We've been talking lately about short legnth stories in class. I brought up my favorite Hemingway story:
"For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Used"
There was some back and forth and when I stumbled across this video I thought of the argument right away.
Really though, this is an excuse to talk about the Barnes & Noble studio. Until now, I had no idea it existed. I stumbled across it completely by accident, coming off a discussion about Advance Reading Copy free books on Goodreads.
It's really cool. You can see they have not quite got the experience down yet (the italics markup in the title for example) but good ole B&N is really trying its hand at something pretty innovative. I'm not sure who thought that a book store should start posting up a bunch of video podcasts, but it is a good idea. The site features a host of interesting videos and a few other cool little features as well.
I usually don't play fan boy for big book business, but B&N Studios is worth checking out.
If you've been paying attention, I've been covering the initial release of Brave Men Run, a novel which first released "in paperback, five formats of e-book free of digital rights management restrictions, and free podcast audiobook (podiobook) editions." The book was picked up by publishing company Swarm Press and was for sale on Amazon this weekend.
For the novel's release on Sunday, its author Matthew Wayne Selznick held a six hour live streaming video event in which over 100 people joined his USTREAM feed as he read stories from other podiobook authors and followed the progress of his novel in an attempt to drive it up the charts.
Though the novel didn't reach number one on the overall charts, it got very high in the genre fiction and Action and Adventure categories, number one on 'Movers and Shakers,' and as high as #53 overall.
Even without hitting number one, Selznick left many well-known authors and novels in the dust as he shot up the charts. His novel easily sold out (though there are plenty more to come) and, as the participants can tell you, his virtual launch party was a great success, bringing the podiobook community together to really promote one of their own. I was there as well, rooting on Selznick from my BoltBus trip between New York and Washington D.C..
Almost 14 hours past the end of his promotion the novel has dropped slightly on the list, but still resides in the top 100 Amazon sellers, ranked at number 89. This weekend was a very impressive showing, not just for Selznick and Brave Men Run, but also for the podiobook community. At the end of the day, they've shown the Old Media just how powerful New Media can be.
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