Audiobook of “Redlined” coming with two wonderful narrators

I’m excited to announce the impending release of the audiobook for Redlined! If you or your friends prefer reading with your ears to reading with you eyes, or perhaps you switch off between the two modes of getting a story into your brain and heart (I do this), the audiobook of Redlined will be ready for your listening pleasure sometime in May.

Two great voices

I’m thrilled with the two fantastic narrators:

Moe Egan in her recording studio

Moe Egan has been an audio actor for more than twenty years and has performed hundreds of books and promotions. She’s a trained stage actress with a Bachelor of Science from Skidmore College.
Moe has also been a professional story-teller and stand up comic in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. Among many fiction and nonfiction titles, she’s even narrated a forty-hour text book on the history of the entire world! She narrates Redlined, from my (the author’s) point of view.

Robin Miles is a renowned voice actor, having read hundreds of books, including Hidden Figures and The Warmth of Other Suns, among scores of other well-known titles. Robin was featured in a December 2022 New Yorker article, “How a Great Audio Narrator Finds her Voices.” It’s a fascinating peek into the craft and art that audio narration really is.  Robin is known for her ability to create characters and duplicate accents from many parts of the world, including American dialects. Robin reads primarily the dialogues spoken by African Americans in my book.

The process: finding the talent

The process of creating an audiobook is like any new project—more work that we usually imagine. But the road has been enlightening and fun too, hearing one’s words come to life in the voices of great narrators.  A thumbnail sketch:

Last fall I went on several sites, known to have voice talent. I chose several disparate scenes from Redlined to challenge the narrator to find different voices for different characters. After listening to more that twenty five auditions, Moe clearly came out at the top.

Then I wanted to find an African American to read the parts spoken by the Black characters in the book. I was able to track down Robin, and to my delight, she agreed to be part of the project.

Joining these two talented voice actors, John Marshall Media (JMM) in New York, is finishing the audiobook. JMM has produced thousands of audiobooks, including the Harry Potter series. JMM finds any mis-readings for the voice actors to re-record, smooths out the transitions between narrators, and the the narration overall, finds any errant pops or extraneous noise, and creates a professional-sounding audiobook.

My Job in the process

My job in all this was to listen to every piece of narration and pick up any misread or mispronounced words before sending on to JMM. In an 80,000 word book, there is no narrator who won’t read an occasional word wrong. That’s just how it is.

I alert the narrator, and she fixes it. Then I listen again. Moe and Robin then upload their narration to JMM’s site so this fantastic company can work its magic. This week I should have the whole thing finished and will listen again, start to finish (a 300 page book is typically about ten hours of finished narration). Luckily, I have a long plane ride coming up soon and can listen during my journey.

Distribution

The next step is to send the final files to Findaway Voices, the distributor, who will put Redlined onto about 30 different listening platforms, including Spotify, Amazon (Audible), Google, and about thirty more.  You and your friends are sure to find your favorite listening source for the book! Check out this page to see the many audio retailers who will carry Redlined.

If all goes smoothly, I’ll send the files to Findaway early next week, and they’ll start the distribution. Interestingly Audible usually takes the longest to get the book on the Amazon site, at least a month! I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s actually out there!

Thank you to all for your support for Redlined. Please tell your friends who like to listen!