When a Renton writer published her first science fiction novel online, she didn’t expect to be nominated for a national award.

However, much to Heather Roulo’s surprise, she made the cut along with popular authors, such as Scott Sigler, for this year’s Parsec Awards.

“I’m absolutely honored to be on a list with those people,” Roulo said.

The Parsec Awards, first presented in 2006, recognize podcasts, in particular serialized science-fiction novels.

A podcast is a recorded audio file that’s released episodically online.

Roulo recorded chapters of her novel Fractured Horizon and released them weekly, debuting in September 2008.

“The plan when I was podcasting was to see if anyone liked what I’ve got,” she said.

Since releasing the 26-episode audiobook on Podiobooks.com, she’s had about 73,000 chapter downloads.

“It’s a well-produced show that epitomizes the whole movement: she wants to share one of her passions, creating serialized audiobooks, with the world at large,” said Podiobooks co-founder Evo Terra in an e-mail.

Terra started Podiobooks in 2004 as a way for under-published authors to promote and share their work. It’s free to authors and users, though new podcasters have to go through a period of mentorship before publishing.

Today about 70,000 episodes are downloaded daily from Podiobooks.

“It’s all about reach for me. I want to have as many people listening as possible, in as many different places as possible,” Terra said.

Before Podiobooks, Roulo didn’t even tell people she was interested in writing.

The hobby started in elementary school, where she often stayed after class to read her stories to teachers.

“I knew I wanted to be a writer, but it didn’t seem practical,” she said. “I wanted to be successful…and I wanted it to be measurable.”

She went into tech consulting and telecommunications, often traveling on business, she said. “But I still wrote, just quietly.”

Three years ago she stopped working to raise her newborn son and then 3-year-old daughter. It was then that she started writing her novel in earnest.

“I still hadn’t admitted to most people that I was a writer,” she said.

She sent a copy of her novel to Baen, a sci-fi publisher, but it ended up in the “slush pile” of rejected copy.

“I just needed to get it out there,” she said, which led to her decision to start a podcast.

“I was comfortable with the whole idea of the Web and tech,” she said.

Podiobook authors get some income from donations, but the main goal of Podiobooks is giving author’s exposure, Terra said.

In some cases an author’s podcast has led to book contracts, an increase in print sales and movie rights.

“This is the direction publishing is heading, whether publishers know it or not,” Roulo said.

A national community has formed around Podiobooks, as podcasting authors gather in online forums to mentor and find advice.

“Podiobooks is where a lot of us have come to congregate,” she said.

Though the community is virtual, based on Twitter, Web forums and e-mail.

“I have never met another podcaster in person,” she said.

The Parsec Awards are to be presented early September in Atlanta, Roulo isn’t planning to attend.

She doesn’t know what’s next, though she’s contemplating going back to work if she can’t get writing to pay, she said.

For now she’s enjoying the time she has to write.

“I like being able to share a vision with people,” she said. “It’s fun, and it’s permanent. It can survive when I change.”