Guest Blogger Kenneth Weene: Doing Audios

Today we have a guest, author Kenneth Weene, who has dropped by to chat about a sometimes overlooked subject:  books in audio format...

Doing Audios by Kenneth Weene

Lately I have fallen in love with SoundCould, a site to which you can upload your audios and which can be easily accessed by anyone who wants to hear listen. So far, I have uploaded a long poem, a short prose poem, a chapter from my newest book, Tales From the Dew Drop Inne, and three short stories.

For those who are curious, let me set out the technique I use. I have a Mac, so I use Garage Band set on voice. I then save the recorded story to Itunes and upload that file to SoundCloud, all of which is relatively easy. I do cheat one small bit; I use an upgraded microphone instead of the built-in on the Mac.

It isn’t simply that I love the sound of my own voice. It isn’t that I expect others to swoon at the sound. It’s a decent voice with a marked New England accent—certainly nothing designed for voice-overs. In fact, for my book trailers I hire professional readers.

No, it’s that I think people want to know that there is a real person doing the writing. I want my readers to think of me as somebody they know, and what better way for them to know me than for them to listen to me read some of my work. Audio provides a personal connection.

Are there some problems with doing this? A few. Perhaps the biggest one is my accent. One Linkedin friend thought I was saying “human hat” when I was in fact saying “human heart.” Oh well, it’s little late for speech lessons.

Also, I am making myself rather public by doing these audios. There is a sense of exposure just because it is something that I am doing so directly. People are no longer just considering my crafted words but much more, the timbre of my voice, the inflections, those missed words and stammers, the coughs—the human essence.  Still, I think it well worth the time and the risk of openness.

Will these recordings result in book sales? That I cannot answer. In a sense I don’t even care. What I want is to feel good about my writing, and doing audios is another part of that great feeling I call being an author.

Here are the links to my audios. Do enjoy!

http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/holocaust-rag
http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/dark-warnin
http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/in-the-army
http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/bender
http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/in-my-fathers-house
http://soundcloud.com/kenneth-weene/why-we-welcome-crickets-in-our

As for my books, I do hope you’ll check them out, too. The easiest way? Visit my Amazon page where you can find the books and reviews. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ie=UTF8&field-author=Kenneth%20Weene

By the way, Widow’s Walk, Memoirs From the Asylum, and Tales From the Dew Drop Inne are all available in print, Kindle and Nook formats.
Read well and be happy!


Author Bio:

Life itches and torments Kenneth Weene like pesky flies. Annoyed, he picks up a pile of paper to slap at the buzzing and often whacks himself on the head. Each whack is another story. At least having half-blinded himself, he has learned to not wave the pencil.
A New Englander by upbringing and inclination, Kenneth Weene is a teacher, psychologist and pastoral counselor by education. He is a writer by passion.
Ken’s short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous publications including Sol, Spirits, Palo Verde Pages, Vox Poetica, Clutching at Straws, The Word Place, Legendary, Sex and Murder Magazine, The New Flesh Magazine, The Santa Fe Literary Review, Daily Flashes of Erotica Quarterly, Bewildering Stories, A Word With You Press, Mirror Dance, The Aurorean, Stymie, and Empirical.
Ken’s novels, Widow’s Walk and Memoirs From the Asylum, and Tales From the Dew Drop Inne, are published by All Things That Matter Press.

To learn more about Ken’s writing visit: http://www.authorkenweene.com/