Danger: Women Writing

Hi everyone — Dangerous Woman Lisa Renee Jones here. Some of you know that I am a big fan of audio books so each week I am going to chat about an audio book experience. I hope this translates into some fun book discovery as well because even if you don’t like audio books — you might like the books I decide to talk about.  For this week, I thought I’d just explain why I love audio books and how to make them affordable.

Why I love audio books:

I love audio books because I can load them on my cell phone and take them anywhere I go — for me — that anywhere is usually the gym.  A good audio book gets me through the torture of lots of cardi0 — which is something I’ve accepted as a part of my life –forever. Many a time, the book I was listening to, got me through the obsession with HOW MANY MINUTES ARE LEFT AND WHY WHY WHY is my heart rate not higher because I am in absolute H*LL. A long wait at a doctors office, in a store line, or even at a stoplight, can be endured with your favorite author. I also sometimes put my headset on and listened to my book before bed with the lights out. However, word of warning, I’ve had that KEEP me awake rather than put me to sleep a few too many times.

I also love a good narrator that becomes the characters in my mind. On the bad side– a bad narrator can really take away from a book. I have numerous books I bought that I haven’t finished because the reader turned me off. I’ll talk about the narrators often when I review here. DH has a favorite narrator. I have one as well. We both know if they are reading, we will love the books.

For example — one of my books is read by a narrator that apparently couldn’t do a Hispanic accent and kept changing it. Buyers got so mad and they associated that with my writing. So frustrating. I had some bad reviews on other sites by people who listened to the audio but posted on the print sites. Fortunately, I had another of my books read with a fabulous reader who made me look good:) The reader is as important as the writing with audio for sure. I’ll have another audio book out in August and I am nervously waiting to find out who the reader is. Authors don’t pick and we don’t know who our reader is until our readers do.

How to make audio books affordable:

1 new release can cost $29.00.

Audible. com has a program that is 7.95 a month for 3 months and then 14.95 after that.  I do the two books a month for $22.95 and so does DH. There are lots of sale books — good books — for $9.95 — or around that point, so if I need  a 3rd I get one of those. I always save the expensive ones for my credit!  The new Patricia Briggs books was $29 and I got it as my credit.

DH never pays for a bad narrator. He calls audible and they credit him. He doesn’t hesitate and they don’t either. I haven’t done this because I keep telling myself I will get through the bad ones. I haven’t. I think I need to follow DH’s example!

So — next week I’ll talk about my favorite reader and review the series she read that I love so very much. I’ll also be include DH’s reviews here from time tot time. He reads all over the board and listens to audio and has some great book reviews I can share.

Looking forward to sharing.

Love to hear your thoughts on audio if you want to share!

Lisa:)

www.lisareneejones.com