These are just three examples of alternative strategies that aspiring authors, aided by Internet technology, are devising to get their work to the public. In the process, they are creating publishing models to circumvent the traditional - some say broken - one. "The model of agents and publishers as gatekeepers just isn't working anymore," says Harwood, who with fellow podcasting author Scott Sigler has taught Author Boot Camp seminars at Stanford, in which they show writers how to create a publishing platform the way they did.
"I had to do something because just writing letters to agents wasn't working. So I give people my work for free. After they've listened to my book, they know they'll like it. I've given away six books in audio form."
Harwood posted serialized podcasts of his second book, "Young Junius," which will be released in autumn by independent crime fiction publisher Tyrus Books. He devised an innovative marketing scheme for this title as well. In the first week of May, he announced on his Web site that he was offering a $35 special edition, and he says the orders came flooding in. A week later, he had earned enough to cover a third of the cost of the print run for the hardcover, paperback and special editions.
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