No one knows this, but I’ve wanted to get an audiobook produced since about 2014. That was the year Wolfen came out and my brother, a huge fan of all things zombie, informed me he would only “read” it if it was on audio. But as I looked around at my options, they all kind of sucked, so I put it on hold for many, many moons and, true to his word, my brother never even cracked the cover.
Fast forward to 2018 and a series of seemingly unrelated events that I now believe might have been a form of frustrated divine intervention. Why frustrated? Because it took me so freaking long to catch on and do something about it. A random conversation with my then-manager which included an offer to find me someone to record my audiobook, got filed into the back of my mind. A Facebook ad for an article on audiobook production appeared in my newsfeed at least fifteen times before I clicked on it (and it hasn’t reappeared since). And finally, the last one which refused to be ignored: an email from Smashwords, announcing their partnership with Findaway Voices.
The night I got that email, I logged into Smashwords, linked my account to Findaway Voices, and started snooping around. I figured it was my chance to get a more in-depth look and check things out. I kept telling myself, “I’ll just take one step and see how it works. Maybe one more after that…” and I kept going until I heard Rachel Hine narrating a five-minute sample of The Royal Wizard. That was the clincher right there. Once I heard it, there was no going back. I had to follow through to the end, just to hear my book narrated by her.
Of all my books, The Royal Wizard feels like the most natural choice to start with–it was inspired by a childhood dream of mine, and actually reminds me of fairy tales I used to listen to on the radio back in the day. Mind you, I had very specific ideas about how the book should sound, and I honestly thought my standards were too high but as it turns out, I just needed to find the right producer…
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I think I found the right producer now. 🙂
So that’s my big announcement for this post. The estimated date of completion I got at the outset was July, but things happen (as they do), so the official publication and distribution date is still up in the air. I’ll share updates as I get them. My hope is to get all of my books out on audio eventually, but that i$ a ma$$ive undertaking that’ll take $ome time. For now, I’m testing the waters with this one and, if all goes well, Dragonblood will follow. I’ll get to Wolfen eventually, too. Once I figure out what the heck to do with it…
Until next time!