Category: My Books

Virtual Voice for An Audiobook—Yes or No?
Audiobooks · My Books · My Thoughts

Virtual Voice for An Audiobook—Yes or No?

Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment
Microphone to record - Virtual voice

Virtual voice for an audiobook of mine? Yes, or no? KDP, Amazon’s self-publishing branch, sent me an invitation in November, 2023 to participate in a Beta version to do my eligible ebooks. Finally, a couple months ago, I opted in to do it. Let’s talk about the process.

I have recorded three audiobooks myself, creating a home recording studio in a walk-in closet in our master bedroom. Those titles are Let Me Tell You a Story, Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir and lastly, This Tumbleweed Landed, listed below to purchase. Also, in 2022 I recorded another book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, but have only seven of thirty-one chapters revised in a final copy. That’s the year shingles hit me and I stopped mid-stream.

Recording an audiobook - Virtual Voice

I thoroughly enjoy recording my own books because I love re-reading them, being surprised and thrilled at my words and thoughts.

So, the idea of having someone else record my books didn’t appeal to me at first, but I love to experiment and I have been a “technology nerd” for years, so I thought I’d give it a try. I selected When Will Papa Get Home?, a historical fiction I self-published in 2017. I planned to do an audiobook for this book after I finished my Bitter or Better audiobook.

In the process of using KDP’s offer of a virtual voice, I received no email or notification it was done. I just finished a promotional for this book for Father’s Day and noticed the audiobook was in “Draft” format, so I realized they had done it.

Pick a Voice

Next, I went into the audiobook setup and had eight voices to choose from: five feminine voices and three masculine voices. Two of the feminine voices had British accents, so they wouldn’t work. All choices ranged in age from thirty to forty which seemed to work. I chose the seventh voice.

Audiobook cover

KDP offers to create a cover for the audiobook, showing a sample of the e-book and the audiobook, but it doesn’t show you what your cover will look like—lots of free offerings that make me wonder.

KDP Select Enrollment

Because my book is enrolled in KDP Select, automatically they enroll my audiobook in Audible Plus.

Pricing and Royalties

Next, they talk money. They give you the choice of setting the price. With the other audiobooks I’ve created, they gave a suggested price—not here. But they do give a price for the audiobook as a Standalone and then an eBook add-on price with royalties for all. Here they list the Amazon.com royalties and the Audible.com royalties which is 40% of the price. ACX.com also offers 40% royalties for audiobooks they distribute. FindAwayVoices.com offers the best royalties—80%!

Virtual Voice Studio

Finally, I arrived at the heart and soul of this setup—listening to how the virtual voice sounds speaking my words. When I heard my name, Larada, read, I realized I had to edit the pronunciation. So, I typed in “La Rayda” for the edit and it seems to be close to how my family pronounced my name. I have the option of editing the “Voice speed,” also. Also, I can add “Pauses” if need be.

This book has Spanish sprinkled throughout, and I just listened to sections that have some Spanish to see how the virtual voice did. On some of it, the pronunciation worked, but the word “hijita” didn’t because the “j” in Spanish sounds like “h.” Also the “i” in Spanish sounds like the English “ee.” So I’m going to have to do some major editing of this audiobook because of the Spanish words.

Finally,

I listened to snippets of several chapters. Yes, the Spanish pronunciation creates some issues, but for the most part, the feminine voice I selected sounds great and uses inflection to emphasis crucial points in the story.

I’m still not sure about this because of ownership rights to the audiobook. I need to do some more research because I don’t want to give up ownership to the audiobook. Their contract says, “you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interest in and to your Books, and we retain ownership in the AVV (Audiobook with Virtual Voice) Edition file.”

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GWHSFAK69P2537YR

That doesn’t sound good to me at all! What do you think? Would you do it?

My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

Buy Let Me Tell You a Story Audiobook

Buy Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

Enjoy my interview on the podcast, The Writing Table

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Listen—The Joy of Audiobooks!
Audiobooks · My Books · My Thoughts · Self-publishing

Listen—The Joy of Audiobooks!

Larada Horner-Miller1 Comment
Listen to an audiobook

Listen—that’s the joy of audiobooks. Sit back, grab a cool drink and find a shady place to sit this afternoon for a fun-filled experience of a watermelon fight!

