Ep. 62: What's Alan Watching? & Sepinwall's Self-Publishing a NY Times Top 10 Book

As mentioned on the podcast intro. Please vote! For our SXSW Panel on podcasting.  My friends Jemele Hill and Tom Merritt and I are trying to host a panel "Podcasts Grow-Up:  Community and Monetization.  They are both great people and former guests of The Influencer Economy.  If we get enough votes, then we'll be at SXSW next year.

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/48622

For this week's episode, I spoke to Alan Sepinwall the writer of the wildly popular online TV recap column, What's Alan Watching?" and the best-selling book "The Revolution Was Televised.  On this week's show, Alan details how he originated his career as a TV writer, how he wound-up writing for Hitfix.com, and the keys to his successful self-published book.

Funny when I listen to this episde, I realize how much better I have improved at interviews. But what strikes me the most proud is that I stayed focus with Alan and got the conversation that I hoped for. He was a fun and insightful guest and we had a lot of ground to cover in 1/2 an hour. Hope you enjoy this!

Listen to our archives:  http://www.influencereconomy.com  Follow Ryan on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ryanjwill

Alan's history as a TV writer dates back to the 1990's. He's a pioneer in the TV journalism industry, specifically in defining and shaping the category of online TV Show recaps.  He is a great example of a successful creator in The Influencer Economy, as he self-published his book, selling it directly to his community.  He has built an incredibly loyal following from writing online, and was able to deliver a book that his community wanted to read.  He details his unique model of self-publishing which we can all learn from. 

Alan's column:  http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching

Alan on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/sepinwall

Alan's original What's Alan Watching blog:  http://sepinwall.blogspot.com

From this episode you'll learn:

• How Alan launched his writing career writing online in the 1990's about NYPD Blue


• The history of Alan's "What's Alan Watching?" TV Recap column


• The background of how Alan went from working for the NJ Times Ledger to writing for the entertainment website Hitfix.com


• The secrets of how Alan self-published his book and got the attention of traditional publishers


• The origins of Alan appearing on Bill Simmons' BS Report