In the blogosphere, there is much buzz about Tom Evslin’s novel: Hackoff.com: An Historical Mystery set in the Internet Bubble and Rubble. Tom Evslin, a serial entrepreneur and inventor, is self-publishing the novel. His extraordinarily innovative method for promoting and self-publishing the book could threaten the hegemony of big media publishing gatekeepers.

The novel first appeared on the web at Hackoff.com, in a variety of formats. The chapters have been posted in blog format; consumers can subscribe to the RSS feed to automatically receive chapter updates. Consumers can also elect to download chapters in PDF form. Another innovative form: Tom had real venture capitalists and business executives narrate the book for downloadable chapter podcasts. The fictional company in Hackoff.com also has its own website, which heightens the realism of the novel experience.

Tom’s strategy is to give consumers the content for free with the hope it generates buzz, and increases sales of the hardcover, a calculated gamble for sure, but a strategy I anticipate will payoff for Tom, given the quality of his novel. An additional benefit of the web marketing strategy is that Tom has been pre-selling books on Amazon, so he can better estimate how many books should be printed.