Audio Design & Website

Today I received my audio cover in email.  I liked the way it looked.  Now people can order just the audio version or they can order the book and get the audio download for free.  All of this was part of my contract.  Now I can't wait till I have them both together.  I want to play the audio while showing the book to my students.  I think they would enjoy that more than hearing me read it. 

I also received an email today saying they would begin working on my website.  I need to supply the content and then they will begin putting it all together.  After they are finished, they will update it for one month and then it becomes mine.  I plan on having tabs for: Home & Events, About the Book, About the Author, and Lesson Plan Ideas.  I can have up to 5 pages, but I don't think I will need that many.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Audio Book is Finished

A week ago, I received the first proof on my audio version of "My Finny Fin Fin."  I was excited.  I plugged my earphones into my laptop.  I clicked a few buttons and then it was up.  I pushed play and was very surprised to hear echos, lots and lots of echos.  I listened to the whole book a few times like that.  I didn't like it at first.  Then as I listened more. I thought maybe the narrator was trying to make it sound like it was under the ocean.  So it grew on me some.  I unpluged my earphones and left for a few mintues.  When I came back to listen again, I noticed when I plugged in my earphones, there was a check mark in the "Arena" sound box.  I unchecked that and then listened again.  The real recording was there.  LOL  I realized that I was the one who created the echos. 

After I listened to the recording the way it was suppose to be, I went and picked up my printed copy of my book.  I checked the words as the narrator read it.  I listened for page pauses.  I found a few mistakes.  One word was left out and another inserted where it shouldn't be.  I also noticed that their weren't pauses for the page turns on some of the pages.  So I sent my correction form back to the multimedia producer to fix the mistakes.

I received the final proof email today.  My producer congratulated me on the completion of the audio book.   He sent the final copy to be reviewed as well as all the forms.  So I eagerly played the story.  I liked it.  He had made one of my character's voice deeper, which was a change I wasn't expecting.  I pulled out my paper copy of my story and listened to the audio version while looking at the pages.  The voice went well with that character.  There were no mistakes this time.  So I printed out the Audio Content form and will be sending it off today.

I went on line to Barnes and Nobel just to see if my book was listed.  It was!!!  I was thrilled.  It doesn't have a picture with it yet, but they are taking preorders already.  They discounted it down a little as well.  Next, I went to Amazon.com, but no luck.  My official release date is Feb. 15th!  That is when it will be completely ready on both sites. 

I'm still waiting for my shipment of books to come in.  It has been two weeks since I ordered them.  My marketing director told me it would take 2 to 3 weeks before I would get them.  They should be coming anytime.  I can't wait!