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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

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Kickstarting the audiobook of The Lost Cause, my novel of environmental hope

Tonight (October 2), I'm in Boise to host an event with VE Schwab. On October 7–8, I'm in Milan to keynote Wired Nextfest.

The Lost Cause is my next novel. It's about the climate emergency. It's hopeful. Library Journal called it "a message hope in a near-future that looks increasingly bleak." As with every other one of my books Amazon refuses to sell the audiobook, so I made my own, and I'm pre-selling it on Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-lost-cause-a-novel-of-climate-and-hope

That's a lot to unpack, I know. So many questions! Including this one: "How is it that I have another book out in 2023?" Because this is my third book this year. Short answer: I write when I'm anxious, so I came out of lockdown with nine books. Nine!

Hope and writing are closely related activities. Hope (the belief that you can make things better) is nothing so cheap and fatalistic as optimism (the belief that things will improve no matter what you do). The Lost Cause is full of people who are full of hope.

The action begins a full generation after the Hail Mary passage of the Green New Deal, and the people who grew up fighting the climate emergency (rather than sitting hopelessly by while the powers that be insisted that nothing could or should be done) have a name for themselves: they call themselves "the first generation in a century that doesn't fear the future."

I fear the future. Unchecked corporate power has us barreling over a cliff's edge and all the one-percent has to say is, "Well, it's too late to swerve now, what if the bus rolls and someone breaks a leg? Don't worry, we'll just keep speeding up and leap the gorge":

https://locusmag.com/2022/07/cory-doctorow-the-swerve/

That unchecked corporate power has no better avatar than Amazon, one of the tech monopolies that has converted the old, good internet into "five giant websites, each filled with screenshots of the other four":

https://twitter.com/tveastman/status/1069674780826071040

Amazon maintains a near-total grip over print and ebooks, but when it comes to audiobooks, that control is total. The company's Audible division has captured more than 90% of the market, and it abuses that dominance to cram Digital Rights Management onto every book it sells, even if the author doesn't want it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

I wrote a whole-ass book about this and it came out less than a month ago; it's called The Internet Con and it lays out an audacious plan to halt the internet's enshittification and throw it into reverse:

http://www.seizethemeansofcomputation.org/

The tldr is this: when an audiobook is wrapped in Amazon's DRM, only Amazon can legally remove it. That means that every book I sell you on Audible is a book you have to throw away if you ever break up with Amazon, and Amazon can use the fact that it's hold you hostage to screw me – and every other author – over.

As I said last time this came up:

Fuck that sideways.

With a brick.

My books are sold without DRM, so you can play them in any app and do anything copyright permits, and that means Amazon won't carry them, and that means my publishers don't want to pay to produce them, and that means I produce them myself, and then I make the (significant) costs back by selling them on Kickstarter.

And you know what? It works. Readers don't want DRM. I mean, duh. No one woke up this morning and said, "Dammit, why won't someone sell me a product that lets me do less with my books?" I sell boatloads" of books through these crowdfunding campaigns. I sold so many copies of my last book, *The Internet Con, that they sold out the initial print run in two weeks (don't worry, they held back stock for my upcoming events).

But beyond that, I think there's another reason my readers keep coming back, even though I wrote a genuinely stupid number of books while working through lockdown anxiety while the wildfires raged and ashes sifted down out of the sky and settled on my laptop as I lay in my backyard hammock, pounding my keyboard.

(I went through two keyboards during lockdown. Thankfully, I bought a user-serviceable laptop from Framework and fixed it myself both times, in a matter of minutes. No, no one pays me to mention this, but hot damn is it cool.)

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/13/graceful-failure/#frame

The reason readers come back to my books is that they're full of hope. In the same way that writing lets me feel like I'm not a passenger in life, but rather, someone with a say in my destination, the books that I write are full of practical ways and dramatic scenes in which other people seize the means of computation, the reins of power or their own destinies.

The protagonist of The Lost Cause is Brooks Palazzo, a high-school senior in Burbank whose parents were part of the original cohort of volunteers who kicked off the global transformation, and left him an orphan when they succumbed to one of the zoonotic plagues that arise every time another habitat is destroyed.

Brooks grew up knowing what his life would be: the work of repair and care, which millions of young people are doing. Relocating entire cities off endangered coastlines and floodplains, or out of fire-zones. Fighting floods and fires. Caring for tens of millions of refugees for whom the change came too late.

But with every revolution comes a counter-revolution. The losers of a just war don't dig holes, climb inside and pull the dirt down on top of themselves. Two groups of reactionaries – seagoing anarcho-capitalist billionaire wreckers and seething white nationalist militias – have formed an alliance.

They've already gotten their champion into the White House. Next up: dismantling every cause for hope Brooks and his friends have, and bringing back the fear.

That's the setup for a novel about solidarity, care, library socialism, and snatching victory from defeat's jaws. Writing it help keep me sane during the lockdown, and when it came time to record the audiobook, I spent a lot of time thinking about who could read it. I've had some great narrators: Wil Wheaton, @neil-gaiman, Amber Benson, Bronson Pinchot, and more.

