The Secret Chord

Just when you think that things have settled down for Conor McBride… think again! 

Best-selling author Kathryn Guare's next installment in The Virtuosic Spy series is coming out on audiobook soon.

I'll post more details about the project soon.

"He's left a lot of things behind him . . . but they're not far enough back. Conor McBride has lost everything, and if he can't find a way to disappear in a hurry, the next thing he loses could be his life. Running from enemies he's never met and haunted by his own destructive actions, Conor needs a refuge secure enough to hold his secrets. A farmhouse inn tucked amidst the green mountains of Vermont seems ideal, but when his past catches up with him, Conor discovers the beautiful young innkeeper has secrets of her own, and that hers are more likely to get them both killed."


In the meantime, if you haven't checked out the first book in the series: Deceptive Cadence - you can have a listen here.

No Royalty Share Projects?!… Why?

Recently, I was approached by an independent author with some very kind words about my narration skills and tagged on the end of it all, an offer to narrate their "18 hour - 500,000 downloads" best-selling novel under a royalty share agreement via ACX. 

I refused. 

An explanation as to why was requested. Here it is: 

It's a conservative "in and out" picture of the numbers involved and why royalty share has rarely been a good return on investment for me in the past and why I seldom go near it now.

Woe betide the narrator who falls for "million downloads", "movie producer interest" or "thousands of Twitter followers" and goes into a royalty share agreement with a dreamer. 

Bottom line: If your book is as awesome as you claim it to be, then you can afford to pay your narrator up-front. 

Onwards!

What's Your Production Process?

This question is coming up more and more as of late, so I wanted to post something on my blog as a go-to explanation rather than having to keep repeating myself. 



First up: my production process will not work for you perfectly. 


The core reason for the above statement is that my skill-sets, life experience and abilities are vastly different to yours or anyone else's. 
Your own experience and ideas will be critical in getting to a workflow and a production process that you can put your name to. 

This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t learn something from what I have to offer on here. 
So bearing that in mind, as a timeline, here is what I “usually” do to take a manuscript and turn it into an audiobook. 

Phase 1: Preparation

This is my first serious look at the manuscript outside of my initial browsing of it before signing a contract to narrate it. 
I read it cover to cover while at the same time, taking notes on each character as they arrive chronologically. 
At the same time, I start to think about what this character should sound like and I add in any appropriate notes to guide me on that. 
This is done on a custom-made sheet: 

The content of this may or may not work for you, but it forms part of a system I utilize as part of my self-direction process. Sometimes, if the mood takes me, I might add nothing to those boxes except the name of someone I know from experience whom the character reminds me of. It might be Jack Nicholson or it might be the postman. It doesn't matter. Character inspiration is everywhere. Take the woman you met on the subway yesterday: check out her voice, mannerisms, facial expressions and file those nuggets away for whenever you might need them. 

Phase 2: Recording

With the Character Map above, I'm into the booth to read. The amount of time I spend in there is anywhere from 30 - 90 minutes depending on the length of the chapter or how my voice is holding up. I have my good and bad days. The process of recording, however, stays the same. 

I press record and I read. If I make a mistake and it is a flub on a word, I will kill the line and start over. If I have my doubts about how I have read a line, I will lay down a marker, repeat the line and leave the other one in so that I can get the best of both takes later on in the editing process. 

Once I've done the whole book, I move it from the booth's hard drive to the computer in my main studio and listen back. This takes me a day. During that time I run through the markers and decide on which takes I like from the previous edits I did. 

Once that has all been decided and there are no glaring errors in the audio, it gets filed as "Approved" and sent to the editor. 

Phase 3: Editing

The more in-demand I have been over the past few years, the less and less I have time to get involved in the editing process of my productions. I employ an editor whom I trust implicitly to know where to make adjustments and where not to. (Trust your editor! You can't keep second guessing and an over-thinking mind filled with doubt will interfere with your ability to tell a story.) 

I have my own flow to stories and once there is nothing out of the ordinary, the editor is responsible for running the audio alongside the manuscript to ensure congruency, highlighting any flubs and sending me a pick-up list. 

The more books I do, the less pick-ups are needed. The 10,000 hour rule appears to apply here. 

