7/11/2024
I must update this column more often! Lots happening since my last post. Dustin Bilyk’s SF & Fantasy book has sold well, and volume 2 has just hit the shelves! Hopefully it’ll sell as well as the first volume. It’s a great read (listen), with 22 brand new sf and fantasy short stories. Get yours now! Other books I’ve finished since I last posted are ‘You invited it in’ by Sarah Jules – a spine chilling tale of present day haunting. Great if you like to be spooked! Then there was The Tower by J J Richards, a tale about a murder centred on Blackpool Tower, book three of the DCI Walker murder mysteries which is currently doing very well in the Amazon charts. After that was The Acolyte, book 2 of the Bound by Blood series by Richard Fierce, a great novel of swords and sorcery (and lots of dragons). A thrilling coming of age tale about the female heroine. And I’m currently working on A Bedside Book of Early Sherlockian Parodies and Pastiches which contains all the little pastiches published immediately after the first Sherlock Holmes book was published, and then on to the early part of the 20th century. Nearly 60 amusing short stories, taking the rise out of the Holmes stories. A great read/listen to all you Sherlockians and Holmesians out there. I’ve also got a couple more book waiting to be recorded as well, but more about those in a later post.
I was also honoured early this week to receive the ACX Approved Provider badge on the ACX platform. They say “We are excited to recognize your commitment to creating exceptional audiobooks as a reliable partner to ACX authors and rights holders.” Which is nice.
05/07/2024
Wow, is it over 2 months since I last updated this! How time flies. I’ve had my head down over the mic for many weeks working on Librarian Gladiator, which I really enjoyed narrating. It’s now published on Audible, (and possibly other outlets which the author has chosen) and I thoroughly recommend having a listen if you like fantasy novels. It’s part 1 of 3, and I look forward to narrating part 2 in the new year. After that, I’ve recently finished a compilation of Sherlock Holmes short stories (what else!), and it has had a great take up. Written by the excellent Denis O Smith and entitled the Six Thirteen from Fairfield Junction, it contains some great short stories. Another thoroughly recommended read if you’re a Sherlock fan.
I’m currently in the middle of a collection of SF and Fantasy short stories compiled by Dustin Bilyk, which is a fascinating, if challenging read. Some great short stories in this one as well. So busy, busy, busy.
I usually listen to other audiobooks when I’m walking the dog, and find the quality of narration is somewhat variable, but it does give me a few pointers on what not to do! My main bugbears are final copy not listened to before submitting, (i.e. overlong pauses, background noise, mouth clicks, change in voice tone due to inserted corrections etc.), incorrect pronunciation – it’s easy enough to check this via online dictionaries, and painful accents and dialects (although I have to be careful on this one, as I could be guilty of this as well!).
So, back to the mic to continue recording. Happy listening!
23/04/2024
It’s been a while, but I’m still here and busy at the mic. Recording is now so much quicker with my new pc, and It’s increasing my productivity. I’ve just finished an interesting book, basically a long magazine in book form, called The New Sherlockian, about all things Sherlock Holmes. It contains short articles, poems and several new short stories by devotees of the Holmes genre. A change from the usual novels I narrate. Obviously aimed at a small readership, but hopefully it should do well in sales. As for Ghastley’s book of Fairy Tales mentioned in my last post, that’s still in limbo. I finished the recording and posted it to ACX for approval by the author, a Ms O’Quinn, but I haven’t heard a word from her since. Tried ACX and asked them to contact her and they had no luck either. I even tried her Facebook account where she has an active page, but still no response. Very odd, as there is no work required on her part apart from pressing a button to say ‘OK’ on the ACX page. Then it gets published and she (and I) start receiving royalties on sales. Oh well, I suppose after over 100 published audiobooks , having one disappear into the aether isn’t bad going.