I record my audiobooks with Skyboat Media, a brilliant studio near my place in LA. Back in August, I spent a week in their recording booth – "The Tardis" – doing something I'd never tried before: I recorded a whole audiobook, with directorial supervision: The Internet Con:

https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78992826/DEA0CE12/purchase

When it was done, the director – audiobook legend Gabrielle de Cuir – sat me down and said, "Look, I've never said this to an author before, but I think you should read The Lost Cause. I don't direct anyone anymore except for Wil Wheaton and LeVar Burton, but I would direct you on this one."

I was immensely flattered – and very nervous. Reading The Internet Con was one thing – the book is built around the speeches I've been giving for 20 years and I knew I could sell those lines – but The Lost Cause is a novel, with a whole cast of characters. Could I do it?

Reader, I did it. I just listened to the proofs last week and:

It.

Came.

Out.

Great.

The Lost Cause goes on sale on November 14th, and I'll be selling this audiobook I made everywhere audiobooks are sold – except for the stores that require DRM, nonconsensually shackling readers and writers to their platforms. So you'll be able to get it on Libro.fm, downpour.com, even Google Play – but not Audible, Apple Books, or Audiobooks.com.

But in addition to those worthy retailers, I will be sending out thousands – and thousands! – of audiobook to my Kickstarter backers on the on-sale date, either as a folder of DRM-free MP3s, or as a download code for Libro.fm, to make things easy for people who don't want to have to figure out how to sideload an audiobook into a standalone app.

And, of course, the mobile duopoly have made this kind of sideloading exponentially harder over the past decade, though far be it from me to connect this with their policy of charging 30% commissions on everything sold through an app, a commission they don't receive if you get your files on the web and load 'em yourself:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-another-audiobook-that-amazon-wont-sell/posts/3788112

As with my previous Kickstarters, I'm also selling ebooks and hardcovers – signed or unsigned, and this time I've found a great partner to fulfill EU orders from within the EU, so backers won't have to pay VAT and customs charges. The wonderful Otherland – who have hosted me on my last two trips to Berlin – are going to manage that shipping for me:

https://www.otherland-berlin.de/en/home.html

Kim Stanley Robinson read the book and said, "Along with the rush of adrenaline I felt a solid surge of hope. May it go like this." That's just about the perfect quote, because the book is a ride. It's not just a kumbaya tale of a better world that is possible: it's a post-cyberpunk novel of high-tech guerrilla and meme warfare, climate tech and bad climate tech, wildcat prefab urban infill, and far-right militamen who adapt to a ban on assault-rifles by switching to super-soakers full of hydrochloric acid.

It's a book about struggle, hope in the darkness, and a way through this rotten moment. It's a book that dares to imagine that things might get worse but also better. This is a curious emotional melange, but it's one that I'm increasingly feeling these days.

Like, Amazon, that giant bully, whose blockade on DRM-free audiobooks cost me enough money to pay off my mortgage and put my kid through university (according to my agent)? The incredible Lina Khan brought a long-overdue antitrust case against Amazon while her rockstar DoJ counterpart, Jonathan Kanter, is dragging Google through the courts.

The EU is taking on Apple, and French cops are kicking down Nvidia's doors and grabbing their files, looking to build another antitrust case for monopolizing GPUs. The writers won their strike and Joe Biden walked the picket-line with the UAW, the first president in history to join striking workers:

https://doctorow.medium.com/joe-biden-is-headed-to-a-uaw-picket-line-in-detroit-f80bd0b372ab?sk=f3abdfd3f26d2f615ad9d2f1839bcc07

Solar is now our cheapest energy source, which is wild, because if we could only capture 0.4% of the solar energy that makes it through the atmosphere, we could give everyone alive the same energy budget as Canadians (who have American lifestyles but higher heating bills). As Deb Chachra writes in her forthcoming How Infrastructure Works (my review pending): we get a fresh supply of energy every time the sun rises and we only get new materials when a comet survives atmospheric entry, but we treat energy as scarce and throw away our materials after a single use:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612711/how-infrastructure-works-by-deb-chachra/

Anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop. We have shot past many of our planetary boundaries and there are waves of climate crises in our future, but they don't have to be climate disasters. That's up to us – it'll depend on whether we come together to save ourselves and each other, or tear ourselves apart.

The Lost Cause dares to imagine what it might be like if we do the former. We don't live in a post-enshittification world yet, but we could. With these indie audiobooks, I've found a way to treat the terminal enshittification of the Amazon monopoly as damage and route around it. I hope you'll back the Kickstarter, fight enshittification, inject some hope into your reading, and enjoy a kickass adventure novel in the process:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-lost-cause-a-novel-of-climate-and-hope

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/02/the-lost-cause/#the-first-generation-that-doesnt-fear-the-future

#pluralistic #audiobooks #the lost cause #crowdfunding #kickstarter #spoken word #climate #climate emergency #monopoly #drm #amazon #audible #skyboat #science fiction #hope not optimism

