Cardeno C.'s Blog, page 21

Gone Fishin'

Happy Thursday!  The weather in Ohio is finally so beautiful we just had to spend some time outside.  We'll be back next week with more audiobook goodness.  In the meantime, here's some new releases you might have missed.  Be sure to stop and smell the roses in your own corner of the world and have a great day!





"Day and Knight," by Dirk Greyson, narrated by Andrew McFerrin



"Volley Balls," by Tara Lane, narrated by Nick J. Russo


"Staggered Cove Station," by Elle Brownlee,
narrated by Colin Darcy.

Spring is Here! And I'm such a Fan - Andrew Grey

Spring is my favorite time of year and I saw yesterday's post from BA, Julia, Sean, and Kiernan and thought I'd keep up the theme.    Right now its early in the morning, I have my window open and birds are calling outside, its like I'm being serenaded.  What a wonderful way to start the morning.

So here are my five spring favorites

1)  The flowers - I love the color that spring brings after the bleakness of winter
2)  Warmth and sun - I'm ready for a little heat and brighter days
3)  Taking a walk with Dominic in the evenings
4)  Spring vegetables - The local farms start producing about May
5)  The ducklings and goslings in the park near the house.

I hope you have an amazing spring!!!!




Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author.  The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture.    I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.  So please send your question.
So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net.  This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost.  I will answer one question a week.

Please remember this is meant to be all in fun.  (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.)    So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.

Visit Andrew on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks  and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.

Follow him on Twitter:  @andrewgreybooks

Spring Favorites with BA, Julian, Kiernan and Sean

Today we're sharing some spring favorites with you!


1. Favorite flower
2. Favorite spring weather
3. Favorite spring food
4. Favorite spring activity


BA

1. Roses.
2. Uh...doesn’t the fact that the weather changes from winter make it spring?
3. I don’t think I have a spring food...I eat tacos all year round.
4. Gardening


Julia

1. Prickly pear flowers and yucca
2. 70 and sunny
3. The return of salads and the retreat of soup
4. Going to yard sales!


Kiernan

1. Yellow roses
2. Cool, sunshiny days
3. Fresh berries and melons
4. Walking without freezing or sweating


Sean

1. Crocuses - I love those tiny flowers that tell you spring is coming. They close up tight on grey rainy days, but as soon as it's nice again, they open up - purple and yellow beauties.2. I love the early spring days where it's a blue sky, around 10C (50F) and there's a lovely breeze happening. 3. Asparagus is the first crop here in Ontario and I love it.4. Walking along the canal, and going to the tulip festival.


Visit our websites:Sean's is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.comJulia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.comBA’s is http://www.batortuga.comKiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com
Facebook:Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelWritesJulia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbotauthorBA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortugaKiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly
Seansmut fixes everything

Don't Take Those You Love For Granted By S.C. Wynne

Good morning!

This was a tumultuous week. My father went to the emergency room and next thing we knew he was scheduled for a pacemaker. He's 87 so surgery at that age is scary. I was a wreck and I'm only now feeling better. (Not that this is about me. I'm just sharing how scared I was.) He's doing fine and I'm so thankful I have a chance to spend more time with him and my mom. In fact I spent Friday evening with them, drinking wine and laughing and talking. It was wonderful.

But I will admit, after the first day in the hospital I went home and I cried. I felt like I was five years old and lost. I was so terrified of losing my dad. I literally can't conceive of a day when he won't be here. He isn't perfect and in fact he can be down right annoying sometimes! But he's my dad and he's always been there to protect me and support me no matter what. But for now, I still have him and I'm going to hold on tight to my mom and dad while I can.

It's amazing how we take those we love for granted. We always assume we have another day to make that call, or have that visit. But we never know when that won't be the case. I tend to be a slightly pessimistic person, and I always think when I say goodbye to anyone I love that it could be the last time I see them. I try not to think about that morbidly, but more as in embrace every second you have with those you love. Relish the touch of their warm skin and the light in their eyes. Hold tight to the sound of their laughter and the strength of their hugs.

What happened with my dad happens to people all the time, and the outcome isn't always as positive as ours was. We still have him here. He got to come home and we get to talk with him about his experience and share the ordeal with him. I'm thankful for that and mindful of how fortunate we were.