Listen To A Section Of My New Audiobook

This Tumbleweed Landed audiobook cover meme - liste

Listen to a section, “The Sting of the Rind” in of my new audiobook, This Tumbleweed Landed, which will be available in the next couple weeks at many distributors.

Yes, what an experience that was for me! I had sticky, gooey watermelon juice all over, then a ride in the back of a truck with loose hay dancing around down a dirty country road—a formula for a mess!

Listening Not Your Thing—Read!

The Sting of the Rind

“My goodness! What happened to you? Hay?” exclaimed my grandmother as she circled us.

“We had a watermelon seed and rind fight at the picnic; we rode in the back of a truck—with hay,” I said, softly fighting back tears. My brother quietly ducked in the door behind me.

What a week! My dad had gotten bucked off his horse on Thursday preparing for fall shipping of calves and was in the hospital with a broken hip. My brother and I were staying with my grandparents. I desperately wanted to go to the 4-H picnic tonight at the Winfords’—the social event of the fall for this country community. My uncle and aunt agreed to take us along with their six children.

The problem at the picnic arose around my dad. He was our club square dance caller, and we were to have a barn dance. He didn’t make it, but the watermelons did.

When we arrived, everyone asked about Dad—how he was, how bad he was hurt, whether he needed help. 

The warm October evening invited all outside once plates were filled with the delicious food that our potluck offered.

Sitting under the table seemed to be hundreds of watermelons; ladies chuckled. Being busy shipping time, everyone had brought watermelon for dessert.

Questions arose about what to do for the evening. We had brought Dad’s records—we could dance, but the records stayed in the case. It wouldn’t be the same without Dad.

It was time! Dessert—juicy, red watermelon cut in quarter pieces—waited in stacks. No forks or spoons—we just ate with bare hands, juice dripping down to our elbows. A second piece, a third, and more!

One timely seed spit at an innocent passing victim caused a full-fledged war, escalating into rind-throwing. All of us—high school to elementary—ran, threw, hid, and got hit.

Have you ever been hit with a watermelon rind? It stings like a bee bite.

Where were the adult chaperones? They stood well out of our range, enjoying our freedom to create an enjoyable activity and relieved they didn’t have to entertain us.

This battle went on, and I managed pretty well, being hit enough to be thoroughly sticky. Everyone I looked at had plastered hair, faces, and clothes.

On the trip home we rode in the back of my uncle’s truck. The truck bed was covered with loose hay, and as soon as my uncle started up the ten-mile dirt road, hay danced around like it was a spirit.

As we sped down the lane, the dirt from the road swirled back into our faces and pelted us with grit.

When we arrived at my grandparents’ door, my brother and I looked tarred and feathered—only this time with sweet-smelling watermelon juice, pungent hay, and a light layer of dirt.

I stood tentatively in front of my grandmother, wondering if we were in trouble.

“You two need a bath” was her only response as she settled in her favorite chair.

A sparkle lit her eyes, and she giggled to herself. “Good, clean fun,” she said, maybe remembering a similar incident from her own childhood.

Larada Horner-Miller, This Tumbleweed Landed, (Horner Publishing Company, 2014), 129-131.

To this day, watermelon remains my favorite summertime treat. It cools me down and the sweet flavor gives me a pickup for sure, and I always chuckle with this memory in mind.

To listen or to read, that is the question! Because this is Audiobook Appreciation Month and I just finished and uploaded my book, This Tumbleweed Landed. I’ve become a fan of audiobooks. How about you?

If so, you can purchase and listen to my books at the following places:

Buy Let Me Tell You a Story Audiobook

Buy Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

When Will Papa Get Home? Cover - Listen

Here’s a FREE Father’s Day gift for you! June 11-15 my e-book, When Will Papa Get Home?, will be FREE! Click and download a copy for Dad at Amazon!

Enjoy my interview on the podcast, The Writing Table

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June—Audiobook Appreciation Month: Take a Leap!
Audiobooks · My Books · My Thoughts

June—Audiobook Appreciation Month: Take a Leap!

Larada Horner-Miller1 Comment
June is Audiobook Appreciation Month

June—Audiobook Appreciation Month! Have you bought yours yet this month? I have two available audiobooks now and one more this week or next!

