a virtual experiment

Audiobooks - I love listening to them, but they are very expensive to produce. A high-quality audiobook requires a voice artist and a professional editor.

 

A professional narrator produced the audiobook versions of both Tequila Midnight and The Podcast Chronicles.

 

While I would love to have all of my novels become professionally produced audiobooks, it's not something I can afford right now.

Recently, Amazon offered me the opportunity to beta test their "Virtual Voices" program. Virtual Voices uses a computer-generated voice for the narration. With this program, I could choose among eight different voices and they wouldn't charge me for production.

 

I struggled over whether to use this option. I believe in paying artists for their work, but I had no plans to make an audiobook version of Portrait of Deception because of the cost. I was also curious about the quality of the virtual narration, which artificial intelligence has greatly improved. I decided to experiment with Virtual Voices, and Portrait of Deception is now available as an audiobook for $4.99.

 

While I don't believe the quality is as good as a human narrator, it is better than I expected. If you listen to it, I'd love your opinion.

readers in person

A special thanks to all the readers who showed up for the Carlsbad local author fair. I had so much fun discussing my novels and all things reading and writing with attendees. One reader, Janice, said she had made a bookshelf out of an entire wall of her garage, yet still visited the Friends of the Library often to donate books. She's my kind of person.

 

The Carlsbad Library staff was fantastic (thanks Ashleigh for the great photo). I worried the event would be a little like a school dance, where you're stuck at your table waiting for people to approach. But everyone was incredibly friendly and I spent the whole time talking to readers and other writers. The candy was a hit.

help an author out

I've been excited to see the reviews of Five Tries to Get It Right. Readers seem to enjoy the travel and the heartfelt friendship between these two women as they struggle to figure out what's next in life. One reviewer said the novel was:

 

"heart warming even while it is breaking your heart."

 

I'd love it if you'd leave a review - just a couple of sentences will help others find the novel. Thank you. For more on the novel, here's someone reading the first chapter.

 

Click a button below to start your review.

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book recommendation

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Happy Travels: Zanzibar, Tanzania

Haven't received your copy of the novella La Paloma, Tequila Midnight's prequel? Download it by clicking here.

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