Besides that, I’ve completed another Slim Hardy detective novel, which was very enjoyable as usual entitled ‘Here the Road Ends’ by Jack Benton, number 9 in the series. After that came ‘Sherlock Holmes and the curse of Neb-Heka-Ra’ by Margaret Walsh which is another Holmes pastiche, and very entertaining. I’m just about to start ‘The Librarian Gladiator’ which is another fantasy book, this time by Dustin Bilyk, which looks fun. It’s a big one though, over 140K words which is about twice the length of your average novel. So that’s me for another couple of months!
03/01/2024
Here I am again, with a rather belated news update. Sorry about that folks, but it’s been a busy time. Since my last post, I’ve narrated another five audiobooks, but more of those later. I mentioned software problems in my last post, and it didn’t really get any better with the various fixes I tried, so I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my desktop PC on which I do all my recording. I’ve gone from an ageing 3rd gen i5 processor with 5GB RAM to an 11th gen i5 with 32GB RAM and the difference is remarkable. It’s a lot faster, obviously, but the software problems and glitches I had previously have vanished, no crashing out, no freezing and the audio processing is very fast which is saving me a lot of time. So all good now on that front. Well worth the investment.
So, what of the new books I’ve recorded since my last posting? First there was Pirates Blood Oath, by Tim Means. A fairly traditional pirate tale based in the West Indies in the 18th century, lots of swashbuckling,and an inordinate amount of violence. We’ll see how it sells. Next came Nessies Nemesis, from Chris Chan, the second Sherlock’s Secretary book, which was great fun to record and very well worth a listen if you like a good detective story – as the name suggests, based in Scotland. After that, book 2 in the pirate series from Tim Means. I suppose you need to have listened to book 1 to know the background, but it is pretty much a standalone story, not really based on the previous characters. Still very violent.
Next come a couple of Holmes books, the first a collection of short stories from Belanger Books and by a bevy of authors. This one is a little different though as all the stories have the HP Lovecraft theme in one form or another. Seems to be selling well, as it covers both the detective and horror genres. There is a book 2 in preparation I believe so hopefully I’ll be asked to do that one as well. Second of the Holmes’ books is Selected cases of Dr Watson by Martin Daley. Another collection of short stories, very well plotted and written by Martin, a definite must read if you’re into Sherlock Holmes. So they are all now published by ACX and available on Amazon/Audible (except the Daley book which is in production at ACX and should be available in a week or so.)
I’m just starting another book, a bit of a diversion this time as it’s a collection of well know fairy tales, but with a dark twist to them, as you might guess from the title, Ghastley’s Book of Fairy Tales by Shana O’Quinn. All fairly well known tales, but all with a lot more detail and plenty of gory bits. Should be fun to record!
That’s all for now, I hope you all had a good Christmas and wishing you all a happy New Year.
08/09/2023
Well, it’s been three months since my last entry, so I thought I’d better catch you up with events. That’s three months of pretty much solid recording for assorted books. These were Choose You, Sacrifice of the Dragon, Gaslight Ghouls ( a Sherlock Holmes collection), The Icehouse, and Sherlock Holmes and the Hellfire Heirs. Just starting another Sherlock book, which I enjoy doing, plus they’re good sellers! As I get royalties for these that’s a bonus.
Just had a major fight with the software that I use to record with. It started going flakey on the last few chapters of the last book, so I decided to uninstall it and reinstall it. Uninstalled OK and reinstalled it from my original download, but it didn’t complete the installation. Odd. I got on the software forum for this product and there were various suggestions, which I did, but still no luck. Eventually tried downloading a fresh version from the vendor’s website, and that wouldn’t install either! Then some kind person on the forum suggested I switch back on one of the Widows options I was told to switch off when uploading, and lo and behold, installed straight away, no problems. So I’m back up to full speed and about to start ‘Sherlock’s Secretary’ which looks to be entertaining.
