My Writing

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    Listening to and writing for audiobooks …

    21 Comments

    Note: This post first appeared last week at Magical Musings.

    Do you listen to audiobooks?

    It seems like audiobooks are becoming more and more popular these days. I’ve had folks tell me that they listen to audiobooks in a variety of places and ways — everything from while they are in the car or on the train commuting to work or even while they’re at home doing housework.

    Out of my various books, the audiobooks for my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series are the most popular. They are narrated by the awesome Lauren Fortgang, who does a great job of bringing my heroine Gin Blanco to life. Instead of getting e-mails asking when the next book will be out, now I get e-mails asking when the audiobook will be out. LOL.

    Spider's TrapThe audiobook for Spider’s Trap, Elemental Assassin #13, was released on July 28, the same day as the print and e-book versions. You can order the audiobook through Audible and Amazon.

    I don’t usually listen to audiobooks, but I’m interested in trying them. But what has really impacted me is that I find myself writing my books with the audiobook version in mind.

    When I’m writing a new character, I will ask myself questions like “What does this person’s voice sound like?” and “How can I make them sound different and distinctive from the other characters?” Then I’ll put in some tags for the audiobook narrator to pick up on and hopefully use. Here’s are some examples from Spider’s Trap:

    “Well, Blanco?” Dimitri demanded in a low, gravelly voice.

    “I can’t let you go anywhere, can I?” Owen murmured, a teasing note creeping into his deep, rumbling voice.

    “But what about you, sweetheart?” Mallory said in a twangy voice that was far more hillbilly than high society.

    I think adding the voice tags not only makes for a better audiobook, but that it is also a little bit of extra description for folks reading the print and e-book versions as well.

    What about you guys? Do you listen to audiobooks? And for all the writers out there — do you describe your characters’ voices with audiobooks in mind?

    GIVEAWAY TIME

    Thanks to the folks at Audible, I have 3 download codes for the Spider’s Trap audiobook to give away. To enter, use the form below. Open to those 18 and older, worldwide.
    a Rafflecopter giveaway

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    Spider’s Trap, Elemental Assassin #13, released …

    Book #13Spider’s Trap, the 13th book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, has been released. Woot! Woot! Woot!

    Spider’s Trap is available at all the usual retailers, including:

    Amazon Kindle / Amazon paperback / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iBooks/ Google Play / Kobo / IndieBound

    The audiobook is available at Audible. You can also get the audiobook through Amazon. The awesome Lauren Fortgang is once again the narrator for the audiobook.

    Here is the description for Spider’s Trap:

    Keep your friends close but your enemies within stabbing distance.

    One important lesson I’ve learned in the assassination business is that to be the best you have to roll with the punches. Now that I’m queen of Ashland’s underworld—by default, not by choice—a lot more punches are being thrown my way. But I suppose that’s the price of victory for taking down some of the underworld’s top dogs. Good thing I have my Ice and Stone magic to help me survive my volatile new position. Just when I think things are finally settling down, someone tries to murder me during a hush-hush underworld meeting. But the real surprise is how strangely familiar my shadowy assailant seems to be.

    My job is to maintain order among killers, crooks, and thieves, and soon I’m embroiled in a bloody game where the ability to keep secrets could be the greatest superpower of all. My enemies have all sharpened their knives and laid their traps, waiting for me to fall. But this Spider weaves her own webs of death …

    You can read the first chapter of Spider’s Trap here. Scroll down and click on the Read Excerpt tab, although beware of spoilers for previous books in the series, especially Black Widow.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the book and Gin’s latest adventure. Happy reading, everyone!

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    Spider’s Trap, Elemental Assassin #13, available for pre-order …

    Book #13Spider’s Trap, the 13th book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on July 28. Only about a week to go now. Woot!

    Spider’s Trap is up for pre-order at all the usual retailers, including:

    Amazon Kindle / Amazon paperback / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iBooks/ Google Play / Kobo / IndieBound

    The audiobook is up for pre-order at Audible. You can also pre-order the audiobook through Amazon. The awesome Lauren Fortgang will once again the narrator for the audiobook.

    Here is the description for Spider’s Trap:

    Keep your friends close but your enemies within stabbing distance.

    One important lesson I’ve learned in the assassination business is that to be the best you have to roll with the punches. Now that I’m queen of Ashland’s underworld—by default, not by choice—a lot more punches are being thrown my way. But I suppose that’s the price of victory for taking down some of the underworld’s top dogs. Good thing I have my Ice and Stone magic to help me survive my volatile new position. Just when I think things are finally settling down, someone tries to murder me during a hush-hush underworld meeting. But the real surprise is how strangely familiar my shadowy assailant seems to be.

