In an interview with Chris Miller, co-founder of Podiobooks.com and web guru, learn about in-the-works and wish-list items for Podiobooks 2.o.  Things are looking to change in new and exciting ways: more offerings, more information, better search functions, and new interactions between author and listener.  Can it get any better?  Listen and learn!  The special bonus interview goes up this week!