British Science Fiction Award story nominees as podcast
Tony sez, "StarShipSofa will bring you, in conjunction with the British Science Fiction Association all five of the short stories that have been shortlisted for the BSFA Award for Best Short Story 2007 in audio narrated format for FREE. Starting Monday 10th March (tomorrow) StarShipSofa will upload one of the narrated stories each day. First off, to give you a heads up will be Chaz Brenchley narrating his own story Terminal.
Now this means they will all be up online for free for you to listen to, well in advance of voting time at Eastercon."
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Sweet, thanks for the tip. I listened to one of their podcasts a while ago and it was great, but I forgot the check the website afterwards. And I never get to read the stories nominated for anything... listening will hopefully work better.
Cory, could you comment on this issue as it relates to the publishing market in general? My understanding of publishing is limited, but I think some of current, important issues have to do with smaller market share combined with higher production costs. Why not promote the idea (maybe you have) that a publisher (such as Tor), can introduce new writers as Audio Only? Say Cory Doe is a good writer and may warrant a paper book, but first the publisher gives him an Audio Only book to test the market. If the writer agrees, it can be given away from the Tor-AO catagory. If the downloads get good feedback, then maybe Cory's next book can be "real." The production cost would be much lower, I think. And there are lots of good Readers out there (out of work actors) who would love to do an audio book. Distribution would not be an issue at all. Wouldn't this be a good way to introduce a lot of stuff that isn't making it onto the scene because of limited resources? And I'm including the publisher in this formula because the stamp of a pro editor's purchase of a writer's work is the validating measure that the market still requires for the most part.
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On a completely unrelated topic, has anyone else noticed that the poles have flipped on Google Earth? Has poleshift come early and noone noticed except Google?
awesome! StarShipSofa has been pretty consistently great since I started listening after you posted the Crystal Sphere link. Sometimes the stories arent that good, but the narration is always top notch. This just double pluses the good.
Anyone know of any other audio book podcasts?
Audio costs a LOT more to produce than print books.
According to Chaz Brenchley's blog, this recording was done in his attic, with some equipment he borrowed from a friend. So the audio production probably cost a lot less than the printing in this case...
The story is available in print on Newconpress's website, for anyone who would prefer to read it themself.
Thank you for that succinct answer. I would have thought that an audio book, being all digital and downloadable (mp3 only ((no CDs,)), would be cheaper than tons and tons and tons of papper and ink. And then there is the distribution cost and the gas for all the trucks and the labor to stock the shelves and cost of the shelf space itself.
Audio books need to be recorded by a good reader who is paid a fair amount. Are you sure audio only books are more expensive than paper?? And what about writers who do their own readings? Their is zero cost involved? I'll buy into the meme willingly, but I'd like some real numbers once in a while. And if anyone knows, it's you.
Jeff, isn't that what Podiobooks is doing already? Most (if not all) of their writers are unsigned, and offering their work as donationware to test their popularity. A lot of them are narrated by the authors with their own equipment, and the general quality is pretty good.
oh and thanks to boingboing for putting me onto Starship Sofa as well, i followed the link you posted last time and now I'm an addict. Tony is a great guy with the kind of knowledge and passion i dream of having.
Thanks again Cory, that was a GREAT answer! (clapping hands). Why not just state that you don't want to answer honest questions and maybe some of your followers (fans) will stop asking them? Minamisan, thank you for that info. Your answer was useful; I'll check it out. You see, I just figure that Starship Sofa is working with a small budget, and Cory's assertion that it cost more to produce an Audio book than a paper one may not actually be the case, at least not as with something like Podiobooks. So, why no interest in promoting writers in the Audio only format? Is there a sort of prejudice here? And I'm only asking because I don't know.
Huge savings. Cory, I did my own digging and guess what, it cost nothing to produce an MP3 audio book if the writer does his own reading. Compared to paper it's a freeking huge savings to a publisher. HUGE! GIGANTIC. And digital only books, or digital with a Print On Deamand option are much more cost effective also. With no paper production the cost of a book can be much more affordable. Now, what we need to do is get some publishers to start doing deals with digital only authors so we can make more good stuff available. Yes, hire more editors. With the production savings many more quality editors can find work. I would think you would be in favor of creating better, bigger distribution systems for ART.