 | To me, the indie publishing industry is made up of the most amazing, talented, and considerate folks I have ever come across. From mentors like Dean Wesley Smith and his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch teaching me the how-to's and the what-not-to-do's; to Passive Guy keeping me informed on everything from the legal aspects of indie publishing to all the most current industry news; to Joe Konrath motivating me with his commando blogs - everyone I have come across in indie publishing has been, as the song says, "Simply The Best!" |
It doesn't stop with them though. From the bloggers, to the reviewers, to the readers - all the supporters of indie published authors are the warmest community of individuals I have ever come across.
I can illustrate why I'm bubbling over by telling you my journey to my 1st audiobook, _THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM_. It started with a re-posting of a piece from Neil Gaiman’s Journal that my friend Passive Guy shared on his awesome "The Passive Voice" blog. Gaiman wrote about "ACX" - the Audiobook Creation Exchange.
I can illustrate why I'm bubbling over by telling you my journey to my 1st audiobook, _THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM_. It started with a re-posting of a piece from Neil Gaiman’s Journal that my friend Passive Guy shared on his awesome "The Passive Voice" blog. Gaiman wrote about "ACX" - the Audiobook Creation Exchange.
Now, I confess, I would not even have known about ACX if it weren't for Gaiman's piece and I wouldn't have known about Gaiman's piece if it weren't for Passive Guy's re-posting. See what I mean about the indie community? It's simply awesome - people sharing news, ideas, and suggestions. I have never felt one iota of competition within the indie publishing family ... only the greatest forms of cooperation and even collaboration!
My story doesn't end there though. I went to ACX and followed their simple directions. Within a few hours I had posted my first two novels to the exchange. Next, I had to be approved - probably just a authenticity check performed by the ACX team, but I was still excited to be accepted. I began receiving auditions from some wonderfully talented actors and production companies.
Yet, I had my heart set on one particular actor - Elijah Alexander. I contacted the production company that Elijah used for previous audiobooks he narrated, but they weren't interested in royalty-share deals. Then, in a MOST BLESSED act of kindness and support for a neo-pro writer like me - Amazon/ACX offered a stipend for the production of my audiobooks! What that means is - on top of my royalty-share deal with the narrator/production company of my choice, Amazon was willing to PAY a stipend to the narrator/producer as an incentive to get the audiobooks made! Amazon/ACX wrote to me that, because they felt my novels would be popular in audiobook form, they were willing to pay for their production.
That act may have only been a business decision on the part of Amazon but from my prospective, it was a great blessing! I'll tell you this - I have n-e-v-e-r seen or dealt with a better (super-mega-enormous-big-successful) company than Amazon, especially when it comes to partnering with small entities, like my little indie publishing house.
The stipend allowed me to contact Elijah and offer him a direct r-s deal. The stipend allowed him to record it outside of the big production house he normally utilized. The end result ... just over a month later, my first audiobook has been published! And the audiobook edition for the 2nd novel in the series (CRIS DE NIRO, Book 2 - SIGNS OF WAR) will be released in a few weeks.
So without further ado - the audiobook edition of (CRIS DE NIRO, Book 1) THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM is available at Amazon here. Narrated by the fantastic actor, Elijah Alexander - it's an awesome 9 hours of action thriller entertainment. Please check it out and spread the word about it.
... And hey, thank you all for being a part of the greatest community of talented artists in the world - the Indie Publishing community. Whether you create or support, I'm humbled to be part of the family.
My story doesn't end there though. I went to ACX and followed their simple directions. Within a few hours I had posted my first two novels to the exchange. Next, I had to be approved - probably just a authenticity check performed by the ACX team, but I was still excited to be accepted. I began receiving auditions from some wonderfully talented actors and production companies.
Yet, I had my heart set on one particular actor - Elijah Alexander. I contacted the production company that Elijah used for previous audiobooks he narrated, but they weren't interested in royalty-share deals. Then, in a MOST BLESSED act of kindness and support for a neo-pro writer like me - Amazon/ACX offered a stipend for the production of my audiobooks! What that means is - on top of my royalty-share deal with the narrator/production company of my choice, Amazon was willing to PAY a stipend to the narrator/producer as an incentive to get the audiobooks made! Amazon/ACX wrote to me that, because they felt my novels would be popular in audiobook form, they were willing to pay for their production.
That act may have only been a business decision on the part of Amazon but from my prospective, it was a great blessing! I'll tell you this - I have n-e-v-e-r seen or dealt with a better (super-mega-enormous-big-successful) company than Amazon, especially when it comes to partnering with small entities, like my little indie publishing house.
The stipend allowed me to contact Elijah and offer him a direct r-s deal. The stipend allowed him to record it outside of the big production house he normally utilized. The end result ... just over a month later, my first audiobook has been published! And the audiobook edition for the 2nd novel in the series (CRIS DE NIRO, Book 2 - SIGNS OF WAR) will be released in a few weeks.
So without further ado - the audiobook edition of (CRIS DE NIRO, Book 1) THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM is available at Amazon here. Narrated by the fantastic actor, Elijah Alexander - it's an awesome 9 hours of action thriller entertainment. Please check it out and spread the word about it.
... And hey, thank you all for being a part of the greatest community of talented artists in the world - the Indie Publishing community. Whether you create or support, I'm humbled to be part of the family.
