I have thoughts on audiobooks and narrators

I've recently started listening to a lot more audiobooks because I've finally found a time and routine where audiobooks work for me. It's not always been the case in the past. And I've learned some things.

Friday Freebie with Whispersync: featuring Elaine Levine, Toni Anderson and Cora Seton

You know I have been raving about the Kindle Whispersync for Voice feature recently, so I decided that for this week's Friday Freebie, I am going to feature some free books (all first in the series) but with $1.99 add narration with Whispersync for Voice. If you are at all into audiobooks, this is an awesome deal.


Title: The Edge of Courage (Red Team #1)
Author: Elaine Levine
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services Inc.
Publish date: 23 April 2012
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Purchase link: Amazon

Step into Elaine Levine's exciting new series of alpha warriors--products of the government's secret corps of assassins called the Red Team:

Haunted by memories he cannot reach, stalked by an enemy bent on revenge . . .

Rocco Silas has come home to Wyoming after long years as a Red Team operative in Afghanistan. It isn't easy returning to civilian life, especially burdened as he is with a staggering case of PTSD or hunted as he is by an enemy determined to seek an eye-for-eye--neither of which can he battle until he confronts the truth of what happened one fateful day in the high mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush.

. . . She alone holds the key to his sanity.

Mandy Fielding's dream of opening a therapeutic riding center on her family's ranch is almost within her grasp--until she hires Rocco Silas, a dangerous ex-Spec Ops friend of her brother's. His haunted eyes and passionate touch promise a love she never dared believe possible. Can they confront the truth of his past and build a future together or will the enemy stalking him destroy them both?

* I am not responsible for price changes. Prices may go up without notice. Free at the time of writing.

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Title: A Cold Dark Place (Cold Justice #1)
Author: Toni Anderson
Publisher: Toni Anderson
Publish date: 1 April 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Purchase link: Amazon

Winner of the New England Readers' Choice Award for Romantic Suspense. Finalist in the 2015 Holt Medallion Finalist, and the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award for Romantic Suspense.

Justice isn't always black or white. Sometimes it's cold and dark.

Former CIA assassin Alex Parker works for The Gateway Project, a clandestine government organization hell-bent on taking out serial killers and pedophiles before they enter the justice system. Alex doesn't enjoy killing, but he's damn good at it. He's good at dodging the law, too--until a beautiful rookie agent has him wondering what it might be like to get caught.

FBI Special Agent Mallory Rooney has spent years hunting the lowlife who abducted her identical twin sister eighteen years ago. Now, during an on-going serial killer investigation, Mallory begins to suspect there's a vigilante operating outside the law. She has no choice but to take him down, because murder isn't justice. Is it?

When Mallory starts asking questions, The Gateway Project management starts to sweat, and orders Alex to watch her. As soon as they meet, the two begin to fall in love. But the lies and betrayals that define Alex's life threaten to destroy them both--especially when the man who stole her sister all those years ago makes Mallory his next target, and Alex must reveal his true identity to save the woman he loves.

* I am not responsible for price changes. Prices may go up without notice. Free at the time of writing.

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Title: Winters Heat (Titan #1)
Author: Cristin Harber
Publisher: Mill Creek Press
Publish date: 19 January 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Purchase link: Amazon

First Book in Titan Series by New York Times Bestselling Author

After putting her life on the line to protect classified intelligence, military psychologist Mia Kensington is on a cross-country road trip from hell with an intrusive save-the-day hero. Uninterested in his white knight act, she’d rather take her chances without the ruggedly handsome, cold-blooded operative who boasts an alpha complex and too many guns.

Colby Winters, an elite member of The Titan Group, has a single objective on his black ops mission: recover a document important to national security. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out operation. But now, by any means necessary becomes a survival mantra when he faces off with a stunning woman he can’t leave behind.

When Titan’s safe houses are compromised, Colby stashes Mia at his home, exposing his secret—he’s the adoptive father of an orphaned baby girl. Too soon, danger arrives and Mia lands in the hands of a sadistic cartel king with a taste for torture. As hours bleed into fear-drenched days, Colby races across the globe and through a firestorm of bullets to save the woman he can’t live without.

* I am not responsible for price changes. Prices may go up without notice. Free at the time of writing.

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Title: The Navy SEAL's E-mail Order Bride (The Heroes of Chance Creek #1)
Author: Cora Seton
Publisher: One Acre Press
Publish date: 26 November 2014
Genre: Western Romance
Purchase link: Amazon

Mason Hall, Navy SEAL, knows all about difficult assignments, but his current mission is one for the record books. Not only must he find a wife—and get her pregnant—or forfeit the ranch his family has prized for generations, he must also convince his three brothers to marry, too—before the year is up. Who knew one city girl and three wayward brothers could put up such a fight?

