Perpetual projects and daily obsessions.
Welcome back to the Hidden Things audiobook podcast, made available DRM-free thanks to the support our amazing Kickstarter backers.
You can subscribe to the podcast with your preferred podcast app right here. The whole story will be available as a complete audiobook in mid-August.
Can’t wait that long? You can pick up the book on Amazon!
This is Episode 3, brought to you by Kickstarter backer Scott David Russel.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Welcome back to the Hidden Things audiobook podcast, made available DRM-free thanks to the support our amazing Kickstarter backers.
You can subscribe to the podcast with your preferred podcast app right here. The whole story will be available as a complete audiobook in mid-August.
Can’t wait that long? You can pick up the book on Amazon!
This is Episode 2, brought to you by Kickstarter backer Brennan Taylor.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
One of the stretch goals of the Hidden Things audiobook kickstarter was something we called The Hidden Things in HIDDEN THINGS – a sort of “director’s commentary track” for the audiobook, in which I would share insights into the writing of the book and answer questions. It seemed like a fun, cool little thing to do.
It turned out to be a fun, cool, INCREDIBLY HUGE AND TIME CONSUMING thing to do, but I’m still very happy and grateful that we got to do it.
Every Friday, we’re going to post the HTIHT episodes that coincide with whatever audiobook episodes aired that week. You can subscribe to the HTIHT (“hit it”) podcast with your preferred podcast app right here.
If you have not either read Hidden Things or already finished the audiobook, and you intend to do so, you should stop listening to this podcast RIGHT NOW, until you’ve finished the story. I absolutely guarantee this podcast will spoil the ending and quite a few interesting surprises along the way. If you don’t want that to happen to you, STOP NOW.
Also, if you prefer to think of your authors as all-knowing practitioners of their craft who always understand what’s going on or know why so-and-so did such-and-such, you should stop listening to this podcast RIGHT NOW. Some people prefer their Oz both great and terrible, and would not like to discover a flustered man hiding behind a curtain, pushing and pulling at buttons and levers to maintain an illusion.
This is little yappy dog of a podcast, dead set on pulling back that curtain.
So.
You only get one warning, and that was it. Here we go.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I purposefully set up the Hidden Things kickstarter project with a fairly short fundraising timeframe. For one thing, publicity ‘stuff’ is a kind of exhausting, and I want to keep the energy level high throughout the project, so short and sweet is the order of the day.
Which brings me to the first stretch goal.
Little Things short story collection – text and audio: Do you miss Calliope? What about Vikous? Ever wanted to take a Dragon bowling? ME TOO. Little Things will be a 50+ page collection of short and short-short stories set in the Hidden Things world, packaged with the audiobook, read by the author. Unlocked at $1450.
I’m happy to have the chance to talk about this for two reasons. First, it means we’ve already hit the main project’s funding goal, so Yay! Second, it’s something that just seems like a ton of fun to me.
So fun, in fact, that I’ve already started writing some of the stories that will go into the collection. Some. I can’t write them all, right now – at least one of them will involve input from a backer, and I haven’t asked them what they want, yet – but I thought you might like to see a partial … list of ingredients — the stuff I’ve thrown in the mixing bowl, so far.
Calliope.
Detective Johnson.
A very special photo booth.
Glass shards.
Old scars.
Broken bones – the small ones, in your feet.
A mask.
A tack hammer.
Clown makeup.
Someone who doesn’t need clown makeup.
The world’s second largest ball of twine.
… and a Dragon. Of course.
I’m not sure I should say more. These are short stories after all: give away too much, and you’re already at the end.
I will say this: I am having an absolute blast writing them, and I really hope I get a chance to share them with you as part of this project.
Right now, we’re roughly $200 shy of this stretch goal. There are lots of ways to get there, and we have fifteen days to do it. I think there’s an excellent chance it can happen… if I get some help from all of you – if you meet someone who would love this project and tell them about it.
Think of these poor stories, these Little Things, suck in limbo.
I mean, I’m not saying I’m holding them hostage. I’m not evil.
But, in the coming months, I’m going to need to focus on this project, and if these stories don’t end up as part of the project, they’re going to have to wait awhile. No one will be more bummed about that than me.
