Unquiet Desperation

Most days, I’m fairly sure that many of my non-podcasting friends have no idea why I helped build Podiobooks.com. It’s just free amateur audiobooks, right? What’s the big deal?

The big deal is this: we’re living in a time where the more traditional modes of content distribution are being shaken up from the bottom floor. Independent artists are able, with a relatively low barrier to entry, to create and release their content to a waiting, global audience. No major publishing houses. No record companies. It’s between you and your audience. This is so powerful and so moving, it’s hard to describe. Luckily, I’ve found two folks who can articulate the power of Creative Commons far better than I.

First, there is one of the most vocal and most successful proponents of Creative Commons: Cory Doctorow.

…I voluntarily throw out some of the copyright that I get automatically just by writing stuff down. I do that for political and economic reasons: I think that the increased scope and duration of copyright are strangling free expression, privacy and innovation, and I think that enabling my fans to trade my words makes me more money. So I get to do the right thing and get paid, which is good…I’m generating more sales of my printed books. Sure, giving away ebooks displaces the occasional sale but it’s far more common for a reader to download the book, read some or all of it, and decide to buy the print edition. I’ve given away more than half a million digital copies of my award-winning first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and that sucker has blown through five print editions (yee-HAW!), so I’m not worried that giving away books is hurting my sales.¹

Second, Mur Lafferty has posted an excellent interview with Matthew Wayne Selznick, author of Brave Men Run and Podiobooks.com staff member. In it, they explore not only the Matt’s processes and projects, but they really dig into the philosophy of Doing It Yourself, and more relevant to this blog, why releasing your work into the wild is a Good Thing. If you or someone you know is considering releasing their work and is unsure what the advantage is, I highly recommend listening to this interview.

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p>Matthew Wayne Selznick on Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing

I believe in Creative Commons, and the power to Do It Yourself. I believe that the more people who embrace the model, whether part of Podiobooks.com or not, the more intimate and egalitarian future we can look forward to. This is an age were anyone can put their work out there and be recognized…so what’s holding you back?

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1. from Cory Doctorow and Creative Distribution[back]