Regan Anderson can’t wait any longer to meet Mr. Right, so she’s taken matters into her own hands. She’s quit her job, given up her nice apartment and undergone all the preliminary appointments to prepare for artificial insemination. Still, becoming a single mother is daunting, so when she spots Mason’s Wife Wanted ad on the Internet one night, she’s ready for a few laughs. She’s sure the ad must be fake, but when Mason answers back, she soon finds herself wanting more than a long distance relationship.

If Mason can just keep her talking until he makes it home from Afghanistan, he’s sure he can convince Regan he’s her man. But when he whisks her off for a trial run in Chance Creek, they’re in for an unpleasant surprise. The ranch is in ruins, the house has been stripped, and they’re going to have to work day and night to beat Mason’s deadline to win it back.

Can two strangers pull together against all odds? Or is this mission doomed to fail?

* I am not responsible for price changes. Prices may go up without notice. Free at the time of writing.

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Title: The Cowboy's E-Mail Order Bride (Cowboys of Chance Creek #1)
Author: Cora Seton
Publisher: One Acre Press
Publish date: 17 January 2014
Genre: Western Romance
Purchase link: Amazon

Book 1 in the bestselling Cowboys of Chance Creek Western Romance Series

The Cowboy’s E-Mail Order Bride

Ethan Cruz should be mending fences on his Montana ranch, but instead he's driving to the Chance Creek, Montana, airport - to pick up the bride he didn't know he had. This latest salvo in his ongoing practical joke battle with his best friend, Rob Matheson, has gone too far, and Ethan plans to send his "bride" right back home, then get busy plotting his revenge. One look at Autumn Leeds changes his mind, however. Perhaps he needs a bride, after all. A breathtakingly beautiful city bride.

Autumn Leeds needs a story - fast - or she's going to lose her lucrative contract with CityPretty Magazine, so when she sees the crazy video plea for a modern mail-order bride for a cowboy, it sounds like the story of the century. Making a video of her own, she casts herself as the perfect mail-order bride for a rancher, but when she finally reaches Montana, she's surprised to find Ethan's the perfect cowboy husband-to-be. Against her better judgment, her plan to keep her handsome groom at arm's length disintegrates into a night of passion spent in his arms.

Ethan knows he can't keep playing this game - he has to come clean with Autumn and tell her the truth; about the practical joke and about the state of his ranch. He's about to lose it all because of the debts his mother racked up before his parents' deaths. Now his sister, Claire, wants to sell the ranch and collect what little money they can. He'll be out of a home and a job, and in no shape to support the bride he desperately wants to marry, after all.

Autumn's in bigger trouble than ever. Not only has she fallen in love with the subject of her expose - she might be carrying his child. If she doesn't write this article and secure her contract for another year, she'll lose everything - her career, her apartment, and more importantly, her family's approval. The only alternative is to stay and marry Ethan. But how can she trust a man she's just met when she knows too well that men always let you down?

* I am not responsible for price changes. Prices may go up without notice. Free at the time of writing.


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I am loving Kindle Whispersync for Voice audiobooks

Sometimes being an indie or self pub author is much more efficient than being a traditionally published author. Now, before you jump down my throat, hear me out. I am saying this from the perspective of the reader, the consumer. I am not even saying what it means to the author because that is not an area where I have experience in.

I recently discovered a new author whose book I thought was brilliant. This was The Edge of Courage by Elaine Levine and for those who have been following me and listening to me rave about this, I apologise, this is still very front of mind for me.

I downloaded Elaine’s book The Edge of Courage for free for Amazon Kindle and added the “add Audible narration to your purchase for just $1.99”. Sorry the pictorial representation below is not of The Edge of Courage. I'd already bought the book, so the feature doesn't show up when I look up the book.

The reason I added the Audible narration is because I love having the Whispersync for Voice ready function where I can switch between reading on the Kindle app and listening on the Kindle app on my phone. I listen when I am driving and if I’m so inclined, I can read when I’m not driving and either way, I can switch back and forth seamlessly. It’s really a nifty feature.

I also thought that for $1.99 getting the Kindle and Audible versions was a great deal to try out a new author.

Well, I tried out The Edge of Courage and my friend Bambi will tell you, I’ve been raving about it since. I’ve raved about the book, I’ve raved about the author and I’ve raved about the narrator. In fact, I’m so incredibly in love with the narrator’s voice, I wanted more books narrated by him. I found out who he was through the author when I tweeted her telling her how much I was loving the book and the audio version.

