reported by Jef Horn, FictionFanatic.com

Free podcasts and iTunes go hand-in-hand, but for the first time ever, podcasting content has moved over to the pay-per-download world. The complete, 20-episode audiobook of Scott Sigler?s EarthCore, the world?s first ?podcast only? novel, is now available at iTunes as a $9.99 download.

EarthCore launched in March 2005 as a free, weekly, serialized audiobook podcast. Before it completed six months later, the podcast generated 10,000 subscribers and was picked up as a print novel by publisher Dragon Moon Press ( http://www.dragonmoonpress.com ). The book was narrated by Sigler ( http://www.scottsigler.net ).

The numbers and media coverage also drew the attention of Mike Warden, owner of indie music label Conquer The World Records.

?EarthCore is really cutting-edge stuff,? Warden said. ?With the development of iTunes as a distribution model, we saw an opportunity to expand into the audiobook market. EarthCore is the first audiobook put out by an indie label, and the first-ever podcast commercially made available for sale anywhere, let alone on iTunes.?

Warden discovered EarthCore because the audiobook features music by Detroit indie band ?The Transfer,? which is on the CTW label.

"I started listening to the book and I couldn't put my ears down, so to speak,? Warden said. ?I enjoyed the science and the suspense of the story, but Scott puts so much passion in the way he actually vocalized the characters of his own book. He's like a punk-rock author -- he just did everything himself."

?EarthCore ran as a free podcast with weekly, 45-minute episodes,? Sigler said. ?Now that it?s finished, there?s over 15 hours of unabridged audiobook sitting there. EarthCore is less than half the cost of a typical audiobook on iTunes. And I stress the word ?unabridged; it?s exactly the same book you can buy on Amazon.com. The exact words of the author, read by the author.?

The EarthCore audiobook is available on iTunes, and directly from the Conquer The World records MySpace website for $9.99 http://www.myspace.com/conquertheworld

The EarthCore print version, distributed by Baker & Taylor, is available at bookstores in the US and Canada, and at Amazon.com (ISBN 1-896944-329, Trade Paperback, $19.95)