Ask Scott Sigler. He offered his first novel, Earthcore, as a free, serialized podcast on iTunes and his personal site. By the time he’d released his second and third novels, he had 30,000 listeners and publishers lining up to take his books.

Sigler, 38, likens his distribution method to that of public broadcasting, adding that giving away content pays off even if fewer than 10 percent of the samplers ultimately make a pledge.

To me, this is very exciting. Not only can you have a hand in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, it’s a remarkable chance to connect with your readers. In the late nineties I was involved with a highly successful albeit niche video game and I can tell you: we didn’t make a lot of money but there was a tremendous amount of satisfaction meeting our rabidly devoted fans.

Check it out.

(apparently, bookninja!)

Well, say what you want about the book, you have to respect Chuck Palahniuk for really, really embracing the web. Check out that site! He’s got paid memberships, author news, a staff of contributors and ads by American Apparel. That’s not just an author site. That’s not just a brand. That’s a cult. In a good way.

Worth a look to see one way of doing it, though probably too extreme for me. I reserve the right to change my mind if I ever become a best-selling multimillionaire.

* C’mon, I know I’m not the only guy out there who wanted to punch out my boss and bang Helena Bonham Carter. (I left out the bit about having a falling-down house in an industrial wasteland because in 1999, I’d already achieved that impressive milestone, thank you Mr Kawakami.)

There’s plenty to be learned here for anyone who seeks to entertain and interest the public, from speakers to musicians to dancers to writers who give readings of their work.

But that’s not why [James D Macdonald, Cory's instructor] recommends this book to his writing-students. Magic and Showmanship is a detailed dissection of stories and entertainment and suspension of disbelief, three key arts of any fiction writer (and they are especially important to science fiction and fantasy writers).

Dig the classic, 60s-style line-drawings!

(Thx, Boing Boing!)

Literary gatherings, cocktail parties and the like, are a social nightmare because writers have no “shop” to talk. Lawyers and doctors can entertain each other with stories about interesting cases, about experiences, that is to say, related to their professional interests but yet impersonal and outside themselves. Writers have no impersonal professional interests. The literary equivalent of talking shop would be writers reciting their own work at each other, an unpopular procedure for which only very young writers have the nerve.

Auden packs more pithy one-line bits of humorous wisdom into a single paragraph than most of us could ever hope to achieve in a lifetime. There’s plenty here, especially for poets, but also on writing generally, shame, pride, editing, and why meeting your favorite literary geniuses generally sucks. (Hint: they’re cads!)

Go now and read.

(Ed: Please forgive me for thinking of, and writing down “silicon linings”. I need my coffee. Moving on…)

“This is a revolutionary period,” says Jenks, 57, who has held fiction editor positions at Esquire, GQ and Scribner’s. “And as with all revolutionary periods, it’s one of enormous opportunity - I don’t think there’s ever been a greater period of opportunity for writers, for literary work.”

The couple put their beliefs to the test when they founded Narrative Magazine, a non-profit literary magazine that is completely online. Within its first year, the site had 12,000 registered users, and is currently above 40,000. Undoubtedly helped by their long-time friends and connections in the literary world, including Jane Smiley, Tobias Wolff and Joyce Carol Oates (hallowed be thy name), not to mention stellar reputations for editing, the site has outstanding fiction, poetry, essays and journalism.

And for the litfarmers, they accept simultaneous electronic submissions, and you can check the status of your submission on their site.

It’s an amazing volunteer effort, with the kind of quality normally associated with venerable la-de-da magazines like The New Yorker. Read more here.

(thx, bn!)

Two Americans stumble onto the village by chance, and threaten to destroy it by leaving, because doing so will break the enchantment.

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle. Yo JOE!

Having the urge to write a novel, especially if you’ve yet to be published, is like having a medical condition impossible to mention in polite company - it’s a relief simply to know there are fellow-sufferers out there.

Not to worry, the article has plenty of ideas on how to get through something he admits is pretty much a mysterious process that’s different every time. Some advice from John Irving about planning, EL Doctorow about your approach, and Phillip Roth on “belief in your own crap”.

If you like what you see, why not check out Geoff’s blog over here.

(thx, Craphound!)