So many authors have made the decision to go to e-book format instead of going through traditional publishers today. I can’t blame them. I know in my case I make a lot more money from my e-book sales than I ever made with a traditional publisher. To mix things up a bit I started thinking about the reading market and how so many things have changed in just five years. Everyone carries around a Kindle or Nook or some other form of E– reader today, which you know if you have an E-reader, is a beautiful thing. It gives you access to thousands of books with just a flick of a finger..

I can’t help but wonder amidst the e-book vs traditional publishing madness what will come next? Can we expect the E reader craze to just become the standard for the next 20 years? To answer that question I took a look at music. Remember eight tracks? Then cassette tapes, then we moved on up to CDs and those CDs are disappearing to MP3 downloads that go into phones iPods or simple MP3 players. If I take that analogy and use books instead, where does the book go from an E-reader? What’s its next format? The only one I could think of was the one sitting right in front of me. MP3s. It’s easier for us to carry around a Kindle or Nook than it is five paperbacks. Although we have a lot more choices with E- readers, how much easier would it be if a reader simply had to download a book, pop into their phone or iPod, stick in some earbuds and listen to a story being told to him or her? Just as anyone with an iPod is limited to the number of songs available to them due to storage space, so would it be with MP3 audio books.

I know that some may interpret this as I’m alluding to our readers becoming lazier as time goes on. I don’t see it is lazier as much as I do convenience. It would be easy to pop in a set of headphones and an MP3 player on my lunch break at work or while vacuuming floors or washing dishes and instead of hearing the drone of commercials on television, radio or horrible news on news channels, I could be listening to a fabulous story instead.

All that said I started taking a look into the technology and the cost of creating MP3s of my books. There are a lot of companies out there who are willing to provide the service, a lot of voice actors with a lot of talent. What to do? What to do?

Well if anybody out there knows me at all of course I did my homework where the companies and actors/actresses were concerned, and I gave it a shot. Not only once but three times or should I say seven? Currently in audio format I have Water Witch, Morbid Curiosity, Grave Intent, a novella titled White-Hot, and two short stories, And Then There Were None, along with Bottom Feeder. Currently, I’m having Family Inheritance performed and soon to be available as an MP3 download. All of these books are now available on Amazon.com, iTunes, and Audible.

When they first showed up online as available for purchase I looked at it with a jaundiced eye. I listen to a lot of books on CD and MP3 downloads. I know the cost is significantly more than that of a Kindle download. But I can’t read while I drive, so CDs or a download is a win-win for me.  Although it did cost a significant amount of money to get the creations I wanted, I looked at the offerings from the three companies who made my MP3 downloads available and thought them to be a bit expensive. Now I’m sure if anyone from Amazon, iTunes, or Audible is reading this I certainly won’t become their best friend overnight.

I want to make these MP3 downloads cheaper and plan to through my own website. That process is in the works even as we speak. Once it becomes available, I plan to do another shout out. I hope you’ll take advantage of the significantly reduced cost of these stories told by some magnificent actors and actresses. Then, most importantly, email me and let me know what you think. Of course, if you simply can’t wait until they’re available directly off my website, feel free to go here to find them https://www.amazon.com/Grave-Intent-Deborah-LeBlanc-ebook/dp/B004DL0NNQ?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect

Until the next phase, fad, or impulse comes about, stay well, loved, and motivated, my friend!

Deb