DISQUS

Benjamin · 6 months ago

That sounds like you are smart. I bet you would love The Adventures of Kid Humpty Dumpty. If you ever want to know what happened to Humpty Dumpty before his fall or if you just love fun, colorful characters check it out at www.eloquentbooks.com/theadventuresofkidhumptyd...

Seth Harwood · 6 months ago

Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed!!
http://marcblatte.com

John Hilton III · 6 months ago

Very cool. It's great to hear this story.

Stephen · 6 months ago

The story of how The Shack went from zero to multi-million best seller is also very interesting in terms of the publishing industry totally missed it, and online plugs and word of mouth built its success.

Chris · 6 months ago

Link to /contact is denied. Is there a contact page, or has it been removed?

Dan Colman · 6 months ago

Feel free to reach me at mail@openculture.com

Sherrie Petersen · 6 months ago

What an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing.

Steve Weber · 6 months ago

Thanks for posting this inspirational story! Just goes to show that nobody can market a book better than its author -- and thanks to the Net, there are so many ways to go directly to readers.

JohnOBX · 6 months ago

Thanks for sharing your experience and opening up another path to success. Followed a link from Editor Unleashed to find this, so the word is out there.

I'm curious; for your Podcast did you read the story yourself or hire somebody to do it? If I wanted to try that route, I'm not sure mine is a voice that would inspire people to listen.

Thanks,
--John

Andy Shackcloth · 6 months ago

Just wondering, did you narrate your podcasts yourself or hire a voice'

I have a heavy accent and so doubt if I would keep many listeners past the first page.

J. M. Strother · 6 months ago

Nor is mine, John. :(

This is quite an inspirational piece, Seth. You saw a great opportunity and seized it. I think the web is a truly enabling technology for those with the moxie and creative skill to harness it. Thanks for the ray of sunshine in what is often a very dark realm.
~jon

Amanda Seyderhelm · 6 months ago

Inspiring story of going around the problem. I've been saying for a while now that 'self=publishing' is no longer vanity publishing - it's the smart way to start and build an audience like you did. Well done.

Seth · 6 months ago

Hey guys,
Thanks for all these wonderful comments and feedback! yes, I really do feel like I found a way to do this myself and market my own work without spending a lot of money or relying on the publishing industry. Turns out that even after I got involved with them, I'm still the best advertiser of my work (which may not surprise many of you).

To answer a common question: yes, I do use my own voice to narrate my own stories. I had my doubts about how I'd sound when I started, but based on some successes in small-setting readings, I wanted to try it out. I think whatever my own vocal limitations are/were, the enthusiasm of my listeners hearing the author reading his own work really shines through and more than compensates for any losses. I'd really encourage any of you thinking of doing this to definitely give it a try. If you've listened to audiobooks- pro and podcast, you know that there are a lot of bad readers out there. You'd be surprised what you can come up with when you know the work well. And you do!--it's yours!

I'll be posting more here on Open Culture and look forward to continuing this conversation with many of you about how to push your work out there to grab a piece of literary success.

Best,

Seth
(you can also contact me here: seth (at) sethharwood (dot) com)

Seth · 6 months ago

One last thing I might not've made clear (or I might have): I felt like it was to my advantage to get my work onto the web. The challenge was finding a way to do it so people could experience it. This is why I turned to audio.

I just didn't see as many people reading a full novel online as I saw people listening to it. A little more work for me to produce, but VERY worth it in the long run.

tristan · 6 months ago

I have been writing books for about three years now and i have finished one book and im on my second im just wondering if u have a website how do you get podcasts on your website

John Wiswell · 6 months ago

Mr. Harwood,

I truly appreciate you sharing your story - or the story of your story. It's fascinating to hear how new media can help authors sell their work.

Do you actually find it surprising that you're your own biggest advertiser? From all the writers I know, it seems even with publishing deals you're still expected to be the commercial tool. Is this not the case for the authors you know? Do you expect your situation to change in the near future?

Thank you again for the insightful column, and cheers on your smashing success.

Seth Harwood · 6 months ago

Tristan,
On a Mac, it's very easy to put podcasts on a website. I started using their iWeb software, the easiest website software I can imagine (imagine Print Shop for web sites if you're an old-timer like me and remember Print Shop) and there's a feature right in there to upload and use your podcasts. If you're on a PC, you'll want to check out the software at Libsyn.com and recording software called Audacity (freeware). From there, if you include a link in your blog posts to a podcast ep, iTunes can pick it out of the post and will recognize it. So will Feedburner.com.

These sites, and a few others, are the backbone of the tools we teach in the Author Boot Camp class. I'm happy to go over more detail at http://authorbootcamp.com and we'll be running an online version of this class in the winter. (with thanks to Dan)

That's a really short answer. I'm happy to give more detail as needed.

Seth

Seth Harwood · 6 months ago

John,

No, no I guess I don't find it at all surprising that I'm my own best agent/best seller/best advertiser. My problem before I started using podcast though was that even with knowing this I didn't have any tools to use to advertise myself. I had a lot of energy to put into the process, but all I could do was send out agent queries, a process anyone can tell you is thankless and hardly gratifying.

So now I have something I can do that feels like it works. It IS gratifying and that keeps me working even harder.
I'm currently on my own version of a book tour--in Boston now for a few events after a great reading in NYC--and guess who set it up? Guess who's paying for it?

Yes, it's all self-run and self-funded and that's how things are in today's publishing world. I've gotten my dog in the fight now and I'm doing all I can to help it/me "win."

Glad you found my story encouraging!

Seth

tristan · 5 months ago

thanks seth i might start doing that now

tanya · 5 months ago

i am a new author attempting to self publish a childrens book. i have used printshopm 12 for some graphics. do i need special permission to do this since i will be selling the book. any help is appreciated.

G. Ward · 3 months ago

I have written my memoir book. of life back in the 30's and 40's. I gave away about 50 books hoping to get feed back on my book. I asked people to rate it 1--10. I only received back six answers. I learned a lesson sell them if you get back the cost to print them then your head of the game.