I honestly can’t tell you how hawesome this is to write this.  For me this project has been a long journey, even dating back to before Black Shadow was even released.  I started writing because I was a fan of the creative process.  I eventually released my first podcast novel, warts and all, as a giant experiment to see if I could take an idea in my head, make a story out of it, and follow through with actually putting it out there for people to enjoy.  I feel I have succeeded in that regard.

Now I sit here in my room writing this post, and I’m about to embark on another creative experiment that I feel will change my life forever.

Enough with the shenanigans, let’s get to some announcin’.

This summer, I had the opportunity to interview Geoff Smith, co-founder of RingtoneFeeder.com, about his career and his creative process.  I was fascinated with how he released his own album online with a new way that hadn’t been done before.  He called it a dynamic album.  He put his album out as a paid podcast feed where you get all the songs of the album, then over the course of a year, he released bonus content such as demos of songs, music videos, and so on.  I was one of his earlier purchasers, and was excited to speak with him for the first time.  Afterwards him and I started talking, still about the creative process, and an idea popped into my head, “Would audio stories work the same way?”  Needless to say, I started talking with Geoff and his business partner/co-founder Klaus Lovgreen, and the three of us hit it off.  I am honestly telling you within a few weeks we came up with an idea and that’s what I’m announcing to you now.

Next Wednesday, October 28th, 2009, I am releasing a dynamic audiobook called “Steve Saylor presents – The Caffeine Collection”  through my site (stevesaylor.net) and RingtoneFeeder.com!  It’s a collection of short stories that I have written, and produced in audio form, covering a wide variety of genres for you to nom over; such as sci-fi, comedy, fantasy, narrative non-fiction, supernatural, it’s all there!
 
It will be released the same way Geoff put his dynamic album out, except instead of songs, you get short stories!

Included in the dynamic audiobook will be 10 short stories, plus a PDF of the whole collection, a full length audio version that will work in your audiobook playlist in iTunes, several ringtones, I call “Ringtone Stories”; and you will also get bonus material released over time such as behind-the-scenes video blogs of me putting the book together, bonus stories, and whatever I decide to put in the feed for you all!

I believe, this will add a whole new idea to self-publishing that hasn’t really been done before. Sure we have novels released through podcasts, and that is fantastic, but this adds a whole new element to it that I believe gives the creator a whole new way of thinking in regards to book content.

More details to come over the next week, but I thought I would include the introduction of the collection here for you that explains what the collection is about:

Introduction to Steve Saylor presents – The Caffeine Collection

In the summer of 2007, I was walking with my friends on Welland Avenue in my hometown of St. Catharines Ontario Canada at around midnight.  I can never quite remember exactly what we were talking about, but I do remember this one particular moment in the conversation.  We had just crossed the street underneath the QEW bridge when I said out loud, “We should write a book!”

Of course all three of us thought it was an awesome idea.  So over time we got together about once a week to write and share ideas.  At first the sessions were at each other’s houses, but we eventually ended moving our sessions to our local Starbucks.

The Starbucks we frequented was in a Chapters Bookstore at the Fairview Mall.  At first we tried different things, my friend Shane would write poems, Brian would write Daily Devotionals, and I would write short stories.  I loved creating my own worlds and characters.  The whole story-making process appealed to me, and made me look forward to each writing session.  Of course as time grew on, I moved on from short stories to writing my first podcast novel “Black Shadow” which was later released in December of 2007 through my website.  However, every single word of that story was written at that same Starbucks.

Fast forward to 2009, I was home for the summer after spending a year in Toronto Ontario for school.  I had several writing projects on the go, but didn’t have that same motivation to keep going.  I looked through some of my old short stories that I wrote in 2007, and thought, “Hey, some of these are actually quite good.  Why not put them into a short story collection?”  At that moment a spark was lit and I focused my time on writing.  I was excited to go back to Starbucks every other day.  I would drink a lot of caffeine and my imagination began to play out the stories in my head.  It felt like I was watching a movie and furiously writing down what I saw.  

No one really understood why I “needed” to write at Starbucks, I sometimes didn’t understand it.  However, anytime I told my family I was going to Starbucks, they knew I was there to write.  There is something about that environment that appeals to me.  Whether it’s the friendly baristas behind the counter; the people working at the long table with their laptops; or even the regulars like Mark who was friendly with everyone including me; whatever it is, I love that place.  Through it all though, there I sat, laptop out, a cup of Tazo Chai Latte beside me, and through the buzz of caffeine the stories you are about to read were born.  

I hope you enjoy this little collection, and I hope you’ll share it with your friends.  It’s totally cool, just tell them I sent ya.  If you want to see more of what I do including other podcasts, or other writings, please feel free to visit me online at stevesaylor.net

As always, I remain obediently yours.

Steve Saylor

September 2009

This is going to be hawesome!!!!

I can’t wait to tell you more.