Pip Ballantine on The Boom Effect Auction

Many podiobook listeners and producers will know by now that this year began very badly for Tee Morris, one of the founding father’s of Podiobooks.com. He is now facing raising his daughter, affectionately known as SonicBoom, by himself after the death of her mother.

Many donated to the ChipIn fund which helped with the immediate expenses surrounding Natalie’s death, and even left a portion over to begin a trust fund. However, as those of you with kids know, raising them is not cheap – let alone sending them to college!

So I thought ‘hey maybe I’ll auction off a few things I have here’ (Mainly the Weather Child original manuscript) – and it kinda snowballed from there. The Boom Effect auction is now hitting 70 auction lots, and I know there are more to come.

People have done some amazing craft projects, donated rare and beautiful things, and been very creative with what services they are offering.

I’m just going to highlight a few of the auction lots that writers and podcasters and listeners might be interested in

Listeners

• The ultimate Mark of the Druid package
•  Murder at Avedon Hill package 
• The Fox package
• Signed Copy of the now out-of-print Scott Sigler novel Earthcore

 Writers

• Our agent Laurie MacLean is offering two wonderful options- a three chapters package and a full reading of your manuscript and critique. This is your chance to take full advantage of Laurie’s skills and experience.
• Our editor from DragonMoon Press, Gabrielle Harbowy, is offering a professional edit of a short story up to 7,000 words. An opportunity to polish up that story for submitting.
• Alex White is offering to make a logo for your website. He made me the one for pjballantine.com- and I’m blown away by his skills.

Podcasters

• Kimi Alexandre is offering to produce your very own promo. Nothing will help your marketing efforts more than a sparkling promo!
• James Durham will make your own theme song. Not all of us have musical skills, but having your own theme made for you would be just amazing.

And those are just a tiny sample of the amazing things people are donating to help Sonic Boom into the future. Check out the lots here.

The auction will be hosted by Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit at 10am EST 27th February 2010 live on ustream.

If you’re a podcaster- the promo for the event is here.

You can also find us on Facebook as an event, follow us on twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed as more auctions are still being added.

This is a great way for us to come together as a community. We’re going to give a little girl options, and one day she’s going to look back and be amazed at what the podcasting/social media community did and how much fun we had doing it.
Here is the promo for the auction:

Listen

or download.

INTERVIEWS

JP O’Donnell

Fatal Gamble is complete on Podiobooks.com.

Dr. Joseph P. O’Donnell is a board-certified pediatric dentist who has been involved in clinical practice and dental education for more than thirty-five years. Dr. O’Donnell is an Associate Clinical Professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. O’Donnell has authored a number of scientific articles pertaining to pediatric dentistry and special needs patients. However, for the past several years, he has pursued his long-time interest in creative writing. Under the pen name of JP O’Donnell, he has written two mystery novels, Fatal Gamble and the sequel, Deadly Codes: A Gallagher Novel. Both books have been awarded the distinction of Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice by his publisher, iUniverse.

For more information about the books of JP O’Donnell, please visit his website: www.jpodonnell.com.

Michael Thomas Cunningham

Christy is complete on Podiobooks.com.

Michael Thomas Cunningham resides in Bristol Tennessee.  He holds a BA in English as well as a Master’s in Business Administration.  When he is not writing or podcasting, he spends most of his time worrying about why he’s not writing or podcasting.  

Website for the book is ChristyNovel.com.

Feedback line is 877-50-NOVEL.

Email address is author@christynovel.com

Erin O’Briant

Glitter Girl is complete on Podiobooks.com.

Erin O’Briant is a San Francisco Bay Area writer and the author of the novel Glitter Girl. She is a writing teacher and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

Contact Erin at e_obriant@yahoo.com

Check out her site at www.erinobriant.com

News

The Boom Effect

The auction to raise funds for Sonic Boom was started by a group of podcasters and writers as a way for these communities to show support for the Morris family. Tee Morris is a beloved founding father of the podcasting community; co-creator of Podiobooks.com, writer of four social media books, and the first novelist to serialise his novel. On the 5th of January 2010 Tee found himself facing raising his daughter (with the alias of Sonic Boom) alone, after the sudden, shocking death of his wife Natalie. Check out http://www.theboomeffect.org/ for auction items to raise funds for Sonic Boom. All items will be auctioned on the webathon on 27th of February

Blog Talk Radio

Blog Talk Radio returns. Every other Thursday at 6pm Pacific time you can catch Rhonda and one of our great authors LIVE. The new season kicks off with voice talent Jeffrey Kafer on Thursday, February 11 at 6pm Pacific. Set a reminder now.

Podioracket Presents- Visionaries

We have gathered together 16 fabulous short stories by Podiobooks.com authors. The anthology debuts on Podiobooks.com on February 12.

We’re setting things into high gear right off the bat with five amazing authors.