The hot weather has been a bit of a problem the past week, as my recording booth gets very hot due to having to have the door closed to keep the noise from the building site next door to a minimum. Next week is forecast to be back to normal, so that’ll be a bit of a relief. I’m sitting here in my booth in just shorts and an open short sleeved shirt, and bare feet and I’m still sweating!
I have ACX promo codes for the Holmes books, so if anyone would like one please message me on the contact form, saying if you want a UK or US code.
That’s all for now.
03/06/2023
Very busy at the moment. Just finished Elizabeth’s third book for Tantor, which is now with them for editing. Now on a book for Lukeman Publishers, the fourth in a series of detective stories featuring Daisy Fortune. On top of those, I have three RS (Rights Share – 50% of the royalties on sales) books waiting to be done, and yesterday had an email from a previous author asking if I can do a 4th (5th?) book in a fantasy series I’ve been doing for him over the last couple of years. As its another pfh deal, I will fit it in before the RS books. Sorry, RS guys but cash is king. Slightly annoying having so much to do as the sun is beating down outside, the garden is starting to take over, and I’m shut up in my little insulated sound booth. But hey, got to pay for our holidays some way! (not that we have anything booked yet). I had the pickups (corrections) for Elizabeth’s second book last week, and was surprised and pleased that there were only 12 corrections in an 8 hour book, and Tantor are VERY picky about accuracy. It’s interesting to see how different the various publishers are regarding corrections and accuracy. If it’s an ACX book it’s down to the author to spot any corrections before it goes to publication on Audible. Lukeman and MX don’t seem to bother checking for corrections, and as I said above, Tantor are very strict on accuracy.
08/09/2023
Well, it’s been three months since my last entry, so I thought I’d better catch you up with events. That’s three months of pretty much solid recording for assorted books. These were Choose You, Sacrifice of the Dragon, Gaslight Ghouls ( a Sherlock Holmes collection), The Icehouse, and Sherlock Holmes and the Hellfire Heirs. Just starting another Sherlock book, which I enjoy doing, plus they’re good sellers! As I get royalties for these that’s a bonus.
Just had a major fight with the software that I use to record with. It started going flakey on the last few chapters of the last book, so I decided to uninstall it and reinstall it. Uninstalled OK and reinstalled it from my original download, but it didn’t complete the installation. Odd. I got on the software forum for this product and there were various suggestions, which I did, but still no luck. Eventually tried downloading a fresh version from the vendor’s website, and that wouldn’t install either! Then some kind person on the forum suggested I switch back on one of the Widows options I was told to switch off when uploading, and lo and behold, installed straight away, no problems. So I’m back up to full speed and about to start ‘Sherlock’s Secretary’ which looks to be entertaining.
The hot weather has been a bit of a problem the past week, as my recording booth gets very hot due to having to have the door closed to keep the noise from the building site next door to a minimum. Next week is forecast to be back to normal, so that’ll be a bit of a relief. I’m sitting here in my booth in just shorts and an open short sleeved shirt, and bare feet and I’m still sweating!
I have ACX promo codes for the Holmes books, so if anyone would like one please message me on the contact form, saying if you want a UK or US code.
That’s all for now.
6/04/2023
The adjacent noise from the building site has now abated, with just the occasional JCB trundling past, so recording is a lot easier now. I’ve been informed by the site manager that the big jackhammer will be back sometime in the near future to finish off the remaining plots, which unfortunately are directly adjacent to my house. Hopefully it’ll only be here for a few days, fingers crossed. Of Course he Pushed him vols 1&2 are both now published and available through Audible. I’ve just finished book 2 of a three book series for Elizabeth Rose, and that’s now back with Tantor for editing and mastering. I’m still waiting for the pickups for volume 1! In the meantime I’m about to start book 3 of a 3 volume set called Kinesis, which is a supernatural detective story. Should be interesting. Before I start though, I’m spending a day weeding in the garden as it’s getting out of hand. Sunshine forecast for tomorrow, so that’s me sorted for the day.
