You can both entertain your kids with age-appropriate storytelling and dip you own big toe into the emerging new media for writers by downloading the brand-spanking new free iPhone application Tales2Go.   The application, which became available just this month, streams audio readings you or your child select into your iPhone or iPod — and even onto your automobile sound system, if you wish.   Applications for other smartphone platforms [Blackberry, Palm Pre and Android] are also under development — just leave your email address at the Tales2Go website, and you will be notified when they become available.  Once downloaded, you receive a free one-month subscription to the service.  Thereafter, a one-year subscription costs only $29.99.

The service offers over one thousand titles from leading audiobook suppliers, from two-minute fables to six-hour novels for kids.   The story of the service’s birth is intriguing, a serendipitous joining of a dad’s 20-year professional experience, a mom’s insight into children and a new technology.

IF you are an established writer of children’s literature and published by a company with an interest in audiobooks, contact your publisher to encourage interest in Tales2Go.  I personally think this new approach to distribution will make its mark.  To boost interest in Tales2Go, you can add a Banner to your website.

*****

AND THERE’S MORE:  AN E-BOOK READER FOR YOUNG KIDS

V-Tech announced last week a forthcoming e-book reader for pre-schoolers.  Called the Flip, it will be an animated touchscreen reader with “read-along” features, word games, a dictionary and downloadable content.  The product is slated to sell for $59.95.  I don’t yet know the release date.  Tech blog Gizmodo has a good review of the product, as well as a short clip of a demo video..

This video is available in our blog’s sidebar for a few days.  Thereafter you can view it at VIDEO FOR WRITERS.

As you view it, think to yourself:  can I do something is simple, straight-forward and unassuming to promote my own writing?  Of course, you can.

Once you’ve watched the video, read my post of two days ago, which gives a lot more information about Harrison, who has established himself as one of the very top book-marketing strategies in the US.

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?  Are the online social media helpful for writers?  Are you participating?  Or is it all overblown?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Ever heard of Podcast Novels?  I’ve only had a brief brush with them — and was pleased for another exposure when a “tweet” led me to Steve Saylor and his New Media site.

Steve is a Canadian college student, studying Broadcasting.  I’m guessing that he’s not yet tied down to a paying 9-5 job and is free to experiment.  Steve says that he “loves coming up with new and creative ways of producing content for Online and Offline use.”  His site offers up some of his creations, including his Podcast Novels.

While the novels are apparently not paying the rent, it’s clear that Steve is enjoying other benefits.  He’s building a network  in his field and establishing a reputation.  Not a bad pay-off for someone who will be entering the job market one of these days.

Maybe a short podcast novel will pour out of you.  It is, indeed, another way to build audience and identity.  I can think immediately of several ways that such a tactic can add to a writer’s growing, successful career.

Steve’s website threw out a new thread for me to follow, one I’ve seen mentioned, but which I’ve never specifically explored before:  New Media.  As it turns out, I’ve actually been playing around with New Media, mostly as a consumer.  I turn to online TV and video frequently.  And I occasionally listen to podcasts as well.

To underscore just how BIG the new media are, take at look at the website for the BlogWorld & New Media Expo, scheduled for next October in Las Vegas.  I suddenly remember that I had thought about attending the BlogWorld event last year — and now that BlogWorld and New Media Expo have joined forces, I’ve just put it on my tentative schedule for this year.

For me, things are coming full circle.  Way back in the 1970’s, I was hooked by the “multi-media” revolution.  In those ancient times, this phenomenon involved very elaborate multi-projector slide shows, all the rage at conventions, trade shows, world fairs and major product launchings.  In 1971, I even won the George Brakeley Award for Innovation in Fund Raising for what apparently was the first multi-media show created to promote a major fund raising campaign in behalf of an educational institution.

That award changed my career.  I soon set up the free-lance AV production company SOUNDCEPT, named after my iconoclastic axiom that audio was the most important ingredient in a slide show.  My production concept earned quite a number of awards, which eventually earned me a position in charge of Media Relations at the Asian Development Bank in Manila, where I’ve lived since 1986.

I still have a how-to audio tape I produced in 1980 about how to write an audio-visual script.  I’ve often thought about posting it via the blog, as the principles explored are still valid today.  It was, in a sense, my own “podcast” before such a thing ever existed.  Maybe I’ll get around to making it available.

In the meantime, go take a look at the online Blogger & Podcaster magazine for “aspiring New Media Titans,” which I uncovered in the process of writing this article.  This magazine comes in three editions:  podcast and digital e-zine, both free, along with an expensive print edition as well.  I’m personally very excited about this discovery.

