by Tom Evans | Nov 28, 2019 | Expanding, Scribing, Timing
While I have been busy creating the Soulwaves book itself, I have consciously done nothing about publishing it, other than to observe what is happening in the industry. So rather than me having to find the way to get it published, I’ve been allowing the paths to publication and marketing to find me.
I had already used Ingram Spark last year for the Big U and am using them again but this time also publishing a hardback version. I wanted something other than just ACX and iTunes for the audiobook though.
Thanks mainly to the wonderful Creative Penn podcast, from the prolific and supremely knowledgeable Joanna Penn, I’m using a new way to distribute the audiobook version.
Findaway Voices not only submit your audiobook to ACX/Audible and iTunes but over 40 other audiobook platforms. Before submitting Soulwaves (at nearly 10 hours long), I tested the system out with the audiobook version of The Germinatrix (at less than 1 hour long).
I had the usual tech issues to fix with ACX, my fault for rushing, but pleased to see the book out on so many places it has never been heard before. Note, I serialised it on Insight Timer over the last two years – well that method worked for Charles Dickens and H.G. Wells!
Listen to Joanna’s podcast with Will Dages of Findaway Voices
Listen to my first audiobook distributed by them – The Germinatrix
Also this month, I had a lovely heart-to-heart with wordsmith, Mariëlle Smith …
Proofing the Pudding
Usually initial proof read and recording of audiobook catches 99% of errors. As the first sample print books of Soulwaves arrived this month, it was clear I only caught 95% or so!
Thank goodness for print on demand and setting a pre-order date.
Perhaps as this is so big and expansive in plot – over billions of years of time and 150,000 light years in space – I have learned a novel such as this needs an additional proof read after the recording of the audiobook.
So December will be spent ironing out the wrinkles. You can however safely pre-order the book in all good online bookstores and it will be perfect by the 10th Jan 2020.
by Tom Evans | Oct 28, 2019 | Scribing
Fifteen books later, the book I started first has finally been written – and narrated.
It’s now off for typesetting as this blog gets published. The day after the book is done and it’s now kind of out of my hands, it’s almost like missing an old friend and there is a strange sense of loss.
I have been researching genres though and am delighted to zero in on Metaphysical and Visionary Fiction, where you find books like The Alchemist and Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Rather than my usual rush into a new project rapidly, I am treating myself to a breather. New plans kick off on the 1st November when we may be in, or out, of the EU – or more likely, one foot in and one foot out – which mirrors where I am with the book which is written but not published.
On which note, we’ve decided to go for a publication date of 10th Jan 2020, which is the first Full Moon – the timing of which appears often in the book.
Lessons Learned
- The process cannot be rushed (even for a time bender)
- The book is much richer in its third draft with intertwining plot lines
- Audiobook production is the best proofreading process
- The timing is impeccable with more and more ways to promote a book these days
- Pre-marketing on the book’s progress and a pre-order date are key to warming up readers (and listeners)
What’s Next?
- Being Soulful – a series of meditations to accompany the book
- Getting beta readers and listeners
- Long overdue rationalisation & streamlining of my old online courses
- Creation and re-creation of said courses (and new ones) for online apps and a new and wider audience
- Restarting The Zone Show podcast
Other News …
- Being 999 – a meditation I recorded ages ago now up on Insight Timer & making waves
- An Extended Akashic Journey – elongation of an old favourite also up on the app
- More short stories from The Germinatrix also up on the app and pending release …
- … the audiobook version of that book happening by stealth
- Honoured to lead an 80 minute live guided meditation and awakening in Bristol this month
by Tom Evans | Aug 31, 2019 | Scribing
Artwork by Siri Stiklestad Opli
The month of August has become a big handle turning exercise. September augurs more of the same.
The reason being is that 35 of the 100 chapters of Soulwaves are now narrated. I make no bones about it, it is a huge task and big ask, with no shortcuts.
While it might sound like a lot of hard work, it does feel I am taking my hands off the wheel and coasting down hill to a glorious destination. Apart from anything, I am really enjoying reading my own book back and remembering things I’d forgotten I’d wrote.
Reading a book out loud is simply the best and most thorough way to proof read a book. Here’s why:
#1. If I can read it out loud, a reader can’t read it ‘in loud’. It won’t scan well.
#2. I am spotting forward references I set up in earlier chapters I wrote many months ago that I can pick up and develop subtly in later chapters.
#3. You spot errors even the best editor/proof reader may not have spotted. I’ve found loads and suspect there are more.
August also saw two weeks off with some family support commitments. Due to ongoing support commitments, I plan to have the next third of the book narrated by the time I blog next and the final third completed by the end of October.
This will lead to print and ebook production in November which in turn means publication should be early December.
One of the tricks I use, which is also one I use in writing, is to record the very ending words first. This is the poem I wrote many years ago to describe the essence of what a Soulwave is. It wraps up the book but there’s no spoiler alert as it gives nothing away about the actual ending. Merely it describes how Soulwaves are the fabric of the Universe.
You can listen to it free on Insight Timer …
Soulwaves : A Poem on Entanglement
… also, you can listen to two new meditations on the app this month and a new short story from The Germinatrix and a musical mindful podcast.
Take Your Hands Off the Wheel
Count Your Riches
Moderating Your Mindberg
Mindful Beats With Tyson Baird
p.s. if all of this output seems quite a lot in just one month, it’s just an example of what happens when you take your hands off the wheel
