Cheers to the Buzzing Mosquito
How do you choose to get your work out there? This question—ebook or print?—is raging on LinkedIn. Sprinkled in but treated as an annoying buzzing mosquito of a distraction—quit bringing this up!— are a handful of posts about audio.
I am the buzzing mosquito.
Here, at Cain’t Do Nothing with Love, we are living in an audio world.
“Written and read by the author.”
If you want to know why I chose this route, click on “Q&A with the Author” above.
If you want confirmation this was a good decision, check out my page on podiobooks.com. People are listening to the stories. Hearing my words. Laughing, we hope.
Here’s to getting your work out there. Cheers to a new way of “reading” in the New Year!
Remember: You Cain’t Do Nothing with Love
Audio, Cain't Do Nothing with Love, ellen morris prewitt, fiction, free fiction, free short stories, podiobooks
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Reblogged this on Ellen Morris Prewitt's Blog and commented:
Ebook or print? What about the talking people?
Luanne
I’m not ready to switch over to audio as a general rule. What do you think are the strengths? And what gets lost in the process? What kind of work is best in audio and what doesn’t work as well? So many questions I’m making myself tired ;).
Ellen Morris Prewitt
Luanne, I can only answer for fiction, because that’s what I recorded but I’ll give it a shot (keep in mind these are FREE short stories (!) so maybe not relevant for many people)
Strengths: for literary short stories, a self-published collection seemed odd, but a recorded one seemed interesting; for me, the recording was fun (my main goal); the recorded version seems to be getting people who might not otherwise read short stories to listen; if I’m understanding the statistics correctly, my latest placement on podiobooks has exposed my work to more folks in 4 days then I’ve had read my fiction in ten years of being in literary journals, magazines, etc – way more, I think, than I would have done with an ebook of short stories
What gets lost: people who want a “book,” print or ebook, and find navigating on-line off-putting
What works best: stories with a narrative arc that keeps the reader interested
What doesn’t work as well: I had to cut out some of the stories I intended to include in the collection because I felt they were too hard for the listening ear to follow (they used different literary devices or the narrative line wasn’t strong enough); however, many folks would say none of my stores are very strongly plotted so the bar may be pretty low.
Thanks for asking – I obviously find this audio stuff really interesting
Rick DeStefanis
When all outside of plot is considered, I believe your bar is not too low, but rather very high. And “free” is totally irrelevant to value. Your eyes have a wonderfully unique view of life in the South, however, the beginnings of the slightest seams of cynicism are appearing. Although, perhaps inevitable for those who delve into the human condition, the cynicism is quelled by your humor as it illuminates our frailties in a very entertaining manner. (SWTS,GBTW!)
Ellen Morris Prewitt
“A wonderfully unique view of life in the South” – sounds like a great blurb to me.
GeminiRed Creations (@GeminiRedCraft)
Great post. I’m working with a collaborative right now on putting together stories (advice) and we are discussing self-publishing right now. I’ve never even thought about an audio book. Maybe because the thought of me reading something for hours on end worries me and maybe because I once bought an audio of poetry and nearly killed myself on the way home from work because the person reading the poetry was so monotone and depressing I wasn’t sure I could continue with life. But, in all seriousness – I know so many who love audio books so it’s a great option to offer!
Ellen Morris Prewitt
I did my recordings piecemeal. I had a friend who is a professional sound engineer do my leveling, etc (who even knows what that is?) so our schedule was dictated in part by his. But I REALLY enjoyed it. Glad you enjoyed the post and good luck with the project.