An article in today’s New York Times looks at how some authors are using podcasts and audiobooks as stepping stones in getting publishing deals.

When you are a budding author and you appear on television, it is sure to enhance book sales.

But what do you do if your book is not even written, never mind in stores?

For Mignon Fogarty, who is host of a popular podcast called Grammar Girl, the answer is to scramble to record a short audiobook in just a few days between the time the show tapes and is shown.

Ms. Fogarty signed a contract a few months ago with Henry Holt & Company, the publisher, but her book is not scheduled to appear until next year. Meanwhile, her audiobook climbed to the top of iTunes’ best-selling books list after she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Grammar Girl “is the phenom of the moment,” said John Sterling, the president and publisher of Henry Holt, “and here we are basically improvising, creating a digital audiobook in a matter of days, and out of nowhere we‚Äôre No. 1 on iTunes.”