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.