Road Trip Reads (Audio Books for the Whole Family!)

Do you have any family road trips planned in the upcoming months?

If a vacation isn't in your immediate future, a short drive in the country may be the perfect excuse to start a new audio book too!

Many people know I'm involved in the book business, so it just makes sense that a friend recently texted the following:

Here's a challenge for you: 4-6 audiobooks that we would all enjoy (road trip prepping for late June). Got any good ideas?

Let's help a mama out!

This particular friend will be traveling with her newly turned adult daughter and her preteen son. I turned to my Mama friends (Real Mommy AF) on Facebook and here's what we came up with (along with some comments): 

- Harry Potter - Who hasn't heard of Harry Potter? As we all know, this story pulls the entire family into the adventure, but it's even better as an audio book! Action at it's best with the most amazing narration makes any of the titles a great pic for the entire family!

- Hunger Games - This is an Editor's Pick and listening to it enhances the already great story. Pick one book or listen to them all - you'll be delighted. Described as a classic - you won't want to miss an opportunity to enhance your road trip with any or all of The Hunger Games books! 

- Divergent Series -  This is an epic page turner with over 11 hours you'll find yourself caught up with the characters and great stories. 

- The Fault in Our Stars - Described as being a fantastic story, and a wonderful poignant story, this is a book for all ages (including a 71 year old). Don't let the subject of this book stop you from enjoying it! 

- The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Claire - there are so many titles in this series and each one can stand fine on it's own. These books are exciting with creative storylines. Choose one or listen to them all - either way you won't be disappointed!

- The Percy Jackson Series - with so many books to choose from and all of them available in audio, this is a great series to break up a monotonous road trip! Clever, Imaginative, and Creative are just some of the words to describe these exciting books!

- The Maze Runner  - this is a great book that's designated as being for teens; but the story quickly draws the entire family in and with over 10 hours of audio, The Maze Runner will have your road trip flying by! 

- Anything by Ree Drummond (including: Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere and The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to tractor Wheels - a Love Story). You'll love Ree's authentic voice and she's a great storyteller. 

And now it's YOUR turn! Tell us more about your summer plans.

Where are you headed?

What books (physical) have made it to your TBR pile?

What books (audio) would you like to add to your pile of "Road Trip Reads"?

What's one of the best books of the year so far in your mind?

GO!

Hugs,

~Crystal

and now...a little more about me...

Shown from left to right:
Delphine riding Honey
Mr. Otto holding Eudora
Crystal riding Marv.
Thank you Forward Farm, LLC 

Crystal is a hot mess of busy-ness who has decided to shorten her bio...

You can find Crystal milking cows, riding horses, and the occasional unicorn (not at the same time), taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her own blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade and she has never (not once) been accused of being normal!

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1 comment Audio Books, book recommendations, divergent series, family books, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, maze runner, percy jackson, road trip reads, summer reading, the fault of our stars, the mortal instruments

Listen Up: Why Writers Should Listen to Audio Books

At any given moment, glance across the family room and you’ll see it.  A stack of audio books beneath the television.  I listen to novels and nonfiction, adult books and children’s books.  So far this year I’ve already listened to nine or ten books of various kinds. 

As a writer, here are five ways that your work can benefit from listening to audio books. 

Writers need to read. That’s kind of a no brainer but if you are anything like me there are days where it is all you can do to fit in your writing.  Spare time is definitely a commodity but audio books let you “read” when you can’t focus on a print book.  I read when I row, when I wash dishes and when I eat lunch.  If I’ve got a road trip to make, I may manage an entire book.  Listening to audiobooks helps me experience more literature than I would otherwise have time to take in.

Writers need to read it all. I know. I know. I’m one of the first people to admit that if a book doesn’t pull me in, I start skipping chunks of text as I look for that point in the story where things get moving again. Audiobooks don’t let me do this.  Because of this, I get the full experience where I wouldn’t in a print book.  With the full experience, I can judge . . .

Pacing pros and cons. To learn about story pacing, you need to read the whole thing.  Yep.  Even those buckets of narrative and that long stretch of backstory. Not everything I experience is going to work for me but hearing the whole thing gives me a better feel for how other authors pace their work and how they use language to speed things up and also to slow them down.

Voice.  Every writer needs to develop their unique voice.  While you don't want to copy the voice of another writer it is a great experience to hear how and why that author sounds like one of a kind.  Recently I've had an earful of New York grit and Ozark twang.  I got to hear how word choice and how it was all strung together made each of these authors truly unique.   

The Beauty of the Language. If you write poetry or picture books, you spend a certain amount of time considering the sound of the words that you chose.  The reality is that the rest of us also benefit when we consider the sounds of language. The words that we use can be musical but to hear the notes you need to actually here the language. Audiobooks allow you to do this.