Phase 4: Mastering

Again, this is outsourced to an awesome engineer in Switzerland, as I simply don't have time to master my own audio. Mastering is known as as one of the industry's "Dark Arts" and I would highly recommend that you choose a mastering engineer wisely. They will have the final say on what you sound like for your listeners. Remember that when you're deciding on how much to pay them! (Obviously, the same goes for your editor.)

Phase 5: Release

Once everything has been deemed correct and to standards, we release the audio files to the publisher for listening and final approval. 

If there is something that they are not happy with, we discuss options and make any amendments if necessary. This happens very rarely as almost everything is agreed before the signing of the contract. Woe betide narrators who do not wrap up everything in the initial negotiations. You will only ever make that mistake once. 

So there you have it. A quick overview of how we get a book turned into audio. 

Take note however, while it might look like a walk in the park having just five steps - knowing where and how to walk, takes years. 

It ain't as easy as it looks! 

Who's Been A Naughty Girl?

A couple of weeks ago, I got into an exchange of words with a self-proclaimed "marketing and social media expert" whose modus operandi was to use her very large friends list on Facebook and Twitter to drum up interest in authors that pay her to promote their e-books and audiobooks. 

Imagine my surprise when she took it upon herself to decide that my Facebook page needed more likes, and started hounding social media groups to visit my page and click the button! 

First of all, I never hired this individual, who is about as expert at SEO and social media as the jar of mayonnaise in my fridge.

Secondly, from what I saw demonstrated as "social media marketing and promotion", no self-respecting industry professional in their right mind would allow this woman within a donkey's roar of their business. 
She also touts herself as a personal assistant. 
Pick one, missy and for God's sake do it right! 

The only way to end the onslaught of drivel about how much I needed the likes of others was to kill it at the source and contact the individual directly with a request to cease and desist. 

This was received with expected waterworks and tales of woe. The author who hired her was fuming at the extent of this and other liberties taken so "the expert" was dismissed, and we left it at that. 
Onwards! - or so we thought. 

Now, I might not be the greatest narrator on the planet, but I do manage to put out good quality audio, and the authors I work with are pretty capable too - NYT and USA Today bestsellers, Booker Prize nominees, Guardian award winners etc.
I'm also an Audible Approved Producer. 

So, when within a few days of the incident above, we found that negative reviews were coming out for audiobooks that until then were all at the four and five star level, we started to wonder if there was any connection. 
Even more surprising was that the negativity was centred on the audio and narration quality. (Did I mention that I am an Audible Approved Producer?)

This connection seemed all the more real when we discovered that the patterns of speech and the common linguistic tics that "the expert" used were showing up again in these negative reviews. 

Couple that with activity on my website being traced back to the home town of this individual and it's really starting to look suspicious. 

I won't name this person for now but there is one major concern. 
Negative reviews are water off a duck's back for me. But I started to think that if this person is writing bad ones for me, is she also writing good ones for her clients and then fobbing them off as genuine reviews and charging them for it? 
"See how great my marketing is?"

A brief check and we can see big similarities across a few different names of "reviewers" for these authors. That is very worrying indeed, especially when you consider Amazon's stance on this.

I have reported my suspicions to Amazon and Audible in the hopes that they can begin to sort out what is real from what is not. 
When we approached the individual herself with our concerns, we were screamed at, and summarily blocked across all social media platforms.

And that, for me, says a lot. 

As Shakespeare wrote: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

Will keep you posted.

"Heroes Of The Sea" - Danelle Harmon

It's been about a year since I met New York Times and USA Today bestselling historical-romance author Danelle Harmon, and what a year it's been! 

Originally, I started out advising her on possible routes to take when putting her highly successful "De Monteforte Brothers" and the "Heroes Of The Sea" series into audiobook format. 

In the end, the former was recorded by the very capable David Stifel who I am sure you know from stellar audiobooks like Douglas Clegg's "Neverland".

One of the books in the latter series had an Irish sailor as the central character which Danelle had hinted at me doing for about three months. 

As I had never narrated a historical romance novel before, I was ambivalent about adding "another string to my bow" as such, and declined. 


