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Trying to Wrap up Two Books, Getting Back Books from my Publisher, and Getting into Audiobooks
[image error]Marriage by Design: Book 2
I should finish Nobody’s Fool tomorrow. I’m currently on the last chapter. I’m very pleased with how this turned out. It’s a cute romantic comedy. The heroine finally caved and fell in love with the hero. When I started the book, I wasn’t sure how this was ever going to happen since she was so opposed to the marriage. Fortunately, the issues worked themselves out while I was writing.
I know election time is pretty much a terrible time to get a book out, but this one is due out in mid-October. I wasn’t able to finish it before now, and I need time to get it through edits before it’s ready. I also want another book out before the end of the year. So, this is coming out around a horrible time for authors who are looking to hit an ideal publishing time.
[image error]Marriage by Design: Book 3
I’m not sure how much more I need to go in this one, but I’m determined not to rush it. This has been another comedy, but things have taken a sudden turn where it’s more serious at the moment. Essentially, our hero has finally come to grips with what a jerk’s he’s been. I don’t like getting too heavy in a romance where 80% of the book is light and funny. So I’m trying to find a balance between making him grovel enough (because he needs it) without making it drag on needlessly. I’m in the middle of figuring this out.
I want this out in January, so thankfully, I have time.
Those are the two books I’m trying to wrap up.
And I almost forgot, this one is due out August 29.
[image error]Wyoming Series: Book 3
I need to get the blog post and email list ready when it’s time to announce that this book is out. I’m worried I’ll forget to do this. Thankfully, I can schedule blog posts and MailChimp emails out in advance.
If you want to get this on pre-order, I do have them up at most retailers.
A note about Payhip: My last two releases ended up with no one buying the book from Payhip, even though I offered 50% off the price. I’m thinking about not putting it on Payhip this time around. No one seems interested in that storefront. So if I don’t get a comment on this blog about wanting the book on Payhip, I’ll skip Payhip this time around.
A note about Google Books/Play: I am going to get it up over there on release day or close to it. Google will lower prices from time to time, and this could hurt me on the pre-orders at Amazon. The money I make on pre-orders is what I need to afford cover artists, editors, and other things to keep the business side of things going.
2. Getting Publishing Rights Back from my Publisher
I’m in the process of acquiring rights back to these books:
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What that means is that there might be a short period of time where these books won’t be available. The publisher and I are working to make the transition as possible, but there’s bound to be a hiccup or two along the way. It can’t be helped. Different retailers have different ways of operating.
Please Note this about Bride by Arrangement and A Groom’s Promise:
Bride by Arrangement and A Groom’s Promise are anthologies. I’ll be taking my stories from each anthology and republishing them as brand new books. I’ll address this more in the future when they’re up.
3. A Note About Audiobooks
I have already started a couple of them. I am working with two narrators.
One is Stevie Zimmerman, and since she has an English accent, I felt she’d be ideal for the Regency Series. So far, she has done The Marriage Contract, One Enchanted Evening, and The Wedding Pact (all books in the Marriage by Fairytale Series which is my personal favorite series).
[image error]Marriage by Fairytale: Book 1
I uploaded this to ACX (which distributes to Amazon, Audible, and iTunes) and Findaway Voices (scroll down the page to find where they distribute to). I’ll announce it on this blog when this is ready.
Stevie Zimmerman and I agreed on an upfront cost, so I paid for this outright for this audiobook. This is called “pay per hour”. (I didn’t know that before.) That means I own all rights to it, and I get to say where the book goes. I am paying this way for all of the books I do with her.
There is another narrator I’m working. She is Shonda Bourn, and she prefers the royalty-share option. Long story short, when I claimed all of my books on ACX, I didn’t realize that I locked myself into the non-exclusive contract with ACX. I was in a hurry to stop the scammer from stealing more of them since this person had gotten away with stealing two of my books already. So I may or may not be able to do more books this other narrator.
A word of warning to authors who might be reading this: if you choose non-exclusive, then you can NOT do royalty-share on ACX. You have to pay per hour. Also, if you claim a book on ACX, Findaway Voices will NOT put the book on Amazon.
So in my hurry to stop the scammer, I boxed myself into a corner. I’m trying to get that resolved by contacting ACX to be able to switch the books the narrator wants to work on out of non-exclusive to exclusive, but I don’t know if that will be possible. It all depends on what ACX will let me do.
I was able to get one book in the exclusive agreement, and that was one I had not been able to claim yet because it was one of the stolen books. This is the same book Shonda had done, and it had made it to Amazon. I got the stolen version removed (thankfully), and then Shonda and I started communicating, and we saw no reason to let her work go to waste. So we’re in the process of getting this book back up:
[image error]Virginia Series: Book 1
Since we did a strict royalty-share agreement on this book, it can only be on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. I can NOT put it on Findaway Voices.
I’ll let you know when that goes live.
4. You Tube Channel and Audiobooks
I was thinking of dusting off my You Tube channel, which I haven’t uploaded anything to for years, and making old books available to listen to over there for anyone who can’t afford audiobooks. The catch on this is that my voice is nothing like Stevie Zimmerman or Shonda Bourn. My voice is amateurish, so the quality is not going to be professional. I just wanted to warn everyone. I don’t want people to go to my channel expecting an award-winning performance. 
