I’ve got three (or six), and two more in the works…
I am excited to announce that the girl/Mistress series is getting an audiobook… or at least the first book, “Funeral of a Good Girl.”
Audiobooks are not big sellers but there is a market for them. Lots of authors think that audiobooks are a sign of “MAKING IT” but in reality, anyone can produce an audiobook.
Amazon has offered “virtual voice” for cheaply produced books. Yes, I have three early books using virtual voice before I learned the wonders of working with a narrator. Once I did that, I released three more books using REAL NARRATORS.
The wonderful Heidi Bindhammer read “Swipe Right for Love” and “Dying to Meat You” for me. Heidi works a lot with Affinity Publications with Sapphic books. Her tone and cadence was perfect for these two books.
For “The Taste of Women,” I needed someone a little more rough on the edges. For this book, I auditioned many people and couldn’t find the correct sound until I came across Stayce Smith, who does a lot of non-fiction books. Her raspy voice was perfect for my serial cannibal.
Now… girl/Mistress. This has been a thorn in my side trying to find the perfect person which is hard on a budget of zero.
As I said, everyone can get an audiobook produced for little to no money… the hazard is it takes quite a while to find the perfect person. First off, narrators who use royalty share ($0.00) upfront costs, are usually not good and flaky. I put up “Funeral of a Good Girl” and got the worst auditions. I narrowed it down to someone who was OKAY… she’d do until I signed the contract and she bailed on the project.
Once the contract is started, you have to wait to find someone else until the deadline passes and you prove there has been no communication or it was a mutual split. For this first one, the girl confirmed with ACX/Amazon that she would give it up after no being able to produce it.
Once again, I was on the hunt for another narrator. Again, I settled on someone mediocre and got ghosted after the contract was signed. Another wait…
Finally, I spent a little more time hand-picking a narrator who I believe can give Trixi a voice. My father and I heard over 20 different readers and picked Megan Cook, who is a podcaster—getting into audiobooks. When I asked for auditions, I was explicit in requesting the narrator work on all five books because I want them to sound all the same. Fingers crossed this pans out.
Currently, Megan has submitted her first 15 minute sample for approval. It was perfect. I loved the tone she is giving Trixi. So, I am finally excited to see this grow.
NEXT UP… “Dark Waters Ahead.” After three virtual voices for my straight romance novels, this one will be getting a REAL narrator. Because I wanted a male voice for this book, most of the audition I received were from voice replica narrators. These are narrators who program their voice into AI and it replicates their voice. The narrators still need to clean up sounds and pronunciation, but its still AI. I’m done with that.
Finally, a real narrator, Adam Naiser, auditioned and I accepted his bid for producing it. While it’s still straight romance, it’s one of my favorites. Today, I got his 15 minute sample and its pretty good. We have a few adjustments to make but feel confident in his role as a serial rapist on a cruise ship.
DID YOU KNOW I GIVE AWAY AUDIOBOOK CODES?
Last month, I offered audiobook codes for Audible for “Dying to Meat You.” Tomorrow, I will handing out codes for “Swipe Right for Love” to upgraded paid subscribers. If you’d like to grab a free UK or US code, please subscribe. You’ll get access to current WIPs, free eBooks, and more…