Ty Hildenbrandt joined the show this week, to talk all things Serial.  Ty has been hosting podcasts since before it was cool, back in 2007.  His show, The Solid Verbal is one of the largest sports podcasts on the planet. 

We wrapped up our own theories on the show.  And talked about why people were addicted, and how it hooked the listeners.  Ty also weighs in on his take on the future of podcasting, and how Serial will affect and inspire new creators.

Check us out on iTunes!

Follow Ty on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/tyhildenbrandt

Follow The Solid Verbal on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/SolidVerbal

Listen

Alan Sepinwall the writer of the wildly popular online TV recap column, What's Alan Watching?" and the best-selling book "The Revoluation Will be 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.

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

Jonah Keri is a NY Times best-selling author, sports writer for ESPN's Grantland, and told me some fantastic stories on this week's show.  He has been a paid journalist his entire professional life and he details his journey as a writer. Jonah dives into how he started his podcast, writes his best-selling books, and how he wound-up working for Bill Simmons at Grantland.

Great Jonah Keri quotes:

“Somebody is always paying attention to what you’re doing somewhere.”

"One of my favorite quotes is by Branch Rickey: 'Luck is the residue of design.'  Meaning you need a lot of luck in life, but if you work hard and you have a baseline level of skill - things will come to you."

What you'll learn from this episode:

• Jonah's book writing process, how long it takes him to research and interview subjects  
• How his girlfriend helped him get back into baseball during Major League Baseball's '94-'95 season
• How he bookd early guests like Rickey Henderson, Evan Longoria, and Death Cab's Ben Gibbard for his podcast
• The story behind his first job as a sports writer
• How posting on baseball message boards helped him land his first book deal
• How he connected with Bill Simmons to start writing for Grantland 

Connect with us:

• Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanjwill/
• Stories from The Influencer Economy website:  http://www.influencereconomy.com

Connecti with Jonah:

• Jonah writes on Grantland:  http://grantland.com
• Find Jonah on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/jonahkeri
• Joah Keri’s “Extra 2%” NY Times Best-seller: http://amzn.to/dmz0hk 
• His new Montreal Expose book “Up Up & Away!”  goo.gl/EwWQtS 

Freddie Wong joined me on the podcast to talk about his hit webseries Video Game High School.  Freddie's series has been watched over 85 milion times online and his YoTube channel RocketJump has over 7 million subscribers.  Freddie also have crowdfunded over $1.3 Million for the series via IndieGoGo and Kickstarter.

Our website: http://influencereconomy.com/

We talk at length about how he built his audience and fans online.  And how he raised crowdfunding dollars, and his 7 million YouTube subscribers.