Thanks to MorgEn Bailey for a fun interview and a great blog!
Is it “killing the golden goose,” or “killing the goose that laid the golden eggs?” Audio sample from The Musubi Murder
The Mubusi Murder audiobook is headed to retail and will be available for download in just a few days! To whet (not “wet”) your appetite, here is a sample. Molly Barda is arguing with her best friend, biology professor Emma Nakamura. Voice artist Nicole Gose does an amazing job with this scene, portraying two different people in a spirited discussion.
Frankie Bow’s first novel, THE MUSUBI MURDER , is available at Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.
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The Musubi Murder audiobook is uploaded!
We just made our self-imposed Christmas deadline. The final Musubi Murder audiobook has been uploaded to ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange)! Once it goes through their quality control, you’ll be able to get it on Audible.com, iTunes, and Amazon.
In the meantime, here’s a sample.
Frankie Bow’s first novel, THE MUSUBI MURDER , is available at Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.
Things I didn’t realize about my own book (until I heard someone else reading it)
The Musubi Murder audiobook is almost done. You’d think that I’d know my own manuscript pretty well by now, but:
1. That whole “said” issue really took me by surprise. My producer has gone back and clipped out the unnecessary “said”s and now the dialog flows more smoothly. It wasn’t bad before, but those small edits make a big difference.
2. The humor in the book is broader than I realized. I thought I had written a low-key meditation on academic life, and I found myself listening to a boisterous comedy. The written word is quiet. I think this is where Confessions of a Shopaholic (a book that I found very entertaining) ran into trouble in the movie adaptation. The main character’s compulsive shopping and prevaricating was amusing in print, but on the big screen, many viewers couldn’t bring themselves to laugh at untreated addiction and compulsive lying.
3. You can start with a perfectly flawless manuscript, but if you let it sit too long on your hard drive, tiny typos will start to appear spontaneously. This is less an observation about my own particular book and more a law of nature, so there is no point in assigning blame.
Frankie Bow’s first novel, THE MUSUBI MURDER , is available at Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.
When written doesn’t translate to spoken: Dialog tags and audiobooks
The Musubi Murder audiobook is nearing completion. I’ve really enjoyed listening to the chapters as they come in. I should be well sick of the manuscript by now, so I have to give the credit to my talented (and, as you will see in a moment, very patient) producer.
In a printed book, when you have a conversation going on among three people, you’re going to need a few dialog tags. This is especially true when you’ve just introduced the characters and the reader doesn’t know them yet.
But in an audiobook, the listener can hear the different voices. All of the “said”s break up the flow of the dialog.
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until after Nicole had done a good amount of recording. She is now going back through the recordings and removing the superfluous dialog tags. This is beyond the call of duty, and I am extremely grateful. It’s a hassle for her, but it improves the listening experience.
Here’s an example from the print manuscript of The Musubi Murder:
“Who’s Moira?” Emma asked.
“His sister,” I said.
“What kind of Korean name is Moira?” Pat asked.
“Moira’s not a Korean name,” I said. “Why would it be a Korean name?”
“Yeah, Pat,” Emma said. “Stephen’s not a Korean name either.”
“Why would Stephen be a Korean name?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that Stephen is a Korean name. I said it’s not a Korean name.”
“All right,” I said, “why would you say it’s not a Korean name?”
Emma made an impatient, palms-up gesture.
“Because it’s not?”
“Why do you keep talking about Korean names?”
On the printed page, Emma’s words look a lot like Pat’s words or Molly’s words, so the tags help the reader to keep track of who’s speaking. But in the audiobook version, the characters sound distinct. Pat is the only male speaker; Emma is the only local. Too many “said” tags become repetitive for the listener. For the audiobook we’ll remove one or two of them.
What have I learned for the next audiobook? I’d mark in advance which dialog tags should be omitted by the narrator. I wouldn’t take them out entirely, because the narrator needs to know who is speaking, but maybe I’d strike them out to indicate they’re not to be read aloud.
And yes, I realize that this might mess me up with Whispersync. But maybe by the time the Kindle version of The Musubi Murder comes out, Amazon’s algorithm will be set up to deal with this.
Frankie Bow’s first novel, THE MUSUBI MURDER , is available at Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes.
The Musubi Murder audiobook now in production!
The audiobook of The Musubi Murder is now in production!
My original plan was to draw on our local theatrical talent (much of which is truly world-class!) to record the audiobook. However, I was not able to find a facility locally that would be available for the many hours of recording and production required.
So I put the project up on ACX and reached out to several local voiceover artists. All of the auditions that came in were quite good, and each artist brought something special to the reading.
In the end, I made an offer to Nicole Gose, and I’m thrilled to say that she has accepted and started production.
Molly Barda, The Musubi Murder’s narrator and main character, is a big-city girl from the mainland who finds herself living and working in rural Hawaii. Nicole portrayed Molly perfectly, capturing Molly’s fish-out-of-water situation with humility, humor, and a touch of snark. Nicole also accomplished the impressive feat of switching back and forth between mainland pronunciation and Hawaiian Creole/Pidgin, giving each character a distinctive and believable voice.
Nicole was born and raised in Hawaii and is now living on the West Coast. She is an accomplished voiceover artist, with a client list that includes Apple, Disney, and Dish Network. Nicole has voiced national and international commercial and radio spots, as well as political campaigns.
We are working toward an early December release so that the audiobook will be available for holiday gift giving. The Musubi Murder is the perfect gift for Hawaii expatriates, disillusioned academics, and anyone with a really long commute.
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