17/2/2023
I’ve been working on volume 1 of Of Course he Pushed him, a 2 volume set from Chris Chan comprising short stories about Sherlock Holmes. Very well written and with a different twist from the normal, especially volume 2. Volume 1 has just been published on Audible, which was quite a fast turnaround for ACX. Free Audible codes if anybody is interested. Just about to start volume 2, but the construction work next door has suddenly become a problem. They are now using pile drivers to reinforce the ground for the building work planned. While it’s not one of the huge noisy drivers, but a more ‘gentle’ one, using something like a huge jackhammer on a tall rig. I don’t really hear it in my recording booth, but the low frequencies are obviously getting through as I can see a noticeable trace on my recording, which I can’t use – it wouldn’t pass quality control. I tried using noise reduction software with not much luck, but there are other plugins which might work. Or I can just wait for the noise to go away which is what i’m doing at the moment. Hopefully they should be finished sometime next week.
4/2/2023
Book 2 of Daisy Fortune finished and back to the publisher. Fortunately it was not too long, only about 45K words. I’ve still got misgivings about using a British accent for the main character, who is American, but doing accents for all the other characters including other Americans. Oh, well, it was the publisher’s decision, so who am I to argue. Hopefully book 3 will be along soon. So now back to Sherlock Holmes volume 1, which I was half way through when the Daisy Fortune book arrived. Fortunately there’s no time limit on the Holmes books, so I can use them as fill-ins. Also put in a couple of ACX auditions yesterday, just to keep my hand in, but I won’t hold my breath. ACX auditions are notorious for not informing you if you haven’t got the job. I get a ‘sorry’ email about 10% of the time, the rest just fade away with no response. Of course if I do get the job I usually hear within a week or so. So, no deadlines to worry about at the moment, and it gives me some time to get into the garden and do some tidying up before spring arrives. Just finished hacking a Pickerel weed back to something more manageable in my pond as it takes over if you leave it. The goldfish weren’t impressed and were sulking up the other end. The Pickerel weed does seem to have a beneficial effect on the duckweed though. Since we planted it in the pond, the duckweed we had which covers the surface in the summer, has almost disappeared. Not sure if its the plant or coincidence, but nothing else I’ve tried has had any effect on the duckweed.
On the Tantor front, the invoicing company got back to me and said they already had all my bank details via Tantor, and I didn’t need to do anything, so that’s sorted. Only downside is that they have a 30 day invocing payment delay so that’s a bit annoying
My voice is almost back to normal, but still got the post viral cough which is annoying, It’s not too bad though and doesn’t stop me recording. Still got popping ears though due to congestion in my eustachian tubes, but that also seems to be getting better. Roll on summer!
22/1/2023
Voicebox slowly improved and I managed to get Bedeviled finished yesterday. Uploaded to Tantor and am awaiting the pickups list (corrections) to arrive. Coincidentally, I got a message from Lukeman publishers saying that book 2 of the Daisy Fortune series is nearly ready and will be sent to me soon. As it happens I’d already contacted Steve at MX and got a two volume Sherlock Holmes collection of short stories to tide me over. Happily Steve isn’t fussy about finish dates, so I can slot those in when I’m waiting for the PFH (per finished hour – pays up front rather than waiting for Royalty payments) books to arrive.
I also realised I hadn’t yet received payment from Tantor for my first book with them. Emailed and found out that I have to submit an invoice (they have their own template invoice which I can use). Did that and got a message back from a third party outfit who seem to handle their invoicing system. Tried to fill out their form with my details, only to realise it’s intended for US folk with a different banking system. Sent them an enquiry as to how UK citizens can use their system and still waiting for a reply. Why does everything have to be so complicated?