In the end, having not found a suitably accented narrator, and with time running on, we came to the agreement that I would do an audition sample and if she liked it, and I liked it, then we would take the plunge and produce an audiobook together. 
A new adventure for Danelle, and a terrifying exploration into a new genre for me! 



Now, several books in and I have to say that if you haven't tried listening to a well-written historical romance novel, then you are missing out on something very special indeed. 

That's as far as I am going to sell this.
I'll let the audiobooks speak for themselves……here!

We've Been Renovating!

Welcome to our new blog! 

It's been a very busy first few months of 2015 and since moving to my new website a few months ago, I ran out of time arranging to have this blog integrated into it all.

Will be blogging regularly here with news of upcoming projects and a photo gallery is on its way too! 

Stay tuned! 

"The Thing About December"

Still very busy in the studio with back-to-back titles. But wanted to give you a sample of Donal Ryan's latest book "The Thing About December" which will launch in the US at the end of this month. 
You might remember that Donal was long-listed for the Booker Prize for his debut novel "The Spinning Heart" which I had the privilege to narrate last year. 

Have a listen and I hope you enjoy it! 




"He heard Daddy one time saying he was a grand quiet boy to Mother when he thought Johnsey couldn't hear them talking. Mother must have been giving out about him being a gom and Daddy was defending him. He heard the fondness in Daddy's voice. But you'd have fondness for an auld eejit of a crossbred pup that should have been drowned at birth.'

While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns.

Set over the course of one year of Johnsey's life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is.

Donal Ryan's award-winning debut, The Spinning Heart, garnered unprecedented acclaim, and The Thing About December confirms his status as one of the best writers of his generation."

Audiobook Update

It's been a very busy couple of weeks in the studio and no sign of things easing off for at least another month, so forgive me for not blogging as often as I used to. 

The good news is that I have just finished Book 1 of Christopher Bunn's awesome fantasy Tormay Trilogy called 'The Hawk & His Boy', which has been wonderful to narrate. The storyline is fantastic. 

Also just completed is another instalment in The Sorcerer's Ring titles from Morgan Rice. This latest book is called 'A Cry Of Honor' and is Book 4 in the series. 

Next up is Book 2 of 'The Ian Fleming Files' from Damian Stevenson. The latest story from the life of the James Bond author is called 'Operation Parsifal' and if the reviews of 'Operation Armada' are anything to go by, you will really enjoy this next book in the series. 

Crime writer Scott Hunter is up immediately after that with his incredibly well-written novel 'Black December' from the DCI Morgan series.

Then, we have Irish Book Award winner Donal Ryan's follow-up novel 'The Thing About December' which I know you have all been waiting for. The publisher has delayed its launch in the US until 11th August so unfortunately you will have to wait until then to get your hands on it. 

The end of the long production run will be with two historical romance novels "Captain Of My Heart" and "Wicked At Heart" from New York Times and US Today bestselling author Danelle Harmon. 

Coming Soon...

Just a quick post to update authors and listeners about what is due on my schedule over the coming months. 
Between now and the beginning of August, I am unavailable to sign for any new projects as I have a backlog to get through and so my all round super assistant, Juniper Jones is playing gatekeeper for any forthcoming enquiries. (They tell me that her bark is worse than her bite, but I'm not so sure!)

As you can see, there are twelve audiobooks in the queue, so it is going to be a busy couple of months. 

You might also be interested to see that I have added historical romance to my list of genres. 
The very brave Danelle Harmon is allowing me to narrate two of her best-selling works. 
Do I have a voice for romance? Will her fans like it? 
Have a listen and let me know what you think.



 
In the meantime, it's back to the booth again. 

The Ian Fleming Files - Update

Well, what a month it has been. 
I'm only now getting a chance to blog about what's been happening over the past few weeks. 
The good news is that the first book in Damian Stevenson's masterful Ian Fleming Files series: 'Operation Armada' has been released to the author and should be available for sale in June. 

You can listen to a sample here: 



Last month, my main editing suite had a complete overhaul so I had some time off to catch up on some of my own private audiobook listening which is always nice. 
I can highly recommend Simon Vance reading "Eventide" by Tracy Hickman. He really is a phenomenal narrator.

