Showing posts with label audio books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label audio books. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

By Reservation Only available in Audio for the Holidays

By Reservation Only, the first book in the Deerbourne Inn Series will be available in Audio for the holidays. It was a learning experience to pick a reader, then listen to each chapter read by someone else. It takes time and I just finished with a relieved sigh. I think it sounds great. Hopefully my readers will agree.
listen to a sample

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r04T1B70Vl5VJ-4FWM_aelElTBUMSHsq/view?usp=sharing


Link: http://a.co/d/atQwzPx


By Reservation Only, Book One in the Deerbourne Inn Series, is an ongoing saga about the people who visit or live at the Inn. the stories vary from contemporary romance to historical romance, a ghost story and a mystery. and thats only the start. http://a.co/d/atQwzPx


The second book, Hope's Dream (Deerbourne Inn) by Peggy Jaeger 
Link: http://a.co/d/gu5d0Kaby  is out November 5

Buy links:

Amazon //WildRose Press // Kobo 

You can connect with Barbara here:

website // Blog // Amazon // Facebook // Google + // Pinterest 

Friday, August 24, 2018

The Next Phase for Sleeping with the Lights On by Brenda Whiteside


I have two books going to audio. I’m not sure which will break first. This whole process is taking way longer than I thought it would. It seems to me, Sleeping with the Lights On will be my debut audio venture, so in preparation I’m sharing a couple of my character studies from the book.

Every character in my stories have their own page of traits and information. The hero and heroine for Sleeping with the Lights On:

Heroine: Sandra Holiday
Age: 50
Description: Sandra is a green eyed, blonde. More than likely there's gray under that blonde, but we'll never know. Her hair still touches her shoulders in soft waves. At 5'3", she is petite and just slim enough. She prefers jeans, but wears form-fitting skirts to work.

Characteristics and Personality: Sandra hates to clean. She has a positive attitude in spite of feeling like she’s accomplished little in life. A die-hard romantic, she’s in love with love.

Background: Sandra was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She married young and it didn't last two years. Her marriage to her second husband, Carson Holiday, lasted five years. Why not longer? See Carson's background below. For the last eighteen years, Sandra has had some colorful relationships from a radio DJ that was too young for her to the Iranian who disappeared and was found dead in the Salt River. Her love of travel keeps pointing her toward careers in the field, but it seems every time she gets close, some man distracts her from her goal. As Sandra says, "Always a sucker for romance, but romance never lasts, and I'm left without a career."

Not in the book: She excelled in English class but didn't have much time for her other studies. Community College held her interest for as long as it took to get her Associates of Arts degree. One night, in Las Vegas Nevada, she met Carson Holiday who was performing on the casino stage at the Sam's Town Casino. He spotted her at the bar, playing video poker with a girlfriend on each side of her. She was twenty-seven. They were married three months later.

Additional Information: Sandra hates to clean. She still has clothes from high school. Beaujolais is her favorite wine, and Starbuck's is her favorite coffee. She has a sister named Abby who is taller, married, and her best friend.

Hero: Carson Holiday
Age: 50
Description: Dark hair, blue eyes with a 5’7” muscular frame.

Background: He was born and raised in Texas.

Not in the book: Carson attended college in Las Vegas, majoring in accounting. He was always a singer/songwriter/musician, but made sure he got an education for a backup. He chose Las Vegas for school because of the possibility of performing live in casinos. His father died when he was four. His mother raised him and his two brothers.

Characteristics and Personality: He has a voracious sexual appetite, but would never cheat on a wife or a girlfriend. When he feels he’s growing tired of a woman, he divorces her and marries another…at least that’s the old Carson!

Additional Information: He wears western shirts and a black cowboy hat. His favorite boots are gray animal skin. He’s been married six times.

I’m getting impatient for the release. I’ll be sure to shout it out on this blog when I know. In the meantime, you can get the print or eBook copy wherever great books are sold on line.

After two failed marriages and countless relationships, Sandra thinks she’s met the man to end her years of less than perfect choices; choices that not only derailed her travel-related career plans, but also left her single and broke.

Carson Holiday, a Las Vegas country crooner with swoon-inducing good looks, spent his adult life pursuing a recording contract and love, never holding on to either. After eighteen years, he drops back into Sandra’s life, reigniting an attraction he can’t deny.

When Carson reappears, Sandra must choose again. As life confronts her with yet another turning point, will her decisions find her eternally sleeping with the lights on – or will she finally discover a way to turn them off?