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copperbadge · 1 year ago

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We recently got into a discussion of producing audiobooks for small press, indy, and/or selfpub authors on another post, but we had strayed pretty far from the original post, and @genedoucette very kindly gave permission for me to slice his comment off the end of that post and put it into a new one.

genedoucette

I have been very, very lucky when it comes to audiobooks, so I'm hesitant to offer advice without adding a huge YMMV caveat at the top. For most of my self-published novels, I used ACX and paid a narrator out-of-pocket (rather than 50-50 proceeds split), which just means I'm paying an agreed-upon X dollars per finished hour, prior to making any money off f the audio editon. Every book I did this with paid for itself, sometimes within the first two or three months, sometimes longer. (YMMV: I did a lot of this during what I would call the audiobook bubble, when demand was higher than supply.) I had another novel series--Tandemstar--that I brought to an audiobook company, who brought it to their distributor, who agreed to pay for the production costs of the book and to pay me a (small) advance. To date, the royalties from that series have not made up the cost of the advance, but the good news was that none of the production costs came from my pocket and the advance meant I did make something out of the deal. The rule-of-thumb I always heard was, don't expect books that haven't sold well to sell any better as audiobooks. But my experience, with ACX/Audible, is this: about 50% of my monthly earning come from audio sales. How long is the book in question (word count), and what is the genre? Because it is absolutely possible to get a not-terrible narrator at a not-terrible cost on ACX. If it's a low word count book with a decent sales record, I'd 100% do it. If it's a high word count book with few sales, maybe not.

Thanks so much for this! I am admittedly always suspicious of Amazon writ large, but it's not like I've never partnered with them before, and often for indy authors they're one of a very few games in town.

50% of sales via audio impresses me a lot -- I'm not really in the industry so my sense of scale may be off but my eyebrows went up at that. And looking at ACX, a split-profits model would be appealing. I'm more interested in providing the reader with more options than I am with making royalties, so I don't mind low payout, but I also don't want to exploit a narrator if I can avoid it.

I doubt I'm selling near the level you are, but it's pretty consistent, at least -- for the last literary novel I published in 2021, and for the four genre romances published in the past year-and-change, it's generally 200-250 copies (epub and paperback) in the first 6 months, and about 40 per year after that. None of them are over 100K words -- the first of the romance novels, the one I'd be most likely to have done as an audiobook to trial, is around 50K, and the other books are all between 60K and 90K or so.

There's some fine print I'm not nuts about -- exclusivity to Amazon/Audible/iTunes for example -- but I can see why it's a necessary business model for them. There's not a ton of clarity on cost per hour for a book, but it looks like for a flat fee it starts around $250 per finished hour? So I'd probably be looking at minimum $1K out of pocket, which is probably roughly (I haven't done the math) royalties per book for a full year. It could be fun to give it a swing regardless, although reading the ACX site made me realize I'd actually have to give notes and feedback to a reader which sounds nervewracking.

It looks like the readers for ACX are repped by SAG-AFTRA, which means that for now I have time to consider while the strike is going on. (Obviously not all of them are union but if it's an entertainment format where the union is involved, I don't want to cross the picket.) And the ACX site is pretty comprehensive in terms of figuring out how it all works, so if I did want to source a narrator elsewhere and perhaps not distribute exclusively through ACX, I now have a grounding from which to research other options too.

Sorry, a lot of this is just me thinking aloud, but I truly do appreciate the info and also something to bounce off of in terms of considering it. And I appreciate the opportunity to share it with my readership too, thank you!

#genedoucette #shivadhverse #independent publishing #selfpub #audiobooks

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sweetfirebird · 1 year ago

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Normally, I am very much that self-published writer who writes and posts fairly quickly. But I'd like to point out that every time I have tried to do things more traditionally, like, writing a story and then waiting months until release.... something has always interfered. In this particular case, me chasing the audiobook narrator AGAIN and sort of wondering... maybe there won't be one and I get to fight with ACX about this guy. Literal months to do an audiobook for something not even novel length, and he swore up and down it would be done by the end of fall no problem, and then he forgot/fucked off. And now... will I get it on time? Any promo is basically fucked because who knows.

The year of me bitching about this stuff, I know. But... twice in one year??? By different people??? Who I am paying???? To at minimum be professional and tell me if something has come up and they can no longer do it????

Anyway. Emailed him again today, a bit short but still not rude. But depending on his answer, maybe we won't get the Holly and Oak audio this year.

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bookstoreadbtr · 1 year ago

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Roderick Edwards has written and published over 25 multi-genre books as paperbacks, eBooks, and audiobooks. According to his website Roderick is sometimes called the "Bansky of Books" due to his unexpected style that bypasses the cookie-cutter market-driven fare, you'll be certain to find something you will enjoy, or you will dive into a new genre with seamless crossover. He was delighted to share with us his experience as a published author.

When did you first notice your joy for writing? Ever since I could write, I’ve been writing stories in wire-bound note books and on any scrap of paper.

What inspired you to write your first book? With the advent of print-on-demand, self-publishing, becoming an author is easy. I tried and accomplished it.

