HAVE YOU HEARD A GOOD BOOK LATELY

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Hello Everyone,

Help me welcome my sweet friend Elizabeth Meyette, author of The Cavanaugh House to my blog.  Elizabeth is here to tell us a little about the process of creating and publishing The Cavanaugh House into an audiobook version. 

Elizabeth, I love having you back here. It's been so long. Why don't we start off this interview with a fun question to help my readers get to know you a little better. What are two things you would like people to know about you?

Wow, that’s an interesting question, Nancy. I’m going to by-pass the obvious about how wonderful my husband and kids and grandkids are—but they truly are! The first thing is that I am a life-long learner, and recently I learned how to self-publish the audiobook version of The Cavanaugh House. I hope your readers will celebrate with me by entering my giveaway!

Another thing I would like people to know about me is that I believe in the concept of a muse. In her TEDD talk, Elizabeth Gilbert discusses the concept of the muse or divine attendant spirit. I agree with her. Some days when I write, it’s like the words are coming from the ether, and when I read them aloud the next day, it’s like I’m reading them for the first time. I can’t take credit for all that happens when I write. I can only thank God for it.

What did it feel like to hear your words being read aloud?

I have to admit it was amazing to hear my words read by a professional actress. And the actress whom I hired, Amy McFadden, totally got the tone of my story and the personality of my heroine. She warned me that my characters’ voices would not sound like they do in my head, and she was correct. But they sounded right. She nailed it. But to hear my words converted from text to audio was amazing. In a strange way, it was affirming. I already had been affirmed by ratings, reviews and even emails from readers, but this took it to a different level. Somehow my book felt more professional. I love to listen to audiobooks, so to listen to my own was surreal—in a wonderful way.

What a wonderful experience. I would love for you take us through the process of self-publishing The Cavanaugh House.

I had already self-published The Cavanaugh House, so I knew this process would also take time and effort, not to mention a steep learning curve. I had used Amazon’s CreateSpace for self-publishing my book, so I turned to their ACX.com site to publish my audiobook. The site is full of information and guidelines that helped me through the process step by step. They also provide a contract that you and your narrator (who is called a “Producer”) agree to and list specific dates for completion of steps in the process. I like how professional and definitive the agreement was.

Fortunately, the steps for production are spelled out clearly on the ACX.com site.

1.      Confirm you own the rights

2.      Set up a profile including how you want to pay your producer

3.      Upload an audition scene

4.      Listen to auditions (such fun!)

5.      Select a narrator, sign contract

6.      Listen to the First Fifteen Minutes selection from narrator

7.      Listen to the full recording carefully

8.      Send changes to narrator (you’re allowed two revision sessions)

9.      Approve book and pay narrator (unless you choose the royalty share payment option)

10.  Wait for quality control approval from ACX and Audible

11.  Wait for ACX to upload your book to Amazon, Audible, iTunes

12.  Go viral! (I hope)

How do you decide who will narrate your audiobook? What it was like to listen to the audition tapes?

One step in the process is choosing a narrator. ACX.com has a database of over 32,000 narrators! I narrowed it down by selecting parameters such as gender, regional accent, age, etc. I posted an audition scene of about two pages. I was intentional in selecting a scene that included several characters both male and female so I could hear what each narrator did with my characters (read: babies). I was amazed at the different interpretations many of the narrators had! I was able to sort them on the site so I could go back and listen to the ones who seemed like possibilities. One narrator stood out above the rest—Amy McFadden. Amy has read over 175 books including books by Nora Roberts and Debbie Macomber. She agreed to do mine and I was thrilled. When I listened to the First Fifteen Minute segment, I started to cry. I was so elated to hear my words brought to life. I think I cried through at least the first five minutes.

The process of creating and publishing my audiobook version of The Cavanaugh House has been enjoyable. Much easier than writing and publishing the book. I love listening to audiobooks, and I hope your readers will become listeners, too.

Thanks so much for hosting me today, Nancy.

It was my pleasure, Elizabeth. The Cavanaugh House is a wonderful book everyone. If you haven't tried listening to a story, now is your chance. 

The Cavanaugh House audiobook is available on:

Audible

Amazon

iTunes

Visit Elizabeth at:

Website: www.elizabethmeyette.com

Blog: www.elizabethmeyette.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethfmeyette/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/efmeyette

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6153760.Elizabeth_Meyette

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bettymeyette/ 

The Cavanaugh House blurb:

When Jesse Graham unlocks the door to the deserted house she inherited from her Aunt Helen, she doesn’t realize she’s unlocking secrets that had lain dormant for years. Reeling from a broken engagement to acclaimed musician Robert Cronmiller, Jesse wants to leave the city where her name is linked to his in all the society pages. Her best friend Maggie, aka Sister Angelina, convinces her to take a job at a private girls’ school in the pastoral Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Anticipating a quiet, revitalizing life in her aunt’s deserted house, Jesse is instead thrown into a maze of danger. Questions about her aunt’s death lead Jesse to investigate events surrounding it and the people involved, but she uncovers a web of deceit that reaches far beyond the occurrences of over two decades earlier. Still dejected from her broken engagement, Jesse finds it difficult to trust anyone, even her self-absorbed mother. Joe Riley is irresistible, but secrets obstruct involvement with him until Jesse can solve the secrets of the Cavanaugh House. Someone doesn’t want those secrets unearthed and will stop at nothing, even murder, to keep them hidden. 

The Cavanaugh House excerpt:

This house held secrets.  Secrets that wafted through rotting window sashes on the winter wind.  Secrets that spiders wove into webs anchored between the ceiling and walls. Secrets that scuttled on the feet of cockroaches across stained kitchen linoleum and scurried into its cracks. Secrets that peered from holes in the baseboard from glinting mouse eyes. This house held the secrets close to its bosom where they had slept for decades. No one had disturbed these secrets in all the years the house sat decaying from neglect. There was no reason to, and there was no desire.

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Don't forget to enter Elizabeth's GIVEAWAY for a $25 Amazon gift card! 

   

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