Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What we're listening to
Becky wrote: "So I seem to be listening to Adrien again, Just finished Fatal Shadows and started straight in on A Dangerous Thing, which I think is still my favourite of the audio performances in that series.D..."
Great blog post.
I'm listening to Boystown 4. I'm gone quite addicted to the series, always gonna get only one a month but that isn't happening ;)Anyway.... Nick jealous? Histerical considering it's him. Not gonna say more so I won't spoil it for anyone but I couldn't not share the hilarity of it ;D
Ame wrote: "I'm listening to Boystown 4. I'm gone quite addicted to the series, always gonna get only one a month but that isn't happening ;)Anyway.... Nick jealous? Histerical considering it's him. Not gon..."
I was going to start Boystown 1 tomorrow but look what's up at audible.com:
Snowball in Hell
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Sno...
Yay!!! I'm so excited. :D
Valerie C wrote: "I was going to start Boystown 1 tomorrow but look what's up at audible.com:Snowball in Hell
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Sno...
Yay!!! I'm so excited. :D "
Yay! :)
Ooh, I like the cover.
I've been listening to New Politics. I took my daughter to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore this weekend and New Politics was the opener. DD really loved them. They put on a fun show and one of the guys is a pretty impressive break dancer:Harlem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vdj8...
Yeah Yeah Yeah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II0uq...
Tonight You're Perfect --Ame, I thought it was cool this video was filmed in Iceland :-):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L4Zy...
Valerie C wrote: "I've been listening to New Politics. I took my daughter to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore this weekend and New Politics was the opener. DD really loved them. They put on a fun show and one of the gu..."Peppy! Nice. Yay Iceland! I'd love to go there someday. My brother and I loved trying to break dance when we were little because it always looked so cool on TV. Ahh, the eighties! I think, in truth, we just liked sliding around on a big piece of cardboard. And when we got tired of that, we could ride the cardboard down the stairs. Good times! :)
Alison wrote: "Valerie C wrote: "I've been listening to New Politics. I took my daughter to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore this weekend and New Politics was the opener. DD really loved them. They put on a fun show..."I had an older brother who loved to talk me into doing stupid stuff. I always blamed him, anyway. :)
The 80s were the best. ;-) Boom boxes, Michael Jackson, parachute pants! I remember making dance routines to MJ with my friends for school talent shows. Hilarious. :)
Mod
Snowball in Hell
http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Sno...
Yay!!! I'm so excited. :D"
Thanks for the notice. I just finished a book and was looking for another. Got it!
I LOVE good covers of songs that are in a different style of music than the original. I've been dancing to this song this week--a funky take on a Britney Spears "classic."Toxic by Mark Ronson, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tNKF...
Valerie C wrote: "I had an older brother who loved to talk me into doing stupid stuff. I always blamed him, anyway. :)The 80s were the best. ;-) Boom boxes, Michael Jackson, parachute pants! I remember making dance routines to MJ with my friends for school talent shows. Hilarious. :) "
High five, Valerie! :) Hurrah for growing up in the eighties. And that's what older brothers are best at, I suspect...causing trouble for their little sisters. I ALWAYS blamed him, that's for sure. ;)
Alison wrote: "I LOVE good covers of songs that are in a different style of music than the original. I've been dancing to this song this week--a funky take on a Britney Spears "classic."Toxic by Mark Ronson, et..."
I think I like that better than Britney's version. I was never a fan, though. ;-)
Speaking of covers, my daughter cracks me up (and makes me feel old) when she plays covers and doesn't even realize they are covers or has never heard of the original band.
For example, her current crush is Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens and they cover Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOqI...
Alison wrote: "I LOVE good covers of songs that are in a different style of music than the original. I've been dancing to this song this week--a funky take on a Britney Spears "classic."Toxic by Mark Ronson, et..."
I always wondered which version came first, as I liked Yael Naim's version of 'Toxic' but can never find a video... http://youtu.be/zqKZ_WIK5ms
I did find a link to a live performance by Yael http://youtu.be/jpRcKDaUFUg
Mtsnow13 wrote: "Alison wrote: "I LOVE good covers of songs that are in a different style of music than the original. I've been dancing to this song this week--a funky take on a Britney Spears "classic."Toxic by ..."
