audiobooks – Leenie Brown

Weekend Reading Ideas as April Draws to a Close

Do you read on the weekend? That’s often when I have time to read — Sunday afternoons in particular.

As I head into the final weekend of April, I wanted to remind you about my book promotions – one of which ends this weekend – and to let you know about a couple of audiobook things.

In case, you need a few weekend reading suggestions. 😉

So, first, let’s get the promotion reminders out of the way.

The Kobo Spring/Autumn Reading Campaign ends on April 26, which means in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada the $0.99 price for Listen to Your Heart will disappear on Monday. If you were wanting to nab that book at that price, you have a day or so to do that. (And I did mark it to $0.99 on all sales platforms, not just Kobo.)

The series price drops for my Touches of Austen books ends on April 30. Those prices are as follows:

Her Secret Beau is $0.99 USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, with all other currencies also reduced
All the other single title books in the series are $2.99 USD (regular price $3.99), with all other currencies also reduced.

And remember that the Patreon free read and paid Patron downloads also end on April 30.

Go to the Book Promo Page HEre for links for these things

Find links for this book on the Promo Page or the Audiobook page

And then let me share with you that the audiobook edition of Frosted Windowpanes has been published!

So far, I have found links for it on Spotify, Kobo, Nook, and Everand, and of course, it is also part of all paid Patreon subscriptions or free to listen to on YouTube.

I have chosen to list the audiobook at the introductory cost of $2.99 in stores and $4.99 in library catalogues until the end of May. After that, the price will go up to $4.99 in stores and $9.99 in library catalogues.

As I have mentioned before and will mention again at some point, my audiobooks are read by Christopher E (E is for Elevenlabs), an authorized voice replica.

This means that the owner of the voice gets paid whenever his voice clone is used to create an audiobook. This is one way that some voice actors are choosing to diversify their income, and means that audiobook production costs for me are lower when it comes to dollars and cents, but higher when it comes to sweat equity and time in the production process.

Below is a short snippet of me working on one of the chapters for Frosted Windowpanes. This was during my first pass. It took me 8 minutes to get this paragraph to a point where I was willing to leave it and move on. Then, on the second pass through the manuscript, I spent a few more minutes (though I did not keep track of how long) on improving on what I had done during that first pass.

(There is no sound, because I work with a headset on so I can hear any small things that need to be taken out or changed.)

In other audiobook news…

This week I have marked all the Darcy And… stories with an a la carte price on ElevenReader. That means they are still available to listen to using a voice of your choosing if you’re a subscriber, but they are also now available to add to your library for $4.99 without having a subscription.

I have also just started to share Discovering Mr. Darcy as an Audiobook-by-the-Chapter on YouTube.

And that’s it for today.

Have a lovely weekend! I hope it includes some time to read (or listen) to a story.

<3 Leenie

Frosted Windowpanes | A Nature’s Fury and Delights Novelette

This book is now available to listen to on YouTube. It is also available as a download with a paid Patreon subscription and will soon be available in some other places as well.

If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel yet, I’d love it if you would.

The description of this book and how the audiobook was made are below.

Happy Listening!

<3 Leenie

——-

ABOUT THE BOOK:

In an attempt to distance himself from the pain of rejection, Patrick left Ashmore Hall four years ago. Now, just before Christmas, he has returned, brought home by the deaths of both his mother and brother.

However, the painful memories that he finds upon his arrival threaten to drive him away once more, until the determination of the lady he loves proves to him that just like the frost brings beauty to the coldness of winter, beauty can rise out of sorrow.

Frosted Windowpanes is one of Leenie Brown’s Nature’s Fury and Delights Collection of sweet Regency romance quick reads. If you like second-chance romances reminiscent of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, then, you’re going to enjoy listening to Patrick and Amanda overcome the hurts of the past to finally find their happily ever after.

——-

ABOUT THE AUDIOBOOK:

This story is read by Christopher, an authorized voice replica (AVR) made available by the voice actor, through the Elevenlabs library. While this is a digital narration, the voice actor does receive compensation whenever his voice is used. In other words, offering AVR voices on Elevenlabs is one way that some voice actors have chosen to diversify their income. And I am so glad that Christopher has chosen this option because I quite enjoy listening to him read me my stories. I hope you enjoy his performance as much as I did while getting it ready to share.

Editing of the audio to produce this performance was completed by me, Leenie Ann, using the Elevenlabs program.

An Intro to a New Project

Hi.

I wanted to let you know that I have started to make some digitally narrated audiobooks to share on YouTube for those who would like to listen to them.

I know audiobooks are not everyone’s thing.

And then there’s the whole AI voice thing…

I know… Those two letters can cause quite a reaction, but before you automatically condemn me or this audiobook for those letters, let me assure you that my use of the AI voice I am using to create the audiobooks PAYS the voice actor.

You see, I’m using Elevenlabs to create these audiobooks, and Christopher, the narrator I have selected, is a professional voice actor, who of his own free accord, submitted a professional reading sample to Elevenlabs. They, then, made a professional clone of his voice, after which, with his full permission, they added his voice to their narrator voice library, and every time anyone uses Christopher to narrate their project, the voice actor gets paid for the use.

Now, obviously, the pay is not at the same rate that he would earn for a production that he is commissioned to do, but he is paid. And that means that when I’m making these audiobooks, I’m supporting a fellow creative. That’s important to me and is why I am doing my best to only select professional cloned voices as I make my audiobooks for both my pen names.

At present, I have selected to use Christopher for all my Leenie books because I find I rather enjoy listening to his voice read me stories, but who knows, that might change as I go on.

If I had time and more experience (and for fun and to offer a different version of audio), I might try using a mix of male and female voices to create a duet style audiobook, or I could pull out all the stops (and likely drive myself crazy) and use a different voice for each different character when they speak. 😀 Will that ever happen? I wouldn’t say never, but it does seem unlikely at present.

I’ve long wanted to have audiobooks, but I could never afford to do them. They’re not cheap, and I’d be paying with Canadian dollars which means they’re even more expensive for me. So, I had thought I’d never get to do them.

And then, my father’s wife (he remarried after my mother died) started losing sight in her one good eye (she’s been blind in one eye all her life), and her ability to read was slowly taken from her. That’s when I started to look at audiobooks as something more than just a nice thing to create if you can afford to do it.

So, I started to look for ways to do good quality productions at a fraction of the cost, and in that search, I came across Elevenlabs. After taking a short how-to course on using Elevenlabs to make audiobooks, I have arrived here at the beginning of a slow process of producing audio files.

I am starting my audiobook sharing on YouTube with the little vignettes that I’ve written for The Saturday Broadsheet. Since they are so short, it’s been a good way for me to practice my production and video making skills. I hope you will give at least one a listen and hopefully, you’ll find some enjoyment in these audiobooks. But, like I said; I know this won’t be for everyone. It’s not intended to be.

As I get each audiobook ready, I plan to schedule and share these videos on Saturdays on YouTube. So, if this is something that interest you, I’d love to have you subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the notification button so you won’t miss when I upload a new story.

I am posting the first vignette, Percival the Frog, below. You can listen to it here or click through to YouTube.

I do hope that this will make my books more accessible to more readers.

<3 Leenie