Are you a Proactive Writer? Scott Sigler is…
The world of modern publishing has changed. Gone are the days when writers can write a book, submit a manuscript and sit back and wait for the cash. Today, changes in technology and publishing ethos mean that writers need to be proactive in their approach to writing, publishing and promoting. I have already written about the idea of a Proactive Writer here.
In essence I suggested that a successful modern writer demonstrates four traits:
- They produce remarkable work,
- They have an active and consistent online presence,
- They embrace technology,
- They participate.
Perhaps the first true Proactive Writer was Scott Sigler.
Here’s a bit from his wiki:
EarthCore was originally published in 2001 by iPublish, an AOL/Time Warner imprint. With the novel doing well as a promotional ebook, Time Warner was planning on publishing the novel. With the economic slump following September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Time Warner did away with the imprint in 2004. Scott then decided to start podcasting his novel in March, 2005 as the world’s first podcast-only novel to build hype and garner an audience for his work. Sigler considered it a “no brainer” to offer the book as a free audio download. Having searched for podcast novels and finding none, Sigler decided to be the first. Sigler was able to get EarthCore offered as a paid download on iTunes in 2006. After EarthCore’s success (EarthCore had over 10,000 subscribers), Sigler released Ancestor, Infected, The Rookie, Nocturnal, and Contagious via podcast.
Pushing boundaries, Sigler released an Adobe PDF version of Ancestor on Monday 19 March 2007 through Sigler’s own podcast as well as others. Ancestor was released on April 1, 2007 to much internet hype and, despite having been released two weeks earlier as a free ebook, reached #7 on Amazon.com’s best-seller list and #1 on Sci-Fi, Horror and Genre-Fiction on the day of release. Sigler is leveraging new media to keep in-touch with his fans, regularly talking with them using social networking sites, via email, and IM. Scott Sigler was featured in a New York Times article on March 1, 2007 by Andrew Adam Newman, which was covering authors using podcasting innovations to garner a broader audience.