Friday, June 24, 2016

WHAT MAKES A GOOD AUDIO BOOK by Brenda Whiteside

Do you listen to audio books? I've never tried one. I think they're a marvelous idea, and had they been popular when I had a job that required me to be in my car three to five hours a day, I'm sure I'd have taken advantage.

I saw some stats last week from The Association of American Publishers comparing 2014 to 2015. EBook sales dropped 10%. Print book sales increased 16%. And audio books surged 40%. I want to be part of that!

I emailed the marketing department of my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, and asked if they're pursuing audio versions...they do if you ask. So I asked. We've submitted the first book in my Love and Murder Series, The Art of Love and Murder. If chosen, we audition readers. I had a taker the first day. I was excited and downloaded a program so I could listen. Then I was
disappointed. Marketing kind of liked the guy, thought he sounded very suspenseful. He did have a nice voice and, yes, suspenseful. BUT his cadence never changed, and so slow I fear the listener would go to sleep at the wheel. I also couldn't tell when he went from narration to dialogue...and I wrote it! As much as I want an audio book, I had to pass on him. Sure hope I get some more takers.

So, what is your experience listening to audio? What makes an audio book good for you? I need some direction so when I get the next audition, I can judge it rightly.



Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com.
Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/brendawhitesid2
She blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com
She blogs about life’s latest adventure on her personal blog http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/
Amazon Author Page: amzn.to/1THrngg
Goodreads Author Page: bit.ly/1U1lDxo

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Musing About Success - and the Value of Failure

By Glenys O'Connell

I've thought a lot about success over the years, and the conclusion I have come to is that success is something different for everyone. One of the mistakes we make is equating success to riches - but not every success is accompanied by a fat cheque.

I consider the most successful things in my life are beyond price: a long and happy marriage and four gorgeous kids are among the most important things in my life - they top the bill of successes that make me proud.

There are other successes; different careers I've loved and still work at in various ways; friendships over years and new; homes and places that have been memorable or educational; businesses that succeeded - or failed. I include some failures in the successes, because we can learn so much from failures that that in itself is a success. If that doesn't sound too bizarre?

And sometimes, looking back, there are successes that I was moving too fast to realise at the time were successes. Events, people, ambitions realised that I didn't take the time to enjoy or savour because pressure to succeed in other ways was too intense. Taking time to smell the roses is so important, and yet something most of us only realise later in life.

Being published is a major barometer of success amongst writers, yet it's not the huge royalties (falls on floor laughing) that keeps most of us going. It's the challenge of getting the words on paper, the fun of playing with imaginary friends, the burst of delight and pride when a reader says: I loved your book!

Giving pleasure or helping others can be a major success in itself. I have two recently published non-fiction books: Depression: The Essential Guide, and PTSD: The Essential Guide and already I know these books have made an impact in the lives of people struggling with these problems. That feels like success to me!

Here's an excerpt which talks about success, from Naked Writing: The No Frills Way to Write Your Book, my soon-to-be published book on writing:


As writers, we’re dreamers – and I don’t just mean about characters and plot lines. No, we also fantasize about our careers, about signing books while surrounded by adoring fans, of watching our titles fly up the NY Times bestseller list, of being invited to chat with Oprah, of writing non-fiction that catapults us onto the speech circuit as An Authority.

And then we daydream about what we’ll do with all those millions we've earned through our writing, or how we’ll parlay our growing knowledge into something that will help change people’s lives…. Yes, there are probably as many dreams as there are writers when it comes to thoughts of the life we’ll lead as Famous Writers whose books are Bestsellers.

But here’s the hard truth: these dreams have little to do with your success as a writer – unless you act on them.

To be successful you need talent, yes, and a commitment to your work. You need to mix that talent with a fair old dose of hard work to turn those dreams into your reality. The simple truth is that first and foremost, a writer writes. It’s that simple. The complicated bit comes in knowing what you should be writing and in planning for your success. Don’t give up the dreams; just temper them with a little feet-on-the-ground common sense.

Find a way to turn them into goals. Plan your writing career as you would any other endeavor that’s important to you. Dream big, for sure, but keep one eye firmly fixed on your own reality.

Novelist, non-fiction writer, journalist, playwright and counselor/life coach - Glenys O'Connell has worked hard at them all. She has learned to celebrate success and laugh in the face of failure! She likes to drool over her pages on Amazon, where her books are all available in both print and ebook form.