Mur Lafferty has a fine post on her I Should be Writing site that takes a look at the digital versus physical media debate, with respect to the mythical term of “value.” Mur’s thoughtful commentary got me to thinking, as it often does, and inspired me to scribble out some of  my thoughts on the subject as it relates to giving away free content. In this day and age, the digital (virtual) vs. physical (sink your teeth into it) topic is on the mind of many more artists than not. It’s not secret that I’ve given away my books as free podcasts.  Delivering this content as a podcast took a lot of man hours, a lot of sweat, and about three pints of blood daily.  By rights, I *should* be charging a fee for people to subscribe to my podcasts.   But would people find the same value in this content if they had to pay, say, a dollar a month, for the the it? Or is it the “free” that makes the podcast experience such a satisfying one?  By adding price tag, I might risk the sentiment  “Wow this book was great and it was free..AND produced in a basement” turning into a “I don’t think it’s worthwhile to pay money for something produced in a basement.” I won’t lie and say that I haven’t fantasized about charging a subscription/download fee.  If I did that, I could quit my day job and become a writer and podcaster full time.  Regardless, I still find great value in sharing my work through the free audio medium.

In terms of “payment,” listeners have shown their apprecaition in many ways and I’ve listed a key few below.  The following items don’t help me pay for servers, file hosting, gear, or bourbon, but they still have a great deal of value:

• Reviews–iTunes, Amazon, blogs
• Spreading the word
• Emails expressing the enjoyment
• Error catching
• Simply being there an audience (I’ll explain this)
• Dirty pictures (okay, I made that up).

It’s not a secret that bringing a book into print involves a long turn around, a year, two years, maybe even more–this ontop of however long it took to write and edit the book so that it’s ready for the prime time.   Delivering content via a podcast, I can get my story out there relatively quickly, not as quick as a new song, but quick enough that I’m remain on the right side of the instant gratification side of the line.  The excitement I receive from my ever-growing listener base when I release a new podiobook, short story, or general podcast is valuable, even if I can’t slap a price tag on it.

Podcasting has helped me sell many more books than I would have otherwise without cultivating a large and supportive fan base as a first.  Is it a one-to-one ratio or even a two-to-one ratio? No.  I think the direct return on investment for a podcast novel is a nebulous topic, at best, and better suited for a post of it’s own.

But back to the question of how value is assigned to the virtual product versus the physical.  Consider Crescent in its Podiobook form.  The podcast is not something a listener can hold in their hands and smell, curl up with in front of the fire, or spill coffee all over.   It cannot be placed on a bookshelf for the admiration of owner and friends.  The for cost, e-Book version of Crescent, though extremely popular on Amazon,  is not something your dog can eat. Your child cannot smear spaghetti sauce all over it. Does that make the expression contained in the neat rows of zeros and ones any less valuable than the thoughts and ideas expressed within the pages of Crescent’s print counterpart? I think the value comes from the story itself and any entertainment that it may provide, be it consumed by the ears or the eyes or requiring a battery.  One way or another, it’s getting to the brain.

Will I continue to podcast my fiction? Absolutely. So long as people continue to download my material and persist in asking for more of it, I’ll give what I can.  Will all of it always be 100% free? That’s hard to say. I’m getting ready to experiment with sponsorship, so that should certainly help.  Will I pursue getting my work into e-Book format and print for that matter? Of course.

What’s makes art valuable to you?

Writer Unboxed had a post yesterday entitled the “the Uniqueness of You.” It’s a brief post, but I found it to be thought provoking all the same. It’s no secret that I’m actively seeking a literary agent. It’s the logical next step for my writing career. Though I haven’t been at it for that long, the process has been lengthy and at times hard. On the agent side of things, it’s a subjective beast when choosing writers to present. If the story doesn’t rub a person an agent just write, they can’t be expected to embrace it and sell it with everything they’ve got. Thus far, all of the rejections I’ve received have been positive (yes there is such a thing) and generally prefaced with “clearly, you are an exceptional writer” there has been the “but this project just isn’t write for me (or the agency) at this time. So of course, this raises the question if I’m such a fine writer, what am I doing wrong? I’ve come to a place where I can say, I’m not doing anything wrong. I tell my stories with *my* voice and no one else’s, and that it can’t be everyone’s bag. I’m fortunate to have ten’s of thousands of fans who I do rub the right way.

