Most Recent Update
Audiobooks are coming!
As an avid listener of audiobooks, I've struggled with trying to make my books available in audio format, especially with my general aversion to AI. But I've had to come to accept that hiring voice actors to bring my books to life isn't feasible within my limited budget as an independent author. As some of you know, I attempted to create audiobooks with Virtual Voice last year, but I wasn't satisfied with the quality and the limitations of that service, specifically that I couldn't include the copyright information for my written works. That fiasco was the impetus for me going wide with my eBooks last summer, including purchasing my own ISBN numbers, so I'm not limited to only one distributor platform. I saw some other options for auto-narration back in the summer, but was skeptical of them due to the issues I had with my first attempt. Luckily, it only took me six months to get over my trepidation to try out Google Play Auto-Narration. And OH BOY! Was I happily surprised with the abilities of this option! Where I could only have one narrator voice per chapter with Virtual Voice, I can now change the voice on every single word if I want to in the Google Play Auto-Narration option. (Don't worry. I haven't gone that crazy with the voice changes.) Google Play Auto-Narration also has the ability to detect the characters to assign different voices for the dialogue based on who is speaking. Unfortunately, there are still some limitations in the voices, such as no Hispanic American accent and no Irish accent speaking English, so I have a few characters who I've been unable to match the voices I imagined in my head as I was writing those characters. But with over a dozen American English voices, and the ability to change the speed that each character speaks, I've been able to create enough variation in voices that I'm happy with how the first book has turned out. So, I will now be releasing my books as audiobooks just as fast as I can go through and edit them. Fair warning, it takes me 2-3 weeks to set up all the voices, listen to the whole book multiple times to correct the pronunciation of words that the auto-narration doesn't say the way my Southern ears expect to hear them, and put in little idiosyncrasies of my characters (like Anthony slowing down "Baby" when he's using it as a term of endearment for Kay), so they won't all be rolling out immediately. That being said, Courting Kay is available now on both Google Play and Kobo Plus. So, click on the pic to the right to go to my Courting Kay page to find the links so you can hear as close as I can get to what I imagined my characters sounded like when I was writing their book. Unfortunately, I won't be able to put them on Audible, as they don't accept auto-narration other than their Virtual Voice service, which I will not be using again. I am looking at other distribution services to put my audiobooks out elsewhere, and will add those links as I'm able to get them set up. Happy listening!
"Courting Kay" is now available in audiobook, as well as eBook and paperback formats.
Coming Next
Destined for Deanna
I promise I haven't totally abandoned my writing to work on audiobooks! Destined for Deanna will be coming out next. I'm just not sure exactly when yet. It turns out Deanna and JJ had much bigger issues to deal with than I originally thought when I started writing their story, so it's taking me longer than I hoped to get it all written. I promise I'm getting close to finished writing it, so it will be out this Spring. I just won't know exactly when until I can finish the writing to get it to the editor. Keep checking their page for pre-order updates.