The next book after The Edge of Courage is Shattered Valor. It’s available in audio through Audible. I tweeted Elaine and told her I was really bummed that Shattered Valor was not Whispersync for Voice ready and she told me she would contact Amazon support and check it out.

Six days after she tweeted me that she would get it checked out, I get another tweet from her saying that it’s available for Whispersync for Voice download. Frabjuous joy!

I do not know the process that took since I am not the author or Amazon, but Elaine is a self pub author and whatever she said to Amazon meant that Whispersync for Voice got synced to Shattered Valor and it was available to purchase as a bundle with the Kindle book 6 days later. Now, that’s amazingly fast and very impressive.

On the other hand, there’s the book A Breath of Snow and Ashes by DianaGabaldon. This is book six in the Outlander series and it is the ONLY book in the series that is not available in audio with Whispersync for Voice. Aside from the fact that it is driving my OCD completely insane, I do not understand why books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 7 & 8 are all available in Whispersync for Voice but not book six. It is available from Audible directly, but I want it with my Kindle book so that I can listen to it in the app, and flip back and forth between the book and the audio.

Being the type of person I am, I decided to email Amazon asking them why this was the case.

I received an email back from Audible telling me that the book is not available in audio and they will check with the publisher to see when they will make that available.

After receiving that first email back from Audible (I’m assuming Amazon forwarded my email to them to Audible for a response), I emailed them back saying, that the book is available in audio from Audible, but not on the Kindle with Whispersync for Voice. (Did they not read my email properly in the first place??).

I then get a second email back from Audible saying they are now aware that I was enquiring about the Whispersync for Voice functionality and they would check with the publishers about when that feature was available.

I have to say that I am very disappointed with their response. I felt like I was getting a stock standard form response from them and I was being brushed off. I also don’t know when I will actually get a response telling me if the book I’m enquiring about will be available with the feature I want.

I do not understand the technical aspects of linking a book with the Audible narration so that Whispersync for Voice is available, but it seems to me that would be something between Amazon / Audible and the publisher?

Given how quickly Shattered Valor was made available in Whispersync for Voice, I’m wondering about the efficiency of the process because Elaine is essentially not only the author of the book but also the publisher, therefore Amazon and Audible didn’t need to check with the publisher to flip a switch turning the feature on?

I pose these as questions because I truly do not know the process, nor do I know how long the publisher of A Breath of Snow and Ashes will take to respond to my one tiny request. After all, they are a big publishing house and I am but one reader.

I briefly considered tweeting Diana Gabaldon but I’m not sure if that would be helpful? I am guessing given her popularity, she would be inundated with tweets and other sorts of stuff on social media. I do not want to be the crazy fangirl bugging her about this, but perhaps I will. Maybe she can tell me why it’s only book six that doesn’t have Whispersync for Voice when all the other books do?

I’m waiting eagerly to hear back from either Audible or Amazon about what the publisher says about A Breath of Snow and Ashes. In the meantime, I have books one to five of Outlander and I have yet to purchase 6, 7 and 8. I’m going to wait for book six to become available because I want to be able to listen to it.

After all that, I also asked author Ann Mayburn about one of her books being available for Whispersync for Voice and she tells me it's not up to the author or the publisher but up to Amazon. So now I'm more confused than ever because I've gotten different answers from many different sources. Although, after remembering this response, I have emailed Audible's customer support back and asked them to check with Amazon. I wonder what that will result in?

What about you? Do you listen to audiobooks? Which ones have you enjoyed recently? Do you have a narrator you love that you’d like to recommend to me?

UPDATE: I have learned in chatting with another author about her audiobooks that for Whispersync to work, or for a book to qualify for Whispersync, the Kindle version of the eBook and the audio version of the book needs to be nearly identical.

The reason for this is the audio and words sync up, hence Whispersync, which is what allows the reader to switch seamlessly between the eBook version and the audio version.

I should have figured this out, since this is common sense really when you look at the functionality of the feature, but it didn't occur to me.

I only found out because I asked an author if her audiobook was going to be on Whispersync and she said she didn't think so because Whispersync needed a word match of a certain % for the audio to qualify for Whispersync and her audio version of the book came in off that % by a rather large margin.

This also explains why abridged audiobooks like A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon is not on Whispersync while all the other books in the series are. The abridged audio will obviously not match word for word on the eBook version.