A lot of my followers are writer’s themselves and are out there trying to sell their work and reach that next level. I receive emails from people who are discouraged by the rejections they receive. It’s only natural to take rejection hard, but you don’t have to take it to heart. You’ve got to believe in yourself, brother. You can’t second guess what you’re doing just because there are some people out there who aren’t down with it. Second guesses will only get in the way of the writing that you should be doing every day. As writers, we are our own worst enemy and that internal voice of negativity is something you need to keep at bay. Bitch slap it not once, but twice. You know why? at some point, you are going to find the right person who will want to see you rise to the top and who will have the tools and passion to get you there.

My best friend has cancer.

At the end of June 2009 Zach found a mass in his abdomen.  Within the next few weeks and after a whirlwind of tests and appointments he was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer).  After a lot of prayer and thought, he decided to go with the agreesive treatment of surgery followed by chemo.  

Zach has already had one surgery, but the procedure  did not go as expected.  Over the past several months, he has been following an aggressive chemotherapy regime in preparation for an ambitious second surgery attempt.

Zach is 35 years old.  He has been married to his wife, Prudence, for over 12 years and together they have two beautiful daughters–Kate, who is 4 years old, and Zoe, who is 2 years old.  He is fighting for his life in way that inspires.  Zach has shown a strength, a courage, and a determination that I don’t think I’d have in the same situation.

Zach played in my band, the Bad Habit, from the very beginning.  Together, we have played shows all over the DC metro area, on the road, in the basement, and back in my (slightly ramshackle) apartment in Arlington.  Zach was one of the first (of only two) people to read Crescent, before it was a book, before it was a podcast.

For the next six weeks, I’m going to be donating all of my profits from Crescent to the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation (http://www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/)

Crescent (Signed Copy, limited supply) $16.00

Pip Ballantine said it so very well:

This year has not started how it was meant to. My dear friend, collaborator and colleague has found himself with the prospect of raising his child without her mother.

I know Tee wanted to keep this a private matter, but word hit twitter within hours and now the genie cannot get back in the bottle.

So here it is. The sharp end of life. The bit no one expects or wants.

I know that the wheels grind slowly on this and Tee and his young child are looking at significant bills after the death of his wife Natalie. So I have started this ChipIn account. Money will be going to Tee Morris’ paypal to first of all pay off these bills which loom and then into an account for his little girl.

I have gone on and on about community again and again. Tee has given selflessly to my podcasts and many, many others. He is the originator of podcast audio fiction. The first. A founder of Podiobooks.com and a writer of many books on social media.

The community has banded together to help Tee with the difficult financial burden he is now facing by putting together a fund to help him with the immediate costs and setting up a long-term trust fund for his daughter.

I’ve been getting a lot Twitter requests for disclosure on my arsenal, not only with respect to Guerilla Writing but my routine  (a rou-wha’-now?) as a whole. I like this topic, not just because I’m fond of my toys, but because utilizing variety of tools stretches my imagination in fun and interesting ways.  The muse is flexible creature, just one of many qualities that makes her sexy and keeps me coming back for more.  I write in all kinds of situations and settings:  waiting on the ferry to take me across the Potomac, in airports, on airplanes, in bars, in parking lots, in the bedroom while soothing the new infant to sleep, and in the comfortable confines of my man cave.  You get the picture. If I have a free hand and a free mind, I’ll use both to create.  Some tools are better suited for different settings than others.  Here’s my break down:

Handheld Devices

3 x 5 Notebook

My favorite handheld device of all time is the 3 x 5 inch, top-bound memo pad.  It slips right into my back pocket. I never have to restart it.  I can scribble in the thing just about anywhere and anytime. It doesn’t require batteries, power adapters, or even a whole lot of light to operate.  This versatile little pad  is the link to a younger version of me , the little kid who used to scribble stories and draw pictures of monsters while laying on his parent’s living room floor. The 3 x 5′r represents a part the imagination uncluttered by expectations.   This is probably the most important tool in my whole kit.  A life-line to Neverland.

The Palm Treo

For the better part of a year, I used a Palm Treo 750wx as a mobile phone. It didn’t take long for this handheld device to become a writing tool.  I used it to write notes and book chapters, including chapters of Harvey and Eden.  Not the optimal tool for hammering out prose, I used the Treo in a time before I owned a laptop with an functioning battery, but had to capitalize on what little free time I had.  I made the device work for me and I even grew to dig the wee keyboard with its raised buttons–it felt right beneath my thumbs and I quickly developed tactile memory of the miniature QWERTY.  By the end of the tryst, I was quick and deadly with the Palm Treo.

