My first fantasy Book called "The Swords of the Unforgotten Memories" audiobook is out in Audible today, and I want to blog about how I feel.
I feel excited and very nervous, I am not going to lie. I know it won't make any sales, and if it does, it will only be a few, so I shouldn't be as nervous as I am, but I am a lot more nervous now than when I was publishing an actual book.
The reason is that I already have people reading the book, and no one has given negative comments yet. I even received a 5-star review, which I am thrilled about. So, I know my book is good; it may even be very good for some readers. I understand that not everyone is going to like it, and I am okay with that :)
However, with audiobooks, listeners need your voice to tell them the story, so you must be clear. On top of that, you need skills such as character voices, using different tones, and varying pacing, etc. I am not a voice actor, and I need practice, which I am doing by narrating the 'Worlds Beneath the Shadows' story in podcast form, so I will get better with time, but not now.
That said, I expect people will complain that my voice-acting skills are not that good, which is fine as I agree with them. But what makes me nervous is how I feel when I receive those reviews/comments.
The truth is I suffer from dyslexia and have a speech difficulty, which has dramatically improved, but I still struggle with speaking a tiny bit. But what I struggle with the most is reading the text and speaking at the same time. My mind doesn't process the text as fast for me to speak at the pace I should be, so I know not everyone will enjoy my audio.
Self-narrating this book was a personal goal for me when writing the first draft, and it was a goal I set when I was getting my final speech and language difficulty lessons.
At that time, I didn't have any confidence in my voice at all until I started listening to my voice regularly through my YouTube channel where I stream indie horror games. After listening to my voice for 30 hours, I noticed that I wasn't looking at the negatives in my voice, which I always did. I was actually enjoying listening to my voice, which I never thought I would.
Selecting my Speech Therapist, creating my YouTube gaming channel, and setting this goal of self-narrating my fantasy book is probably one of the best things I have done. Now I am a lot more confident in my voice, and I think I will be okay when the negative reviews happen for 'The Swords of the Unforgotten Memories' as I am now very confident in my voice and that is a dream come true for me.
It just shows how much perception can affect how you feel. Because my voice didn't really improve much, it was my perception that changed after I listened to voice regularly, which I wouldn't have done without that YouTube channel.
Most people will comment on my voice-acting skills, which is fair, as I completely agree.
Once I finish writing this blog, I will be narrating Chapter Ten, 'The Clouded Vision,' from 'Worlds Beneath the Shadows.'
Thank you for reading my blog :)
Check out the The Swords of the Unforgotten Memories: Secrets Beneath the Ripples
My first book and the goals that I set which was achieved more than I could have ever managed
To support me in my writing dream
If you want to support me and get behind-the-scenes content, stories in advance, a backlist of my books, etc. Please check out my Ream page
Comments