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The launch of The Irish Clans: Book Seven: Asunder was held at Greenhorn Creek Resort on April 28, 2025.
I presented the fictional premise, the current status of the books, the comparables, and the recent and current marketing initiatives for The Irish Clans series. I committed to my readers to have the final book in the series, Revelation published for Christmas this year.
During this presentation, I pointed out that Author Reputation Press has been replaced by Noble Works.
I also discussed my options to create an audiobook for at least Book One: Searchers since I am asked about its availability frequently. Independent narrator audiobook companies would likely charge $8K to $10K. This is exorbitant, especially when multiplied by eight for all the novels.
Amazon/Audible ACX would likely charge ~$5K unless I use their royalty share program where I would share my revenue with the narrator resulting in only 20% royalty instead of 40%.
I also explored the use of AI virtual voices with the preeminent company Eleven Labs. AI is not allowed on Audible which holds 65% of the $5B market for audiobooks, but is allowed elsewhere with increasing acceptability over time. Using this process would be less expensive yet more labor intensive for me personally because of volume and emotional control of each segment of dialog in my over a million words series.
I created a four minute audiobook excerpt from Book One with a single narrator and with multiple virtual voices using Eleven Labs and played them to my audience at the launch. The consensus of the group was that they prefer real voices and a single narrator.
Feedback from my readers is appreciated and an essential element of my growth as an author. Thank you.
After two readings from Book Seven, which had to be carefully selected so as not to give away the plot of either that or previous books, we had some nibbles, liquid refreshment and I signed books.
All in all, it was a very successful book launch. I thank those of you who attended. For those of you who already have Asunder, I hope you enjoy it. Amazon reviews are always appreciated. It can be found at https://amzn.to/3gQNbWi
Now on to completing the series with Book Eight Revelation by Christmas!
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