Interview with Scott Sigler

I got the honor of interviewing author and podcaster Scott Sigler. And let's face it: if you don't know who Scott Sigler is, then you need to get online more often (and stop living in that cave).

What's Ancestor about?

Ancestor is the story of a biotech company striving to create a genetically engineered herd animal with transplantable human organs.

What made you decide to podcast Ancestor in audio format and how advantageous has it been?

It's been very advantageous. I've had an immense reach with the podcast, around 30,000 people listening. That's turned into a print deal for me with Dragon Moon Press, and the print book will be released April 1. I decided to podcast Ancestor because I initially podcast EarthCore, and had so many people hounding me for more stories I really had no choice!

How much of a role does music have in paudiobooks? And who are your favorite musicians?

It's very important to set the tone of the book in the intro. My intros are very bombastic, very over-the-top, and that sets the mood for my reading. My musical tastes are pretty varied: Killswitch Engage, Trivium, Frank Sinatra, Sara McCloghlin, AC/DC, The Donnas, The Transfer.

Any tips you'd like to share with other writers thinking of podcasting their stories? Or even promoting on the Internet in general?

Make a full episode. Put it away for a month. Then pull it out and listen. Everything you need to learn you'll learn there. The stuff that sounds good is important, but the stuff that sounds bad will tell you exactly what you need to fix. By putting it away for a month, you forget what you're trying to say, and hear what you said.

And what demented world-conquering plans have you cooked up recently that you want readers to be aware of?

Definitely the release of Ancestor on April 1. I'm going for #1 on Amazon.com by marshalling the forces of evil, also known as the Junkies, to swarm Amazon on that day and order the book. Damn the big publishers, I'm the barbarian at their gate, the harbinger of doom for their over-controlling attitudes. It's time to let the people decide what content is good and bad, not the self-important gate keepers who feed us the same shit over and over again.