What is the synopsis of your first book? A person wakes up in a strange world with no memory of how they got there. The world is full of hostile creatures. The person must figure out how to survive while also trying to figure out how they got there. https://rodericke.com/pve

What was the most challenging thing you experienced during publishing your first book? Editing and formatting are always the most difficult things for a self-published indie author. You can pay someone or you can try to do it yourself.

What advice would you give a first-time author? Think of your first book as a “throwaway” book that you are producing just to learn the process, otherwise you could be disappointed by the process and result.

What genres do you publish? What attracts you to writing in those genres? Nonfiction, historical, fiction, religious, political and more, as I am a multi-genre author. I’m attracted to knowledge and understanding.

What is your latest paperback about? Family Valor – it is a true story of WW1 & WW2 soldiers, father and son and their stories. One of them was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient for saving people from a burning plane. The other was a paratrooper that was shot multiple times while serving in Europe. https://rodericke.com/family

What inspired you to write the book? A local man contacted me after seeing I’ve written other military biographies. He had pictures and documents to share. The stories came together and the book became a reality.

What was/were the motivation(s) to publish your first audiobook? I’m a big believer that to reach people you must go where they are, so I want my content to be consumed in all formats. Audiobooks are becoming a huge market. I wanted to stay ahead of the game.

What was the process like? Did you have a guide or did you figure it out along the way? ACX is the company Amazon uses to produce audiobooks. I have found their royalty share option with narrators makes it seamless to produce an audiobook. I read some help forums but otherwise figured it out as I went.

What author would you enjoy a conversation with? Why? J K Rowling, because she was the rare case where she was hugely successful with her first published book.

What words of wisdom would you share with someone who believes reading is boring? Don’t think of it as reading. Think of it as exploration. Don’t try to read 300+ page books or books by cookie-cutter authors. Maybe try audiobooks in the car.

Any advice for someone who is fearful of the publishing process and has yet to take the leap? Obviously, it is self-promotion but after 25 published books, I think I can say with legitimacy that reading my short book, HOW TO WRITE AND PUBLISH A BOOK TODAY will help a person move through the process in a realistic way. So many of the “How-to” books on the market promise too much and paint an unrealistic picture. https://rodericke.com/write

Where can we find you and your books on the world wide web? Any links you would like to share with your potential readers? My books are through Amazon, https://amazon.com/author/roderickedwards and are available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and some in audiobook formats. You can see my more personalized representation on my personal site, https://rodericke.com

#author interview #books #author #bookworm #book worm #book nerd #reading #readers #book #book life #books to read #kindle books #fiction #writer #novel #author life

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ellemdrewwrites · 2 years ago

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2022 Royalties

Transparency is something really important to me, particularly because, as I started my indie journey, it became very clear to me that what happens behind the scenes is far more important than what the rest of the community sees. You might see that an author has made a huge amount of money without realizing exactly how much that author has spent to reach the point of publishing. You don't know how to compare your numbers to others. The reports matter. The details matter.

Which is why I'm sharing my numbers. I've been sharing them for a while, first on a baby author patreon and now on my website. These are the early numbers, as I haven't been paid out and the amount will change based on KDP's whim. This also doesn't include signed books and ACX. But, here's a quick look at my numbers for 2022.

January $2,732.72 February $3,303.44 March $4,322.05 April $3,645.15 May $2,573.07 June $2,035.30 July $2,330.91 August $2,163.22 September $3,154.17 October $4,253.81 November $2,594.90 December $2,617.07 TOTAL: $35,824.45

If you're interested in more numbers, feel free to check out Author Stats on my blog. Note, 2022 Q4 and 2022 Whole won't be up for a few more weeks until pay out is complete. You can also see all of my self publishing resources there as well.

And if you have any questions, just ask.

Elle M Drew Author Chaos

#indie author #writing community #writers of tumblr #authors of tumblr #self publsihing #writerblr #authorblr #ellemdrewauthor

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bulkpvashops6 · 2 months ago

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bulkpvashops2 · 2 months ago

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What is Amazon kindle Book review?

2. ACX Unlimited honest review US in each audible book. (All ALC)

3. UnlimiTed honest Review in each Kindle Book.

6. Kindle unlimited free reading

7. Read and then Post verified review after 3 -5 day’s

Get benefits….

2. Book must be rank-up after work.

3. I can provide all 5 stars reviews if you need.

4. I will follow your guidelines definitely.

7. Very reasonable price for you.

Hopefully, Every Client will get best benefit after complete my job. I have huge experience as a VA on this market.

If you need my any services don’t hesitate to contact with me

Thank you

whatsApp +19402956728

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ear-worthy · 5 months ago

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The Intimacy & Challenge Of Audiobook Narration And Audio Fiction Acting

Quick. Name some of the greatest actors of all time. Olivier. Garbo. Streep. Nicholson. Those GOAT actors are movie actors. How about the best actors in audio fiction. You know, podcasts or audiobooks?

While voice actors in audio fiction may not be as high-profile as their visual counterparts like Tom Cruise who can drive a motorcycle off a cliff, actors of note and talent -- sometimes mutual exclusive categories -- are leaping into audio fiction. These actors are not thespians who are desperate for work. No, these actors are well-known in the acting community.

