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Patriot Games Episode 5 – Lost Halos

Aram Zucker-Scharff — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:29:00 +0000

Here’s Episode 5, We talk briefly about the new Halo 3 maps, some old games, and Aram finally gets to play GTA4′s DLC, The Lost and Damned

Welcome to the Patriot Games podcast! George Mason University students Keith Wick and Aram Zucker-Scharff take a look at video games, game culture, and what it means to be a gamer in college.

Patriot Games Episode 5

First Episode of Patriot Games!

Aram Zucker-Scharff — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:03:00 +0000

Welcome to the Patriot Games podcast! George Mason University students Keith Wick and Aram Zucker-Scharff take a look at video games, game culture, and what it means to be a gamer in college.

Welcome to the first Patriot Games podcast. In this podcast, Keith and Aram talk about the brand new Street Fighter and slightly dated Dead Space.

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Cross-posted from Connect2Mason

Short Stories and Barnes & Noble

Aram Zucker-Scharff — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:02:00 +0000

We’ve been talking lately about short legnth stories in class. I brought up my favorite Hemingway story:

“For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Used”

There was some back and forth and when I stumbled across this video I thought of the argument right away.

Really though, this is an excuse to talk about the Barnes & Noble studio. Until now, I had no idea it existed. I stumbled across it completely by accident, coming off a discussion about Advance Reading Copy free books on Goodreads.

It’s really cool. You can see they have not quite got the experience down yet (the italics markup in the title for example) but good ole B&N is really trying its hand at something pretty innovative. I’m not sure who thought that a book store should start posting up a bunch of video podcasts, but it is a good idea. The site features a host of interesting videos and a few other cool little features as well.

I usually don’t play fan boy for big book business, but B&N Studios is worth checking out.

Media Collision Aftermath [Brave Men Run]

Aram Zucker-Scharff — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:23:00 +0000

If you’ve been paying attention, I’ve been covering the initial release of Brave Men Run, a novel which first released “in paperback, five formats of e-book free of digital rights management restrictions, and free podcast audiobook (podiobook) editions.” The book was picked up by publishing company Swarm Press and was for sale on Amazon this weekend.

For the novel’s release on Sunday, its author Matthew Wayne Selznick held a six hour live streaming video event in which over 100 people joined his USTREAM feed as he read stories from other podiobook authors and followed the progress of his novel in an attempt to drive it up the charts.

Though the novel didn’t reach number one on the overall charts, it got very high in the genre fiction and Action and Adventure categories, number one on ‘Movers and Shakers,’ and as high as #53 overall.

Even without hitting number one, Selznick left many well-known authors and novels in the dust as he shot up the charts. His novel easily sold out (though there are plenty more to come) and, as the participants can tell you, his virtual launch party was a great success, bringing the podiobook community together to really promote one of their own. I was there as well, rooting on Selznick from my BoltBus trip between New York and Washington D.C..

Almost 14 hours past the end of his promotion the novel has dropped slightly on the list, but still resides in the top 100 Amazon sellers, ranked at number 89. This weekend was a very impressive showing, not just for Selznick and Brave Men Run, but also for the podiobook community. At the end of the day, they’ve shown the Old Media just how powerful New Media can be.

Previous Posts:
“The Amazon Climb“
“New Media, Meet Old“

The Amazon Climb [Brave Men Run]

Aram Zucker-Scharff — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:11:00 +0000

I’m logged into the USTREAM Feed for Matthew Wayne Selznick’s live coverage of his release of Brave Men Run and it is 1:00PM on Sunday, he’s been live for 3 hours and Brave Men Run is #5 in the Action & Adventure category and #280 overall.

This is a pretty remarkable release for this podiobook turned Old Media. I’ll be posting more updates as I more happens.

[2:20PM EST] – Selznick has started another short story, in the meantime, Amazon.com seems to be slow on the update.

[2:45PM EST] – Number 10 in Genre Fiction, Number 3 in Action and Adventure, and Number 139 overall.

[By the way, I can't believe this is working on a BoltBus.]

New Media, Meet Old [Brave Men Run]

Aram Zucker-Scharff — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:04:00 +0000

So, if you listen to podcasts, chances are you’re heard about this already. If you haven’t, here’s the deal:

This weekend, podcast publishing gets its first true test. Novel-podcaster Matthew Wayne Selznick has had his “podiobook” book (titled Brave Men Run) picked up by Swarm Press. According to the publisher, and the author himself, this ~~will be~~ is “the first novel with an initial simultaneous publication in paperback, five formats of e-book free of digital rights management restrictions, and free podcast audiobook (podiobook) editions.”

~~Even if that isn’t true,~~ This will be the first podiobook to published novel conversion that has the whole community behind it. Selznick has been running ads all over the podcast universe. He also has a stable of high-level, well-known and respected podiobook and podcasting writers on his side. He has had authors J.C. Hutchins (The “7th Son” trilogy), Mur Lafferty (”Playing For Keeps”), Nathan Lowell (The “Golden Age of the Solar Clipper” novels), Matt Wallace (”The Next Fix”), J.R. Blackwell (Voices of Tomorrow), P.G. Holyfield (”Murder at Avedon Hill”), and Jared Axelrod (The Voice of Free Planet X) write short stories in his universe to help publicize the release.

Selznick will also come online at 10 a.m. EST tomorrow (Sunday) to stream video readings of the short stories, progress reports on his books sales and “show solidarity for everyone who buys the book from Amazon.com on that day.”

Selznick’s goal is to launch ‘the Podiobook that could’ to the top of Amazon’s charts this Sunday. No small task.

This isn’t just a clever marketing ploy (though it is that). Many writers continue to labor in relative obscurity when it comes to podiobooks, some of them quite good. If Selznick succeeds, this could push publishers to look towards podcasted books, and other novels of the new media, for future publication.

In other words, this is not just a test of the content of the podiobook, but of the community’s strength. This is an opportunity for podcasters and podcast listeners to show that they matter to the mainstream media. Not only that, it is an opportunity to really subvert the old media for the the cause of the new.

It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. If Selznick succeeds it could mean a whole new way of looking at publicizing and publishing books. It would also mean that a free release of a product can drive sales.

I’ll be on the bus back to Virginia for part of the day, but I’ll be watching. If you are looking to support Selznick, make your purchace on Sunday.