J.C. Hutchins brings us Day 3 from his the world of 7th Son:Descent, followed by Brian Holtz’s never before aired short story Jeremy’s Potential, then we add a dash of humor to lighten things up with Patrick McLean’s Parsec Winning Death of a Dishwasher. Paul E. Cooley, a master at the short story, swoops in with Canvas. He’s followed by crowd favorite Seth Harwood with Junius, the precursor to his novel Young Junius, which was just picked up for publication.  Whew!

New Releases

Bundle of Trouble: A Maternal Instincts Mystery by Diana Orgain Mystery

The Secret World Chronicle, Book Three: World Well Lost by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey Science Fiction

Now Complete

Griffin’s Daughter by Leslie Ann Moore Fantasy

The Dreamer’s Thread by Starla Huchton Fantasy

Released in Full

Due to the recent wave of authors releasing their full work all at once we are adding this new category.
 

The Crypt Book 01: The Crew by Scott Sigler Science Fiction

The Innerglow Effect by Craig Robertson Fiction

I have lost too many people to believe that silence is polite. It does not bring solace, only a void that could be filled with support, understanding, and a reminder that the world is a caring place.

Please understand, I do not claim any special relationship with Tee.  Many of you may know him personally. I know him through the same Podioracket.com interviews and books as our listeners. But I respect and support him, just like any member of the community, and therefore consider him a friend.

Rhonda would ask you to hold his family in the light, or pray, or do whatever condolence feels appropriate.

I agree, just as she would agree with me in the suggestion that you tweet him. Though it may seem too intrusive, too practical, or simply not polite, I would disagree. After all, the man who wrote All a Twitter can only appreciate notes of support over that same medium.

So whether you tweet, pray, contribute, or simply heave a sigh at the end of this article, thank you for being part of the community.

Evo Terra knows Tee well. Here is what he wrote on Podiobooker:

Tonight I learned that Tee Morris, my friend and co-founder of Podiobooks.com, suffered the loss of his wife, Natalie. Her passing was unexpected, and Tee now faces the unenviable task of rearing his young daughter, Serena, as a single parent.

Tee was the first author to make his book into a serialized audiobook delivered by a podcast. And though others soon followed independent of Tee’s actions, his “Hey Evo, I have an idea…” phone call in late 2004 was the genesis of what would become Podiobooks.com.

Over the last few years, Tee has taken a less active role in Podiobooks.com, focusing on his career, his writing and his family. He’ll need that time more than ever in the coming days, weeks, months and even years. I’m lucky to count him as a friend and wish him the smoothest journey possible through these trouble times.

UPDATE:

Friends of Tee’s have setup a support fund to help with the transition. If you can give, please do:

We at Podioracket wish Tee and his daughter, known to us as Sonic Boom, well.

Heather & Rhonda

Listen

or download the audio

INTERVIEWS

Tee Morris

Follow Tee @teemonster

Website: allatwitterbook.com

Show: birdhouserules.com

J.D. Sawyer

Website: http://antithesis.jdsawyer.net/

Email: dan@jdsawyer.net

Twitter: @dsawyer

Bio: When he’s not indulging his psychosis or happily encouraging his burgeoning case of carpal tunnel syndrome by feeding his writing habit, he spends his time doing fine art photography, video production and editing, and podcast production through his media company ArtisticWhispers Productions. He is currently in post production on his first feature film, Hunting Kestral, which takes place in the same universe as the podcast novel Predestination and Other Games of Chance

Philippa Ballantine

Weather Child by Philippa Ballantine Historical Fantasy

Twitter: philippajane

Triple Threat Double Dipping Contest:

This Wednesday, blog posts will appear at digitalmagic.com, metamorcity.com, and jdsawyer.net containing printable PDFs.  These PDFs will contain a page of printable bookmarks.  Your mission: Print the bookmarks out, cut them along the dotted lines, and take them to your local libraries and bookstores.  Leaving a set of bookmarks near the checkout gets you one point, putting the bookmarks into similar books will get you two points – each of the podcasters will have a number of authors listed in their blog posts whose books they’re targeting.  Do this as many times as you can before December 20th, and send in a photograph of each instance to the author. Each point you earn will get one copy of your name in the hat.  On Dec 21, winners will be drawn, winners will get free books as prizes.
Anyone who enters all three contests will get their name in a second hat for a second drawing — the winner of this will get a basket with New Zealand and San Francisco goodies in it.

As you probably know by now, Podioracket’s Blog Talk Radio Extension continues to move at a mad pace, and brings you extended LIVE interviews and give-aways with some of your favorite authors.

In this episode, we’re going to grab a clip from a recent BTR show. Rhonda interviewed Tee Morris, the author of Billibub Baddings & MOREVI about his new book, All A Twitter. 

Rhonda also sat down with Arlene Radasky to talk about one aspect of Podiobooks 2.0 — getting rights to the music that accompanies an audio book.

Listen now:

or download Podioracket-Ep15.

All our past Blog Talk Radio interviews are available in archive at blogtalkradio.com/podioracket, and we have a player on our website.