But I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think we can hit this stretch goal.
We can make the world of Hidden Things a little bigger.
Interested in backing this project? Head to the Kickstarter page to find out more!
Want to find out more about the Hidden Things novel? We’ve got you covered.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve already begun some preliminary recording work with Tim White, who’s doing all the sound engineering work on the project. I’ve known Tim for years, and we’ve done some recording in the past (mostly for his podcasts, where editing my tangents becomes something of a challenge) — he’s even helped me set up my own recording tools.
And, having worked with him, I had no doubt he was exactly the person for the audiobook project.
We met for the first recording test back in early September. Tim had just finished rebuilding his recording studio from scratch (following a move) and he was eager to… umm… you know. Set some levels? Track some masters?
People, there’s a reason we’re paying Tim to do the audio stuff.
Anyway, we got together, arranged everything to our satisfaction, and the end product of that first session was splendid; after a few weeks worth of quality time with my laptop, Screenflow, and Prezi, it became the audio for the Hidden Things introduction video.
Once that was done and the project was submitted for final approval from the Kickstarter folks, we decided to celebrate with the first recording session for the book itself.
Which is where we meet the villain of the piece.
Somewhere between our first and second recording sessions, something had crept into the recording studio. Something evil.
Specifically, it had crept into the microphone I used to read the first three chapters of the book, and the end result was subtle, low-grade, but altogether annoying hisssssssss that lurked in the background, mucking up the sound quality. It didn’t matter whether you listened to the recording on a phone, a computer, a laptop, headphones, stereo speakers, or your car audio (we tested all those and a few more): hissssssssss.
“I think we’re going to have to re-record,” I said. “But hey: extra practice for me!”
Tim was less sanguine.
“I’m going to find that hiss.” He promised. “I’m going to find it, and I’m going to kill it.”
The next communication I saw from him showed a picture of the microphone I’d been using, laid out like a frog in Sophomore Biology.
I’d like to say no component electronics were harmed in pursuit of a clean recording line, but that would be a lie.
That said, I’m coming down on the side of “ends justify the means” with this one: Tim informs me that the reassembled gear is crystal clear and ready to go, and I strongly suspect we’ll be back in the studio this weekend.
Most of the project backers have seen this chart already:
I think it’s obvious where most of the resources are going for this project.
I hope it’s equally obvious why. Our goal is to do the very best recording we can – that’s not empty talk: that’s hours spent bent over capacitors and very, very tiny screwdrivers.
I can’t wait to share the result.
Interested in backing this project? Head to the Kickstarter page to find out more!
Want to find out more about the Hidden Things novel? We’ve got you covered.
“I know, if I back it, I’ll finally have a version of the book I’ll have time to finish.”
That was the comment left by the backer who pushed the Hidden Things audiobook project through the last step to the $1200 goal, only five days after we opened the kickstarter.
That’s right: over the weekend, the kickstarter reached the baseline funding goal – no matter what else happens, the project has funded – we are going to make an audiobook, and release a free, DRM-free podcast of the story, and put out six-pack collections of those podcasts.
It feels fantastic to write those words.
There are still eighteen days left in the kickstarter, and while I’m entirely satisfied with funding the baseline project and doing a great audiobook, the first stretch goal is tantalizingly close. In case anyone’s forgotten what it is, I’ll be talking about it — the Little Things short story collection and accompanying audio recording — in just a few days.
In other words, we are still accepting backers, we’re still working to make the best quality stuff we can, and we still have a long ways to go on the fundraising portion of the project.
It will surprise no one that Tim White and I have already started preliminary recording (if nothing else, we had to get down the audio for the kickstarter introduction video), but those first attempts have yielded exciting complications that I’m going to tell you about tomorrow.
Can’t wait? Here’s a preview:
Tune in tomorrow for more exciting tales of audio recording.
Until then…
Interested in backing this project? Head to the Kickstarter page to find out more!
Want to find out more about the Hidden Things novel? We’ve got you covered.
Those of you who started but didn’t finish watching the kickstarter introduction video (about 66% – I love you anyway) might not know that I talk at some length about Digital Rights Management and why I want to make sure that there will always be a version of the Hidden Things audiobook that is DRM-free.
