Adventurous April

T.S. Eliot called April "The cruelest month," because it forces growth in Nature whether the world is ready or not. It is a fearful breath-freezing moment of brave beginnings in the face of Winter's weakening grasp, but necessary for the Spring to follow. It is also a great time to make a change, take a chance; Nature is heading that way.  In that spirit, we have a new voice in the Cafe for your Thursday! Narrator Kenneth Obi talks Zombies to Audiobook Awards in his adventure as both an author and a narrator. Enjoy!

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Hitting my fifties, I thought my career path was fairly decided. Old dogs…new tricks. You know that saying, right? I certainly thought so. Back in 2012, I found myself quitting my day job to write full time. I was finding better than average success as a zombie author. To be honest, I was into that scene long before Kirkman jump-started interest in the undead with his Walking Dead franchise, but he certainly helped it become popular in the mainstream, so I always give him a tip of my hat.
Fast forward to 2016 and my toe was just about ready to dip into narrating. I was about to launch a new series, and I’d seen my DEAD series do well in audio format. With a background in theater and radio, I felt I was equipped to make the move as a narrator. It wasn’t long before I felt like I was in over my head, but I kept swimming and kept turning to
the Falcon Sound Company team for advice and pointers. Eventually, I felt I was making some slow progress. Then I got an offer to narrate…from FSC.
“This is a gay romance…I’m gonna tell you that straight up,” John said during our conversation.
Hmm…well, I am a pretty straight dude, but I am also married and with a mortgage. Money spends the same no matter what, so I said yes. Being absolutely honest, I struggled with that first love scene. It was simply not anywhere close to my comfort zone. Still, it was a job…it was acting. I am married, and the only person I need to prove my sexuality to is my wife. Once I made that realization, I dropped into it with a new attitude.

Still, I felt sort of relieved when that job was over. Horror is my wheel-house. Only…being a one-trick-pony is not going to get you far. And when an unsolicited offer came for me to 
voice another M/M romance, I checked the sales figures on Amazon and blinked my eyes. It was rockin’ the charts as they say. I agreed…without reading the full description of the book’s content. Sure…it was a M/M romance, but it was an “age-play” male romance. I discovered that about a quarter of the way in to the read.
If I was out of my comfort zone before…now I was in a whole new universe. But, I am nothing if not a man with at least some form of professional standards. This story deserved all my attention and needed to sound right. There needed to be love and tenderness in the intimate scenes.

Fast forward a mere six months and I have now done a handful of titles under my M/M romance screen name of Kenneth Obi for the Falcon family as well as signing on three prolific authors in the M/M romance genre for my own little production company. I have over thirty titles solely in this genre now and have seen the best sales months in my short career this year, 2018.

Is this where I saw myself…or what I thought I would be doing? Absolutely not. But I now have a small foothold in the genre and believe that my presence will only increase this next year. The topper came when one of my narrated titles made the cut as one of five finalists in the Erotica category for the Audio Book Listener Awards…and is the only title in that category to represent the LGBTQ community.
Side note…they say it’s nice to just be nominated, but I say to heck with that…I’m looking to win.


There's still time to vote for your favorite audiobook finalists at audiobookreviewer.com

Find Kenneth Obi and Falcon Sound Company on Facebook or at www.falconsoundcompany.com

And check out Kenneth's newest narration, "Teaching Ben," by Shae Connor.

Talk to you next week with more on audiobooks!