Constant Evolving

 

Reading a collection of words, more commonly known as reading books, has been the oldest form of entertainment for the privileged. As time has gone on and reading has become necessary and accessible to more…and let’s be honest here, illiteracy is an issue and we should acknowledge that…we want to ask the question: what’s next?

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We have traditionally-printed novels, in the masses. There are eBooks, in the millions, for those who like to read on the run. The technology which has given us audiobooks makes it easier for those just as busy to listen and work, not losing out on the art of reading. Visual storytelling, choose-your-own adventure stories, Kindle in Motion…the list goes on!

But what technology is on the current rise? What can inspire the next generation of readers – to keep the act of reading alive?

Do you see yourself creating a robot, or purchasing one, to have creative discussions with about the books you’re reading? Or maybe using voice tech, we can pick and choose who we want to narrate the book we’re reading when it’s convenient for us.

What do you think is next? And what’s your favorite way or ways to read?

We want to hear!

(Almost) Ending the Year On Some Trendy Business

We know, we know…it’s not our last post of the year, but it’s close to it! We figured it would be good for anyone looking into getting published to get the heads up: the results are in, publishing trends are here.

Before we get started though, we want to direct you to the source in which the general info comes from. Opinions and advice are ours! But check out this blog/publishing service.

Let’s get right into it!

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  1. First and foremost, is the decline in reading going to push writers away from publishing their work?

    We vote a big fat NO. Reason being, we see the decline in reading as a way to push writers to treat their work with care (and to get into e-Pubbing, but we’ll discuss in a second.) Getting all the pre-publication shenanigans out of the way is something so many people don’t truly pay attention to – so maybe, it’s time we give our precious work some TLC and hire a few people to take a look at what we’ve got.

  2. Print books remain #1. What does this mean for you?

    While everyone (or maybe it was just me) believes that eBooks are the only way to read now, we come here to confirm: this is not true. Print books remain the champion of reading (even if less people do the act of reading.) Now, before you comment and say, “getting my book printed will cost so much money” or “I can’t seal the deal with PRH or Tor or any of those big publishers!” Don’t forget about print-on-demand: the most efficient way for a self-published author to get their book in physical format! So you can still make your way into the print market without a major publishing deal (sorry, big guys.)

  3. Audiobooks are still on the rise!

    We love audiobooks here at HRM. We talk about them enough to say we’re not surprised they’ll continue to rise come the new year.
  4. We’ve talked about it once, we’ll talk about it again: hybrid/collaborative publishing is important and will continue to rise in popularity in 2019. Why should it be important to you?

    Hybrid publishing and collaborative publishing are important mediums to self-published authors (or writers looking into self-publishing.) We want the quality of a major publisher (you know, the big tough editors and the fantastic printing jobs) but since deals from them are far and few between, we need an alternative. An alternative where we have creative flexibility and control over the work in question. These mediums are just that. They provide the quality care to your work as well as giving you the power over it – with consideration, of course. Major publishing houses ensure a bigger paycheck, but why not get your foot in the door to start?

  5. Marketing is your best friend.

    We talk about marketing a lot on this blog. It’s an important part of being a writer/author who wants exposure. If you’re interested in keeping up with a variety of marketing tactics, just use the search bar for this blog and we guarantee you’ll come across something.

 

Happy Holidays, everybody!

Wake Me Up When September Ends [6]

Don’t worry: we’re up.

And we’ve got a list of newly released audio ready for your ears. Get ready!


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9/1

  • Alex Rivers // STOLEN SOUL
  • Kate Stewart // THE REAL

9/4

  • Mila Young // CURSED
  • Elle Cross // SO DARK THE NIGHT

9/11

  • Bella Winters // MY BEST FRIEND’S DAD

9/12

  • Eva Chase // 2 TITLES
    • CONSORT OF PAIN
    • DRAGON’S FATE
  • Gia Riley // WRONG SIDE OF HEAVEN
  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: DESCENT

9/18

  • Jaxson Kidman // 2 TITLES
    • IN HER WORDS
    • LET YOU GO

9/19

  • Ashley Meira // SMOKE AND MAGIC
  • Crystal Daniels & Sandy Alvarez // THE DARKEST OF LIGHT
  • Joanna Blake // RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

9/25

  • Elle Cross // SO BRIGHT THE DAWN
  • Jamie Schlosser // TRUCKER
  • Jenna Wolfhart // A TOUCH OF STARLIGHT
  • Lisa Suzanne // THE POWER TO BREAK
  • Mila Young // CLAIMED

9/26

  • Kathleen Wheeler // BROUGHT TO OUR SENSES

Audio in July [4]

If you’re interested in seeing what is in the studio, follow us on Facebook! Now onto our July pubs…


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7/3

  • Charlie Hart & Anastasia James // 3 TITLES
    • THEIR PHOENIX
    • THEIR MATE
    • THEIR SIREN

7/5

  • Elizabeth Knox // BLACKJACK
  • Ripley Proserpina // SHADOWS OF THORNS

7/10

  • Courtney Konstantin // SURVIVE

7/11

  • Jaxson Kidman & London Casey // 3 TITLES
    • 5 YEARS LATER
    • ANNA’S DRESS
    • DEAR EVERLY

7/24

  • Eva Chase // CONSORT OF SECRETS
  • Frankie Love // BUILT
  • L.M. Halloran // DOUBLE VISION
  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: CHAOS
  • Shari J. Ryan // MANSERVANT
  • Violet Duke // BEFORE THAT PROMISE

7/26

  • Lillian Cole // HIS TO CLAIM

 

 

 

May Publications [2]

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No worries, this will be us for the rest of audiobook month. Hopefully you’ll join us!

