My Audiobook Producer Anniversary

It has been one year since I uploaded my first audiobook files:

I admit, I am tearing up with joy. You are all invited to celebrate with me as my dreams come true in real-time: I uploaded audiobook files I’m working on and received this feedback from my “rights holder”:

“OMG, that sounds GREAT! I love how you do NAME, especially during the drunk scene. So perfect. And you’ve really got NAME’s voice down. AWESOME!”

<sniffsniff>

One year later, I have three audiobooks on the market. Truthfully, I thought I would be farther along. I thought I could just crank out projects one after the other. Three doesn’t seem like a lot.

Then I recall how much time I spent working on the books being GOOD. Attending classes in acting, narration, and improv. Interviewing experienced narrators. Learning software for editing the audio. Trying out all the different mastering effects to see which one made my vocals sound the BEST. Making those three books as good as I could, with each one getting better, done faster, and improving along the way.

Work didn’t stop on my writing projects. I took time from production to edit four novels. To attend critique groups. To help out friends, plan a home remodel, visit with loved ones, get sick, get better, and get re-motivated. In short, have a life.

Being hard on myself for not accomplishing as much as I want in one area of interest doesn’t move me along my path. It does not open me up to new ideas and techniques. It does not encourage me to play and grow.

What DOES is knowing that my editing makes for better novels, my audiobooks have made hundreds of listeners happy, and I have plenty of work to do. (So far) no one is posting bad reviews, warning people that my productions are awful, or seeking me out on the internet for derision. That’s a pretty big bullet to have dodged, given the internet these days.

So today, on the first anniversary of teary-eyed elation, I remind myself what I wrote to you all one year ago: