Virtuoso Audiobook News

Early after publishing I was asked more often than expected, “When will the audiobook come out?” I’d not really considered making one, it seemed really complicated, expensive, and maybe not for me until I was selling far more copies. But thankfully ACX provides a path for indie writers like me. Even more thankfully, Amber McCulloch (@amber.does.audio on Instagram) was willing to go on this journey with me!

The amount of work it takes to produce something that isn’t just AI generated, that has feeling and depth and a real voice, is substantial. First, the large number of characters to voice is wild; it’s so easy to drop in sideline characters with one line or two when you’re writing them, Amber gave them all personality in their tones and speech. Then, the sheer number of names, made up words, and places Amber had to pronounce was another epic undertaking. The difference between how I’d heard things in my head vs. how Amber heard them led to (more often than not) me liking her version better. And if I couldn’t budge on my version, she was cheerfully willing to revise. Not to mention the tiny spelling, attribution or formatting issues I caught and corrected as I read along when I listened to her narration. It’s been a couple months of our collaboration and I’ll miss it… until book 2!

Sometime in the next 10 days ACX will release Virtuoso on audio - it will go live on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. I know plenty of work is needed to market in all the right places. I’ll be promoting it, Amber will be promoting it, and I clicked “publish” today with a prayer to the Aoni that this finds its audience and brings a whole new life to the book.