I’m going to discuss audiobooks again. If this topic bores you, feel free to skip. I know I’ve been rambling on a lot about this topic recently.
I fell into something of a funk after making my last blog post where I said I was putting a pause on making audiobooks. It took me a day, but then I realized this is something I really want to do. Maybe it’s stupid. I admit I do not have the professional quality a lot of narrators do. My house is a small trailer, and with six people living here, closets aren’t a possible place for me to narrate in. There is a chamber-like quality to the audio. It’s not an echo, exactly, but the ear can pick up the “space” around me. This space is my bedroom, and I don’t want to put foam all over the walls to buffer the sound because then I’ll have to remove all the pictures that make the place feel cozy. Also, I don’t know what it is, but there are little clicks that pop up here and there in the audio recordings. I don’t know if it’s mouth noises or something in the microphone. Maybe it’s a mixture of both. Who knows?
What I do know is that my eyes are not as good as they used to be. I can no longer read a paperback or ebook without my eyes bugging out after thirty minutes, and that’s even with the new glasses I got this summer. I have Reticare on my computer to help my eyes out, and it works great. I also take lots of breaks so I’m not staring at the computer screen all day, and unless I have something I need to do, I get off the computer before dinner and don’t return to it until the next morning. I have learned ways to limit eye strain because I want to be able to type on the computer. I have dictated a few books, and while it’s been okay, the editing takes three times longer to go through, and I hate editing. I don’t want to spend 2-3 more time of my life doing something I hate. I’m in this to write because that’s the fun part.
Alright, so I rambled on about all of the above because I want to be able to listen to my own books. No one in this house wants to read them to me. They think romance is boring. (I know. It’s ridiculous, but no one in this house wants to go anywhere near a romance.) The Kindle I have has been sufficient, but the text-to-speech feature has gotten to be uncomfortable for me to listen to. I need a human voice. I can’t afford to have all of my books made into audio. I ran the numbers, and I’d have to pay out over $100K to hire a professional narrator to do all of my backlist. I don’t have that kind of money.
So the option that is easiest for me (as someone who wants to listen to my own books) is to narrate most of them myself and have my oldest son (who is good) help me out with the rest. I know writers are told to avoid putting anything out there that isn’t “excellent” in quality, but this is something I’m doing for me. I am doing my best with the narration, and while I know that makes some people laugh, I’m tired of putting things off just because someone doesn’t like it. I already received feedback that I’m not any good from someone close to me. The person did it gently, so it’s not like she was rude or anything. I took her input into serious consideration, and it’s why I almost quit the whole audiobook thing. But then I thought, “These are my books. I wrote them so I could read them.” Now that my eyes are not able to do the job, my ears will have to. This is why it’s a labor of love. Sometimes you have to make choices for yourself, and this is one I’ve decided to do for me.
I am publishing them through Findaway Voices so they’ll be on multiple retailers. I want to buy them so I can download them on to my phone. I like the cute cover and how easy I can access the audiobooks on my Apple library. I have to publish them so I can access them.
The reason I’m announcing this on this blog is so that people don’t think someone is stealing my books and making them into audiobooks again. I will add them to my audiobook page on this blog, but I’m not going to make any special blog announcements. That way if anyone worries, they can check out the page on this blog and know that I authorized the production of the audiobook in case they wonder if it’s a legit copy or not. I get a panic attack every time someone tells me they saw a stolen version of my book, and I’d rather skip the panic attack if possible. I appreciate how kind you guys are when theft happens. It means a lot to me to know you care about things that happen to me.
My advice is to skip the audiobooks. I’m not even comfortable putting them on You Tube, Rumble, or Bitchute. My son wants to read Return of the Aliens, so we’ll work on that project for those channels. He loves my thrillers. When we do a romance together, I think that might work for those channels, but I don’t want to put up any book on social media unless he helps me with it. He’s got skill at this. I don’t. I can write books, but that’s about it.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
I am glad you decided against audiobooks, they are ok but expensive. I feel not all the content is made available through audio
I am an avid Kindle e book reader and like it. Including you I have my favorite authors.
Disappointment only when they are prequels or novellas in a series that I am not aware also when the title changes names
thank you
ML
I can see how not all content would be made into audio. I think the idea is a nice one, but creating audiobooks (even if someone else does the narration) is so time consuming. In my opinion, it’s easier to write the book. I’m honored that you read my books. 🙂
Amazon just allowed authors to create a series to directly link the books up to one another. Before that, Amazon was supposed to automatically link the series, but sometimes they would miss something. The prequels seem like they would be difficult to number. If I recall right, some authors do a 0.5 number or something before Book 1. I prefer not to do prequels, so I never had to worry about it. I hope authors will take advantage of the new series option to make it easier for people to find the prequels and novellas that go along with a series. As for title changes, I didn’t think authors could do that. I’d love to change a couple of titles on some of my old books, but I’m letting them stay as they are. If I saw a book with a different title, I’d assume it was one I hadn’t read yet. That would be very confusing.
