Swallowing my pride

As of January 31, 2010, the Clear Heart podcast has been downloaded 123,235 times.

In non-English-speaking countries it has been downloaded by 4 people in Ethiopia, 7 in Russia, 9 in Portugal, 12 in Iran, 26 in Spain, 32 in Slovakia, 35 in Hong Kong, 46 in Japan, 67 in Germany, an inexplicable 1036 in Manila, and so on across the globe.

I've received email from listeners in France, Italy, Spain, China, Lesotho, Germany, New Zealand, a pub in Liverpool England and a sailboat in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.

I've had several dozen contractors tell me they know exactly who I based the character of Juke on, and that they employ him (in New York, Ohio, Florida, Oregon, Scotland...).

The Clear Heart podcast won the Podiobooks Founder's Choice Award as one of the 5 best book podcasts of 2008.

The novel Clear Heart is available as a printed book from Amazon (if interested, go here) or as an ebook from Smashwords (if interested, go here).

In these hard times, I'm glad I could provide something people can relate to and enjoy...

But I've never before seen such a disconnect between popularity and monetary reward.

Podiobooks.com, the host of my podcast, suggests that each listener make a voluntary donation of $9.99 to the artist if you enjoyed the podcast. I’ve made such donations myself for podcasts I’ve enjoyed.

Over the last two years I’ve received less than $100 in donations, which is less than I paid for the microphone ($128, a Samson USB mic).

One problem is that most people download using iTunes, so they never see the “Donate” button on the podiobooks website. I've just added a “Donate” button to this blog, though it hurts my pride. An alternate way to show appreciation would be to buy the ebook or the printed book.

Okay, I'll drop this embarrassing subject now. And whether you donate or not, I hope you enjoyed the podcast. Thanks for all the support and encouragement you’ve given me through your emails and reviews and comments. It means the world to me.