This May, we would like to introduce these newest audio additions to our (and your) library:

5/1

  • John Dreese // BLUE HOPE
  • Robert Bidinotto // WINNER TAKES ALL

5/3

  • Amie Knight // 2 TITLES
    • A STEEL HEART
    • SEE THROUGH HEART

5/4

  • Stephie Walls // UNEXPECTED ARRIVALS

5/7

  • Alta Hensley // SCOUNDRELS & SCOTCH
  • Frankie Love // HONORED
  • Kim Karr // HOLLYWOOD PRINCE
  • Kylie Hillman // CONAN
  • Parker Grey // WAKING HIS PRINCESS
  • T.L. Smith & Melissa Jane // COCKY FIANCE

5/8

  • Bobbi Holmes // THE GHOST AND THE MYSTERY WRITER
  • Yumoyori Wilson // TAINTED ROSE

5/9

  • C.C. Masters // FINDING SOMEWHERE TO BELONG
  • Emerson Knight & McKenzie Hunter // DARKNESS UNVEILED
  • Heather M. Orgeron // BOOMERANGERS
  • Meg Anne // MOTHER OF SHADOWS
  • Willow Rose // GIRL DIVIDED

5/10

  • Stella // THIRD BASE
  • Maria Luis // HAT TRICK
  • Mark Stone // FAR FROM SHORE
  • May Dawson // FIERCE ANGELS

5/13

  • BJ Harvey // ONE SHOT
  • Jean Grainger // 2 TITLES
    • SHADOW OF A CENTURY
    • UNDER HEAVEN’S SHINING STARS

5/16

  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: BOUND
  • Violet Duke // BEFORE THAT NIGHT
  • Willow Rose // EDWINA

5/17

  • G. Bailey // 2 TITLES
    • ESCAPE THE SEA
    • LOVE THE SEA

5/18

  • Leddy Harper // THE ROOMMATE ‘DIS’AGREEMENT
  • LK Farlow // 2 TITLES
    • AN UPHILL BATTLE
    • COMING UP ROSES
  • Peter Grainger // LANE
  • Siobhan Davis // INSEPARABLE

5/22

  • Ella Fields // SUDDENLY FORBIDDEN

5/23

  • Kip Terrington // BUT DEATH IS NOT FORBIDDEN
  • Stella // HOME RUN KING

 

A Deadly Mystery!

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We received a package last week that contained a nice bunch of recent releases in physical format. One of them being this mystery by Kathleen Concannon. 

A body.
A sacred national park.
It’s classified…

Park Ranger Dana Madison isn’t a homicide detective anymore, or is she? Singled out by the President to investigate a string of mysterious deaths in the country’s national parks, Madison has no idea why she was selected, or why she’s leading an unlikely cast of characters in a frantic search for answers.

When the chase leads her deep into the Rocky Mountains, Madison discovers potential motives that shock her. Is there a link to Native American tribes as the President suspects? Will she find a chilling connection to the case that ended her career as a homicide detective?

Interested? Check it out here!

Our Recent Publications [1]

happy.gif*EDIT: This has been updated for the remainder of April’s releases! We hope to have a longer list every month and include all other releases we work on!*

Hello dear followers!

We’ve decided to share with you all every publication we have had in the last month! We are so proud to represent such amazing and talented authors that we couldn’t keep these to ourselves. Without further ado, these are the latest and greatest releases in the audiobook department:

4/9

  • Amelia Wilde // ENDLESS KISS Series
  • Ivy Layne // 2 TITLES
    • THE BILLIONAIRE’S ANGEL
    • ENGAGING THE BILLIONAIRE

4/10

  • Helen Scheuerer  // HEART OF MIST

4/11

  • Yumoyori Wilson // DARK WISH
  • Jenna Wolfhart // WITCH’S FURY

4/12

  • L.C. Hibbett // THE SHADOW WAR
  • Katy Regnery // UNLOVED, A LOVE STORY
  • Maggie Kirton // MY FIREFLY
  • Joslyn Westbrook // CINDERELLA-ISH
  • Dan Sheehan // AFTER ACTION
  • Michelle Damiani // IL BEL CENTRO
  • Emma Dawn // HAREM OF SOULS
  • Molly Milligan // RAINING CATS AND DOGS
  • T.F. Jacobs // UNTANGLING THE BLACK WEB