I just finished listening to an audiobook, Break Though the BS by Derek Doepker, driving home from Colorado on Thursday and then to church this morning. Do you listen to them? I love being able to listen to a book while driving. I also really enjoy hearing the book in the author’s voice. Derek entertained me for miles plus shared some great ideas to improve my life.

So, to celebrate Audiobook Appreciation Month this June, I would like to share with you my two titles I’ve done, and my next one should be finished this week.

Let Me Tell You a Story

Let Me Tell You A Story Audiobook Cover Meme - June

This delightful chapbook tells the story of how my grandfather, Laurence Horner, put our family ranch together in southeastern Colorado during the depressions when many others were losing theirs.

Harold Horner, my dad begins the tale in Oklahoma and how the young Horner’s ended up in a small ranching community in southeastern Colorado, exchanging mail delivery positions from Colorado to Oklahoma and back. How they did this prior to the internet is beyond me! Letters and the willingness to wait for an answer in a week or two or a month or two! Such patience!

Harold details the process of how his father bought homesteads near each other to build our family ranch. He shares about his family and beginning experience as a rancher. Take a step back in time and witness this family story unfold.

My mom and I created this chapbook for my dad’s 75th birthday. He dictated the stories to Mom and she wrote them down. Then I entered her handwritten notes into the computer. As we edited it, Dad stood behind me, looking at the computer screen, and directed me to “go back up on the screen or down.” He hated computers but loved directing me on what needed “fixed” on this document.

So almost thirty years later, I recorded this chapbook as my first audiobook, so you hear my dad’s words in my voice.

Links to Buy This Audiobook

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir meme - June

Last year in September, I published my newest book, Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir. Immediately, I worked on the audiobook to have it available for Christmas. What fun I had reading my own words to make this audiobook! In fact, I had a serendipity while reading—I realized this book was a Christian book. Then I realized that several of my books have a Christian vein in them.

Links to Buy This Audiobook

This Tumbleweed Landed

This Tumbleweed Landed Audiobook Cover NEW - June
New Cover

As we speak, I’m revising the audio on the Epilogue for This Tumbleweed Landed, so I only have a couple more sections to revise. Then I upload the files to two different sites: ACX and FindAwayVoices. I released this book in June 2014 but wrote it in 1992 while attending the Rio Grande Writing Project Workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For all those years, I set it aside, yet it whispered to me often to return to it. It was after my mom died and I retired, that I brought it out again. I fell in love with it again and published it.

As I have recorded the poems and stories in this book, I revisited my childhood home, the zany characters I grew up with and my favorite places around Branson. What a treat to return!

It will be available on all major audiobook outlets sometime this week or next, so be looking for it.

Finally,

I love books; also, I love audiobooks, and I love to record my own. I have my book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? totally recorded, but only up to chapter seven revised. Shingles hit me and I didn’t finish this project, but I will.

What a better way to spend June’s glorious summer days than listening to your favorite audiobook with a cool drink in hand, lounging in the back yard!

Do you listen to audiobooks? Which one is your favorite? Have you bought one of mine? If not, now’s the time!

Enjoy my interview on the podcast, The Writing Table

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Santa Fe International Literary Festival—Wow!
Books · My Books · My Thoughts

Santa Fe International Literary Festival—Wow!

Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment
Stack of books - Santa Fe

I just finished the 3rd annual Santa Fe International Literary Festival and it was off-the-map! Lots of well-known authors and lots of fun! Here’s how I ended up there!

In December, I got a Christmas newsletter from a friend and in a blurb at the bottom, she referenced she organized the volunteers and tickets for the Santa Fe International Literary Festival. I had never heard of it, but immediately I emailed her and volunteered.

So, I’ve been anticipating this event for months. I left it up to her for my volunteer shift times. She said, “How about 7:30 am-12:30 pm both Saturday and Sunday?” Sounded good to me.

As I planned and prepared for this weekend, Lin had a garden event at the Randall Davey Audubon Center in Santa Fe Saturday morning, so he joined me in our hotel Friday night—what a nice treat.

The Friday night welcome began with a poem from the renowned Lucy Tapahonso, spoken in Navajo and English. Then I saw Jesmyn Ward, author of Let Us Descend, interviewed by Tracy K. Smith. What a great opening night.