That's cool. I'd never heard of her before and I like it. I love how a song can have so many different interpretations.
Valerie C wrote: "Speaking of covers, my daughter cracks me up (and makes me feel old) when she plays covers and doesn't even realize they are covers or has never heard of the original band. For example, her current crush is Kellin Quinn from Sleeping With Sirens and they cover Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls:"
Yes, sometimes it is hard not to feel old when talking to young folk. Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls? That was high school and that wasn't very long ago, right? Right? Oh. Sigh. Darn. ;)
Two of my favourite punky covers of jazz standards:
Let's Do It by Paul Westerberg and Joan Jett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzsMG...
What a Wonderful World by Joey Ramone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-3ox...
Woohoo! Snowball in Hell! And just in time for me to download it to my tablet before I go on holiday for a few days.Heaven forbid Audible would include it in my recommendations of course. It's not like I've got twenty other Josh Lanyon titles in my library or something... sheesh, Audible, you're part of Amazon. You're supposed to be good at that stuff!
Valerie C wrote: "I was going to start Boystown 1 tomorrow but look what's up at audible.com:Snowball in Hell ..."
Fantastic!! and I have an awards voucher from Audible which has to be used soon, so I'm doubly pleased.
Audible is so weird. I keep buying Boystown but they never recommend it to me. Also Josh's books which I have all of Adrien English, Holmes&Moriarity and few more are never recommended to me. How come?
Mtsnow13 wrote: "Alison wrote: "I LOVE good covers of songs that are in a different style of music than the original. I've been dancing to this song this week--a funky take on a Britney Spears "classic."Toxic by ..."
And the Goo Goo Dolls are still around. They are playing at our county fair in a couple weeks.
Fall Out Boy played "We Are the Champions" at their concert for all of the parents nice enough to bring their kids to the show. Hey, I like Queen but I'm not THAT old. Come on. :D
Valerie C wrote: "I've been listening to New Politics. I took my daughter to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore this weekend and New Politics was the opener. DD really loved them. They put on a fun show and one of the gu..."Oh, this is fab :)
Mostly shot in the south, I see but I'm not sure they could have done all this in 24 hours :) Cute video though.
Becky wrote: "Woohoo! Snowball in Hell! And just in time for me to download it to my tablet before I go on holiday for a few days.Heaven forbid Audible would include it in my recommendations of course. It's no..."
I know! I just happened to think about checking for it last night.
I started it this morning. LOVE the narrator so far. :)
Ame wrote: "Valerie C wrote: "I've been listening to New Politics. I took my daughter to see Fall Out Boy and Paramore this weekend and New Politics was the opener. DD really loved them. They put on a fun show..."It certainly is beautiful there. :-)
Mod
D..."
Thank you for the compliment! :-)
I've been thinking a lot about audio books and part of why I believe they are so effective -- and why they don't work for everyone -- is they require giving up control to the narrator.
We are not all the same kind of reader. Some of us gulp down books, some of us are distracted and miss things, some of us read the lines wrong (this is crucial in humor -- and maybe even romance).
I read a review of Stranger on the Shore where the reviewer as complaining there was no humor at all in the book. The lack of any humor was striking for this poor guy. Now that's the reader, not the book. The book is full of funny little observations and lines. But for that reader it might take a narrator to bring the humor out.
And this is also why it's so crucial to have a narrator who actually understands and can interpret the material. And why all narrators are not created equal. It's about more than the quality of the voice, just as writing is about more than the quality of typing.
Mod
Audible is definitely not fond of me. :-D It might have something to do with all that public bitching about their business practices in publications like Publisher's Weekly.
They don't even recommend my books to ME as an Audible customer.
And I know I sell an awful lot of audio books -- for any author and in any genre. So it does kind of look deliberate.
Josh wrote: "Ame wrote: "Audible is so weird. I keep buying Boystown but they never recommend it to me. Also Josh's books which I have all of Adrien English, Holmes&Moriarity and few more are never recommended ..."What? That's just bullying!
