The New Age is Hear

In the grand scheme of things being in publishing for less than eight years really isn't that long. But man-oh-man, have I seen some amazing changes in that time.

I arrived at the tail end of sending out full printed manuscripts. (Since none were accepted during that phase, I didn't do any red-line editing, but I had friends still working with an editor that way.) Digital books were just coming into the mainstream and there was much ado about authors who chose that method of publication (like it wasn't real). Sony was basically the only e-reader out there.

And then Amazon and Barnes & Noble opened the world to digital books with the advent of the Kindle and the Nook. And several generations have come and gone as ereaders continue to improve.

Self-publishing is now no longer a dirty word. Authors (like me) are making it part of their business plan. With so many NYT and USA Today Best Selling authors offering self-pubbed books and high quality stories by mid-list authors out there now, I think readers have stopped looking at the "publisher" before buying a book. The emphasis is now only on the great writing and memorable characters.

And through all of the changes it can be hard for an author to not get lost on the steep learning curve and keep her head in the game. It's hard to know if you're making a wrong turn as new twists continue to develop.

Now what's my newest venture you ask? How about audio books?

I'm not saying they're new. There were books on tape even when I was a kid (I think I'm dating myself). And then books on CD. When I lived in the wild north woods of Maine and was hoooours away from civilization (and my family), I would get audio books from the library and pop them into my car's multi-disc CD player. I LOVED listening to stories on the commute. I developed an ear for narrators. What I liked and what I didn't.

That experience has made my venture into audio books much easier. Because now, like self-publishing in digital reading format, authors have the opportunity to have their books produced without using a publisher as the middleman. I've spent the last month or so auditioning narrators for my romantic suspense series. I'm pleased to say they are currently under production and the first book BLIND HER WITH BLISS should be available in audio format by the end of this month! Here's the gorgeous cover ...

It's an exciting adventure for me.

Only, here's the thing ... it's not going to be available in CD format. (Again ... showing my age here.) The books will be available on iTunes and Amazon in MP3 format and people will be able to listen on their iPhones. Cool.

I didn't even know people were doing this. And I was just getting used to people reading my books on their Smartphones. (Which I don't own ... the virtually buttons are too small for me. LOL!) So I'm throwing this out there, do you (or will you) listen to books? Do you think this is the "next" wave of media for literature? Because if you know me ... you know I'm curious about stuff like this.