Full disclosure - I typed that title before it was done, so that I WOULD get it done. Weird but true. It took a few days of other stuff (more on that below), but I finally finished the edits last Wednesday and began the uploading process to Audible, Findaway, Author's Republic, and my website. I had a short delay, okay, a week-long one, as I had to get assistance from an expert in mastering files. It was well worth it!
As you can see from the image, anything narrated by me will show this Narrated by Author sticker on it. That will make it easy to find (I hope)!
Recording the stories meant revisiting a dystopian world. Yes, it is my creation, but I forget what I have written, forget the stories to some extent, and it is always a joy to rediscover them. During narrating several of them, I got rather emotional, wrapped up in the heartbreak of the story at hand, and had to re-record sections. It was that or you would have heard me full of snot, my voice tremoring with emotion. I fall into that world and they are real, my characters, and their pain is real too. Such is the journey of storytelling, I guess.
So when will the recordings be available for purchase? In the case of a direct purchase audio file on Payhip, you are able to purchase them now for just $9.99! As for Audible, Findaway, and Author's Republic, well, that depends upon their internal QA department and how many audiobook submissions they have in the queue. I highly recommend purchasing direct. You save money, and I earn a higher commission, as Payhip only takes a small amount compared to the bigger audiobook platforms.
Tales of the Collapse is a series of nine short stories, averaging anywhere between 31 minutes and over an hour in length. Even if you haven't read the first two books, The Storm and A Brave New World, you will find them interesting. However, I intended them to fill out some of the back stories of walk-on characters, to fully flesh out the Collapse as it happens. So, of course, I recommend listening to the first two books which are narrated by Annella Kaine. Eventually, I will narrate The Storm and A Brave New World in my own voice, as well as the other three books I had professionally narrated by different narrators, simply for consistency, but it might be a while. As it is, I'll be hard put to get all ten of my books not currently in audiobook format done by the end of the year. That's the plan at least!
Planet Comicon - Here I Come!
I've been toying with adding direct sales, through author fairs and the like, to my repertoire. And with this in mind, I bought tickets to Planet Comicon so that I could get a real feel for the layout of the place, and talk to the book vendors there and get inside tips. There were several guest speaker events I was interested in as well. I'll be heading over there today after I wrap up recording two chapters for Smoke and Steel. Who knows, maybe I will see you there?!