I finally got to do an author #thing that I’ve wanted to do since forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but certainly since I first wrote my Telesa Series which was kazillions of years ago – so maybe yes, it IS since forever! Anyway I digress…
Im making audiobooks! And Im starting with my childrens book HALU BONGO and Im narrating that one myself.
Big Daughter connected me with a fab music/audio production company called Wayfarer Studio in Auckland. Some of you know that Im here for a while because Big Daughter had an accident at work, fell down the stairs and broke both her ankles. So Ive been hanging out here with her until the cast comes off. Getting lots of writing done on my Telesa movie script and now also making an audiobook too.
It was a fun experience. The Wayfarer team came to our house and set up here – which immediately makes them a five star service because as we all know, I HATE going outside the hermit cave. ( So if youre an author who also loathes going places then you too should check out Wayfarer Studio. And tell them I sent you.)
I had to read my story several times over, in English, in Samoan, then in both. Then repeat all over again. With breaks to eat Toffee Pops for much needed sustenance. By the time it was done Im sure everyone was sick to death of that wonderful dog called Bongo that barks too much!
Now the recording is done, the Wayfarer team are doing all the editing and fancifying, including adding fancy sound effects since its a kids book. Im excited for the final product.
Next on the list is Telesa. Which is going to take 100 years probably because that book has way too many pages. Theres about 110,000 words in the first Telesa book. And on average, it takes 20 hours of reading recording time, spread out across several weeks, for a 100k word novel. Not counting stops and starts, rest days, making mistakes and doing bits again… Thats a lot of reading out aloud. So inconvenient when you want to turn it into an audiobook. I mean, WHO WROTE SUCH A MONSTROUSLY MASSIVE BOOK DAMMIT?! And WAS IT REALLY NECESSARY TO USE SO MANY WORDS TO DESCRIBE DANIEL’S GLISTENING MUSCLES?!
Yes, Im determined to make all seven of the Telesa books into audio but its gonna take a lot of work. And a lot of Toffee Pops will be consumed no doubt.
The other supercool author thing I want to do for all my novels is have them translated to Gagana Samoa. I get a lot of inquiries from overseas publishers about translation rights and I’m always buzz delighted when I imagine my book available in French, Spanish, Mandarin and more. Wow, so international, so fancy! But then I always say no thank you (regretfully) because for me the first language any of my books should be translated to – is Samoan. It just doesnt seem right to have them in any other language until the Samoan version is made.
So thats my update for this week from Auckland where Im writing my movie script, recording an audiobook, and eating too many Toffee Pops.