This scare was a good reminder that none of us are to be taken for granted. Spend time with the people you love. Enjoy them, don't simply put up with them. I'm going to be more diligent about taking that advice to heart myself. Perhaps you will also.

S.C.
www.sc-wynne.com

The characters inside me by Felice Stevens

I'm sorry if this is a bit long, but it's been inside me for a while now.

I recall when I first started reading in the MM genre and the excitement of discovering books that I became so enamored with, I'd email my friends and tell them: "You must buy these books. I love these characters. Let me tell you why." From Adrien and Jake to Ty and Zane, Nick and Perry to Julien and Cameron...Sam and Jory to Jake and Brandon, these books touched me. The characters stayed with me. These books and more became re-reads that now, even five years later, I happily lose myself in. I didn't forget them when the book ended.

A few weeks ago I was discussing this with some close writer friends. We were talking writing process and how deeply entwined we become in our character's lives. How these "people" aren't only made up characters in the pages of a book, they live in our minds and our hearts. You've probably seen our posts about our books and how we "fall in love" with the book we're writing, or how the characters affect us. I'm here to say it isn't a joke.  

As author, we don't say this lightly or to tease readers. Writing is such a solitary profession, it makes us happy to share these emotions with the people we feel will understand it the most: our readers. Nothing brings me greater joy than hearing my books made someone laugh, cry or, yes, even rage over a character's action.

Some people have told me my guys are frustrating and that they get so angry at them they want to knock some sense into their heads. I've gotten emails and private messages from readers apologizing for their low reviews, stating "so and so made me so angry. I yelled at him while I was reading the book." or "I couldn't stand so and so. He made me ragey." Honestly? I love those reviews. Why? Because I've made the reader feel something. No one can love every book—it isn't possible. So if you get angry or upset or cry because of something the character has done, know that I've probably felt those same emotions too, while writing the book. But people are flawed and imperfect. They make stupid decisions with bad consequences. Isn't that life? And isn't that what makes a book worth reading?

I've been editing Frankie—Unforgettable, book three of the Man Up series and this book—Aaron's story especially—made me cry while writing it. Some, but not all of my books have had that affect on me—the ending of A Walk Through Fire, Ash and Luke's reunion in After the Fire, Oren's coming out to his parents in One Call Away and the barn scene in All or Nothing. These men and the crises they go through are as real to me as if, well, they were real people. If I talk about them on social media, it's because I love them and want to share my feelings. One of the most wonderful things of being an author is to convey the love we have for our characters, because if they don't excite us; if we don't want to talk about them and their journey, how can we expect the reader to want to share it with us?

Writing is a business of course. Books cost money—lots of money to publish. Authors write and publish books to make money. But for some of us, the books are even more than dollars and cents. They are a part of our hearts. We live and breathe them for the months that it takes to write their story and then go through the rigorous editing process. So I hope you forgive me if I talk about them a bit too much. I found this quote from Mark Dawson's Self Publishing group and thought it appropriate, so I'll leave you with it:

Every Breath You Take

It's Thursday in the Cafe! This week, narrator John Solo joins us to talk narration and production. So, let's all take a deep breath and get in-depth on breaths in audiobooks. Enjoy!


One of the most common complaints/pet peeves that I see brought up in the Audiobook forums I frequent is breathing.
I tried for a dramatic pause there, but it’s not so easily executed in the written form, is it?  Hahahahaha.
Narrators breathe a lot when recording an audiobook (I hope they continue breathing after their sessions…).  Some louder than others. Typically the complaint I see is, “He took a big breath after every line!”, or “His breathing was so loud I couldn’t concentrate on the story!”.  I have to admit, I myself will DNF an audiobook in the first 20 minutes for the same issue, but I don’t necessarily blame it on the narrator. Being in my line of work and knowing what I know about how an audiobook is put together, I lay the blame solely on the producer.
To illustrate what I’m speaking of here, let me lay out a few of the stereotypical annoying breaths that we hear:
The Gasper - This narrator sounds like they are getting ready for a deep sea diving adventure before every line.  The only thing more impressive than the volume of their inhalations is the speed and frequency at which they take them.  And they seem to use up this air supply in short order, often times having to prepare for another submersion several times per sentence.  I see this a lot with people that come from a singing background (you’d be shocked to know how many of us do…).

