Dear Readers,
After weeks of dawn shifts, before planes flying overhead, while neighbours and cats and dogs were mostly asleep, while traffic was subdued, line by line, chapter by chapter, it is done.
What, and The Challenge?
It is the editing of the audiobook for the third in the series, Amanda Cadabra and The Flawless Plan. The weeding out of the clicks and pops and all the other sounds a body makes that are inconvenient for professional voice recording. Sounds the mic likes to gobble up and then wave at you on playback.
Then there are the sounds of the rooms around me. Appliance clicks: the fridge is especially loud, and the television seems to like to resettle periodically. The recycling lorry arrives early but only once a week and predictably, hospital and police helicopters less so.
So?
But I speak of editing. So what this means is, those sounds have to be removed from the recording, and so do the places where I paused for overhead aircraft, an early morning car starting up, or most frequently … sips of water.
So to be able to hear all of these clearly, especially the mouth and nose clicks and the throat bubbles (yes, really), you need (if, like me, you have an uneasy relationship with earphones) near silence. Even in such leafy regions as here in the metropolis, it is easiest to come by before 7 am. Actually, long before 7 am.
However, all 56 files, one for each chapter plus the beginning and end credits, are now in the hands of ace sound engineer and multiple book narrator Frank Block over in Canada.
When?
I can only be approximate at this time. Frank is highly efficient, and if he gives a date by which mastering of a recording will be done, you can be sure it will be. The wild card is ACX, who produce audiobooks for Audible on Amazon and Apple. They say 15 days, but it could be longer. Â But we are looking at a matter of only a few weeks. The actual launch date will be announced soon, you can be sure. If you want the inside track, my precious subscribers always get this news first, and you would be very welcome to join them.
Discount?
To celebrate the launch, book 2, Amanda Cadabra and The Cellar of Secrets, will be on special offer, but at this time just how much will be in the lap of the Audible Gods. I can suggest (request or plead, depending on how you look at it) a much lower price, but it is up to them to say precisely what they will agree to. Again, I will let you know when I know.
Exclusive Video?
Yes, since I last wrote to you, there have been three new designs rolled out on the Amanda Cadabra Redbubble shop, one each Sunday. More goodies, gifts and treats to have and to hold, pieces of the Amanda Cadabra world, are coming, including one today, so if you’d like to keep up, click the follow button on the Holly Bell page on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Pinterest, TikTok, or YouTube. Yes, it’s a lot of posting! But it’s worth it.
However, this video is only for you and the subscribers who saw it on Friday. What’s your favourite? Do let me know.
https://youtube.com/shorts/kNgj4q4_AUo
There will be another new collection soon, which may be the most popular so far, but more of that to come.
Something Big
In the midst of the audiobook and the shop projects and the blog tour that ended recently, something began that I didn’t expect until maybe even the middle of next year, conveniently at the end of the queue of editing the audiobooks. But this is something I can’t plan. It just …happens when and how it happens. And it blows me away, floats me away, astonishes and delights me. For now, this is all I can say, but I shall be telling you more soon. Meanwhile, I just had to let you know …. IT is happening …
Next Time
I’ll be back with news for you, or your friends who are book-listening lovers, of the Amanda Cadabra and The Flawless Plan audiobook launch, and of the price drop on Amanda Cadabra and The Cellar of Secrets (which came out on Audible just weeks ago). More titbits too will be forthcoming on new designs for the Amanda Cadabra shop and the Something I Did Not See Coming.
Meanwhile,
Happy watching, browsing, and especially … reading,
Holly
PS If you want to start the series now:
