... how damn good you are!
I get into trouble from time to time, over at GWA, when I say how I'm just a scribbler (which is true(blush)) and how the real power in any poor words I write comes from the amazingly talented folk over there who do me the honour of reading my said scribbles.
Well, tough :-P. Because it's all true. So yah, boo, sucks, and you-all are stuck with it. You're brilliant. So there :-))))))))))))))). And, at the risk of exposing myself some (yes, Jones Minor. I can see you sniggering there at the back. See me after class), I can prove it. So I will :-)))).
I haunt a number of places under my 'other writing' hat. And I've been following a discussion in one of them. This is a discussion between real, Independently Published and Self Published writers, many of whom make enough money to have writing as their 'bread and mortgage' job. And the discussion I've been watching is centered on audio book creation.
Now the group in question isn't in the skin book market, though many of them write varying levels of, interpersonal interfacing :-P, into their romances, if they're Romance authors. And some of them put some of their work into audio-books. And I'll be quite blunt - the cost to produce a single audio book can hit $4,000, of which a lot of the cost is for 'professional voice acting'.
$4,000. Just hold that thought :-)))).
So the discussion is ongoing, and someone is asking about whether, as a general rule, it's better to have female or male Voice Actors for a book with characters of both genders. And there's a lot of good advice. One piece that struck me was to not only have candidates read parts for both genders - but specifically to have them read what are generally referred to as 'love scenes'.
Jones Minor - I'm not telling you again!
OK. So here's a comment made by one of the better selling, more experienced responders. And yes, I've changed some of the words, so don't waste your time with web searches :-PPP :-))))):
.
.
"During the XXXXXXXXX (a well known author convention specific to one genre), YYYYYYYY (one of the presenters) offered some really good advice - to make sure you have your candidates read a love scene before making a commitment. That one tip came to my rescue when I was auditioning Voice Actors.
When I got down to four possibles I really liked, I asked them to read an excerpt of the love scene for me to make a final choice. One Male VA (Voice Actor) said, "I'm not reading that!" I wanted to ask him what he thought was going to be recording when the description of the book had been very clear that it fell into the category of sexy romance.
It was interesting how some very talented narrators sounded creepy when they read the love scene and others did a brilliant job."
.
.
Like that title up there says. You-all just don't know how amazing you all are. The recordings folk have made of my drivel have turned not just lead, but scuffed, rusted and rotten iron into purest gold. Absolute. Gold.
So next time I say it - you'd better know I really, really mean it. I'se just a scribbler - you all are incredible :-))))))))). And It is just flat-out, nitrogen-icicle cool that you-all put up with me :-))))))))))).
Oh - remember that $4000 a book? That's why my 'other' hat doesn't have any audio books under it. And no. I'm not fishing for volounteers. I just wanted to slap some of you folk round (in the nicest possible way :-) ) ahead of the next time I get to tell you how incredible you are, and you try to blush it aside and tell me it's somehow my drivel and not you. All of you :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))).