Josh wrote: "Ame wrote: "Audible is so weird. I keep buying Boystown but they never recommend it to me. Also Josh's books which I have all of Adrien English, Holmes&Moriarity and few more are never recommended ..."They're recommending Kick Start to me :-)
And a shitload of Amy Lane, Andrew Grey and Mary Calmes, I have ZERO audios from any of them to base that rec on o.O
Edit: They used to rec all the Dangerous Grounds and the I Spy books as well, despite the fact that I have the collections, hmmm
Ame wrote: "Audible is so weird. I keep buying Boystown but they never recommend it to me. Also Josh's books which I have all of Adrien English, Holmes&Moriarity and few more are never recommended to me. How c..."I wonder what 'formula' they use to do recommendations, as I, like you, have all of Josh's, the Boystown series, and many others by the same authors, but I NEVER seem to get a rec for those authors when a new one comes out?! Is it because they figure I'll be an autobuy for them so why waste the time??
Yeah, I wonder too. Because all of Dirty series by Rhys Ford is recommended to me as well as other authors I haven't bought.... but I want them to recommend and let me know when new audiobooks from authors I do own are out.
I know when it comes to narrator that humor and pacing are very important to me. I recently am listening to Rhys's Cole McGinnis series, and I have to say I LOVE the somewhat slow (almost hesitant?) way of talking/pacing of Greg Tremblay's narration. And his different voices...he does such a great job for the Asian characters. Its added a whole new dimension to the stories, that I think I'm enjoying them more as audio then I even did the first read.And after my little trip to LA/Long Beach, the description of the PCH, and LA hits home even better. She does a great job of describing the feel of the area. :)
Mod
Well... It's their right to promote what they want to promote. But as an Amazon company you can bet they use their promotion and marketing tools as punishment and reward.
I know from talking to a lot people that the typical audio book from a midlist author sells roughly about 10 - 15 copies a month. I sell more like 30 a month, and when the book first comes out I sell 100+ the first month.
These aren't great numbers, but they are better than the average and they do pay for the books.
Because these aren't great numbers, Audible and ACX don't share them with the industry or prospective clients.
This Rough Magic - 175 (on sale since 6 - 14 - 14)
A Ghost of a Chance - 401 (on sale since 5 - 9 -14)
Don't Look Back - 269 (on sale since (4 - 28- 14)
Josh wrote: "I've been thinking a lot about audio books and part of why I believe they are so effective -- and why they don't work for everyone -- is they require giving up control to the narrator...."A good narrator is SO critical to a good audiobook. I sample, sample, sample! If it's a favorite book and I don't like the sample, I won't buy the audio. I'd rather skip the audio than have the book "ruined" by a bad narrator or one that just doesn't fit.
I remember chuckling through the to Kit and JX books but when I listened to them I was laughing out loud. (Thankfully I mostly listen in my car.) Those funny lines were just so much BETTER being read by Kevin!
Idamus wrote: "And a shitload of Amy Lane, Andrew Grey and Mary Calmes, I have ZERO audios from any of them to base that rec on o.O..."If you are inclined to get some of those, sample. Some of those titles have truly horrid narrations. Some are excellent. Rhys Ford picked her narrators and did a fabulous job on both her series in finding a good fit.
Mary Calmes' Acrobat was good, as was Amy Lane's Clear Water. Some of the other narrations, not so much.
Mod
I agree! *I* was laughing and I can anticipate the line. To me that's proof of a really good narrator. Making me laugh at my own work -- as though someone else wrote it. Now THAT is suspension of disbelief.
Susinok wrote: "Idamus wrote: "And a shitload of Amy Lane, Andrew Grey and Mary Calmes, I have ZERO audios from any of them to base that rec on o.O..."If you are inclined to get some of those, sample. Some of th..."
