Hello everyone!  As some of you may already know, I have been slowly working on getting each of my novels turned into Audiobooks.  However, as I've stated in other blog posts, this is more of a money consuming venture rather than a time consuming one, as doing audiobooks is costly.  Very costly.  In fact, so much so that it can easily cost several thousand dollars just to do one book.  Yes, no joke.  And I have to front all of those costs out of my own pocket too because I don't have a big time publisher who is covering the costs for me.  I have myself, my friend Don who does my covers and handles some of the messier side of publishing for me (Thanks, Don!!) and I have Smashwords.  Trust me, I'm no Orson Scott Card or Arthur C. Clark when it comes to book distribution or knowledge among readers.  I'm pretty much John C Nobody. 

Plus, there's the other side of publishing these days too.  IE, the big house publishers are pretty much dead, save for a few big name authors who are pretty much all that's keeping them afloat anymore.  Not to mention that, with the internet, you have to do your own marketing, fame is fickle (well, it's always been that way, but more so of late), and people have short atte...Oooo, shiny!!!  Ahem, um, as I was saying. :P  Anyhow, the short of it is that as a small time indy author, I generally have to front the bill on anything I have to do publishing wise.  And that goes for Audiobooks too.  Thus, in order to produce just one Audiobook I have to dig deep in the bottom of my piggy bank, and let me say this, Mr. Wiggly ain't as fat as you think.

But that doesn't mean I don't want to do them, not so much for myself, although such would be a nice feather in my cap.  I write for two primary reasons.  1) Because I love to.  Writing and story creation is very enjoyable.  And 2) because of you, the reader.  I enjoy teaching and entertaining others with my books, so I put my best into them in an effort to give you an enjoyable experience each time you pick up one of my books.  But again, that takes money, something of which is in short supply with me these days.  But that doesn't mean I don't want to push forward with producing said novels and Audiobooks.  But in the end this all comes back to you, the reader.  I don't hardly make anything at what I do, so I can't just take my next royalty check and plunk it down on a project like some authors can.

Trust me, I don't make hardly anything on my books, and I'm okay with that.  Especially since I don't do this for the money.  So if there's hardly any money in it, why do I continue to do it?  For the same reasons I said before.  I do it because I love it and because I want to both edify and entertain others.  The downside is, I'm also not swimming in money like some are and thus I have to ask you guys for help.  I mean, my current job pays the bills, but not much else.  Thus where you guys come in.  I could probably do this on my own and eventually get all of my books converted to Audiobook.  But that's likely to take a couple decades at the rate in which I can afford them.  So if you guys want them sooner, then I need some help.  I'm even willing to give you guys free copies of the finished works so that you don't feel like you're out of your money with nothing to show for it.

Remember, I'm doing this for you guys as audiobooks really do nothing for me as an author, save to get more of you reading and listening to my books.  However, for you they are highly valuable as they help you listen to a lot of great stories (and not just mine) while you're busy with this crazy, hectic, insane life we live these days.  Audiobooks also help you disconnect from the crazy, often insane world that surrounds you and allows you to go to new places, explore new worlds, and just decompress.  And I'd like to be part of that relaxation process.  But, again, I need help.  And I'm not really asking much.  I have a fundraiser setup online at GoFundMe that is intended to cover some of the costs of production.  Not everything, mind you, as my total costs once all my books are converted will be considerably more than the $6k that I'm asking.  However, that $6k will be a big help towards speeding up the process.

So if you really want to start getting my books in Audiobook format, but don't feel like waiting years, and maybe decades for that to happen, then please, consider donating to help me out.  Thanks.