Here's a brief list of well-known actors now acting in audio fiction podcasts: Anthony Anderson (Black-ish, Law & Order), Alan Cumming (Instinct), Betty Gilpin (Glow), Helen Hunt (Mad About You), Justin Min (Crazy Rich Asians), Will Sasso (Mad TV), and Billy Zane (Titanic).

Some od the most notable and talented audiobook narrators include: Anni Arndt, Robin Miles, Frank Muller, and Bahni Turpin.

The questions driving this article are straightforward. Do actors narrating an audiobook in an audio fiction podcast need specific skills that they may not have learned or encountered during their non-podcast acting careers?

What specific skills does it take to succeed on audio fiction podcasts?

To get answers on audiobook narration, Ear Worthy went to an accomplished voice actor, Curt Simmons.

Curt is a semi-retired stage actor and has also produced and performed several audiobooks over the past few years, one of which received the Earphones Award for Exceptional Audio Performance from AudioFile Magazine.

Curt is still active as a stage actor.

Q. How did you break into the audiobook business? Do you audition to narrate? A. Well, first of all, thank you for the interview. I appreciate the exposure very much. And it’s just fun to talk about. But to answer your question, I did some research about how it worked, technically, contractually, promotionally. I built a little recording studio in my closet, opened an ACX account, submitted five or six auditions, was offered a Romance novel, and started recording. I also have a background in Radio and TV, as well as live theatre — acting, directing, producing and editing audio, which helped a lot. I’ll talk more about that later. Q. Do you read the book before narration? Or as you go? A. Yes, I do read the entire book prior to starting narration. It’s important for me to know what’s coming because, while surprise developments in story and character are great for keeping the reader/listener interested, they can be problematic for the narrator if they’re somehow incompatible with the narration that’s already in the can, so to speak. For example, when I’m familiar with the character arc, the obligatory scenes, the plot twists, the changes in the overall tone, etc. I can set them up better and finesse them more effectively. I think it makes for a more enjoyable listen. Q. How do you prepare for audiobook narration? A. Well, as I mentioned earlier, I read the entire book before I begin. Throughout the process, I might even read the entire book more than once. My goal is to fall in love with the story. That makes everything so much easier. When I’m in love with the story I don’t have to work so hard for story elements like characterization, pacing, emotional content, finding the author’s voice and such. It all adds up to the meaning of the story. I need to decide within myself why the author wrote this story. What are they saying? What is the theme? I want to be able to answer the question, “what is this story really about?“— The vanishing American dream? The price we pay for the life we live? The insanity of family politics? What we’re willing to do for love? It’s not always obvious. I cast myself as every character in the story. Doing audiobooks and short stories are great for developing an actor’s characterization chops. I try not to “report” the story. To me, that’s boring. I do try to act the story. If I’m engaged, the listener is more likely to be engaged. I decide what each character wants. I choose a voice for each character, including the narrator. A lot of these things will overlap and get developed simultaneously. Q. How do you infuse such emotion into an audiobook narration? A. A couple of things. I rely on my training as an actor, particularly techniques I learned utilizing emotional memory. But the main thing is just really being engaged in the story. I think of each story has a performance, not just a reading. I want to “tell” the story as if I were remembering it or relating my experience out loud, and not just read it. I know that may be a bit controversial, but I can’t help it. It’s what I do naturally. But It really boils down to the material, though, in most cases. If it’s a well written story, and I am truly engaged and paying attention to it, the emotion just comes out naturally. The thing I try not to do is push the emotion when it really isn’t there. Faking emotion is a big no-no.

Q. Did your radio experience help? If so, how? A. Yes, my radio experience is very helpful, as is my acting, directing, and editing experience. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Radio-TV and a Master’s in Theatre. And I started acting in stage plays as an undergrad. So I have at least a conceptual reminiscence of audio production, acting, and directing. I grew up splicing magnetic tape, so now, with waveform editing, I feel like a kid in a candy store. I also produced and hosted live and pre-recorded radio programs that would be considered podcasts today. Q. Do you have a favorite audiobook narration story? If so, can you relate it? A. Well, when I go back and listen to my first audiobook, the twelve-hour Romance novel I referred to earlier, I am truly embarrassed. I have to think of that production as my audiobook boot camp because I very nearly bit off more than I could chew. I was reacquainting myself to mic technique, learning waveform editing, signal processing and mastering on the job. Plus— The narration included fifteen characters, including teenage boys and girls, as well as four languages in addition to English, and three distinct European accents. What was I thinking? It nearly killed me. Well, not really, but it was very, very difficult. Took me three months. However, I learned a lot. And as a result, my next project was a bit easier, as each successive one has been since.

Q. Can you name audiobooks you've narrated? A. Three of my best are: Vacation by JC Miller Taking On Water by David Rawding Omari and the People by Stephen Whitfield (Earphones Award winner for Fiction AudioFile Magazine) (Photo: A younger Curt Simmons and his beautiful wife Faye) Curt Simmons adds: "I’m currently focused on live stage acting and on my Substack podcast, Classically Speaking — doing audio short stories from the public domain. I love it. Each piece is much shorter. I get to work with famous authors who are no longer with us, but the material is fantastic. And I don’t have to pay royalties. Although, I haven’t started monetizing it yet, because I’m not sure I can sustain it with everything else I have going on in my life. A good problem to have. Right?"

