Take your ears on a journey
Posted by Lise McClendon in Readers, Thalia Press, Uncategorized on Oct 19, 2011
Do you listen to audiobooks? I do, maybe because I live out in the Land of Long Distances and do a lot of driving. I love a great novel on audio because if the narrator is a good one it adds another dimension to reading. So it is with great excitement I can shout out that Iambik Audio has released One O’clock Jump as an audiobook. Mark Douglas Nelson is the narrator. Although it is a Dorie Lennox book (a dame) there are also plenty of viewpoint scenes through the eyes of Amos Haddam, her British boss at the Kansas City detective agency. Mark nails a slightly tired, slightly posh British accent for Amos that is so much fun it makes me smile when I listen to it. (For a synopsis of the plot of One O’clock Jump see this link.)
The cool thing about Iambik is not just that their prices are *very* reasonable. I found them when I bought an audiobook for a trip, Rebecca Pawel’s Death of a Nationalist — on sale for $2.99. Yes, an entire audiobook for three bucks! (It’s now a bit higher.) Frankly I had no great expectations at that price but I figured, like a cheap e-book, it was worth a chance. And I was pleasantly surprised: good production values, nice narrator voice, terrific story. All the things you look for in an audiobook were there.
Then I found out Iambik‘s model is slightly different. They work with small presses, contracting with the author for the audiobook. Then the project is pitched to their narrator/voice actors around the continent.(Iambik is located in Montreal.) Narrators send in auditions and the writer gets to choose his favorite. Yes, that’s right. I got to choose! In my experience you also get a plus, a narrator who is interested in the material. The narrator then does the production at his own location, in his own time. The royalties are split between us: writer, narrator, and Iambik. As an author I get a very nice 40%, nothing to be sneezed at, even with a low price.
One O’clock Jump is now on sale for $6.99. (All Iambik audiobooks are under $10.) The sequel, Sweet and Lowdown, will be released shortly, as will my suspense novel, Blackbird Fly. Get your ears on!