{"id":9760,"date":"2025-08-02T20:42:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T03:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/?p=9760"},"modified":"2026-02-28T21:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T05:02:35","slug":"oh-yes-an-audiobook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/2025\/08\/oh-yes-an-audiobook\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh yes, an audiobook"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am delighted to report that yesterday my first audiobook, Bummer at Luna<\/strong> Beach<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, was released on Spotify<\/a> and elsewhere. This is my SoCal eco-cozy beach mystery, the first featuring silver sleuth Rosie McMahon.<\/p>\n

\"AudacityI recorded the audio myself, for several reasons. First, the writing adventure has cost me far more than I have earned doing it, and I refuse to use AI. Also, I really enjoy audiobooks read by the author, so why not me?<\/p>\n

For those interested in the technology, I used Audacity<\/a>, which is wonderful and free, for recording.<\/p>\n

The microphone was worth ordering. It was a Tonor USB microphone, about $35.<\/p>\n

My “studio” was a table with the computer, padded all around with blankets. While recording, I put a quilt over my head to block sound and prevent echo. I put foam around the microphone to prevent sibilance. (Decades ago, my first job in the theatre was sound board operator, so I enjoy this stuff.)<\/p>\n

\"my<\/p>\n

Between the scenes, I wanted a sound. At first I found some recorded seagulls at freesound<\/a>, and contacted the person who created it for permission. But after the first two chapters, I found the sound squeaky and annoying. So I played a few notes on the piano into my phone, and used that instead.<\/p>\n

Audacity let me smooth out the sound for even volume, using the Normalize feature. I was also able to edit out some unexpected noises, though it’s possible there’s a cuckoo clock in there somewhere!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Findaway Voices was my choice for distribution, although I did consider others. As it happened, Findaway Voices sunsetted on the same day of my release, and became Voices by INaudio<\/a>. To get my audiobook on Spotify, which had been a distribution outlet for Findaway, I just had to click a permission.<\/p>\n

Audible, although an option, wanted 7 years of distribution even in the non-exclusive contract. So for now, the book isn’t on ACX.<\/p>\n

Spotify gives you free promo cards, which is nice but I can’t say I’m impressed by the design. I might jazz it up in Canva.<\/p>\n

Wonderfully, however, the audiobook is already in libraries because of Overdrive. I am ridiculously pleased to see it listed at the Beverly Hills Library<\/a>, where I once spent an afternoon writing.<\/p>\n

Is it a super-smooth, professional, glitzy recording with a famous actor doing the narration? No. But I think it’s pretty good anyway.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am delighted to report that yesterday my first audiobook, Bummer at Luna Beach, was released on Spotify and elsewhere. This is my SoCal eco-cozy beach mystery, the first featuring silver sleuth Rosie McMahon. I recorded the audio myself, for several reasons. First, the writing adventure has cost me far more than I have earned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[84,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9760"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9770,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9760\/revisions\/9770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisahistory.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}