In Book 3 of The World of Murder series, O’Roarke and Garcia are called when a famous Broadway director dies. It appears that everyone hated this man, making the murder cops’ job just that much harder. They have their pick of suspects as everyone within a five mile radius of Broadway had a reason to want this guy dead. From the jealous stage manager, to the resentful actors, to a disappointed and hurt lover. From a scorned understudy, to his ex-wives, any one of them could have done it. This mystery takes the reader back stage into the tumultuous, gossip ridden, world of the theatre.
Part II An Interview with VO professional and actor, Daniel Dorse (Part I, click here)
It’s Easy! I use www.acx.com. The platform is simple to use and they have a terrific ‘stable’ of professional narrators. Your book is published in audio form at amazon.com/audio, audible.com and iTunes.com. You can pay your narrator/producer a percentage of sales or a one time fee. The one time fees are on a sliding scale depending on what the narrator requires ‘per finished hour’. With acx.com you will know what you will be paying (it’s based on the number of words in your manuscript.) before you commit. Tip. Eliminate all extra words like copyright page, acknowledgements, title, etc. and count only the words of the manuscript.
My one and only complaint about acx.com is the length of time they take to do the final quality control bit. Two weeks. Now sit back and enjoy the second part of my chat with Daniel.
Daniel working in his studio
Q. Can you tell us about your process when you get a job to narrate a book?
A. When I’m hired to produce an audio book, I should read the entire book, making character notes, notes on pronunciation, mood, transitions, accents, etc. In fact, I like to live dangerously, reading only a few chapters ahead (to avoid too many unwelcome surprises, like , “Uh-oh! This character I’ve been voicing for 15 pages is supposed to be Irish. Now I have to re-record.”). I do this, I tell myself, because I like to retain an element of spontaneity in my read, but it’s probably also because I’m both lazy & overly cocky about my sight-reading abilities. Continue reading “Where to Find a Narrator for my Audio book? (Part 2)”
Choose a narrator for your audio books….sounds easy doesn’t it?I’d like to share my hit and miss experience and some tips about finding those perfect narrators for your audio books.The good news is that now that I’ve learned a few things I have two wonderful reliable ‘voices’ for the production of my books. The miss (when I didn’t know what I was doing and was new to the audio book world) was the situation where I found my first narrator wasn’t willing to collaborate and work with me. She said that she was hired and paid to narrate the book that I sent, nothing more. Sigh!
You will find, as I did, that your book ‘sounds‘ far different than the written word on the page and how it sounds in your head. You, the author, will need a narrator that will allow you to make changes. You might remember my interview with my childrens’ book narrator and gifted opera singer, Carin Gilfrey. Now I thought it would be interesting for my readers to get to know, Daniel Dorse, the voice of Sergeant Detective Jack O’Roarke. (The World of Murder Series). Continue reading “Ready to Find that Ideal Narrator for your Audio-book??”
Sherryl Woods, once again, plunges her reader into a love story, on the first page, with a sexy kiss shared by strangers on a beach. The story keeps us interested with love fraught with complications, small town politics, and charming and funny characters.
I am a reviewer who does not give the reader the entire story in my review. I hate when that happens, don’t you?! But I will promise you that you will be rooting for Abby and Seth by Chapter two. They both deserve ‘forever’ love, but with the baggage that they both carry (and I’m not talking trains here) will they be able to find a common ground?
This is my one year anniversary of interviewing best selling authors and I’m amazed at the success of it!! Authors have been so generous with their writing process and their time. The interviews are on-going and currently we are booked through April, 2014. It’s always a thrill for me when busy, well-known authors are so generous with their answers that I must break it up into ‘parts’. Continue reading “Interviewing Best Selling Authors…looking back!”
TS. ‘This photo speaks loudly about the rewards of overcoming procrastination, doesn’t it??’
Part 2 of 3 ** My Interview with Raymond Benson
Q. What’s your best advice to other writers for overcoming procrastination?
A. If you don’t have a real deadline from an employer, then make one for yourself. Just tell yourself, “I’m going to finish this by the holidays,” or whatever, and stick to it. It takes discipline, and you might have to work at it, but hey, being a writer is, after all, a job.
Q. Do you ‘get lost’ in your writing and for how long?
A. Never, because I take care of all the instances of getting lost during the Outline phase. I’m a firm believer in outlining a novel prior to writing it. I know many writers don’t, and that works for them, but for me, I find it to be an invaluable tool. I spend a month or two on it, and it’s in that document I work out the plot, the twists and turns, the red herrings, and I structure the story into a dramatic piece, the entirety of which I can look at with a bird’s-eye view. It’s like doing a prose storyboard for the novel. Believe me, it’s easier to throw out a few paragraphs of an outline when you don’t like the way the story is going, than it is to throw out two or three chapters. So I do all of my hair-pulling and angst-spouting during the Outline phase, which then makes the longer, more tedious phase of Writing much easier. Continue reading “A Chat with Raymond Benson, Author (part 2)”
I am so pleased when FreshFiction.com invites me to blog on their site. Here is the latest and I hope you will enjoy it.
Excerpt: ‘It was only while I was researching for my novel, Wild Violets that I learned that my mother “farmed out” my sister and brother to strangers. The term usually referred to children who were sent to a relative back in the day. In my siblings’ case it was a true indenture. My brother and sister had to work for their keep, ages six and 11….’
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Bertie, the bookworm is the fabled forest’s elder and teacher. Every week he has a spelling and reading circle where everyone is welcomed. Slam, the badger and his gang of bully boys are forever teasing, disrupting, and bullying Bertie and the group of faeries and woodland creatures. Pansy, the pixie is a new character in this third of the Fabled Forest series. She is a defender of reading, truth, and Bertie. Cheets, our beloved elf from past books joins the wrong crowd and his friends are worried that he will become the newest member of the Bully Boys.
Okay…here’s some tough love! Get your butt in that chair and write something………..or finish something !!! You’ve read my interviews with famous, best selling authors for about a year now. And the recurring theme is DISCIPLINE!!
Forget what others might think of your scribbles…they’re yours and they’re PERFECT! And what if they aren’t perfect? So What!!?? If I thought I was going to get perfection when I first began writing, I would never have written a word. All I hoped for was to grow as a writer and keep growing with every new project. Still not perfect………….
Write a short story. Write a poem in prose. Write a play. Finish your novel. WRITE SOMETHING!!
Now, here’s the tough part. You have to be selfish to be a writer. You have to tell your spouse, or kids or friends that you aren’t going to be available for a couple of hours. And mean it!! Then go lock yourself in a room and WRITE!! Then tomorrow (or this weekend) do it again. Continue reading “New Year’s Resolution for Writers!”
I can’t believe that it was just this past September that I wrote this blog about an idea becoming a one act play and NOWI’m writing my fifth book in the World of Murder mystery series. The first four novels are available here and on amazon.com and now are audio books at audible.com So I am thinking it is worth posting this again to let my fellow writers see how an idea can grow into something pretty damn amazing!!
If you missed the story here it is again:
Let’s see….I think it was 2005 and we were in rehearsals for “Cheatin'” in Port Aransas, Texas. I was the director and we had pulled together a terrific cast. The title pretty much tells you the story line but the fun part and what made it so funny was it was set in….where else?…… Texas and was filled with good ole’ boys and girls. It was the highest grossing play for that theatre in many a year and won Best Production and Best Set Design (thanks to Janis Johnson’s contribution). I was very proud of the cast and crew! Continue reading “An Idea..A New Mystery Series! “The World of Murder””
Just Released in Audio-books! My third in the series, The World of Murder