Still not sold?  Think of it as story time for grownups.  You remember story time at the library and how much you loved it.  Give yourself a similar experience by taking advantage of the many audiobooks now available.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion.

--SueBE

Sue is the instructor for our course, Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins on June 6, 2016.

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2 comments Audio Books, reading

Paper, Electronic, and Audiobooks...How to Decide?

Photo by Stuart Miles
@ freedigitalphotos.net

I have over two dozen books on my wish list, and lucky for me, Santa stuffed my stocking with Amazon and Barnes & Noble gift cards.

As I perused the booksellers’ web sites, I had to consider the format in which I wanted the book. Do I want to get it as a paperback? New or used? If used, how used would be acceptable to me? Or do I want a hardcover? Maybe I want an e-book, but if so, do I go with the Kindle version, or the Nook (my tablet has apps for both!). The audiobook is another viable option so I can “read” stories while on the go: driving, cooking, cleaning, etc.

I had to read my wish list again and then divided it into three categories: paper, electronic, audio.

Paper
For me to purchase a paper copy (either hardcover or paperback), the books have to be ones I want to display prominently on my bookshelves. For the most part, they have to be written by one of my favorite authors and/or part of a series in which I already had the paper copies. At the top of this list were MaddAdam by Margaret Atwood and NW by Zadie Smith.

Electronic
This is definitely my largest category. A few years ago, after moving out of a third-story walk-up apartment into another third-story walk-up with 20+ boxes of books, I decided to go digital with my collection, with some exceptions (see above). This category mostly contains books by authors previously unknown to me, but came highly recommended by a friend or a book review. In my electronic queue right now are Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon. (Side bar: If I end up LOVING any of these e-books, I will purchase a paper copy to put on my bookshelf).

Photo by thanunkorn
@ freedigitalphotos.net

Audio
Last fall, when I had an hour + commute to and from work every day, I delved into the world of audiobooks, which made my commute much more pleasurable. But some books are better suited as audiobooks than others. I tend to buy audiobooks of epic-length fiction and nonfiction, which are types of books that might lose my attention if I’m reading them, or just require more attention and time than I have to give them. Stuck in my car for several hours forces me to listen and pay attention. Two of my favorite audiobooks so far were 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

Which book formats do you prefer, and how do you decide which format to choose?

Written by Anne Greenawalt: writer and writing instructor.

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5 comments Anne Greenawalt, Audio Books, eBooks

Order Up...With Audio On The Side

Last year I won a giveaway for a copy of a cozy mystery. When the package arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find not just a book but a companion audio disc of the author reading her novel! I stuffed the book onto a shelf and popped the CD into a player. We had a terrific time, this author and I, both in our kitchens. I was cooking dinner; she was baking…and solving a mystery. Not long after that I downloaded an audio file of Sherlock Holmes stories and just recently I listened to the first chapter of an Irish mystery which I can hardly wait to purchase so I can hear the rest of the tale. I’m hooked on audio, and I’m not alone.

According to the Audio Publishers Association 25% of Americans listen to audio books. The demographic is well-educated, median-income consumers who also read more books annually than the average non-listener. The Association of American Publishers states that downloadable audio books accounted for 81.9m in sales in 2010 with physical audio books bringing in 137.3m. And this doesn’t include all those teens attached to their listening devices! Is there a market for audio books? You betcha! Would you like to get in on it?

If you contract with a traditional publisher your agent can make all the arrangements; indie, small-press or self-published authors listen-up.You will need:

A quiet place to record

A good quality studio microphone (sometimes called a pod-casting mic)

Audio recording and editing software

Someplace to market your audio book

Software for recording, editing and converting audio files is available via download and there are several choices. Two of the most popular are Audacity and WavePad. Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing, it is updated often and you can choose from “stable” versions or Beta versions. WavePad offers both free versions and professional versions. Depending on your computer system and the desired result you might choose to use more than one editing program.

Once your audio file is ready it will need to be available for purchase. Digital Content Center and PayLoadz offer file storage, automated delivery, shopping carts with multiple payment options. CDBaby works with both digital downloads and physical CDs. They handle distribution and sales to Amazon, iTunes, and other outlets. (Note: iTunes has exclusive agreement with Audible.com and will pull anything labeled “audio book” that isn’t through Audible).

Will offering audio books suddenly make you rich? Not likely, but you’ll gain exposure to readers who may not stumble upon you otherwise. Not every novel is available in audio format, but audio lovers scour over all the novels offered. If they like the audio chances are they will purchase the book, or eBook, and recommend your book to family and friends.

By Robyn Chausse

Thank you to Scott Swift of darktimetales for sharing his experience.

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4 comments advice for writers, Audio Books, markets, Robyn Chausse, Writer's Tools