Tee Morris

Follow Tee @teemonster

Website: allatwitterbook.com

Show: birdhouserules.com

Arlene Radasky on music rights

Twitter: @aradasky

Website: www.radasky.com

Email: Click here

Music by Steve McDonnald

CONTESTS

Mick Bordet is still giving out download codes for the music in Some Other Scotland. You can get the codes by tweeting the link to his interview and emailing him.
He will be running the contest now until the interview on August 31, 2:30 pm PST/5:30 pm EST. He is gaving away a free book for the best BTR question and allowed a listener to name a character. Here are the details.


Philippa Ballantine will announce the winner of her New Zealand Basket on Friday, August 14th on our Blog Talk Radio Extension.


 
Paul J. Joseph, the independant filmmaker and author of Homesick and Marker Stone, will award an signed, original draft manuscript for Homesick. How do you win this memorobilia? Simply leave a comment for Paul at Podiobooks.com, Itunes or on his website and then shoot him an email.


Rhonda Carpenter is starting her contest #10! Give her a review and email her.


Listen to the episode to hear one of the submissions for the Podioracket.com contest seeking Podiobooks.com’s Perfect Promo! Hope it inspires you to enter!

Simply create your one-minute promo, the perfect storm of persuasion and enthusiasm, then email it to contact@podioracket.com. See the complete list of rules and suggestions in our handy-dandy guide.

News

Podiobooks has just made an agreement with Smashwords. This is going to allow the two sites to link to each other so that users can get their audio and, if they just want more, the text versions of authors who participate. Watch for your favorite author to put their book out there!

In further news, Podiobooks is continuing to move toward that 2.0 release that we’ve been telling you about. Rumor has it, we’re just a couple weeks from testing.

New Releases

Vatican Assassin – Remastered by Mike Luoma Science Fiction

Completed Works

Weather Child by Philippa Ballantine Historical Fantasy

How to Succeed in Evil The Novel by Patrick McLean Fiction

The Inner Chapters, Volume 1 by Thomas Gideon Non-Fiction

Bring your appetite, because we’re putting on a huge feast for Podiobooks fans! Check out this tasty dish:

Slice Number 1

 Our first interview with Tee Morris on the Podioracket Blog Talk Radio Extension had such a huge turnout and so many great questions about All A Twitter that we booked round two right there on the air with Tee for August 5th at 6:00 PM PST/ 9:00 PM EST. Set a reminder! Tee is a wealth of practical and useful information on Twitter and Social Media presence building!


 

Slice number 2

Next Phil Rossi, the author of Crescent, adds his layer on August 6th at 6:00 PM PST/ 9:00 PM EST. Set a reminder! His launch of Crescent and the accompanying  Amazon rush were a big success but we can’t stop there!  We have to find out his next step and hear all about Harvey! Maybe he will play us a song!


When Tee Morris heard that Rossi was going to be on the show he said another respected and prolific author, Philippa Ballantine, would love to be the filling in that sandwich and we thought we would oblige!

 The Filling!

We are serving this masterpiece open-faced. Get your serving a la Cart! Philippa will close her contest for Weather Child Reviews LIVE on Podioracket BTR! Don’t miss this New Zealand award-winning temptress of an author. Set a reminder! On August 14th at 6:00 Pm PST 9:00 Pm EST we will talk about all her projects – complete and NEW!

And the entrée is complete (pictured below)!

The secret ingredient that brings you back for more. . .

“Wonder what that makes us, Heather? The condiments?”

“Oh Rhonda, we’re the Awesome-sauce!”

Trust us you will crave more of this delicious trio. See you at the shows!

Friday’s Forgotten Find

If you missed this book when it first came out, here’s a trailer and information on newcomer Arlene Radasky’s first novel, The Fox. It’s historically based fictional fantasy at its best. You can consume this book in all the formats: Kindle, Itouch, iPhone, E-book,  first edition print and, yes, free on Podiobooks.com in audio form. Take a gander at the trailer and see if this Celtic tale of life, love and sacrifice that spans 2000 years is for you.

BTR-PR Monday July 27 Double-Header

Chris Moody’s Qattusverse

Taking a big step is what Chris Moody’s new project Qattusverse is all about. Lets find out why the host of Podiomedia Chat would take on this project. Learn about the alternate reality of Qattusverse live on BTR-PR Monday July 27,  2009 2:30 pm PST. You can set a reminder or listen in archive.  

All a Twitter By Tee Morris is out!

Tee Morris has co-authored and authored everything, from fiction with his Billibub Baddings, Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana to two Podcasting for Dummies books.  You can get his newest All a Twitter on Amazon and discover “The” Social Networking guide of 2009.

Twitter! Everyone’s talking about it. Its membership grew over 700% in just one year! Now, learn how to make the most of Twitter–in your personal life, your business, everywhere! And you get to hear all about it on a live BTR-PR extended episode. Set your reminder and pick @Teemonster’s brain.