The Hiccuper - Also known as The Reverse Gasper, this narrator will end every sentence with a quick intake of breath, resulting in a frog-like hiccuping sound.  (yes, frogs hiccup… or you’re not hanging around with the right frogs)
The Leisurely Man - Having no respect for silence, this narrator will pause a beat after every line, then take a ridiculously drawn out intake of breath that lasts longer than your phone battery.  I always picture these narrators wearing a red Hugh Hefner bathrobe and smoking a cigar…
I could go on, but I think we’ve all heard each of these narrators somewhere along the line, haven’t we?  I personally fall into the Hiccuper category, although I used to be a Gasper (blush...). It’s like a drippy faucet at three in the morning when you’re trying and failing to fall asleep.  You just can’t help but fixate on it.
My journey as an audiobook producer and narrator has seen me try to solve this annoying problem in a number of different ways.  It all comes down to whether to leave them or remove them, right? I’ve tried removing all of them, and that sounded unnatural. I’ve tried leaving them all in, and that certainly didn’t sound right.
To further complicate this issue, I have heard some producers claim that there have been studies suggesting that listening to long stretches of a person speaking with no breathing makes people uncomfortable (don’t ask me to link to them, because I can’t).  If I remember correctly, the study claimed that if you are listening to an audiobook and the narrator doesn’t take regular breathes your subconscious will automatically start attempting to breathe for them or some such nonsense. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but in my opinion it makes sense.  
This got me looking for another solution, and led me to investigate the source of the problem.  I mean, if this is such an issue then why am I not constantly annoyed by EVERYONE breathing in real life?  Does everyone in the known world have better breathing technique than professional narrators? Perhaps (you should meet some of us sometime… hahahaha), but the real reason that the breaths are sometimes amplified unpleasantly is called compression.  
Boiled down, compression turns the soft sounds up while making it harder for the loud sounds to get louder.  All professionally produced audiobooks are compressed, some quite a bit (it greatly depends on the narrator), the end goal being that all of the chapters are played back at a consistent volume so you don’t have to constantly turn it up or down to adjust for loud passages or soft bits.  Most audiobook distributors, such as Audible, have a loudness standard in place to ensure that volumes are standardized between books. I’m not going to pretend that they are followed all of the time, but a professionally produced audiobook will adhere to those standards, ultimately making your listening experience more enjoyable.  
A negative side effect of compression is that some stuff gets turned up that you don’t want turned up, such as stomach growls, lip smacks and yes, you guessed it, breaths.  So even a narrator with impeccable technique will often have their breaths disproportionately amplified. It happens to the best of us. Long story short, if you are hearing a bunch of distractingly loud breaths in an audiobook, it’s not necessarily that the narrator is breathing too loud, but that his breaths are getting compressed and the producer isn’t compensating accordingly.

As a result, I spend much of my waking hours trying to perfect the art of breath control, albeit most of it’s done on my computer :)  As with most things in life, I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Some breathes need to be removed, some enhance the flow of storytelling, some are perfect but are just too damn loud so we turn them down, some could be better so we enhance them.  It’s much more art than science. Which is good, because I sucked at science (frogs do hiccup, i swear!).
I have heard fantastic narrators that I cannot stand to listen to because of poor production.  I’ve also heard an average narrator made to sound like a million bucks with the right treatment.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting for a second that the producer does all of the work here, because we don’t.  I work both sides of the fence, I think I’m qualified to shoot that one down. What I AM suggesting is that The Beatles wouldn’t have been The Beatles without George Martin. I'm also fairly certain that taking a breath is definitely a good thing.


Find John Solo and Falcon Sound Company on Facebook, or at www.falconsoundcompany.com
And check out John's newest narration, "Omega Remembered," by Susi Hawke

Flash fiction from BA Tortuga!

Here's a tiny flash fic from BA Tortuga to celebrate her upcoming re-release of Latigo.

"Will, have you seen..." Dean Haverty trailed off when he got to the bedroom he shared with his lover Will. Said lover was sprawled out on the bed, his lean brown body stretched out on top of the blue comforter, utterly naked.