I took up narrating and producing audiobooks to keep my creative juices flowing and marinating between stage roles," Curt explains. "After eight or nine audiobooks in the can, I realized how lonely I was in the studio being my own producer, narrator and technician. At the same time, I found that I did enjoy editing, processing and mastering, having put myself through college working at local radio stations, both on air and in the editing lab, and I’m talking cutting magnetic tape. It always felt like a playground to me. Curt adds: "I knew I needed to be in a more collaborative storytelling environment. So I've stayed focused on stage work for the next couple of years, which is my first love, Theatre, specifically acting, which I am still engaged in."

Curt tell us that, "My wife and I recently relocated from Seattle to Colorado Springs to be near our daughter and grandkids. At the same time, I’m still pursuing theatrical work. I never thought I could be so busy in retirement. But I am. And that’s a good thing." When we talk audio fiction then, let me toss out a name for you. Tal Minear. Tal is an Southern California-based actor, sound designer, and producer. They're the creator of Sidequesting, What Will Be Here?, Someone Dies In This Elevator, and several other productions, and Tal can be heard in audio fiction shows such as Tales of the Echowood, Circles, Deconstructive Criticism, and more. They do sound design for Seen and Not Heard, Surreal Love, Wizard Seeking Wizard, and their own podcasts. They also write about audio drama production on Medium, and The Simplecast Blog.

"It takes, like with most things, a lot of patience," begins Tal. "Auditioning is really the job. Beyond that, I think being able to portray emotion with your voice and finding different ways to read the same lines will really help you go far! If you have the option to send multiple takes for an audition, do a read for the second one that is different, weird, or simply out there. Variety flourishes in audio fiction!"

In 2019, a scripted sci-fi podcast, Cryptids, was released to strong reviews and healthy audience numbers. The podcast was developed by Wild Obscura Films (WOF) and produced and directed by Devin Sheperd and written and created by Alex Thompson.

"The audio medium allows the imagination to take over in ways that no visual medium can, so there was a lot of fun and tension to be mined in letting the listener fill in some of the blanks for themselves," says Thompson, who was interviewed during the podcast's initial release. The podcast director, Devin Sheperd, knew it would be a challenge. “As a director, it was definitely different," Sheperd says. "A lot of the actors haven’t worked in the audio space before. Our actors are based in theatre so with a podcast these actors are now working in an enclosed visual space.” Alex Thompson also acted in the Cryptids podcast, and he notes, “As an actor, I’ve done some voice-over work so I’m comfortable with the mic in front of me. The continuing challenge was to make sure that the acting came through in my voice. So in the visual medium, I can use acting mannerisms and physicality to get into the role but in the podcast that had to be channeled into my vocal chords. Even then, is the story you’re telling in the room the story the audience is hearing on the tape? It was more akin to a theatrical performance than film acting.” As the director of a podcast, Sheperd found that she would have to turn away from her actors while they were performing to ensure that her eyes weren’t influencing what she was hearing. “Often, I would listen to the actors with my headphones on, looking away,” continues Devin. “In the audition process, we found that the actors we loved in the audition room while watching them, we didn’t love as much when we listened to just their voice later on. Their physical performance would give us a totally different read than the audio performance. That was hard to adjust.”

There's a bias toward video over audio. The enthusiasm for YouTube and video podcasts (oxymoron?) is evidence that there's a long-standing belief that video is more complex than audio.

However, listening to an accomplished audiobook narrator like Curt Simmons, audio fiction actor Tal Mineal, writer / actor Alex Thompson, and director Devin Sheperd, we understand that listening to an audio fiction podcast or audiobook is an intimate experience between you, your ears, the narrator and/or actors. It's like inviting these people into your brain. They stay for a while, maybe an hour, and then leave you with some info, a few insights, a kernel of a new idea, a funny story, a tale of woe, or the sense that the wrong person was convicted.

#podcast #podcasting #audiobooks #audio recording #voice actors

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financialinvests · 8 months ago

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

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This day in history

The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop summer fundraiser is almost over! I am an alum, instructor and volunteer board member for this nonprofit workshop whose alums include Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, Nalo Hopkinson, Kameron Hurley, Nnedi Okorafor, Lucius Shepard, and Ted Chiang!

Your donations will help us subsidize tuition for students, making Clarion - and sf/f - more accessible for all kinds of writers.

