1. I got Nobody’s Fool up on pre-order last week
The editor got this back sooner than I expected, so I was able to set the pre-order date for October 17.
This is a cute romantic comedy. It takes a fun look at one wife’s dream of discouraging her husband from falling in love with her.
You can reserve your copy today if you wish at these retailers. (I’ll be getting it up on Google Play soon.)
Here are the links to the pre-order:
2. I finished the first draft of A Deceptive Wager two weeks ago.
My goal is to start on the edits in the next week or two.
This is a battle of wills romance where the two main characters don’t like each other at first. It’s an “enemies to lovers” type of romance. There are a lot of humorous moments, but I don’t know if I can classify this as a romantic comedy like I can with Nobody’s Fool. Nobody’s Fool was funny the entire way through. This book has some more serious moments because the hero has a lot of trust issues since his mother took lovers and had illegitimate children she cared more about then she cared about him. After giving it a fresh read through, I hope to be able to better pin this one down. It’s not dark or anything. It’s just more serious, kind of like The Earl’s Scandalous Wife or The Earl’s Wallflower Bride.
This is the last book in the Marriage by Design Series.
Here are all of the books:
3. I uploaded The Wedding Pact audiobook.
It’s going to take time to get up on all of the retailers, but so far, here are some links that Findaway Voices have put them up to.
This audiobook will be up on more retailers soon.
4. I’ve been listening to audio files for the rest of the books in the Marriage by Fairytale Series. Soon the entire series will be available as audiobooks.
It takes me a while to go through these. I don’t want to rush through the process. But soon, I’ll be getting Fairest of Them All and The Duke’s Secluded Bride uploaded. All of these are narrated by Stevie Zimmerman. I haven’t been able to make the audiobook covers yet, but here are the paperback ones for quick reference. It always helps me to see the book cover to remember what book an author is talking about. 😀
5. I am trying my hand at narrating my own audiobook.
And this is my first victim…I mean book. 😉
My sister listened to my first attempt with chapter 1, and she said, “You might be better off giving this to someone else”, but I like the idea of doing this myself. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And while I realize I’ll be rough around the edges, perhaps I might get better with time. The only way to find out is by doing it. I have over 100 books out now (almost 90 of which are romance). I figured it’d be more effective to do some of these books myself.
I chose Meant To Be because I really enjoy it. I published this in 2009, and even after all this time, this is one of my favorites.
Here is the original cover:
I updated the cover to give it a more professional look.
Meant to Be is a cute time travel romantic comedy. The hero and heroine are forced from the present day into the past, and they have no idea how they got there. Their goal is to either make it back to the future or to figure out a way to adjust to a time period that is foreign to them.
I will be the first to admit that my voice isn’t up to the standards of Stevie Zimmerman or Shonda Bourn (two narrators I’m working with on other projects), but I like the idea of having full control of the process on some of my books. So I’m going to do it.
This is one of my passion projects, and I’m working on creating the first draft audio files this week. I heard the edits on these files can take quite a while. My goal isn’t to make money. It’s simply to have a good time and learn how to create an audiobook. I started writing because it was fun. I’m doing this for the same reason.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
That’s awesome! It cheers me up to see people accomplishing their goals.
Thanks, Juli! If I don’t keep busy, I’ll go crazy. It’s been a heck of a year.
I’m excited about you doing your own narration. I’ve thought about it myself, but I have such a southern accent that I would only be able to do a book that would be okay with that accent. So, what software are you using? Did you buy equipment like a good microphone? Do you have editing software? I’m asking because I want to do this myself, and I think it’s kind of exciting. I know you had mentioned doing this on YouTube, but it sounds like you’re wanting to get more serious about it and upload it to retailers.
I don’t know if you have a Mac, but Macs come with GarageBand. That’s why I’m using that program. There’s also Audacity, which is a free program, but I don’t know anything about it. There was a program that had a subscription with it, but I can’t remember what that is.
GarageBand (and I’m sure the other programs) come with the ability to edit the files. I searched You Tube for tips on how to narrate books and edit the files in GarageBand. It took some trial and error, but I have the basics down. I read the whole chapter, and I can take out the mistakes. I know it’s possible to add stuff into these files, but I don’t know how to do that yet. But yeah, I watched different You Tube videos to get the gist of what to do.
One lady did mention a $200 microphone and a $50 box (with foam padding) for sound, but since I don’t know if I’m going to be good enough to keep doing this, I opted to run to Staples and buy a $35 microphone. Then Stephannie Beman pointed me to the idea of buying a foam mattress pad ($13) from Walmart that I could cut up and put into a big laundry basket. You cut up the mattress pad and put it in the laundry basket. I put the laundry basket on its side and set the microphone on its stand in it. Then I have it facing me, but I face the computer. (If that makes sense.) The microphone is on my right. I read from the computer and look at the screen while reading. I find that when I do this, it helps to buffer from the breaths I take, though it’s not perfect. I do have a few that slip through, and I edit them out when I notice them. The foam pads help buffer from an echoing sound. Before I did the laundry basket and foam mattress, I could hear a faint echoing sound. When I have a character yell, I turn to the left and yell. When I whisper, I lean to the microphone and whisper. That helps to keep things balanced in volume.
I’m having a lot of fun with this. I don’t know if I’m any good, but it has been fun. That might be enough to give myself permission to keep doing it. All I know is that I am not a big fan of only having audiobooks available on ACX (which goes to Amazon and iTunes), but that is the only way you can get away with not paying upfront to a narrator. ACX offers the royalty-split, but Findaway Voices doesn’t. ACX royalty-share requires exclusivity. I like wide distribution. I also can’t afford to keep paying out $300-$450/hr to a narrator for my entire backlist, which is a little over 100 books (in all genres) by now. The most cost effective way to get them made and widely distributed is to do them myself. I’m not even looking at this as a money-making venture. I just love the idea of having the books out in audio form. It makes the characters come alive in a way that can’t be accomplished in the written word. It’s a lot of fun to be able to narrate the book in the way I “heard” the story as I was writing it. The tone of the characters’ voices really make a difference in the experience. Also, since the book I’m working on was a comedy, I was able to do some different tones in the narration to help point out the more comical aspects of the book.
If you decide to pursue this, let me know. We can bounce ideas around on what works and what doesn’t.