Controversy was ignited (perhaps even exploded) yesterday when the podcasting community, and more specifically the podiobooks.com community, caught wind of an article written for a magazine that essentially said that only books that have no chance of publication ever go onto podiobooks.com and real authors wouldn’t ever consider posting stuff on it.

Um… words really failed me when I read that.

It turns out that the author of the article has never listened to any of the books/stories found on Podiobooks.com nor did she do any research to confirm/deny some of the things she wrote. You know, little things like “putting your books up on the site would never, ever result in a sale to a publisher”.

As you might imagine, this started a real firestorm.

In an effort to provide full-disclosure, let me say that I am a fan of podiobooks. I am writing a story right now that is intended to go onto podiobooks.com as we speak. You can even find the first few episodes on this site and on iTunes. Am I doing it because I think the story is so bad it can’t ever be published as the article suggests? Not hardly.

I also read the article, other peoples’ comments and even the comments put out by the original author.

The article was so obviously wrong to me I just shook my head and went “Next!”. I responded to a couple of the upset tweets by people I follow as well as some of the comments posted against the article.

It reminded me why I rarely give my two cents in forums and why I’m always careful to put my statements out there as my opinion. My reasoning is simply this: I don’t consider myself an expert on anything. I am well-informed on many things and I generally know what’s what, but I know there are limitations to my knowledge on many subjects. I also know there are people out there who have a great deal more depth about certain things.

It was proven very clearly here, posting something, even if the venue isn’t largely read, will be seen. I see everything that gets written about me within hours, sometimes minutes of it showing up on the Internet. Whatever you write about, it will be found just as quickly.

At the end of the day ask yourself “Do I want to be remembered for saying something smart, or something stupid?” That should temper you typing one way or the other. I’m not sure the article was stupid; the author claims it was meant to be satirical. Unfortunately, the satirical elements don’t really come out so it sounds like an attack on certain authors and podiobooks.com itself.

Update

It almost sounds like I’m afraid to voice my opinion, doesn’t it? That’s not true at all. If I have an (informed) opinion about something, I will definitely talk about it. I WILL do my research first. Once I have a solid understanding of something I will comment on it. But not before.

Personal Update

Jennifer Rahn, who I met at Con-Version (24, I think) posted an interview with me. You can read it at: http://magnix.blogspot.com/2010/02/man-behind-scenes-interview-with.html.

I am now 20 – 25% finished writing ‘GalaxyBillies’. I will have it finished this year and I will be working to sell it this year too. Episode number 4 (actually the 5th episode) will be available this week.

I’m going to send out my Fantasy novel again. I still believe in it and I know it hasn’t been rejected nearly enough to shelve just yet.

No word on my YA contest entry. The contest site says it could be April 30 before I know. I need to be patient just a little longer.

A few days ago, Scott Roche, AKA SpiritualTramp on Twitter raised a question about critiques. Do we want them? How do we want them and so on. What followed was an extremely spirited (natch) discussion about the topic. One I got involved in.

Now, those of you who have read any of my posts probably know I cherish feedback. But why is that? Why do I care what other people think about my writing and podcasting?

Well, I think it all comes down to knowing that I’m creating something people want to hear/read.

But don’t I know if I’m doing a good job or not? Well, in a word, No. I am totally oblivious to whether my own work is good or not. My own biases make it too tough to judge. I’m simply too close to it.

But do I care about all feedback? Again a single word: No. There is a lot of feedback that isn’t worth the time taken to read it. I’ve gotten my fair share of that.

So what makes feedback/critiques that I care about? Well, it must be constructive. Don’t just tell me you like/hate something. Tell me why. For example, if you think something in ‘GalaxyBillies’ is funny, please tell me what you think is funny and why the joke resonated with you. If you think it sucks, say why it sucks and what you were expecting.

You can also tell me in a nice way. That is important. Flaming me will cause me to zone out. Saying something is bad in a positive way keeps me reading. It can be done, honest.

If you give me feedback or critique my work in a positive way I’ll be able to learn from it and either repeat it or fix it depending on whether you liked it or didn’t.

My goal is to be published. That is no secret. Anyone who takes the time to tell me what is and isn’t working is helping me move toward that goal and you are worth your weight in gold and I thank you for your help.

That’s why I care. Constructive feedback and critiques help me move forward.

Personal Update

My Flash Fiction story was turned down and so was my last YA novel submission. While I am disappointed about the first I am stoked about the second. Why? I got a page and a half of comments from the publisher telling me what I can do to improve the story. The publisher also told me they would welcome more of my submissions including a resubmission of the rejected book. That makes it a big WIN in my books. Now I just have to find the time to do the editing.