#20yrsago Verisign will have to pay for sex.com mistake https://web.archive.org/web/20031203030438/http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59788,00.html

#15yrsago On the absurdity of “maximizing shareholder value” https://crookedtimber.org/2008/07/25/what-obligation-maximise-what/

#15yrsago Jack Womack’s underappreciated masterpiece, “Random Acts of Senseless Violence” https://www.tor.com/2008/07/25/randomacts/

#15yrsago Great opening lines from sf https://gizmodo.com/great-opening-sentences-from-science-fiction-5027128

#10yrsago Limited-edition Makie toys come to Selfridges https://web.archive.org/web/20130730061115/http://makie.me/forum/topic/474-makies-in-selfridges-from-5th-august/

#10yrsago Lies I’ve Told My 3 Year Old Recently https://www.mexicanpictures.com/headingeast/2008/03/lies-ive-told-my-3-year-old-re.html

#10yrsago Which Congresscritters voted for infinite, permanent, all-pervasive NSA spying? https://www.techdirt.com/2013/07/24/217-representatives-who-voted-to-keep-nsa-spying-all-your-data/

#10yrsago Wired Love: a novel from 1880 that could have been written last week https://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2013/07/wired_love_a_ta.php

#10yrsago Panopticon for royals https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/07/monarchy-versus-the-panopticon.html

#10yrsago ANCHORY: NSA’s 1990s catalog of spook assets https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2013/jul/25/anchory-documents-offer-glimpse-90s-era-nsa-intell/

#10yrsago UK Serious Crimes Agency buried evidence of massive criminality by major corporations, rich people — wouldn’t even tell the cops https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/exclusive-bigger-than-phone-hacking-soca-sat-on-bluechip-dirty-tricks-evidence-for-years-8730861.html

#5yrsago Watchdog: UK spies engaged in illegal surveillance from 2001–2012 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44936592

#5yrsago Equifax says it’s spent $200m on security since the breach, so everything’s OK now https://www.wired.com/story/equifax-security-overhaul-year-after-breach/

#5yrsago Student blocks deportation of Afghan asylum-seeker by refusing to sit down and let the plane take off https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/25/swedish-student-plane-protest-stops-mans-deportation-afghanistan

#5yrsago Facebook forced to drop “feature” that let advertisers block Black people, old people and women https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/24/17609178/facebook-racial-dicrimination-ad-targeting-washington-state-attorney-general-agreement

#5yrsago A/B testing tools have created a golden age of shitty statistical practices in business https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3204791

#5yrsago Rockstar: a programming language whose code takes the form of power ballads https://github.com/dylanbeattie/rockstar

#5yrsago EFF has published a detailed guide to regulating Facebook without destroying the internet https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/07/facing-facebook-data-portability-and-interoperability-are-anti-monopoly-medicine

#1yrago Sarah Gailey’s “Just Like Home”: A haunted house novel that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#crowder-house

#1yrago Why none of my books are available on Audible: And why Amazon owes me $3,218.55 https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/25/can-you-hear-me-now/#acx-ripoff

#pluralistic

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danihost-blog · 2 years ago

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How to Make Audiobook Income With Your Voice

Audiobook income is a way to earn money from home using your voice. You can narrate audiobooks on ACX or other online platforms and sell them on Audible, iTunes, and other popular retailers. You can also work as a freelance narrator and get paid per project or per hour. Audible and other audiobook sales outlets typically pay royalty rates to authors. These rates range from 35% for a book priced…

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secretlifeofmoney · 2 years ago

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There are greater methods to make extra cash on-line and offline than ever before. That's great, however finding out the way to spend a while may be difficult. Use this listing to find out new methods to earn a living from home and make cash on-line. You can earn cash via way of means of walking, recycling, paying attention to track or maybe simply surfing the internet.

1-Become a Virtual Assistant

The need for virtual assistants is growing practically everyday as more and more business owners launch their ventures. A virtual assistant is a self-employed person who works from a distance to provide services to a company. As a virtual assistant, you may provide services including writing, bookkeeping, social media management, and customer service.

On platforms like Virtual Office Temps, Indeed, or Upwork, you may locate appropriate employment. Many virtual assistants have discovered methods to generate money online by contacting brands and business owners and asking if they need assistance with operating their enterprises. You'll find your first customer sooner than you would anticipate using a combination of job posting applications and outreach.

2-Become a Twitch Streamer

Twitch began as a gaming platform, but it is swiftly expanding to include other kinds of entertainment. Twitch broadcasting is a common technique to earn money online these days. You must increase your audience if you want to earn money on Twitch quickly. If you use this site consistently, streaming, you can quickly grow a significant audience.

To ensure that people can quickly find your material, you must locate a well-liked game or channel that isn't extremely competitive. You must maintain a consistent channel style if you want viewers to pay attention to your streams. Will it be humorous, instructive, or entertaining? Pick a direction and follow it through.

Your Twitch channel may earn money in five different ways: through product sales, brand sponsorships, fan donations, subscriptions, and Twitch adverts. To maximize your cash advantages as a Twitch streamer, concentrate on utilizing all five monetization strategies. Hosting Twitch streams may pay quite well if you use the appropriate tactics and put in the necessary effort.

3-Do Voice-Over

A good approach to earn money quickly is through voice-over work. A long-term commitment is not necessary because the majority of voice-over positions are project-based.

To narrate audiobooks, commercials, trailers, instructional videos, and audio guides, businesses are constantly seeking for new voice actors.

