It’s that time again! Audiobooks for Inferno are out today, so of course we have a contest. This time, it’s for an audiobook and a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card. Just send your name and “Inferno” to KarenChance@hotmail.com. I’ll draw names on Friday and announce the winners, so don’t dawdle! And good luck!
I’m a dedicated audiophile with over 1500 titles in my library and have participated in a series of surveys sent by publishers asking my input on audiobooks. The last few surveys have involved books narrated using technology instead of humans and while it was impressive when compared against the voice technology most of us are familiar with, it still has a long way to go before it competes with a talented voice actor. Which brings me to my point regarding the last 2 books in the Cassie Palmer series recorded by Em Eldridge. This was not a name I’d ever heard before – very rare for me at this point. After listening to audio samples and reading reviews on various sites, I’m incredibly disappointed that I won’t get to hear either of these books since they’re likely among those not narrated by a voice actor or if they are, she’s done an amazing job imitating technology that poorly imitates normal speech. It’s frustrating and beyond disappointing that publishers seem to be moving toward eliminating the amazingly talented voice actors that make audiobooks worth investing so much of my time and money in! Even worse, many are producing versions so full of jarring sound effects, unrelieved background noise / electronic music, and full casts performing with wildly opposing vocal intonations and emotional expressions in addition to obvious production and editing flaws that prove making this concept appealing seems unlikely. Time constraints and vision restrictions prevent me from going back to reading print versions and I’m beginning to fear I’ll be left out of the amazing adventures like Cassie Palmer’s that I love so much! I hope authors like Ms. Chance will consider things like this when they have the opportunity for input or get to make decisions when their stories are made into audiobooks and that readers who share my enthusiasm will consider things like this when making purchases or asked for their own input. Cassie and her creator deserve genuine talent to share these fantastic adventures!!
1. Em is a real person. I was given two choices for narrator and opened it up for the readers–or listeners in this case, I guess–to vote on. She won, so she got the job.
2. I received no money for the last Cassie Palmer audiobook. I had to let them have it for free in order to have it recorded at all. My books, including audiobooks, don’t sell, so companies don’t want to invest money in them. So I don’t think you’ll have to worry about any more Cassie Palmer (or any of my other books) coming out in audio. I am pretty sure this was the last. I am happy that I found a way to get the book into audio at all, however, as I didn’t want to leave people with half of Ignite recorded and half not.
3. Posts like these to try to encourage people to avoid the books make me nostalgic for the days when I was important enough for people to bother attacking me, but basically, you’re wasting your time. My career is already dead. Just FYI.
Actually I really like Em as a narrator and have listened to quite a few of her books, but I do have to agree they have changed her voice drastically and with your last 2 books and it is really mechanical and unfortunately very hard to listen to.
Karen, I love your books and I happily buy them! I love Cassie and Dory and so do my girls! so please dont stop writing!
I agree Em sounds a tad mechanical. I am so sad to learn these are your last audiobooks. I love your world and characters. Thank you for getting these last books on audio even though you weren’t paid for it. As a 100% audio reader I hope the future looks better for writers.