On the adjacent construction site front, they’ve now finished the demolition and initial ground works, so the heavy machinery has gone and all is relatively quiet during the daytime as they have started the construction work on the far side of the site from my property. The traffic down our road from the site to the main road is bad normally, due to residents parking on the road (no garages or driveways) and restricting the road to single file. It only takes one thoughtless person to park on the other side of the road, half on the pavement, to make it difficult to pass for normal cars. Last week there were a couple of huge low-loaders transporting very big diggers trying to get to the site. They were stuck there for an hour trying to find the driver of a badly parked car blocking the road. It’s the only access to the site as the other direction is reached by either a very small canal swing bridge with a weight limit on, or a winding one track road with a level crossing half way along. Glad I’m not a truck driver!
5/1/2023
Well, that was a rather fraught chrismas. First a dose of cystitis which wasn’t very pleasant (to say the least), and then just as I was getting over that, I get a cold. The day after the script for Bedeviled arrived! So, after a week of sore throat and now coughing my lungs up, I managed a session in the booth today and cracked out the first chapter.
24/12/2022
Just uploaded my most recent recording ‘Need You’ by Blake Pierce, part 1 of the Daisy Fortune detective series. Thoroughly enjoyed recording it as it is well written had a great plot. The only slight downside was that it was written for an American detective with lots of other American characters. I sent a couple of samples to the publisher, one with American and one with British accents and she thought my American accent wasn’t up to scratch, so I recorded the whole book with British accents. Not sure what the listening public will make of it. Looks like I’d better get some accent coaching! Anyhow, I’m still waiting for my next book to arrive from Tantor, so I’ve got christmas off (hooray!). This is another from Elizabeth Rose, for whom I’ve recorded over 20 of her books already. It’s called Bedeviled and another of her historical romance books.
12/4/2022
A quiet week last week, waiting for the arrival of another manuscript, which was in edit, but still not yet arrived. Also awaiting two lots of pickups from submitted recordings, still not arrived. One good event was that my latest Sherlock Holmes has just been published by Audible. See 22/11/2022 below for details.
Fed up of waiting and nothing to record, I messaged my mate Steve Emecz at MX publishing who is responsible for the vast amount of Holmes books on Audible, and asked if he had anything waiting to be recorded. True to form he came up with the goods and I now have another collection of Holmes short stories to start on tomorrow. I enjoy these books, easy to record, good stories and even better, good sellers!
22/11/2022
Sherlock Holmes is now with Audible awaiting publication. It’s a great trilogy concerning Sherlock chasing down vampires in the UK and US. I got to narrate the last two books and really enjoyed the story, very well written with lots of twists and turns. Highly recommended when it comes out.
I also completed the final episode of the Remi Laurant mystery books, written by Ava Strong. Again, another great series with Remi, now an FBI agent hunting for ancient artifacts across the world, with her partner. Best read (or listened to) from the start. A great series.
Just started The Race, by the Swedish author Nathalie Romer, which is a futuristic tale about the earth having been invaded by aliens, and a group of teenagers trying to escape to a new life. Probably the start of a series, but we’ll have to see what turns up.
06/11/2022 (or 11/06/2022 for my US friends)
Welcome to my new website. Still one or two formatting issues to sort out but the bare bones are now in place.
I’m busy working on another Sherlock Holmes book, part 3 of a trilogy which should be hitting the shelves sometime next month with a bit of luck.
I have just completed my first book for Tantor publishers, and am awaiting the pick-ups (corrections) before it goes to publication. Hopefully not too many corrections! This one was a non-fiction book about the history of British Cinema. It’s amazing what you learn doing this job.
I’m being somewhat hampered in my recording at the moment by a large demolition/construction company who have purchased an old derelict factory directly adjacent to my house. For the last 3 or 4 weeks we have had large diggers pulling down the walls of the old buildings and dropping the spoil into large metal skips, which doesn’t do much for my background noise when recording! I have taken to recording during the evenings and editing during the daytime which seems to work ok. Anyhow, enough of my problems.
Until next time, K