12 Author Audiobook Confessions.

My first book, Bridging the Silence, just came out on audiobook on Tuesday it’s not even a week old yet. I’ve listened to it and I want to talk about it. This is not spoiler free- but the spoiler is easy to skip over).

Here are my audiobook confessions:

I didn’t get into audiobooks until the last quarter of 2023, but not without trying. I had tried before but I just couldn’t get into them. When I finally did- I had been trying to read the memoir of a musician. It was good but I just could not for the life of me find time to freaking read it. Then I’d forget where I was and have to start over. ( For inquiring minds the book was: They Don’t Need to Understand: Stories of Hope, Fear, Family, Life, and Never Giving In by Andy Biersack). I think part of what captivated me while listening to this one was that Andy Biersack read it himself.
Not long after I ended up signing a contract with Tantor Media to have my Blind Rebels rock star romance series made into audiobooks. Which made me want to listen to other audiobooks just to have an idea of things I like and don’t like. This is how I started my audiobook journey. I now listen to audiobooks almost exclusively while driving back and forth to work.
I preordered my own audiobook on Audible. Could I have waited and used up one of my freebie codes. No way- I was far too excited. I wanted my book right then. ASAP. I am one-clicking myself when it comes to my audios!
Downloading my audiobook onto my phone was akin to me holding the first paperback copy of Bridging the Silence. It was seriously that emotional for me.
Fun fact: Because these books are being done by a professional media group I have no real control over most things. Looking back on the contract process there are definite things I would ask to add but I’m immensely glad I did think to make sure I had the right to refuse the narrators who were chosen to do the work. Did I exercise my final narrator approval rights? Yes once.
Working with Tantor Media has been a very good experience. They were very patient with me bugging them about updates about when things would start moving on my audios (I asked. A LOT). They are responsive when I have questions (which again is probably a lot). Helpful since I’ve never done this before- I had never written casting notes before. So the acquisitions editor I was working with gave me examples. That kind of thing.
I listened to my book in two and a half days. I binged it hard. I have never listened to an audiobook faster than I did my own. Granted I didn’t sleep much, nor did I write much.
Previous to downloading the audiobook I had heard two only two short snippets of the book before it was released- slightly longer versions of the audio on this Instagram Reel and this Instagram Reel.
Listening to my audiobook allowed me to experience my own book as a reader would or as close to it as possible for an author, something I didn’t think was possible. I’ve written it, self-edited it, read it, self-edited it, worked with a developmental editor, then a copy/line editor, then a proofreader. It is hard for me to read my own book for things like content pulls when they are done sometimes because by the time I get to that point I’m sick of it. But this experience allowed me to hear it with fresh ears. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it.
Related to the one above- this allowed me to hear specific things I wrote that I was like wow- I really wrote that! Maybe I do know what I’m doing. Of course there are also things that I heard that made me think (more than once)I need to remember not to do that any more. Also…the word knead doesn’t translate well to audio because listening it sounds like need...and it brought me out of the story like did I make a mistake?
My narrators, Heather Costa and John Lane, their parts are totally amazeballs! My own dang book brought me all the feels. Made Mav and Kady come alive for me. I’ve always said that it would be really cool to have the series made into a Netflix or Passionflix…but this was damn freaking close to that for me.
It was weird for me not being in charge of the process. As an Indie author I am use to being in charge of everything…editing, marketing, writing, timelines, etc so not driving this project was a relief but also felt weird. (Hence all the emails to Tantor about things).
Narrator John Lane made me cry big ugly tears at something I wrote. For those that don’t want a tiny spoiler- avert thee eyes and skip the accordion I am about throw under this list so that you can read the whole list without coming to a spoiler.

The part towards the end of BTS but before the engagement and epilogues where Kady speaks out loud purposely the first time (right after the festival remembrance vigil) when she talks to Mav. That scene is from Mav’s POV and the way John handled that…voiced that?! ALL THE DAMN FEELS….ALL OF THEM. I seriously sobbed during that part (I do this with angsty books- that’s normal- but while I might get teary writing them I don’t usually have THAT visceral of a reaction).

Thank goodness I was home and not at work because I ugly cried. I told you I binged it (item 7) so I was listening to it during lunch at work…and since my office is in an academic library (I work in IT at a university) I tend to spend my lunch hour sitting in the stacks on the top floor (the quiet floor) either writing or goofing around on my phone. I’m pretty damn sure if I had been at work- I’d of disrupted the quiet floor in a big way.