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As I write this, I am jumping back and forth to a blog that has set up a live chat among a number of news experts covering the election.  Not only are they chatting among themselves, with their comments scrolling down the screen, but there is also a box where any viewer can post a question to them.  There’s also an intriguing set of continuously updated polls relevant to the ongoing chat.

Don’t be surprised if I announce a scheduled chat for all of you with an invited expert.  I already have a topic and expert in mind — but it still has to be organized.

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It’s called IndieFirst. Here’s Audible’s description of the service:

Audible is excited to announce Audible IndieFirst, a new program
in cooperation with the Center for Independent Publishing designed to
introduce you to new books and writers on the verge of popular renown. Audible IndieFirst
surfaces fresh, original works from independent presses and delivers
them in audio before the print edition hits stores. So you are the
first to hear what book lovers will be clamoring to read in a month.

Our inaugural IndieFirst selection is Joe Meno’s Demons in the Spring, printed by New York publisher Akashic Books. Narrated by the ever versatile Victor Bevine, the 20 stories in Demons are, according to Dave Eggers, “Eclectic, funny, constantly surprising….a rich, unforgettable stew of a book.”

I don’t yet know just how one works one’s way into such an “early” release, but it must be a great way to create buzz about a book published by a small press. I can foresee net-savvy authors finding ways to harness Indie First and their own blogs and social networks to entice readers into a pre-publication purchase. Worh exploring.

P.S.: Unfortunately, I’m still having issues with the TELMEX internet service. Yesterday, for example, I was able to get online for only 20 minutes, interrupting a major blog post I want to share.

Dustin points to the freeware Audacity as a principal tool. I agree wholeheartedly. The software deserves to be on your computer, even if you do not contemplate podcasting. In the current issue of PC Utilities [issue #100], which features the 100 Best Freeware downloads, Audacity was one of the few that showed up on almost everyone’s Top Ten list. It’s a remarkable tool — and free. It can be downloaded at SnapFiles, which also provides more information about the software.

I’ve just uncovered a remarkable resource to help anyone to understand how the software works and just what you can do with it. There’s a new website called WonderHowTo, which offers a catalog of links to how-to videos. And there’s a whole bunch of them, twenty-one in fact, showing how to use Audacity.

Have fun. AND if you do put together a podcast, be sure to let us know.

ADDENDUM:

At the same site, you will find lots of how-to videos covering other software of interest to writers, including:

• Acrobat
• Dreamweaver
• Illustrator
• In Design
• iWork
• MS Office
• Quark

To find them most conveniently, click on the Categories tab at the WonderHowTo website and look under Software.

Tom,
How does Dragon Naturally Speaking work when you tape record an assortment of different people? Can the software turn that into copy pretty well, or is it really set up just to work with your own voice. I’m a news reporter; I tape a lot of interviews; and I’d love to be able to download them and have them turned into copy. — Rick Smith

Rick has a good question. I know that our loyal reader Michael Downend uses Dragon Naturally Speaking, but he has spoken about the necessity of “training” the software.

The topic has come up before when I wrote about the Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, a post that prompted a number of comments. Michael, can you provide more insight into trasncription software? Anyone else? Just click on the comments link below to join the discussion.

One of the podcasts has led to an audio-book, with a print book in the works. Another example of unusual and creative routes to publication.

Some writers may wish to follow these podcasts to brush up their grammar skills.

Even more impressive is another Open Culture item published a couple of days later, a detailed account of the route 12 Byzantine Rulers: The History of the Byzantine Empire has taken from podcast series to the New York Times and NPR and on to a publishing deal. Open Culture’s article closes with an especially interesting quote for readers of this blog from Author Lars Brownworth:

“Web 2.0 has enabled me,” Brownworth says, “to do things that I never would have been able to do otherwise. It’s a bit humbling to find myself on the ground floor of a revolution, but this move is undoubtedly the most exciting opportunity I’ve ever had.”

Website Open Culture, a great resource for writers, has put together a useful Podcast Primer for the novice, with enough information that even experienced users will find something of value.

I’m posting primarily to get the reference into the Podcast Category for the convenience of readers who use this blog as a reference source. The blog categories, in the right sidebar, are highly organized to make it easier to track down specific information. In fact, the concept behind this blog is not so much to upload an endless stream of daily posts, as it is to build a reference point for writers willing to dig down into the categories.