Next week, I will be getting out of this heat and heading to Amsterdam where hopefully it will rain. That would be simply marvelous! 

Thank you to everyone for your fantastic reviews and emails. They are very encouraging and I am looking forward to hearing what you think of 'Operation Armada". 

Onwards! - W

You Can Find Me In Da Club (Update)

A few months ago, I posted that phenomenal dance music producer K1T has asked me to provide some voice work for his latest project. 

The result, "The Kraken" is now playing on decks around the world. 
And that, is simply awesome! 

Enjoy!

"Black December" Audiobook

Delighted to announce that I will be narrating the first in a series of UK crime novels by Scott Hunter, entitled "Black December". 

It's the story of DCI Brendan Moran, a world-weary veteran of 1970s Ireland, who is recuperating from a near fatal car crash when a murder is reported at a monastery called Charnford Abbey.

The abbot and his monks are strangely uncooperative, but when a visitor from the Vatican arrives and an ancient relic goes missing the truth behind Charnford’s pact of silence threatens to expose not only the abbey’s haunted secrets but also the spirits of Moran’s own troubled past…

I won't give too much of the plot away at this stage. It's a brilliant story, and I'm looking forward to releasing it this summer. 

The Ian Fleming Files

Where do I begin to try and put into words how fantastic an opportunity has recently been placed into my hands, having been trusted with bringing Damian Stevenson's new series "The Ian Fleming Files" to life. 

As you know, Fleming was the creator of the world famous secret agent James Bond. 
But what you may not have known is that Fleming himself was, just like author John Le Carré, a member of Britain's intelligence service. 

Stevenson, who's screenplay for the movie "Fleming" was earlier taken on for production by Leonardo DiCaprio's "Appian Way" company has created a series of novels in the same vein as the 007 books, with Fleming as the main protagonist. 

The first book, entitled "Operation Armada" will be released as an audiobook this summer. 

You can listen to a sample of it here: 

Are We Cheating Ourselves?...

When I was young, I read a lot. Anything. My father had a huge library in our house and as a kid, I read everything in it. That’s where it all started. 

As a teenager, I spent days in bookshops, mostly in the second-hand section, looking for cheap copies of Stephen King, Jonathan Kellerman, John Grisham and others. 

I can remember imagining what it would be like to be a writer. To sit there night in night out, trying to work out character arcs and plot lines. Working through a block. Generating something that you knew was going to be wonderful. 
Printing it all off and mailing it to publishers. Trying to find one who would print you. 

Back then, my only connection with the author was what they wrote, how they inspired me, and sometimes a very well crafted photo on the inside back cover with a short bio. 

There was a mystique to authors back then. And, to be honest, I miss it.

The internet has taken the enchantment of authors away from me. I no longer wonder who they are or what they sound like. It is all on their websites for me to see and hear. 
It’s not the same. 
The web has given every Tom, Dick and Harry the chance to say ‘I am an author’ - and for me, it belittles the discipline and the skills that come from those truly worthy of the title. 

In the past, it would have been easier to rub shoulders with A-list Hollywood actors than it would to have access to Patricia Cornwell or Dean Koontz. They were simply a headshot. A picture in a frame. Iconic in the true sense of the word. 

Now, the dynamic has changed. The money that the average Joe might have spent on five top-end authors a few years ago, is now spread across fifty not-so-great efforts on a website.

A 99 cent risk on something that might be good, might be bad, but will more than likely sit somewhere at the low end of the ability spectrum. 
Bought by those who laud Neil Gaiman's "make good art" speech, yet still flitter away money on rubbish that couldn't even get them past the first few chapters. And they do it again and again. A downward spiral of one dollar-funded mediocrity. 
"You get what you pay for!" as the man says.

The online bookstores are still seeing the same if not greater amounts of revenue coming in, but are we cheating ourselves out of the magic? 

I think we are. Which is why I still can’t bring myself to buy books online. I don’t have a Kindle. And while I know it might come across as petty, naive or ‘anti-progress’, I buy my books in bookstores. Proper ones with proper shelves, and a proper smell. 

