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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Audio Book Updates

Audio books have been becoming increasingly popular in the last few years.  I'd to listen to them when I used to travel for my old job, so I have personally enjoyed them. When I first started self-publishing, I thought about audio books, but I wasn't even sure how to go about producing them myself. I had to give up on the idea. Therefore, my first official audio book was THE FIRST DAYS when it was bought by Audible Frontiers along with its two sequels.

When I heard that Cassandra Campbell, who narrated The Help, would be doing the series, I was relieved that such a professional voice narrator would be taking on the task.  Once the books were released, a whole different type of review began to roll in. Audio books are not only judged on content, but on the delivery of the narrator. Most people love the narration of the books, and I personally think Cassandra did a great job. In fact, she made the books fresh and new for me, too.

Click on the images to listen to a sample from the books or to purchase.


I gained a lot of fans through the audio book versions of AS THE WORLD DIES. Quite a few asked me if my other works would be appearing on audio book soon.  I contacted my agent, but she responded that it was hard to get self-published books sold to audio book companies. I was saddened by this information, but a few months later I noticed Amanda Hocking's self-published zombie series was on Audible. com. That is when I started to be hopeful that I could bring my other novels to audio.

Happily, Audible.com started a new endeavor called Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).  It's a program that brings writers and producers/narrators together to create audio books.  Strangely enough, a lot of times authors retain their audio rights when they sell to a traditional publisher, so they can sell those rights to audio book publishers.  This particular program enables authors to enter into partnerships with producers of audio books.  The producer creates the audio book and splits the profits with the author.  It benefits both the author and producer monetarily, while providing a quality audio book to the reading public.

As of today, two of my books are in production: THE LIVING DEAD BOY AND THE ZOMBIE HUNTERS and PRETTY WHEN SHE DIES.  I was able to listen to the first 15 minutes of both audio books and I was very pleased!  THE LAST BASTION OF THE LIVING will also go into production in early June.

I am also presently speaking with a producer/narrator about THE TALE OF THE VAMPIRE BRIDE.  Hopefully, it, too, will also be in production soon. Another has also shown interest in doing the book, so I have some options there.

I will keep you updated as more information becomes available such as release dates and if any other of my books end up being converted to audio book.

4 comments:

  1. I have to say I am one of those people who really dislikes audio books! I absolutely love your As the World Dies series, but I've built the world and hear their voices in my head when I read them. The audio voice just sounds all wrong to me, I'll stick to reading the books. That said, its awesome that you are able to get your work out there in all different formats, for people to choose from, gives us budding authors hope that we'll do the same one day.

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    1. Jen,

      I really do like diversifying the formats for the readership. Audio books have been heavily requested, so I'm glad to finally find a way to offer them.

      Rhiannon

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  2. I purchased all 3 of the As the World Dies books through Audible, and I have to agree that your narrator was AWESOME! Congrats on getting the others produced as well! As an indie author, I was also excited to hear about ACX. I hope to get my new book on Audible this way.

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    1. I'm grateful that ACX came along. It's a great way to get the books out in a dynamic new way for the readers (listeners).

      Rhiannon

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Thanks for commenting!