I'm not even interested in the ebooks, I tried a lot of them way back and they pretty much ended up between DNF and 3 stars, I don't buy them any more
Non of the books I have are from Amazon so they're not based on that either, but I get tons of recs and 'new book out from x' mails
I wish Audible got the 'already own' and 'not interested' buttons Amazon has
Susinok wrote: "Josh wrote: "I've been thinking a lot about audio books and part of why I believe they are so effective -- and why they don't work for everyone -- is they require giving up control to the narrator...."Hell yeah... like I've said before... I've listened to them twice, after reading them once and they just keep on getting funnier :D
Mod
:-)
Susinok wrote: "I remember chuckling through the to Kit and JX books but when I listened to them I was laughing out loud. (Thankfully I mostly listen in my car.) Those funny lines were just so much BETTER being read by Kevin! ...."I found the audio version of Kit just slightly more jaded and a bit more anal than the book version. I was thinking: Poor JX :-P
Squeeeeee for "Snowball in Hell" release!!!!!
thelastaerie wrote: "I found the audio version of Kit just slightly more jaded and a bit more anal than the book version. I was thinking: Poor JX :-P..."Oh but I felt "Poor JX" in the text versions, too. Though I really love Kit and his insecurities.
Mod
Karen wrote: "I started Snowball in Hell as my late, late night read/listen. It's very well done. The narrator has a strong tough guy voice for Spain and a sophisticated (yet unaffected) one for Doyle. And his J..."Oh cool. I enjoyed this book a lot when I read it. Looking forward to the audio version.
Mod
Oh yay! Can't wait to get to listen to it.
I'm also looking forward to listening to Kit and J.X. so I can get that humor I must have missed when I read them.
I wonder with the Boystown series.... the Chicago police is decribed so very corrupt. Was it really like this? Or is it even still.... I just saw on the news that last weekend some 40 people were killed. Anyway... is Marshall Thornton exaggerating or was it really like this?
Josh wrote: "I read a review of Stranger on the Shore where the reviewer as complaining there was no humor at all in the book. The lack of any humor was striking for this poor guy. Now that's the reader, not the book. The book is full of funny little observations and lines. But for that reader it might take a narrator to bring the humor out. And this is also why it's so crucial to have a narrator who actually understands and can interpret the material. And why all narrators are not created equal. It's about more than the quality of the voice, just as writing is about more than the quality of typing. ..."
And you wouldn't want someone like the reviewer, who couldn't see the humour (how could he miss it??), as the narrator!
Susinok wrote: "A good narrator is SO critical to a good audiobook. I sample, sample, sample! If it's a favorite book and I don't like the sample, I won't buy the audio. I'd rather skip the audio than have the book "ruined" by a bad narrator or one that just doesn't fit.I remember chuckling through the to Kit and JX books but when I listened to them I was laughing out loud. (Thankfully I mostly listen in my car.) Those funny lines were just so much BETTER being read by Kevin! ...."
I agree wholeheartedly. I won't buy Tigers and Devils (which I adore) for that reason. And I laughed out loud at Kit, too.
Karen wrote: "I started Snowball in Hell as my late, late night read/listen. It's very well done. The narrator has a strong tough guy voice for Spain and a sophisticated (yet unaffected) one for Doyle. And his J..."I agree! I had a journey today so listened for almost two hours and loved it. I really like the Doyle voice, in particular.
Ame wrote: "I wonder with the Boystown series.... the Chicago police is decribed so very corrupt. Was it really like this? Or is it even still.... I just saw on the news that last weekend some 40 people were k..."According to a friend of mine from work who comes from there, Chicago is very corrupt. Extremely so. Government and police. In the distribution business, graft common and called "adjustments."
Hj wrote: "Susinok wrote: "A good narrator is SO critical to a good audiobook. I sample, sample, sample! If it's a favorite book and I don't like the sample, I won't buy the audio. I'd rather skip the audio t..."I have Tigers and Devils, it's not that bad, but I'm still glad it was a half price credit from my '3 month at half price sign up thingy' cause it's not great either, I'll get the sequel too if they ever make one
"3 month at half price" where do you get that deal? All I ever see is that credit thingy they offer.
Ame wrote: ""3 month at half price" where do you get that deal? All I ever see is that credit thingy they offer."When you sign up (possibly only available if you use an Amazon login) you get a free book, then you get 3 months at half price (1 credit per month, but at half the usual price), I did this with both UK and US but only stayed a member at the US site as they're a little bit cheaper for me
The 3 month at half price is the standard deal for anyone brand new to Audible. It's a one-time-only thing.
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It was OK, I'm definitely gonna listen again one day