The iPhone

The iPhone was a serious upgrade.  This little device had me walking on sunshine and hugging strangers at random.   Regardless of the fact that I couldn’t keep my hands off the iPhone’s shiny touch-screen, I didn’t tinker with the “Notes” application for quite some time.  Once I did mess with it, I wondered what took me so freaking long. The Notes App’s digital representation of yellow-lined paper takes me right back to Ms. Miska’s 6th Grade creative writing class.  Visual appeal aside, Notes is a handy tool for jotting ideas while pumping away on the elliptical machine or standing inline in the grocery store.  I riff-write with Notes in the middle of the night, while pacing and swaying my 6-week old back to sleep post-feeding.

Sit-Down-and-Write-Devices

The laptop  is a glorious invention.  Especially if you’re anything like me and aren’t afforded any sort of “environmental guarentee.” The laptop frees me to crank out short stories and book chapters in my car, in the pub, in bed, in the postpartum ward of Loudoun Hospital.  What’s better than a lap dance from the muse, on demand and on the go, no less? I wrote my first two novels on a Texas Instruments laptop between sets at rock gigs, in the devastation that was my apartment, and in the late-night calm of my (then) girlfriend’s apartment. It’s been more than five years since I used that dinosaur and after some Dell action, I inevitably went Mac.  Currently, I’m on a MacBook Pro. If you’ve used one, you know it’s a sex machine.  I catch myself wanting to lick it from time to time.  Whether it’s docked at my desk or on the move,  I love creating with this computer.  It’s like using a favorite guitar, everything about it feels right in my hands.  My studio setup is anchored by a simple and slim Mac USB keyboard. They keys are great, mimicking the feel of the MacBook Pro’s keyboard pretty closely.

Feel is important when it comes to the tools that I use to create. Especially with respect to keyboards. On first drafts, I like to go fast and the Macbook Pro’s built in keys along with the ones in the external keyboard enable me to do that.  When I really get going, the sense that I’m typing is almost lost.  The result that can have is obvious.

There is more payoff from using different tools than just the flexibility to write where ever and whenever.  By switching things up, my imagination is not reliant on any one implement to get the show rolling. My creative brain functions independently and the tools are merely there to help me capture whatever shakes out.

Photo Credits:

Toolbox, by Dipster

Notebooks, iPhone, and Studio by Phil Rossi

My name is Phil Rossi. I’m a musician, an author, a provider of new media content, a father, and a husband. These are the roles that define me as a human being and I do not take any of them lightly. I became a dad two years and two months ago and just before the big event, I was told (warned?) countless times that everything was going to change. When my daughter was born, I was surprised that the world did not come to a grinding halt as I had pretty much expected based on “insider information…” (visit NotJustaDad.com for the full article)

I’ve wanted to write a column on criticism for some time now.  It’s a hot topic and I’ve always taken interest in how people react to criticism, from cool silence to full on flamewars that are embarrassing to behold. To keep things simple, I’m going to talk about my experience with people criticizing my fiction. Though, remind me sometime to tell you about Here’s-a-Hint, a fellow in the DC music scene who had a serious hard-on for me several years back.

I’ve been putting my fiction out there for public consumption since 2006, and in that time, I’ve been fortunate that the majority of reviews I’ve received have been positive.  My reaction to praise is obvious–it pleases me to no end, it validates what I do, and drives me to get more stories out there.

But what about that darkside?  What’s Phil Rossi’s reaction to the “bad reviews”? Let’s face it–that’s what’s really interesting here–who cares about my happy dance.  Bad reviews–I’ve seen writers take them in stride, I’ve seen them argue with their critics, and just about everything in between. As I’ve evolved, I’ve probably dabbled in a little bit of everything in terms of reaction. These days,  I do my best to let it ride and not cause a scene.  If I can learn from a negative review, all the better.  I think the  intent of a review, perceived or otherwise, has a lot to do with how I react to it. Here’s my break down:

The Critical Review – In this review, the author will site specific reservations they may have had with my work, explaining why they felt the flaws were flaws.  The critical review is sometimes balanced with positives. I dig the Critical Review. There is opportunity to grow here and though these reviews can sometimes break my heart, I still appreciate the effort invested.