If a publisher has decided that a book is worth investing in a print run, then that’s usually my benchmark for spending money on it. I can pick it up in my hands, and I can feel how much it weighs. I can experience and appreciate the work that has gone into it. It is a book. 
I find it hard to call a digital representation of a manuscript “a book”. 
There is a tangibility and a value to being able to hold a real one that can never be replaced by a tablet. 
Putting a lifetime of work by Shakespeare or Poe on to a flash-drive the size of a fingernail, is not progress. It is insulting at the very least.



Call that what you will, but for me, we’re losing something very special indeed.

Merry Christmas...

Well...

It's almost time to put our feet up for a few days and enjoy Christmas with family and friends. 

Wherever you are in the world, we wish you a safe, happy and joyous holiday season....and we hope that you get everything you've asked for from Santa Claus! 

Next up for us, is "The Hawk & His Boy" by Christopher Bunn and "A Feast Of Dragons" by Morgan Rice. 
Both epic fantasy novels to kickstart your New Year!

See you all again soon! 

The Spinning Heart: A Novel

"The Spinning Heart" by Donal Ryan is now available for download at Audible.

I'm still in a bit of a daze that I was given the opportunity to narrate this Booker Prize nominated, Irish Book Award and Guardian First Book Award winner.

It's been a total joy to work with Donal and the team at Steerforth Press on this production, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy listening to it. 

You can find out more information about this fantastic piece of Irish literature by clicking here.

You Can Find Me In Da Club….

Earlier in the month, I was contacted out of the blue by the phenomenal electronic music producer K1T, and asked if he could avail of my services. 

Highly curious, I replied that he indeed could, but was puzzled to know why one of the top DJs and producers of progressive house and trance would need a narrator. 
"He's far too young to be writing his memoirs." I thought to myself. 

Anyway, what followed was the makings of a collaboration where I got to lay down some vocals on his latest EP. I can't tell you much about it until it is released, but it has been an absolutely awesome experience to be involved with. 

To give you an idea of how great this guy is, here's a snippet from one of his recent projects. 

I will let you all know when my "vocal" contribution hits the clubs. 

Guardian First Book Award 2013

I'm absolutely delighted to see that Donal Ryan's debut novel The Spinning Heart, has received the Guardian First Book Award. 

The book is an angry portrayal of rural life in post-crash Ireland and was an absolute joy to read. 

You can read all about it here and please have a listen below: 

Guardian first book award 2013 goes to Donal Ryan

Christmas Goodies!

Bestselling fantasy author of "The Sorcerer's Ring" collection, Morgan Rice approached me through publisher Noah Lukeman Literary earlier this year to explore the option of narrating the first book in the series, to see how it would fare as an audiobook. 

Entitled "A Quest of Heroes", sales have been excellent and so they have decided to go into production on the next two books in the series: "A March of Kings" and "A Feast of Dragons". 

Thor is back with even more adventure and the plot thickens in his search to find out who he is and why he has the powers that he does. I love the medieval environment with kings and knights and the pomp and circumstance that goes with it. I can see why it's a regular on the Amazon bestseller list.

I'm delighted that Morgan's listeners have enjoyed what I did with the first book and it is great to read what they had to say, and even more heartening to be asked back to narrate more of the series. 

The Hawk & His Boy

In addition, the long-awaited "The Hawk & His Boy" by the stellar Christopher Bunn will be released in time for Christmas. The story of Jute and the world that the author has created around him is simply mind-blowing. 

I'm beyond excited that this book is almost done. It has taken a while to get it produced but we wanted to do the incredible descriptive passages and character maps justice. You're going to love it! 

The Spinning Heart

It brings me enormous pride to be able to announce that I have just started work on narrating Irish author Donal Ryan's acclaimed debut novel "The Spinning Heart".

Booker Prize Nominee 2013

Last week, the book was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and we are all hoping that it will make the short-list on September 10th. 


"In the aftermath of Ireland's financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds.

The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant."

Am so delighted to be a part of this. Especially due to me being from Ireland, and this being my first narration for an Irish author. 
Donal Ryan is an incredible writer, and I'm very grateful to be trusted with the opportunity to bring his work to audio.

Exciting times indeed!