Now I have to confess that I didn’t know the names of all the authors, but because of working the morning shifts while I worked, I saw the following:

Saturday morning

  • Roshi Joan Halifax started the morning with meditation. I have heard her speak before but never meditated with her. I did see her and help get the people in the room, but I didn’t get to meditate with her because I also was room manager in the Sweeney ballroom. Maybe next year!
  • David Gunn, who wrote Killers of the Flower Moon, interviewed by Santa Fe’s own Hampton Sides. David talked of how the book became a best-selling movie and promoted his new book, The Wager. His personality shone through.
  • Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist, who has photographed all major wars in the 21st century. Her presentation stunned me, so I had to buy her memoir, It’s What I Do.

The morning’s duties exhausted me because I did a lot of standing, yet I had bought tickets to four more events Saturday afternoon. Because I didn’t have enough time to grab lunch quickly, I decided not to rush off to the first afternoon session for me.

Saturday afternoon

  • Poet, Arthur Sze, interviewed by poet, Wang Jiaxin. I love poetry but I had trouble understanding these two, so I left early to regroup for the rest of the day.
  • Tracy K. Smith, poet, interviewed, by Hakim Bellamy, entertained me with her strong shares about poetry writing.
  • Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See, interviewed by Bryan Curtis. Anthony was one of my favorites with a high energy, fun-filled talk.

Saturday evening, I saw Julia Alvarez, Dominican Latina author of The Cemetery of Untold Stories. I had heard of Julia for years but never read any of her books. So, a month or so ago, I started reading her first book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and fell in love with her writing. She was interviewed by Manuel Munoz who identified her as his idol.

So, when the day ended, I went to bed at 10:00 pm (early for me) super-exhausted but so satisfied. Lin went home so I was on my own.

Sunday morning, I worked the same shift I worked on Saturday and again saw some super stars in the literary world

Sunday morning

  • Natalie Goldberg, a longtime mentor of mine, led the morning meditation with writing practice (see Writing Down the Bone if you are not familiar with that term). I stayed with her until she assigned the first writing prompt, but I had to go the Sweeney ballroom to prepare for the author’s presentation there.
  • Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer and other biographies, interviewed James McGrath Morris, shared his experience of co-writing a biography. He waited 19 years to have this book produced as a movie! The story tells more than just about the bomb—the tragic trial and accusations were horrible.
  • Patrick Radden Keefe, investigative journalist for the The New Yorker, shared chilling stories about his work reporting on the opioid crisis and El Chapo Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel.

I learned from Saturday to take a break for lunch so I did, missing one session. Then I jumped on it for the rest of the day:

Sunday afternoon

  • Javier Zamora, author of Solito, interviewed by Demetria Martinez, told his story of coming illegally to the USA as a 9-year-old, let by a “Coyote” who left him. What a compelling story! His commitment to standing up for the Latino world touched my heart.
  • Hampton Sides, author of The Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook, interviewed by Mark Bryant, highlighted the process of writing this book and a look at his successful career of writing biographers.

The evening program began with Hakim Bellamy reciting a poem he just wrote to reflect the weekend experience—a powerful statement!

Then the evening and the conference ended with one of my mentors, Anne Lamott, author of Somehow: Thoughts on Love, interviewed by Ellen McGirt. I had waited with anticipation for this talk and she didn’t disappoint me. I have followed her work for years, starting with Bird by Bird, a book that directed my teaching of writing to my students.

Her entertaining, humorous exchange with Ellen and the crowd sent me home celebrating the whole experience.

The books I bought - Santa Fe

Finally, I bought lots of books and got most of them signed by the authors. I talked to a lot of like-minded readers and authors, and I can hardly wait for next year. Being a volunteer gave me an inside view of the mechanism of a super-successful event.

And two asides:

My books for sale - Santa Fe
My books for sale
Closer look
  1. The New Mexico Book Association had a display of New Mexico authors in one room and I had two books there: Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better and Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir.
  2. When I got paperwork Friday night, I saw that Natalie Goldberg and Katie Arnold are offering a hike with walking meditation and writing at the Randall Davey Audubon Center Monday, May 20 from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, so I’m going! What a way to end this fantastic experience!
Hair on Fire audiobook cover - Santa Fe

~ Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir available in audiobook format at the following places:

Enjoy my interview on the podcast, The Writing Table

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