Monday, January 6, 2014

The Audio Version

In response to the plethora of emails and twitter questions (ok 2 emails and 1 twitter question) I can inform the world (ok ok 3 people) that Gerard Doyle told me that he's reading In The Morning I'll Be Gone this week and will be recording the book in the next fortnight for Blackstone Audio. As usual Doyle had lots of whinging complaints polite queries about how to pronounce various things in the book, queries that I was occasionally able to answer. 
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If you're a fan of audiobooks, and I for one am a huge fan, I hope you already know about Audible.com. I've been on Audible as a listener for several years now and I have the plan whereby I get one credit a month to download any audiobook I want. This works well for me as it usually takes me 3 weeks - 1 month to listen to an audiobook. I think there are 4 criteria that go towards making a good audiobook: 1) you need a good text to begin with 2) you need a reader whose voice is clear but which also exudes a lot of character 3) the book should ideally last more than 6 hours so you get your money or credit's worth 4) it must never ever be abridged or substantially different from the original text.
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My books have been on Audible since the beginning of the service and I was surprised and delighted last Friday to get a check from Audible as part of their honorarium programme. With absolutely no obligation to do so Audible decided to give all the authors on Audible in a certain quarter period (I think it was the last two quarters of 2012) a honorarium of 1 dollar per book. My check came at a time when the post Christmas bank balance was looking decidedly dodgy and while not a King's ransom it was free money and there's few things in this life that beat free out-of-the-blue-cash. So thank you Mr Doyle for recording In The Morning I'll Be Gone and thank you Audible for providing a great service and for the lovely honorarium check.