4/13

  • Bobbi Holmes //  THE GHOST OF VALENTINE PAST
  • J.R. Rasmussen // FORSAKEN KINGDOM

4/16

  • Nina Walker // 2 TITLES
    • PRISM
    • FRACTURE
  • Shari J. Ryan // LAST WORDS
  • Lew Jennings // 19 MINUTES TO LIVE
  • Krista Street // REMEMBERED
  • Juno Wells, Miranda Martin // DRAGON’S HOPE
  • Eva Chase // DRAGON’S GUARD

4/17

  • Mark Stone // LOST IN THE STORM
  • Ripley Proserpina // BRIAR
  • May Dawson // WILD ANGELS

4/18

  • Stephanie Rose // REWRITE
  • J.A. Cipriano, Connor Kressley // DOOMED INFINITY MARINE

4/24

  • Bobbi Holmes //  THE GHOST FROM THE SEA
  • Heather M. Orgeron // BREAKWAY

4/25

  • Juno Wells, Miranda Martin // DRAGON’S KISS
  • LJ Swallow // THE FOUR HORSEMEN: LEGACY
  • Krista Street // REBORN
  • Joslyn Westbrook // HAUTE COUTOURE
  • Lidiya Foxglove // PRIESTESS AWAKENED
  • Deborah Wilde // THE UNLIKEABLE DEMON HUNTER

4/27

  • Ben S. Dobson // THE EMPEROR’S MASK
  • Willow Rose // TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET

The Voice

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After a successful e-book launch, many authors are left wondering what to do next. Where else can they display their masterpiece? What else can they do to generate more income? How can they get more readers to see their work? What are they missing? The answer to all those questions is, an audiobook.

One of the most important aspects of a successful audiobook is the narrator. A bad narration can easily ruin a wonderful thing… fast. It’s crucial to have the right voice conveying the emotions of your story just as you envisioned it. That ‘sample’ button is what sells the listener to purchase your audiobook and that decision lays heavily on the narrator’s performance in those few quick minutes. One factor to picking the right audio publisher for your audiobook is how involved you want to be in the narrator process. Some authors want to have a say in this crucial decision and others would rather leave it up the professionals because they don’t have the slightest clue as to what makes a good narrator.

Choosing the narrator can be just as stressful as writing the actual book. Whether you are the author or the casting director, here are five key points to remember as your choosing the voice:

  1. Check the voice pitch and pace – to be sure the person can fit the story and narrator’s role properly.
  2. You might need a flexible audiobook narrator for multiple character voices, accents, genders, etc. in a fiction novel.
  3. Take a step away from being the writer or producer of the book, become the listener.
  4. Trust your intuition.
  5. And if all else fails, especially for authors who have never done this before, search some of the best audiobook narrator lists online. They can point you in a direction you never thought of looking.

The Audible Romance Package

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For $14.95 a month, audiobook fans can indulge in a simple romance package Audible has recently launched. If romance is an extra pleasure of yours, Audible is allowing current members to add the service for just $6.95.

As for discoverability, the website goes into detail about the different ways to find your next Audible listen. You can search the original romance subgenre page, breaking it down into the subgenres everyone loves to read. If you have a favorite type of romance story, the Romance Package opens the door to searching for your ideal character type. There are also story themes (similar to romance tropes) you can browse through if you have an idea of what you enjoy reading. The best part about searching for your next read is searching for the right steaminess level to fit your romance needs.

There is a variety of authors available as well- from bestselling authors to Audible originals and Audible exclusives. Whether you tend to navigate to a few select authors and those similar to them or if you are looking for a completely new flare – there are so many options to choose from, with only more to come. On select titles, celebrity narrators take you on an unforgettable journey through the romance story of a lifetime.

The package membership offers unlimited listens, taking a step away from the one credit a month Audible offers on their other services. So, go ahead and listen to every book you can fit onto your phone – we dare you…

The Audies, 2017 Edition

I’m a little late to the game, but the finalists for the Audie Awards were announced recently. If you don’t already know, the Audies are like t he Oscars for audiobooks. They have been awarded annually by The Audio Publisher’s Association since 1996. There are a bunch of categories in which authors and narrators are applauded and honored for their outstanding work. The actual award ceremony is always held during Book Expo of America in May, which this year is in NYC.

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You can see all their categories and their finalists here, but I have highlighted a few of my favorite categories below:

Fantasy

The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey

The Hike by Drew Hagary

League of Dragons by Naomi Novik

Mystery

Crimson Shore by Preston & Child

The Crossing by Michael Connelly

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny

The Heavens May Fall by Allen Eskens

IQ by Joe Ide

Romance

Dirty  by Kylie Scott

Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt

First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

The Obsession by Nora Roberts

Sci-Fi

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison

Crosstalk by Connie Willis

The Dispatcher by John Scalzi

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuval

Star Wars: The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster

Write on, listen on!