Well, now, what the hell had he been about to ask? He'd been hunting something, but that tight cowboy ass was far more tempting.

Will raised his head, blinking at him with sleepy eyes. "You need something, babe?"

Dean chuckled, fingers going to the top button of his shirt. "Yeah. I think I do."

If you liked the flash fic, check out Will and Dean in Latigo, re-releasing May 8. Check it out here!

XXOO

Julia

Visit our websites:

Sean's is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com

Julia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.com

BA’s is http://www.batortuga.com

Kiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com

Facebook:

Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelW...

Julia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbota...

BA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortuga

Kiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly

Newsletters, Reader Groups or Leave Me Alone? By S.C. Wynne

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Good morning, all!

I hope your day is going well. It's the weekend and that is usually awesome, right? Of course, I write full time so there are no weekends for me. In fact, I rarely even take a day off. Which I really hope to change in the coming year. But that's not my topic for today. (By the way I am not whining, at least I don't mean to. I count my lucky stars every day that I can write for a living!)

I wanted to wax poetic about my thoughts on author groups, newsletters etc. The idea of course is that you have a close group of people who really like your work, and you can interact with them and sell to them and generally have fans for life. I'm not sure that actually works. I think my problem with all of these things is if everyone has a group or a newsletter, it's a lot to expect your fans will only belong to your group and not fifty others. In which case, those poor fans would be receiving fifty newsletters!

I only send a newsletter usually when i have  new release or a special, but I know authors who send newsletters EVERY DAY. Sometimes TWICE a day! I'm sorry, that seems like way too much to me. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe readers love getting newsletters that often. *Shakes head*

But I find that a lot of readers belong to so many groups they don't really interact that much in any of the groups. Who can blame them, they'd be online all day talking to authors. lol

Because of how many groups there are to belong to, I'm not sure if readers groups are really that useful as far as using them as a sales tool. Of course, they're fun to hang out in, and I love talking to my readers. It really does make things feel more personal, which is actually kind of nice. I'm not a natural salesman, so I find pushing my books painful. But talking with readers is one of the best parts of being an author. (Hint, hint, feel free to reach out anytime!)

What do you think? Do you belong to a bunch of authors groups? Do you watch what is going on but maybe not interact much? It's possible lots of people are watching the fun, and enjoying it, but not actually interacting. I do that a LOT with writing groups. I watch and learn, but don't ever post.

Tell me what you think!

S.C.

www.sc-wynne.com

April Releases

We have so many great new releases this month, this week I just had to share. These  are the newest projects from the narrators you've been reading every Thursday.  Check out this assorted romantic spread of audio delights.



 "Omega Stolen," by Susi Hawke.  A renegade Alpha is kidnapping and keeping Omegas in captivity.  Can a young Alpha and his new pack of misfits steal back their freedom? John Solo narrates.



"Volley Balls," by Tara Lain is book one of her "Balls to the Wall" series, and we start out with intense competition on Laguna Beach with sun, surf, the Australian sand volleyball team, and narration from Nick J. Russo.









"Teaching Ben," by Shae Connor, narrated by Kenneth Obi is student teacher / non-traditional student temptation by the semester with an A+ in campus romance.





 "Day and Knight," by Dirk Greyson, is a spy thriller action adventure of a romance. These two agents are as different as night and day, but they just might be proof that opposites attract.
Narrated by Andrew McFerrin.


"Staggered Cove Station," by Elle Brownlee takes us to the Alaskan wilderness for romance and rescue as a new Coast Guard recruit joins the station at Staggered Cove. Narration from Colin Darcy.







I hope something on this list has whetted your appetite.  We do encourage binge-listening if you're tempted to indulge.  Talk to you next week with more narration news. Happy listening!

Best Wishes to BA! from Julia, Kiernan and Sean

BA goes into surgery early on the 25th. We all wish her the best possible outcome and an easy recovery.

We love you, BA!





Visit our websites:Sean's is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.comJulia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.comBA’s is http://www.batortuga.comKiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com
Facebook:Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelWritesJulia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbotauthorBA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortugaKiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly
Seansmut fixes everything