Fiction in Five Ep. 3: the End
July 22nd, 2010
Episode 3 – the End
The road ends here (though not for this podcast).
Theme music by Written in Ashes
Fiction in Five Ep. 2 : Got a Light?
June 25th, 2010Radio Silence EP now for sale!
June 25th, 2010The Radio Silence EP is officially for SALE as of today.

Sacrifice to Sell: the Plight of the Indie Artist
June 22nd, 2010I was recently invited to join an indie artist community by Will Rossi–this a place for content creators to riff and philosophize. I’ve been doing a little soul searching on “what it means to be an indie artist.” Definitely, my impression of indie has changed in the past 10 years. Originally, I thought indie was what you called the kids who hung out a DC9 on Wednesday nights, with thick-framed glasses, drinking PBR out of straws and listening to something called “Shoe Gaze.”
It was a narrow impression based more on cliques, classes, and the hipster-elitist social imperative of the DC music scene (at the time). I drank a lot and slept little in those days, was opinionated and called it only like I saw it. I didn’t spend time seeking out what it really should mean to be indie even thought that’s exactly what I was then (and still am now).
These days, “indie” has a whole different meaning for me. I think good synonym, or at least parallel is DYI artist. From creating the art, to capturing the art in whatever medium, to distributing it, to marketing it, the indie artist in the truest sense of the word, is a one man crew.
But when you’re doing it all, something is going to suffer. Promoting the hell out of yourself takes precious bandwidth away from the actual act of creating the art. It’s totally unfortunate but there’s no getting around it. And to keep selling the work you create, you’ve got to build and maintain that buzz. But then to feed the buzz, you’ve got to create the work. The cycle can be overwhelming and it can be exhausting. But, if you want an audience you’ve got to do the dance. If you’re content to creating in a silo and then shelving the work to gather dust…well…you shouldn’t be reading this.
In my experience the creation-promotion cycle is a see-saw model. I’ll go through periods of heavy promotion followed by periods of intense creation, but neither act is simultaneously at a peak at any one time. It’s impossible for that to be the case, when I’m very busy being a dad, a husband, and working a day job.
Let me make one thing clear, though. I don’t abandon one act for the other, ever. Simply put, you can’t stop creating and you can’t stop promoting.
So go buy my books and music and listen to my podcasts so I can get back to creating.
Radio Silence Presales Now Closed
June 11th, 2010But don’t worry–you’ll be able to order again in a little more than a week.
NEW Podcast – Phil Rossi’s Fiction in Five
June 10th, 2010
Welcome to my new podcast fiction collection–Fiction in Five. Bite-sized morsels of fiction to satisfy even the hungriest imagination. These are complete stories where I strive to stick to a five minute limit (this time limit, of course, does not include any intro babble or music). There will be weeks where I’m going to ask for a little audience participation. I’ll ask for topics and my favorite will become a story. It’s 1 part experiment, 1 part challenge for me and hopefully all parts enjoyment for you. So grab those ear buds…
Episode 1 – Anamelech
…because we’re all forced to make tough decisions.
Theme music by Written in Ashes
PreSale–There’s still time to get your limited edition copy
June 9th, 2010Audible Sponsorship
May 18th, 2010Frederic’s Little Secret
May 12th, 2010A brand spanking new story of mine makes it’s debut in the Podioracket Visionaries Anthology. The kind folks (Heather and Brian) who put this anthology together had originally asked if I had a piece gathering dust that I’d be willing to donate. I think it’s a very cool think that they are doing, both with the anthology and Podioracket–spreading the word about this free little world of serialized audio fiction. How could I not put the work to give them something new. So go give it a listen!