    My job is to maintain order among killers, crooks, and thieves, and soon I’m embroiled in a bloody game where the ability to keep secrets could be the greatest superpower of all. My enemies have all sharpened their knives and laid their traps, waiting for me to fall. But this Spider weaves her own webs of death …

    You can read the first chapter of Spider’s Trap here. Scroll down and click on the Read Excerpt tab, although beware of spoilers for previous books in the series, especially Black Widow.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the book and Gin’s latest adventure. Happy reading, everyone!

  • · · ·

    Spider’s Trap, Elemental Assassin #13, up for pre-order …

    Book #13Spider’s Trap, the 13th book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, will be released on July 28.

    Spider’s Trap is up for pre-order at all the usual retailers, including:

    Amazon Kindle / Amazon paperback / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iBooks/ Google Play / Kobo / IndieBound

    The audio book will be available through Audible, and the awesome Lauren Fortgang will once again the narrator.

    Here is the description for Spider’s Trap:

    Keep your friends close but your enemies within stabbing distance.

    One important lesson I’ve learned in the assassination business is that to be the best you have to roll with the punches. Now that I’m queen of Ashland’s underworld—by default, not by choice—a lot more punches are being thrown my way. But I suppose that’s the price of victory for taking down some of the underworld’s top dogs. Good thing I have my Ice and Stone magic to help me survive my volatile new position. Just when I think things are finally settling down, someone tries to murder me during a hush-hush underworld meeting. But the real surprise is how strangely familiar my shadowy assailant seems to be.

    My job is to maintain order among killers, crooks, and thieves, and soon I’m embroiled in a bloody game where the ability to keep secrets could be the greatest superpower of all. My enemies have all sharpened their knives and laid their traps, waiting for me to fall. But this Spider weaves her own webs of death …

    You can read the first chapter of Spider’s Trap here. Scroll down and click on the Read Excerpt tab, although beware of spoilers for previous books in the series, especially Black Widow.

    I hope that everyone enjoys the book and Gin’s latest adventure. Happy reading, everyone!

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    The work of self-publishing …

    2 Comments

    Note: This post appeared last week at Magical Musings, and I wanted to share it here as well.

    Over the past several months, I’ve been working on writing and self-publishing a new book in my Bigtime superhero series. I’m happy to announce that I self-published Fandemic, the fifth book in the series, on June 2. Woot!

    FandemicI’m so glad that the book is finally out there for folks to read and hopefully enjoy. And frankly, I’m also glad that the book — and the work — is finally finished. LOL.

    Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy self-publishing, but it is a lot of work — a lot of work.

    When you self-publish, you are responsible for every single aspect of the book, from actually writing it, to getting it proofread, to the cover art, to the e-book and print book formats, and everything in between. Sure, you can hire folks to do some of the work for you (and I do), but if you don’t do the work (or pay someone to do the work), then it simply doesn’t get done. And once your book is actually published, you are also responsible for promoting the book and letting folks know that it’s available.

    I first started working on Fandemic in May 2014, so it’s taken me more than a year to go from writing the first draft to actually publishing the book. Why so long? Well, I’ve had to squeeze in all the work on Fandemic around writing my two traditionally published series — my Elemental Assassin and Black Blade series.

    With my two traditionally published series, I’m responsible for writing the book, as well as doing copy edits and proofreading the book. But that’s it. The publisher takes care of the cover art, the e-book and print book formatting, and some of the promotion (although I do a fair amount of promotion on my own as well).

    I do hope to write and self-publish more works in my Bigtime series, but it will probably be a while before I start on something new in the series.

    As for right now, I hope that everyone enjoys Fandemic. I’m going to reward myself and go take a nap. 😎

    The Fandemic e-book is $2.99 and is available at the following sites:

    Amazon Kindle / Barnes & Noble / Google Play / iBooks / Kobo / Smashwords

    A print version of Fandemic is also available for $8.99 through Amazon.

    Here is the book description:

    ­Piper Perez has always wanted to be a super­hero. Always wanted to wear a cool costume, have amazing abilities, and save the day. There’s just one problem—Piper doesn’t have any superpowers.

    So she focuses on other things. Facts, figures, memorabilia. Piper knows and collects it all, about both the superheroes and the ubervillains who roam the streets of Bigtime, N.Y. Piper’s friends jokingly call her a fandemic—someone who is a superfan of all things superhero. The nickname is truer than anyone knows, especially since Piper can’t stop thinking about Swifte, the speedy hero who broke her heart months ago.

    But someone has been killing off Bigtime’s heroes and villains. When one of Piper’s friends is murdered, she vows to do whatever she can to help bring the killer to justice, superpowers or not. All the clues and information she gathers lead her to believe that Swifte is the killer’s next target. Piper has always wanted to be a hero, and now she’ll have to use all of her fandemic knowledge to save the man she loves—or die trying….

    Fandemic is around 43,000 words, which means that it is a shorter book than the others in the series, which are around 95,000 words. For those of you who like page counts, Fandemic is about 150 pages.

    You can read the first chapter here. Scroll down and click on the Read Excerpt tab. Happy reading!