Audiobook Archives - Laura Schreiber Voice

Winning Silver

While I am still glowing from an incredible weekend at the Readers Favorite awards event celebrating our win of the Silver for the best Fiction Audiobook for the Girl in the Toile Wallpaper by Mary K. Savarese, I figured I would put pen to paper and try to capture the joy of the experience because it really was truly special! When Mary let me know that she had submitted our audiobook and that we won, I was simply elated. We work so hard on these books and put so much of ourselves into them. When you have a passion for what you do, there is simply no other way. Then, to have someone you work with submit is thrilling and to actually have your work recognized and honored amongst such other great talents is extremely meaningful and is not something I take lightly or for granted.

Sharing the Win with Mary

Narrator Laura Schreiber and Author Mary K. Savarese at Readers Favorite book booth

When Mary, the author, informed me that we won for our audiobook I was so excited! She actually lives in Florida and invited me to come down and stay with her to share the win at the Readers Favorite awards ceremony in Miami. I thought about it for about 30 seconds before logging into United Airlines and buying a ticket! As Mary put it, we could attend the weekend festivities together and celebrate as a team. What could be better?

Why it was Meaningful: A Great Collaboration

As I reflect on my experience not just this weekend but in working as the audiobook narrator on the Girl in the Toile Wallpaper in general, this acknowledgment was so meaningful because of the relationship that Mary and I built as professionals collaborating together. Each step of the way we listened to each other, made time for each other, and were responsive to the other’s meaningful feedback. It was the picture of what collaboration should be and the work that resulted was something that we are both so proud of!

The Riders Favorite Experience:

Upon my arrival in Florida, Mary drove us down to Miami for the Book Fair. Readers Favorite had their own tent where all the winning author’s books were for sale for ten dollars and the money was a contribution to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital! The tent also served as a central gathering place for the Readers Favorite community to stop by and get to know one another and see our books on display. It also happened to be a glorious, sunny day and we all enjoyed our time there.

Mary and I met many of the other authors both at the tent and at the evening “Meet and Greet.” Everyone was so lovely and down to earth. It was thrilling to hear people’s stories and learn about what motivated them to write their stories. Honestly, it was refreshing to not talk politics and that not a single person mentioned AI the entire time! I was thrilled.

A common theme that came up repeatedly over the weekend was not to wait to share or write. If you have something that you want to say or do, do it. It is amazing how many different people said this in different ways. I also was delighted to see how many working moms were inspired to make a difference and set an example for their children. One woman even had her medal put on her son’s neck and shared she would not have had the strength to write without him. It was one of the many touching and poignant moments of the weekend.

Gratitude

In life I always have an attitude of gratitude, but this whole weekend there were so many moments big and small that I appreciate! I was so thankful just to be there. I was so thankful that I recorded the book in the first place. I was so thankful for Mary and her husband Vinny’s hospitality and warmth. I was so thankful to meet so many kind and interesting people. I was so thankful I was able to arrange to go and that my husband could watch our dogs. I was so thankful that in a world with so many super talented

The Girl in The Toile Wallpaper Wins Silver for Audiobook

narrators our audiobook won!!! I was so thankful that my flights were on time and there was no travel drama. The list goes on and on, but the sum total of all of these little moments is an overall experience that left me filled with joy and with memories to hold onto for years to come!

Next, Mary and I will be collaborating on the next booking her trilogy, the Starwriters Club, in the spring of 2025, so do look out for that!

Why Public Domain Books

This week my third Public Domain audio book went live with Spoken Realms. As a professional audiobook narrator, I was delighted to have yet another opportunity to work with Steven Jay Cohen and his team to bring a book I was passionate about to life. I have previously blogged about why voice actors choose to do Public Domain projects, and if you are curious you can find that blog HERE. The short version is that narrating Public Domain works allows voice actors a chance to show publishers how they might be cast, in ways others might not have thought of using their voice. It allows us, the voice actors, to have a lot of fun narrating in between projects or during projects by working on manuscripts we are passionate about and putting our own, creative, unique spin on them. I have chosen works from poetry to women’s history to Christmas stories, all of which have brought me great joy.

In this blog, I want to focus on a shocking twist of events that happened after posting a public domain book on ACX. The book, WW Denslow’s Mother Goose, was actually live on audible and I received an email that it was being taken down as there were too many versions of it in existence. Let’s delve into my experience having a Public Domain book removed and what you can do so that this does NOT happen to you!

Mother Goose Story

In order to publish a Public Domain book, you must first assert yourself as the Rights Holder of at least one version, and your version must be different than any other version. As a former teacher, I wrote lesson plans for pre-school through second grade students to accompany these beautiful nursery rhymes and put them in the foreword. I also researched WW Denslow and wrote a brief, footnoted biography and added that at the end. Thus, my version was unique and within 72 hours it was live on Amazon.

Then, I posted my audio on ACX. Initially everything went fine. The book went live and I shared it on social media and I was delighted to add it to my roster. Then I got the following email:

I was actually shocked and frankly dismayed that they would remove a title after publishing it. I wrote an email to the help and support team but got no reply.

After two weeks of not hearing back from ACX, I reached out to Steven Jay Cohen at Spoken Realms. At this point, I had successfully completed two other titles with him. I had actually submitted Mother Goose to ACX prior to my other work with Spoken Realms and that is the only reason I did not hold it for him to begin with. I explained my conundrum. Steven explained that they had a unique agreement with Audible and if they produced my work it could not be removed. Happily, we moved forward with the project. I do know, however, that other narrators continue to have issues posting Public Domain works on ACX. Please see a recent and relevant YouTube interview that I did on the same topic!

Lessons Learned

I have learned a lot from this experience. First, I will not ever endeavor to produce a Public Domain work through ACX again. It is simply not worth the risk of losing the production after the fact. I will produce all future projects through Spoken Realms. Next, there are differences in the editing standards required for Spoken Realms and those required for ACX. Even though I have a specific effects stack to apply to my audio that is perfect for ACX, it was not sufficient alone for Spoken Realms. More editing was required. So, for the first time in my many years as a full time voice actor, I sought the help of a professional editor. The Spoken Realms website actually has a wonderful list of all sorts of professionals in their portal, so I actually randomly picked one from the list and it has been fantastic! I have also been struggling to use 2nd Opinion, the approval software that is part of the Spoken Realms process, so the editor has done that for me on all three of my projects. Hannibal Hills, my brilliant editor, has been a true blessing and has made the process a joy. Others more tech savvy than I likely would not need this, but for me life is short and there are only so many hours in the day and Hannibal is a genius. So, in sum, my experience with Spoken Realms has been great, despite my own personal shortcomings in editing, and my Public Domain projects are live. Should you have a project you are dreaming of, perhaps apply and see if you can join their roster.

Resource List:

https://www.narratorsroadmap.com/

https://spokenrealms.com/

https://www.karencommins.com/2022/05/public-domain-narration-headquarters.html

Fiction Audiobook Narrator Award: Readers Favorite: We Won!!