And I’m done! Sort of…

So today I uploaded the final chapter of my first audiobook, FLEE, to my YouTube channel. Recording and editing all twenty-one chapters more involved than I was anticipating, but as always, I learned so many valuable things from the process. In the end, I was able to get into a good routine (establishing routines are always so important for creative projects). I’d wake up a little early each morning, when the apartment was quiet and the traffic noises outside weren’t too obnoxious, and would record a single chapter, which I’d then edit later in the evening when I had some spare time. (Since I’m not doing any of this full time, it’s sometimes a struggle to find the time here and there to work on things)

Of course, in spite of being done with all twenty-one chapters, I’m not really finished. Since I purchased a professional microphone midway through the project (which is why everything after chapter nine sounds so much better), the quality of the two halves of the book are vastly different. In addition to the technical aspect of recording, my reading and voice acting skills also improved quite a bit as I went along. I could feel myself slowing down and really savoring the reading and getting into the mind of each character (as opposed to just reading words on the screen to get through the material in the beginning).

So all of this adds up to me really needing to redo the first nine chapters, three of which I’ve already recorded in the last couple of days. I’m working much more quickly than I was in the beginning so I’m not expecting the final six chapters to take all that long, but once they are done I’ll be uploading the entire thing to ACX, Amazon’s audiobook site. Once that’s done, I’ll probably put together a little video for those of who who haven’t used Audible (Amazon’s audiobook app) to show how to purchase and listen to the book if you’re so inclined.

As always, I want to express my appreciation to those of you who had the patience to wait for the release of each audiobook chapter, which weren’t really uploaded according to any sort of discernible schedule (I did them as I found time for them). Also appreciated were the tips and suggestions, usually in the form of comments on YouTube. This feedback is vital, and I feel it really helped me improve as I went through the process.

Although I’ve got plenty of room to grow as a narrator, this project was unexpectedly enjoyable, and I found myself doing more research than I’d originally intended to capture certain accents (Mexican, Colombian, Indian, Southern, New Orleaniean, Canadian). Some of the voice acting is still in need of improvement, but I hope the next two books will afford me exactly that opportunity for growth.

Thanks for listening!

Mark your calendars, STAND is almost here!

Hi all! Well, I'm happy to finally announce the release date for STAND, the final book in the FLEE trilogy. It's been a long and somewhat arduous process, but the book is completed and the editors have written back with their final feedback. As always, it's proven invaluable in helping me to deliver the best possible reading experience.

I'm excited to let you all know that STAND will be available on August 10th! That's just 6 days from now, and in the remaining time I'll be finishing the cover design, setting up the products on Amazon, and submitting the final documents for paperback printing.

At the same time, I've finally gotten around to recording an audio book for FLEE. The test reading I did a few days ago was a success, (thanks for your feedback), and I've released the second chapter on my YouTube channel. Now that I have what feels like a good grasp on the recording and editing of a reading, I'm a little more confident to say that more chapters will be released soon. I'm still not sure if I'll do this with all my books as I'd prefer to use the free time I have to create new stories, but we will have to wait and see. Perhaps, if the audio book of FLEE proves to be popular, I'll continue it for the rest of the series.

For those who've asked for the audio version on another platform such as Audible, I'm not yet certain I will go that route. I'm currently leaning towards the idea of leaving the audio recordings on YouTube. It's completely free to listen to and does not require a whole lot of work on my end (going the Audible route would require a whole other registration and validation process). However, we'll see how it goes!

A test reading of FLEE

For the last three years I’ve thrown around the idea of doing audiobooks for my novels. A lot of readers have asked for this over the years (some have poor vision, making reading difficult, others are simply too busy to sit down with a book and would rather listen on the go). I’ve always said no, because it was simply too big of an investment in time and resources.

In spite of all that, with STAND finally in the bag and about to be released, I’ve decided to do a ‘test reading’ of one of my books. This means I’ve recorded one chapter (the first chapter of FLEE) and uploaded it to my channel. Depending on its reception, I will either continue to upload chapters or not.

Going into this project, I knew that one of the most daunting aspects would be that of voice acting. While film, directing, and acting are all interests of mine, I don’t believe I have the chops to portray characters on camera, and I’m not sure I’d do much better on a solely audio format.

So, this is a test. If you enjoy this snippet, help me out by leaving a ‘thumbs up’ on the video. If you feel it’s lacking, don’t be afraid to give it a ‘thumbs down’. In a few days I’ll look at the votes and decide how to proceed. Thanks, and I hope at least some of you will enjoy! (I’ll admit, it was fun to do!)

Editing STAND is a blast

I'm about halfway through the final draft and I'm having so much fun! As I said in the last blog post, editing affords me an opportunity to read the book with a fresh set of eyes and see if all the parts are working correctly, and so far it seems to have really come together!

Of course, there are always changes needed, and I've found myself combining certain characters (if two characters can be combined into one, it's always better than littering the pages with throw-away characters that exist only for exposition's sake or to bring about some plot device). I've also come to realize that certain events or character arcs weren't properly set up in the first draft, so that's been another thing requiring some adjustment.

I've also surprised myself with certain parts of the story which have come across more humorous than I intended. In most cases, I've found, that's ok, as it provides needed levity to an intense (and occasionally dark) story. It also humanizes and grounds the characters, something which has always been one of my primary goals for the series.

So overall, I'm happy with this manuscript. I feel like it's tied up all the loose ends of the other books and brought about a satisfying conclusion to the series. I can only hope you all will have the same reaction to it!

In other news, I was shocked to find the other day that the EKJ Podcast channel on YouTube just reached 100 subscribers! The subscriber count has never been too important to me and I've never asked for subs, but I was happy to reach this milestone because it means that YouTube's custom URL feature is now enabled. This feature allows me to use a more memorable and succinct web address for the channel, and I've chosen youtube.com/c/EKJonathan as mine. (Glad there aren't any other "EK Jonathans" already on the platform!)

For the last month or so I've been tinkering with a new podcast episode, but with the completion of STAND looming on the horizon I haven't had time to put on the final touches. If all goes well, it should drop sometime within the week, so stay tuned!

Can't wait to share this new book with you all!