I am glad that you are thinking audiobooks again. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t need perfect. I enjoyed your Halloween stories, but was sorry I could not figure out how to download them for easier access. I like things nice and neat on my Apple bookshelf also. I even have a Collection folder for your books to make them easier to find. Don’t overthink perfect. It’s the story that counts.
If you read your own books, I would definitely purchase, even if the audio was not perfect. There are some favorites that I am looking forward to. I enjoy listening to books at night, when I’m too tired to read, driving and sometimes just riding my exercise bike. I know the Apple products can “read” the page to me, but I don’t enjoy the Moose.
Thanks for writing and maybe in the future recording:)
I think the Halloween stories are too short to make into an audiobook, but I could look into making an anthology from them. I’ll have to look into that. The only way I could think of to publish those was to put them on You Tube, Rumble, and Bitchute. I did try posting them directly to this blog, but I think I need a business account to do that. I just have a personal one since I have no intention of making this blog a bookstore. It’s easier to let the retailers handle the details on the VAT tax.
I didn’t know the Apple products could “read” something. I have an iPhone but haven’t purchased ebooks because I didn’t think I could listen to anything. I’ve been buying everything on the Kindle, and it’s at the point where the voice doesn’t leave enough of a pause between characters talking. It used to be better. I’m not sure what happened. It’s just easier to go the audiobook route at this point.
If you want, I do have Meant To Be and The Outlaw’s Bride up. Meant To Be is at https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/meant-to-be-a-time-travel-romance/id1588067141?itsct=books_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1. The Outlaw’s Bride is at https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/the-outlaws-bride/id1593383371?ign-itscg=30200&ign-itsct=books_box_link.
Be sure to listen to the samples to make sure you’re okay with the narration.
I’m currently working on The Rancher’s Bride and will do The Fugitive’s Bride afterward. I will wrap the series up with The Loner’s Bride but need to finish that one first. My son is helping me with Breaking the Rules, Nobody’s Fool, and A Deceptive Wager. That’s taking longer just because it requires both us to have free time to work on.
I know my iPhone and I’ll assume my iPad can read whatever is on the page but it sounds like a robot. Not what you’d want for reading a book. You can choose many different languages and voices. Settings, Accessibility, spoken content.
Thank you so much for letting me know about the new audiobooks! I did not realize they were there. I have already started listening to The Outlaw’s Bride. Awesome. Thanks for writing.
I know what you mean by the robot voice. It does make getting into the story challenging. I found the spoken content. I had no idea that was on the iPhone. I really enjoy making the audiobooks. It’s fun to act out the characters. I’m glad the narrating doesn’t put you off. That’s a relief.
By the way, I want to dedicate The Cursed Earl to you because you gave me the idea to expose Lord Edon’s secret. How would you like me to name you? Would you like me to put “Erica” or your full name?
I am speechless! What an honor. Thank you so much for even thinking of dedicating a book. I can’t tell you how excited I am. I enjoy chatting with you on your blog very much and was so glad you liked the idea of Lord Edon’s secret coming out. I can’t wait to read Christopher’s reaction. This is going to be so much fun!.
Either way to do my name would be fine, but since this will be an epoch in my life, I think full name, if that is ok with you. Thank you again so so much.
Jumping back to the audiobook, The Outlaw’s Bride is terrific. You have a real nice pace when reading. I don’t notice any obvious audio glitches. Sound fine to me, and I love this series, so I look forward to the rest.
Thanks for writing, and again, thanks for making my day.
I hadn’t considered exposing his secret. It turned out great. I’m glad you brought it up. 😀 It was a bonus that I got to give an update on their lives. Thank you for letting me know what you think of the audiobook. I can’t tell you have relieved I am. Now I don’t feel so awkward moving forward with the Wyoming Series.
I want to make sure I get your full name right, so would you please tell me exactly how you’d like me to write it?
Sure. My last name is Rafferty.
It’s storming right now in eastern Pa and I’m sitting all cozied up re-reading The Marriage Contract. I hope the weather has been ok further west. I heard it was cold and some areas had snow. I look forward to snow here. Thanks for writing., and I am still so excited! Sincerely, Erica Rafferty
Thanks, Erica!
So far, we’ve managed to avoid the snow, but I’m sure it won’t be long before it comes. At the moment, we’ve had plenty of wind and some rain. I’m glad for the rain since the summer was so hot and dry. In my opinion, reading during a storm is one of the best experiences of life. Sounds like you had a fun time!