"After the Funeral" has been birthed as an audiobook!
In late May 2019 -- three months after my first book, "After the Funeral," was published as an ebook and paperback -- I sat down in a padded, basement studio to narrate my own written words. The sound engineer was excellent and patient, and we managed to record the book in three sessions. It took another week or two for him to edit the recordings (to remove my "umms" and sibilant "s" sounds), as well as to prep each chapter according to upload requirements. Within less than a month, my audiobook was ready to upload to Audible/ACX.
I carefully uploaded each file onto the website and sent it through what was touted to be a 10-14 day approval process. The date was June 18, 2019. I was quite excited: my book was going to be available for sale in all three media!
And there it sat. Through sultry summer days into football season, passing multiple holidays, even the turning of the year. "Pending approval" became the words I hated most in the English language. My numerous queries were met by canned email responses. I began to wonder whether anyone living worked at Audible.
But then I found my way through the complaint process to an option to receive a phone call from Customer Support, and I was soon speaking with a godsend named Steven. Steven recognized the problem, assured me that he was on the case, that I wasn't the only author experiencing this hiccup and that he had found a way to get my audiobook "unstuck" after so many months of inactivity.
Within a day, my audiobook made it through the quality-control process, and within a week it was available for sale on Audible (and therefore Amazon, which now owns Audible). I wrote high praise to and about Steven, asking him to forward my email to his supervisor as proof of his unique ability to break through the gridlock.
Have you experienced a Steven in your life recently? Has there been someone who went above and beyond, without the expectation of reward? Valentine's Day is in one week -- and love is not limited to romantic relationships. Take this opportunity to show your appreciation in a tangible way: with a card full of gratitude, a small but meaningful gift, or public praise that turns your Steven a wonderful shade of scarlet.
Click here to access my audiobook on Audible; click below under "One-Minute Estate Tip" to go to the Amazon site.
