In late March 2018 the fine folks at Smashwords announced a remarkable partnership with Findaways, to make distribution of audiobooks as convenient as they did for e-books. I was intrigued because my first effort, “The Ring and the Flag” has languished on a single site for years now. I dove in to see if I could wrangle my way past the metadata-labyrinth and get it listed.

Long answer short, I could.

There are some oddities and extra info that Findaways needs, and I learned to look close for the tiny * that stood for mandatory info. When I saw the massive list of distributors and all the different business models they used, I quailed. TWENTY-NINE OUTLETS!?! How could anyone fix a proper price with all these splits and cuts to consider? But that’s the great strength of this aggregator role, I’d say. Findaways is going to handle all the various slices that these retail partners require: I don’t control how much I get back but I also don’t have to work that end myself. I give my bank account number and just wait for the money to roll in.

The biggest problem is that I only had the chapters recorded. Silly me, just recording, you know, the story. Findaways wants files on the front and back ends, things like an intro. So I cranked up the mike for the first time in an epoch and laid the tracks down in the early morning, in that blessed space of silence between the cats’ breakfast and the humans’. Filled out a tax form– not optimism, just *— and done.

I encourage fellow authors to check out the blog post. Findaways will hook you up with narrators which is crucially important I know. If you’ve got a good book and are willing to invest, you can get this done now. Happy to help if you have questions about the basic posting.

As for me, of course I’m too egotistical to let anyone else read my stories to you except me. I hope now I’ll feel the desire to finish “Fencing Reputation” which is about half-recorded, and it sure is good to know there will be some strong distribution for me whenever I do finish. Search Audible, Apple, Google Play, Nook, Overdrive, maybe your local library and two dozen other places and perhaps you’ll see my work.

Or rather, hear it.

Ar Aralte!