
Amazon offered me an amazing invitation to publish all of my books utilizing AI Audio Assist a week ago. Audio books are something I’ve wanted to do for years, but I couldn’t afford to pay a narrator so it was a no-go for me. Amazingly, technology has now offered me one more avenue of opportunity to get my books out to the world: first ebooks, and now AudioBooks. Yay, technology! Yay, AI!
I’m not idealizing AI, which you know if you’ve read my work, but there’s no doubt that it can do some good. I checked into this and found that the audio quality with AI assistance is excellent. It’s definitely better than my NOAA Weather Radio, although there were several instances where I had to manually correct the readings of some names and dates. Some things are a mystery for the ages. It’s like how we can have crystal clear pictures of Pluto, but the security camera shots from the corner store that was robbed are so grainy that you don’t see anything but blobs and pixels. Or maybe it shows where the effort and money are spent to do it right. That’s more likely. Corner stores don’t have a NASA budget, and the fine folks typing in that weather forecast probably don’t have time to listen to the feed and correct “party funky” to “partly cloudy.” I can assure you that I took advantage of Amazon’s amazing resources, and that I spent time to ensure that these audiobooks do not sound like the bots calling with your doctor and dentist appointment reminders.
In true “harnessing the energy” fashion, I also entered Singularity in the Crave Books sci-fi giveaway. This is a great contest for readers to have a chance at winning a Kindle Fire 7 tablet and/or 20 ebooks. Don't miss out on this unique chance to expand your library and discover fresh, engaging stories at https://cravebooks.com/giveaway/science-fiction
I also decided to check out some other things. Remember “A Day Like This,” the long story I wrote when I had COVID late last summer that I deemed “unpublishable?” I’ve been doing a beta read for a fellow author, and it made me rethink that piece. I sent her “A Day Like This” over the weekend, and she liked it and had suggestions for improvement. I went back through it this week, and I’m going to use it as a book magnet for newsletter subscribers.
Writing is also in progress for Book Two of the Dark Mirror trilogy. I renamed the first book Refraction, and book two, which is in progress now, is tentatively called Variant. It’s rolling along well, and I’m happy with it. It’s funny that I was thinking that there were three things I never thought I’d be when I was younger: a tea drinker (I love my lemon ginger tea now), a person with tattoos (I have two), and a sci-fi writer. Surprise, surprise, and all good.
It’s been a good, busy time with the writing. I’m definitely giving the SurfacePro a workout these days! Well, that’s what it’s for.
That’s all today. Take care. Have a happy Friday tomorrow, and a wonderful weekend.
Bye!