Your expertise, the nature of the project, and the length of the script all affect the amount of money you may make doing voice-over work. In the United States, voice-over actors make around $30 per hour on average.

However, professional audiobook voice actors may get up to $200 each finished hour, which is the length of time it takes to read a book.

Making a profile on a freelancing marketplace like Upwork and responding directly to voice-over job advertisements is one of the simplest methods to get started. An effective approach to test the waters and evaluate prospective employment is to sign up for freelance websites.

Alternatively, register for Voices or ACX, which pair narrators of audiobooks with writers and voice actors with customers.

A strong voice-over performer is adaptable and lively. No of the subject, they can make a script come to life. The ability to voice many characters and maintain a consistent narrative voice are essential for audiobooks.

See which niche best suits your voice and writing style by trying out some sample scripts. For this work, creating high-quality audio is essential, thus getting a decent microphone and recording software is a need. Also, when capturing audio samples, make an effort to reduce background noise.

4-Carry Out Micro Jobs

Try micro jobs to get additional cash. A micro job is a brief, temporary position that pays for each task finished. The pay for each activity ranges from a few cents to $50.

Micro jobs are a reliable source of rapid money. Some micro work may be finished in less than an hour, allowing individuals to do various tasks during downtime.

They may help you get experience and develop a portfolio, making them excellent for fresh grads, college students, and independent contractors. Blogging, quick translations, data entry, and administrative work are some of the most popular online micro jobs.

Try looking for micro jobs on these websites in addition to browsing the local classifieds:

Fiverr. one of the most widely used platforms for a variety of modest services, from translation to logo design.

Amazon Mechanical Turk. a top-notch platform for those with expertise in data input, image processing, and video.

Appen. Earn money online by performing quick jobs like data categorization or transcription.

5-Become a Travel Consultant

Travel experts are more in demand due to the booming tourist sector.

For both people and corporations, travel experts create the ultimate travel experience. Travelers or residents who enjoy recommending the greatest places in town to earn money online would adore this profession.

In the US, a travel consultant's basic pay is often approximately $70,000 per year. Benefits of the position include the ability to work from home, a flexible schedule, and travel chances.

Learn about common travel management software options to begin your profession. To further your proficiency, think about enrolling in tourism, hospitality, or foreign language classes.

On your own website, advertise your services. Consider getting ideas from travel advisors like TravelBoecker Adventures and WanderlustTravel Consultants. Alternatively, become a travel advisor or travel planner on websites like Reco.

Conclusion

The great thing about these ideas is that they're so varied, and all of them are totally marketable. Looking at the list above, it's a no-brainer to take a peek at every one of these options—who knows what might click with you? The best way to find out is to give one of them a shot.

#makemoneyfast #moneymotivated #make money online #business #self impowerment #get motivated

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bulkpvashops6 · 2 months ago

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financesbuilder · 2 years ago

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Start earning a supplementary income through applications

Apps are an opportunity to earn extra income, perhaps even to create a small empire. But with millions of apps on the various app shops, how do you make your app stand out and catch the attention of users? Learn here the best ways to get known and start making money with your app! What is a supplementary income? A supplementary income is any other type of income you receive in addition to your main salary. This can include interest on a savings account, share dividends, capital gains or any other type of recurring payment. These days, it's easier than ever to generate extra income through apps and websites. There are options for almost every type of activity and talent. You can earn money by selling your own products, providing services to other businesses, or even by taking online surveys. If you are creative, you can even earn money by selling your designs or creating content for other websites. The possibilities are almost endless! Starting to earn extra income can be a great way to free yourself financially and reduce your expenses. Why earn extra income online? There are several reasons why earning extra income online is a good idea. First, it can help you cover overheads and unexpected expenses. Second, it can allow you to put money aside for a holiday or a down payment on a house. Finally, earning extra income online can help you reach your financial goals more quickly. What are the best ways to earn extra income? There are many ways to earn extra income through applications. Here are some of the best solutions: 1. earn money by referring friends Many apps allow you to earn money by referring friends. For example, you can earn up to $10 per person you refer for some programs. This is a great way to earn extra income if you have a lot of friends. 2. Earn money by testing applications Some companies will pay you to test their applications and give feedback. This can be a great way to earn extra income, as it usually doesn't take much time and you can do it at your convenience. Plus, you'll get to discover new and interesting applications! What are the applications to earn extra income easily? There are many applications to earn extra income easily. There are apps for every type of work, from copywriter to real estate agent. Apps allow you to earn income by doing what you love. For starters, there are apps like Fiverr where you can sell your services to clients all over the world. You can also offer more specialised services on websites like99designs. If you have a good voice, you can sell your narration service on ACX. There are also applications that allow you to make money by developing your own business. If you have a good idea but don't know how to implement it, try Shopify. This e-commerce platform is easy to use and can be set up quickly to sell your product online. Conclusion There are many ways to start earning extra income through apps. The options are almost endless, and you can choose what works best for you. If you're not sure where to start, we've put together some of the best ways to make money with apps. While some can earn you a small amount each month, others can potentially earn you several thousand dollars a year. Whatever your financial situation, there's sure to be an option that's right for you. Read the full article

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