operation crazy idea presents: the criminal minds production diary – the audio version

I spent much of today recording and mixing an audio version of my Criminal Minds production diary. It's available as a DRM-free MP3 for just $5.

The fundamental concept behind Operation Crazy Idea is to publish more things, more often, at lower price points. The simplicity and immediacy of POD technology, the Long Tail, and Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans Model (I hate that term, but I love the idea behind it) have all worked together to make the first effort in Operation Crazy Idea, Sunken Treasure, a huge success.

This morning, I got a genuinely Crazy Idea that I've spent much of today creating: An audio version of my Criminal Minds production diary.

"Why aren't you just doing an audio version of the whole book?" You may ask.

"Well," I would say, "because that wouldn't be a Crazy Idea."

What is a Crazy Idea, though, is recording the whole production diary, adding in the usual asides and extras, ending up with something that's about 78 minutes long, and selling it on Lulu for $5.

"Why $5?" You say.

You ask a lot of good questions, person-who-I-made-up-who-is-different-from-the-person-I-made-up-yesterday.

It's probably worth more than that, but since the audio quality isn't as produced as the Happiest Days or Just A Geek audiobooks, I thought it was a fair price. Besides, I've learned from the PDF sales of Sunken Treasure that it's possible to reach a lot of people at a very affordable price point and still get a decent return on my investment. I'm not getting rich off of this stuff, but I'm hopeful that if I do enough projects like this, that are affordable and easy to purchase, over the course of a year it will add up to me supporting my family. If that happens, this officially becomes Operation Awesome Idea. If I earn enough to buy some toys, it's Crazy Awesome.

I decided to do this particular project today (total time from inception to completion: about 5 hours) because my episode of Criminal Minds is airing tonight, and I thought it would be cool to do this version right now, instead of waiting until I could book studio time for the full audiobook.

If you're interested, you can head over to my Lulu storefront to pick it up right now. If you're not convinced, and would like to hear a preview, you can download this excerpt, which tells the story of the audition.

LA Daily: rebooting my positronic brain

This week’s LA Daily is a day late:

On my bio, it says that I’m an actor, writer, husband and father. I love being every one of these things, and somehow I’ve managed to strike a good balance among them in the ten years I’ve kept all these plates spinning in my life.

It’s been remarkable that I’ve managed to keep them all going without a catastrophic failure for so many years, and I guess it was not so much a question of if, but when, one of them would wobble and crash to the floor.

…and crash it did, in a spectacular display of EPIC FAIL.

the big dog-men live very high in the caves

The fourth edition Dungeon Master’s Guide is the DM’s guide I’ve wanted to read since I was a kid. Unlike previous editions, which were filled with all kinds of stat blocks and very little information on actually running a game, the 4E DMG could also be called The Art of Dungeon Mastering, because that’s pretty much what it is.

I mention this because I just saw a new release from Wizards that is another one of those “Where have you been all my life?” releases:

Dungeon Delve has been released! Dungeon Delve is designed for groups looking for an exciting night of monster-slaying without the prep time. It contains dozens of self-contained easy-to-run mini-dungeons, or “delves,” each one crafted for a few hours of game-play.The book includes delves for 1st- to 30th-level characters, and features dozens of iconic monsters for the heroes to battle. Dungeon Masters can run these delves as one-shot adventures or weave them into their campaign.

We all love a nice long campaign that starts in The Dales, and five years later lands us all at Baldur’s Gate before we head to the Outer Planes to battle the gods themselves, but sometimes you just want to grab your sword, head into the nearest hole in the ground, and whack as many Kobolds as you can, you know?

One of the great strengths of 4E, in my opinion, is that it lends itself perfectly to this type of instagaming, while it also supports the longer campaigns we all grew up loving to play. I really wish more of my fellow gamer geeks would understand this, instead of treating it as a failing or a reason to dismiss 4E without even playing it. I think it’s awesome that Wizards has released a book that contains a ton of pre-built dungeons that can be run as one-shots and finished in an evening, because it means more people will get to play more often. As much as I love gaming, I’ve pretty much given up on ever being able to have a weekly D&D group again; I just don’t have the time. Quick one-and-dones, as my friend calls them, are perfect for guys like me who love gaming and want to play, but can’t commit to something on a regular basis.

a few self-publishing resources

The positive response to Sunken Treasure has surprised and delighted me even more than the fantastic sales of both the print and PDF versions. As of this writing, PDF sales have vastly exceeded my expectations, and though print sales have slowed, they haven’t stopped. I’ve seen a direct relationship between PDF sales and print sales, which is awesome and totally validates what I’ve always suspected to be true, but I was too afraid to try on my own.

This isn’t the first time I’ve self-published, but it is the first time I’ve released a PDF, and used a print on demand service. The entire experience has been so wonderful, I hope I can serve as an inspiration to other authors who may be considering going this route.

In case I am, I thought I’d share a couple of resources I’ve recently come across, as well as two of my own, that may be helpful:

6 ways to publish your own book from Mashable

Just what it sounds like: six different sites that let you self-publish. I’m pretty much sold on Lulu, but it’s always smart to research as many options as you can.

Fixing the Pig Book Model from 1889.ca

This post is all about marketing, eBooks vs. print books, the 1000 True Fans model, and what to expect when you’re self-publishing. If you’re serious at all about not just being published, but actually earning something for your work, this is a must-read.

My interview with the Lulu blog

I’ve posted this already, but I think it’s relevant, especially my advice for writers.

Five simple ways to just keep writing

Another oldie of mine, included here for the sake of completeness.

I’m sure some of you reading this have come across resources of your own that you’ve found useful. I’d love it if you’d be willing to share them in comments, so we can build a more complete and hopefully useful resource for anyone who wants it.

Adding:

Self-publishing review, which has a nice review of Sunken Treasure, as it turns out.

Cult of Done Manifesto. It totally creeps me out when something I’ve had rattling around in my brain comes out of someone else’s brain, better than I could have said it myself. (I especially needed to read this today, having experienced my first truly massive truly EPIC FAIL in a very long time early this morning.)

another chance to watch my episode of Criminal Minds

I just found out that my episode of Criminal Minds, Paradise, is going to be rerun this Wednesday, March 4 at 9pm Eastern and Pacific on CBS.

I am tremendously proud of the work I did on this show, and I hope that, if you missed it the first time around, or you wanted to watch it again after reading my production diaries from Sunken Treasure, you'll tune in and watch me get my creepy-guy-you-really-don't-want-to-be-alone-with on.

(Thanks go to Scott T who told me about this via Twitter.)