Power Play... for your EARS!

This blog post isn't going to be super long... but I've been dying to share the news with y'all for MONTHS!

Back in January, I started the process of getting more books from the Dropped Puck Series onto Audible. This process isn't super complicated, mainly because I go through ACX: Amazon's audiobook production company. It's like the equivalent KDP for Kindle books. The same way KDP feeds to Kindle ad KU, ACX feeds into Audible and iTunes.

Anyways. I put together the audition packet and waited for narrators to submit their auditions. Normally my ADD kicks in and after I get like 5 responses, I would want to just go with one of those. This time I didn't do that.

This time I made myself wait. Weeks. Months. I had this feeling that the auditions for Darren and Emerson's story were good, but there was that little something missing. I couldn't tell you what it was.

And then, I got it. I got the email from ACX that I'd received yet another audition for Power Play. I went to my projects and listened to Alex Raby's submission.

I cried.

I cried listening to my own words spoken back to me.

It's already an emotional scene that readers of Power Play might know what I'm referring to. So there was that. But I'd heard this scene dozens of times now from other narrators.

It wasn't until Alex's take that the emotions of that scene hit me the same way they had when I'd written the words.

I reached out to her and we talked about options. What she was thinking for the characters vs. what I'd imagined. I sent her my Character Sheet where I break don each character in the book (main and sides and even some random players in the game that have speaking lines). I give my Pinterest inspo board and Spotify Playlist. I even gave her YouTube clips of my "dream casting" actors in the roles that most resembled what I had imagined.

We signed contracts and then... we wait!

Well, I wait.

Alex immediately got to work. She had her 15-minute sample ready for me to review and then we set up a video chat to go over inconsistencies she'd found, hiccups I'd noticed, or parts that I realized after the fact weren't what I really wanted--just things I had thought I did.

From there, Alex began the incredibly arduous task of narrating and producing the product. She'd send me chapters and I'd listen.

At first I thought I could listen and pick up errors, mispronunciations, audio glitches. But I learned something about myself: I'm not great at editing my own work! LOL

Luckily for me, Alex was a superstar and found a way to give us readers the best possible product. (Truthfully? At the end of the day, I only found two issues; and one of those was because I'd mucked up and written the wrong word... so not her fault at all!)

I sent her the list of (two) issues and asked if she'd fix one even though technically it was my fault. She said it wasn't a problem and had those corrections back to me so fast.

Supa-fast.

"Make your head spin" kinda fast!

Then... she was done with her part.

It was up to me to do a final check on the audio clips, work on the cover art (modifying the design size from the incredible cover that was designed by Lyra Blake) to fit within the parameters Audible requires, and finally--submit to Quality Assessment with ACX.

And that's where we stand as of today!

The whole process from start to finish is a series of "hurry up and wait," one right after the other. It almost feels like you're driving down a tunnel and the light at the end is reflecting off mirrored walls, creating the illusion that you're closer than you are. And when you see the mirrors, see that you can't tell when you'll reach the end, it can get to you.

But then it happens. You hit that final SUBMIT button, turn that one final corner, and everything is coasting.

Do I have an exact date for the release? Of course not! lol The Zon isn't great about that kind of stuff. BUT I do know that it should be available by the end of the month.

I'll be running several events to giveaway promo codes, free copies of Power Play, to both US and UK listeners.

• Cass Medcalf (an incredibly talented author I met a few months ago) has agreed to run a special in her newsletter; so you can enter there.

• I'll have an event going through my Author IG page that will run for a week.

• My Street Team members (Rosie Burke's Racy Babes on FB) will have an extra chance.

• And finally: StoryOrigin. I'll be giving a few codes away to readers there. These will be on a first come, first serve basis and not so much of a giveaway. If you haven't heard of StoryOrigin, check them out! There's options for Readers to find new-to-them authors (and get freebies occasionally!)

I have plans to get all of my books onto Audible shelves over time. Inclusivity and accessibility are huge for me. Not just because I'm someone who struggles to read books on standard print (black ink on white paper gives me migraines if I read for too long). Not just because I'm a mom who likes to have a book or podcast going while I do the otherwise mind-numbing housework that fills a lot of my days.

It's more than that.

I have a Masters degree from Florida International University in Recreation Administration with an emphasis in Recreational Therapy. I learned in my two years there that simple thoughts create massive impact. Making my books available to persons who need the audio option is a fraction of additional work for me but makes the world of sports romance available to so many others.

In other words, because I can, I do.

I learned this isn't a quick process, especially if done right. That's why I'm not rushing through the rest of the series.

Yet.

I have started working on Book 3: Trading Tinsel. Books 4 & 5 are in the planning stage: I have been prepping the character sheets for those & rereading the books to find scenes that will make for impactful auditions. Nothing is done on those aside from having claimed the books as my own in ACX. (I've done this for each book as soon as they were released though, to avoid any opportunistic jackwads trying to steal my work. Trust me. It's a thing. 🙄

So that's it!

Actually...

You know what?

Let's go ahead and start this!

Click the button below and you'll be directed to my website where you can enter the raffle an extra time! Ans since you're subscribed to my blog... you'll know before anyone else!

Enter the Raffle

Good Luck!

&

Happy Reading!