Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Faultland is an audiobook

Four years ago this week, in the middle of lockdown, Faultland—the trade paperback and ebook versions—launched. Oh what fun, launching a book during the pandemic. Luckily, my good buddy Monica Drake, along with the Ooligan students, volunteered to help with a Zoom launch, but man, did I miss those bookstore events.

So, skip ahead four years. Yesterday Ooligan released the audiobook version of Faultland. It took four years and several cohorts of the publishing program at Portland State to make it happen. Turns out, there’s a lot involved. Scripting, casting, recording, pre- and post-production. Then, like with physical and ebooks, there’s the whole marketing and distribution question.

We love our audiobooks, right? A couple weeks ago, Ooligan student, Mara Palmieri, blogged about audiobook consumption. Multi-tasking, portability, eye-fatigue (especially with those older folks like yours truly—who read for a living)—all contribute to the $2 billion industry. And I love me some story time. Especially at night. In fact, a few nights ago I slipped my headphones on and fell asleep to Chelsea Bieker’s MADWOMAN. (I don’t recommend falling asleep with Beats soldered to your skull, however. As compelling as that novel is, I woke in wee hours, several unconsciously absorbed chapters ahead—and very sore ears.)

Nothing compares to listening to one’s own book, though. The first of my novels to be rendered audio, was Bitterroot, via Sibylline Press. Hearing a narrator read my story to me was such a trip! There were a few moments where I was like, “What’s going to happen next?” Seriously. My own book! Which speaks to the importance of finding the right narrator for a given title. Some of the major stars even have Deadhead-like fans that’ll download anything they narrate.

How about you, my dear readers? Do you enjoy audiobooks? Any favorite narrators?