Audio Version of Sunnyside Road (Paradise Dissembling)

As an author, the publishing of my works is often mind-boggling. I am not a do-it-all kind of writer. Formatting copy for uploading to a printer, Amazon, or Audio is just a roadblock to me. Consider that the author must wade through the morass of publishing supports for all of the following: different types of editors, cover artists, cover graphic designers, inside print designers for two formats, indie printers and publishers, and finally, a narrator for an audio book. The learning curve is steep. The author, as in any business buying services, must source vendors, know what is best out of all options (not withstanding the author’s personal desires), and make choices based on time, financial, and personal limitations. As you can see, all this interferes with writing. And that’s the before publication picture. Marketing of an author’s work is that blob of ink that keeps seeping into a larger picture. To quote the King from, ‘A King and I,’ “Is a Puzzlement.”

The least stressful of all my choices has been publishing an audio version of my first book, ‘Sunnyside Road (Paradise Dissembling).’ Although finding my way through another publishing site is always stressful. As an indie author and publisher, am I a publisher or an author? I needed a new email address. Amazon lives and dies by unique email addresses. And then, the desire for a narrator is advertised. Low and behold! Suddenly my email was flooded with choice. I now know what it is to be eighteen years old and flooded with college applications. They all look good, but which one is for me. So I listened to voices. I wondered then as I do now: if the future listener has a desire for high or low voices, would they reject a book that did not meet their needs. Was I the best person to choose a narrator for my book. I had several friends listen to four or five voices I favored and they liked my choice.

And I listened to my book on tape. Previously, I had listened to lectures, short essays, poetry, and comedy on audio. Listening to a novel was new to me. I am a storyteller and listening is one of my skills. The ear to the brain in my body is a bit faster than is the eye to the brain, but not everyone is me. My first novel with its many characters and murders require some attention to detail. I listened and to my surprise, it was a different book. I was back to my radio days when I would listen and imagine. I wrote this novel and the experience was different.

I sincerely hope you will tell your friends who listen vs read that Sunnyside Road will soon be an option for them. Look on my website for the final date when the novel will be live. Try listening yourself. Book vs Audio vs Movie. Surely one will please!

K. B. Pellegrino, Author