The thing is, lots of people don’t really get what DRM is and why it gets me so riled up.
So let’s talk about that.
Paraphrased from defectivebydesign.org:
Digital Restrictions Management or DRM is the practice of imposing technological restrictions that control what users can do with digital media.
When a program is designed to prevent you from copying or sharing a song, reading an ebook on another device, or playing a single-player game without an Internet connection, you are being restricted by DRM.
In other words, DRM creates a damaged product.
Companies present that argument to make DRM appear beneficial to creators, but in order for that to be true, DRM would have to work as advertised, and it doesn’t. Instead, what you get are digital product that are ‘broken’ from the point of view of the average user, thanks to DRM that is absolute child’s play to circumvent for anyone with actual criminal intent.
While DRM is advertised as a mechanism to prevent copyright infringement, the only thing it does effectively is restrict all of the incredible possibilities enabled by digital technologies… and then sell some of those options back as severely limited services to honest customers.
So, here’s what DRM actually does:
If you want an example, think about what a big deal it was when Amazon added the ability to share our Kindle ebooks with our friends. (You know: that thing we’ve been able to do with regular books, forever.)
Except… we can’t share all our ebooks. Just some.
And only for a few days.
And only once, per friend.
Unless you want to buy Amazon Prime.
Or your friend does.
Consider: DRM has broken most of our digital products so badly that this level of “freedom” makes us happy.
When I hand you a paper copy of Hidden Things, you can do whatever you want with it. Read it to a crowd (by all means). Read it to you friends and family. Lend it to your friends and family. Give it away. Sell it. Chop it up and add it to a salad. Wear it as a hat. Even, if you choose, scan the whole thing and make 100 (or 1000 or ?) copies.
Anything you like. I will probably never know and I almost certainly will not care one way or the other. As much as trust comes into the equation, I trust you.
I want to give you this audiobook in the same way. I want to hand you this product and, with it, trust you as a customer, and a fan, and hopefully a friend.
Yes, someone (anyone) could grab copies of these unbroken, dare I say libertine audio files and hang them out on Pirate Bay or any one of a thousand Torrent sites.
But they could do that anyway, because DRM doesn’t work.
And I’m not going to hold a shotgun on everyone else in the store, just because one person out there might decide to be an asshole.
That’s not how this is going to happen.
Does this sound good? I hope so. If you want to support the project, and maybe show other creators out there that there’s nothing too scary about trusting your customers, check out the kickstarter page.
And watch out for the Hidden Things.
Interested in backing this project? Head to the Kickstarter page to find out more!
Want to find out more about the Hidden Things novel? We’ve got you covered.
I’m a writer.
I write for a living and, more than that, I write because I love it. I always have: my first coherent story (a taut action-mystery-thriller in the ageless style of Alvin Fernald) is… let’s say “stored for posterity” in an old steamer chest in my garage. Handwritten, hand-bound, and illustrated in pen AND crayon – indisputably the best work I produced, circa 1979.
I’m proud of that little book, and the kid that wrote it. I’m proud of all the stories I’ve written since (even the ones consigned to my “still needs work” folder), the ones I’m working on right now, and (of course) Hidden Things. It’s a hell of a thing, to hold a book in your hands and see your words made solid in the world.
But I’ve never quite felt I was done with Hidden Things. Not quite.
Because for me, part of a story is telling it; actually speaking the words. Putting your characters’ rage and fear and joy into the air. Making listeners laugh, or cry, or groan. It’s simple: I was surrounded by storytellers as a kid, and that was what they did.
Now, I get to do it too.
Thanks to the efforts of my amazing agent and the fine folks at HarperCollins (who returned audio rights to me simply because I asked for them), I now have the opportunity to record the Hidden Things audiobook and make it available exactly the way I wish every audiobook could be.
More than that, we’re going to make it happen, together. Please, visit the Hidden Things Audiobook Kickstarter page to find out how.
I’m excited.
I’m a little scared.
I could not be happier.
Interested in backing this project? Head to the Kickstarter page to find out more!
Want to find out more about the Hidden Things novel? We’ve got you covered.