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Audible audiobooks on Kindle - listening to a book

I have never been one for audio books even though I've tried them several times. The few times I've tried them, it did not snare me. I have friends who love audio books and use them regularly when they are doing something else that does not require their full attention, something repetitive like knitting or crocheting. I tried the audio books while cycling on a stationary bike and jogging on the treadmill and both times I found myself getting distracted and losing my place in the book. On top of that, I kept worrying about falling on my face while on the treadmill.

Recently, I had a trip to prepare for, where I had to drive 3 hours there and then 3 hours back. I was trying to figure out how to fill in that time and thought perhaps an audio book would be a good way to pass the time on a long drive.

I started looking around for audiobooks and of course, Audible is an obvious choice, but then I discovered (I had seen it being promoted) that if I bought a Kindle book, I could get the Audible version at a much more discounted price. Quite significantly discounted in fact, as you can see from this example below. The Audible version is $17.95 to purchase but if you bought the book and bundled the Audible version with it, it was only $1.99. Like I said, significantly discounted.

How do you know if the book has an Audible version? Well you will see these two images as part of the product page.

Where they list the various formats, they will show the Audible Audio Edition on the last line.

Additionally, to the right hand side, where the buy button is, you will also see the option to include the Audible version in your purchase as part of the Kindle / Audible bundle.

My renewed journey into audio books started with a book that I purchased for free. It was Bound by Prophecy by Melissa Wright. I decided to pick up the Audible version because the book was free and the Audible version was only $1.99. I thought that this was not a large investment to see how I liked it. I discovered two things from this exercise. (1) The book was not my thing. It's a paranormal but it was also Young Adult. Not s sub-genre I normally read. (2) The narrator is very important. This narrator made the characters sound young, like the teenagers that they were which is a very good thing, but it didn't work for me. So I moved on.

The next one I tried (also a free book) was The Executive's Decision by Bernadette Marie. This one was a contemporary romance and it contained the boss / secretary trope that I'm rather fond of. I started listening to this right away and discovered that the narrator's voice was okay but it made the lead female character sound neurotic and whiney. That said, it did captivate and intrigue me and so far about 11% in, it's holding my attention. This one has the added benefit of me listening to it in the car and sharing the experience with Steve. We don't realize how corny and silly some of the romance stories sound until we hear it out loud. Steve and I had many LOL moments in the car while listening to this. We're chortling away at the dialogue and the heroine's crazy internal dialogue (thank goodness she doesn't have an Inner Goddess!). Of course, it helps too that Steve's a bit of a cynic and doesn't think highly of the genre, so he's got a very interesting commentary going on while we're listening to the book. All in all, fun, so I'll keep listening. It's slow going though. It would probably take me 3.5 hours to read the book but it's about 8 hours to listen. I could speed it up, but then I might start to miss stuff. It does require some concentration.

The final one I've picked up is Going Back For Romeo by L L Muir. This one is a time travel romance set in Scotland and the narrator is a guy with a lovely Scottish burr. Perfect for the story, I think. I only hope that his enunciation is good enough that I can understand him well through the burr but from the little I've heard, I think it will be fun. I've designated this one as my driving listen when I go on my road trip. I'm anxious to see how that works out.

A few things I have discovered I love about the Audible / Kindle bundling. The audio version is integrated into the Kindle app or device, so you can flip between audio and reading without losing your place in the book. Very nifty and very convenient.

It's also very easy to download the file from Audible onto your Kindle. Amazon has very clear instructions on how to do it and it works a treat. The technology is so well integrated and works fabulously.

The one thing to bear in mind though, it's super easy to get carried away and download a whole ton of audio books quickly and load them onto your phone or tablet or whatever device you are using. The catch here? It chews up the data storage on your device real fast so you need to keep an eye on your storage. A 275 page book translates into a 113Mb audio book file downloaded to your device. Ten of those and you've used up 1Gb is space. Fortunately, I have about 31Gb to spare on my phone where I will be doing most of my listening but at the same time, I'm going to be careful. I want to practice some good organization hygiene on the phone to make sure that I don't download too many audio books onto it and also not get silly about buying a whole lot of $1.99 and $2.99 audio books that I may not listen to. I do want to pick up Ann Mayburn's Ivan's Captive Submissive because I've seen somewhere that the narrator has a lovely Russian accent and I think that will be fun to listen to.

Note. If you have already purchased the Kindle eBook and want the audio version. Make sure you go back to the Kindle eBook page to purchase the audio version so that the two link in your Kindle app. I made the mistake with two books to purchase them from my Audible page instead and the books didn't link. I ended up having to download them onto my computer, putting them into iTunes and loading them onto my phone to listen via the Music app on my phone instead of via the Kindle app.

Do you like audio books? What do you prefer? Reading or listening? Let me know. I want to know.


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