The Not My Thing Review – This review is typically brief and non-specific, a general statement of “I tried but couldn’t get into it.”  I take these with a grain of salt. I’m realistic. I know my writing is not for everybody and though I’d love to please all of you all the time, it’s not going to happen.

The I’m Smarter Than You Review – This review is similar to the Critical Review in the sense that the author takes the time to point out  specific flaws in my work. However, the impression of being talked-down to is impossible to shake.  This I’m Smarter Than You Review is all about heavy use of a patronizing tone and it always occurs in a public forum so everybody can see just how smart this person is. It reeks of “Look at me! Look at me!”  Now, I do realize that some people are socially awkward.  Maybe there is benevolence intended, but I doubt it.

The You Suck Review - With this puppy,  the reviewer is bitter, jealous, and probably received little love as a child (or ate too many paint chips).  The motivation behind the “you suck” review is to make me feel bad.   These malicious reviews are always unobjective,  often unintelligent, and by far, the easiest to deal with.   I just brush them off with a good laugh.  Still, it’s shame that these people having nothing better to do with their time than attempting to bring me down.  They might try setting themselves on fire as a service to us all.

Criticism can be a hard pill to swallow, no matter if it’s constructive or malicious.  I put my work out there because I want to entertain people. I’m a human being, and yeah, sometimes it does bring me down when I miss the mark with someone. I give myself time to pout and wonder, in amazement, how there could exist an individual not totally in love with me.  But after sufficient grieving,  I always try to spin the negative review to my advantage. I take the constructive criticism and use it to become a better writer .  The negative and cruel reviews? I can’t think of anything better to thicken my skin.

On November 15th, 2009, my wife and I welcomed the newest edition of our family to the world. At 5:46 pm, Piper Lee Rossi was born.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Totten
BookPRGirl[@]gmail.com

Scare Provider Phil Rossi announces “There’s an App for That” – the Phil Rossi iPhone App

(November 9th, 2009) Ashburn, VA – Phil Rossi, bestselling author of the sci-fi horror novel Crescent, a musician, and a new media content provider announced today the launch of the Phil Rossi Experience iPhone and iPod touch application, available for purchase now in the iTunes App Store.

The application features episodes of Rossi’s serialized audio fiction, plus exclusive bonus content—including mp3 commentary, videos, and pdfs–and original music. “An iPhone and iPod Touch application couldn’t be more perfect for my content. It’s no secret that since as far back as 2007, I’ve been blurring the lines between music and fiction—first with the Crescent, and now more so than ever, with my latest novel, Harvey. For example, for my Harvey podcast, I can include songs from the original soundtrack right there with the episode that’s tied to the music with this app. There will be plenty of fun and exclusive extras—aural and visual–for iPhone/iPod touch users.”

Developed in conjunction with Wizzard Media, LLC, the application enables the purchaser to interact with Rossi via built-in access to voicemail, email, web site, and twitter account. According to Rossi, “Wizzard Media has developed a lethal combination in this application—combining social media accessibility with content delivery, they’ve created a whole new playing field here.”

Rossi began his new media journey in 2007, releasing Crescent as a podcast. In July 2009, Dragon Moon Press published Crescent, the novel. To date, episodes of Crescent have been downloaded 900,000 times by a global fan base and Rossi has released several other critically and listener acclaimed works, including Eden and Harvey, both of which feature original music.

“I’m just picking up steam. I’ve got more fiction forecasted for audio in 2010, in addition to the continuation of the Phil Rossi podcast which will feature interviews with authors, musicians, and other creative, intellectual sorts, along with me rambling about this adventure I’m on.”
For more information about the Phil Rossi iPhone/iPod touch application, visit http://www.philrossi.net

For more information about Crescent and to order a copy, visit:

http://www.crescentstation.net

For more information on about Harvey, visit http://www.harveythenovel.com

For more information on Wizzard Media, LLC, please visit http://www.Wizzard.tv

Download the PHIL ROSSI iPhone PRESS RELEASE as a PDF

the Phil Rossi Experience iPhone and iPod Touch Application

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Credits:
Written and directed by, Phil Rossi
Filmed by, Phil Rossi
Narrated by, Zeus Legion

Music: Otherside, by the Walkup
Drunkest Hour, by Mikal Evans
Room 16, by Phil Rossi
Once in a River, by Phil Rossi

Photo Credits:
Jubal A. Early – Phil rossi
Potomac in the Fog – Don Ruzek