Hostage of the Heart by Linda Acaster – from Ebook to Audio download

Some time ago Iinterviewed Linda Acaster about her Mediaeval romantic suspense Hostageof the Heart , when I reviewed the ebook. Today it is being launched asan mp3 audio download and I've invited her back to talk about the process.
How did this comeabout?I followed a couple of links. Writers need to allot time tokeep abreast of news and possible opportunities, just as they spend timepublicising their work and activities. This new era of digital publishing isexpanding at a rate of knots and, as I discovered, it's not confined to theprinted word.
Audiolark is an audio book publisher based in Canada which concentrateson all sub-genres of Romance, from short fiction to full novels. At the time Ifollowed the link it was looking for a sweet romance to augment its list - noteveryone wants erotica bellowing out of the car stereo system during the schoolrun – and Hostage of the Heart wassnapped up within days.
Remind us of thestorylineThe novel is set in 1066 on the eve of two devastatingbattles that change the course of British history. On the Welsh borderlandsRhodri ap Hywel sweeps down from the mountains to reclaim stolen lands, takingthe Lady Dena as a battle hostage. Tutored to believe the Welsh are barbaric,she finds herself abandoned by her Saxon kin and used as a pawn by the Welsh.Amid the intrigue and power-plays, dare she place her life in the hands of awarrior-knight shielding secrets of his own?
A Mediaeval novel withNorth American accents?It's what I braced myself for, but when the first proofarrived I was delighted to hear an English voice. Audiolark takes great care tomatch its narrator to the text, and I was asked to consider both thepronunciation and stresses placed on the sentence structure, and report back.
This was an interesting exercise. I'm used to proofinggalleys of print books, and checking the html formatting for ebooks, but it wasmy first experience of proofing an audio download. I had to be very accurate innoting the timings – what at first sounds odd might take up less than a second;I kept having to ask myself whether it was just me being pedantic or whetherthere was a possible problem – and then I had to be specific in describing whatI thought was the problem.
Just as proofreading text is not simply a matter of reading itthrough, proofing audio is not simply a matter of listening for enjoyment. Ifound it far more taxing than proofreading text. The list of queries,thankfully short, went back to Audiolark where each query was checked against themaster. I thought that would be it, but no, I was sent a second proof. I lovethis level of professionalism. Audiolark wants the best for its customers andits authors, which is wonderful for us all.

Hostage of the Heart launches as an 8-hour DRM-free mp3download on 21 June at the discounted price of $3.49 for one week, $9.99 normalprice.http://www.audiolark.com/books/hostage-of-the-heart/
Hostage of the Heart ebook:Kindle USAhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B003MNH4BAKindle UKhttp://amazon.co.uk/dp/B003MNH4BAI-Pad, Nook, Sony, Kobo https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/14120
To catch up with Linda Acaster's other fiction:http://lindaacaster.blogspot.comhttp://www.lindaacaster.comhttp://twitter.com/#!/lindaacaster