The audible book edition of A MATTER OF MERCY: 10th Anniversary Edition is finally out and available! Here’s one way to get it:
Amazon.com: A Matter of Mercy: 10th Anniversary Edition (Audible Audio Edition): Lynne Hugo, Kendra Murray, Amphorae Publishing Group: Audible Books & Originals.
Here’s my behind-the scenes story, an excellent example of how everything can be done so carefully, ahead of deadlines–like early!–and still end up being late. (Are any of you like me, cursed with a super-charged need to have things be done right? Even things over which you have zero control? If so, you’ll grasp my frustration; and if you’re an easy-going, laissez-faire, definitely not type A personality, I understand that you won’t, and I think I envy you!)
So anyway, the book’s narrator, Kendra Murray–who is a top notch actress/audiobook narrator we’re really lucky to have–had the novel well in advance of when she needed it but was finishing up other projects. Still, she completed the studio narration before the deadline and sent the files for processing to the master engineer–who, it turns out, is based in Houston.
And, as you may recall, in May, Houston was hit with a devastating storm, then flooded, and many thousands of homes and businesses were without power for weeks. Including the master engineer. And Houston is also where the files are proofed, and any mistakes are sent back to the narrator for correction.
We were now, of course, eating time, but thought maybe it would still be out by August 6, because once the engineer ‘s work site had a generator, he was back to work. The narrator had to make a few small corrections and those went to Houston to be processed; the final files were then sent to the publisher.
Then things began to get a little sticky. The publisher–who handles audiobooks–was on vacation in July, out of the country, and not available to approve the files until she returned. Still, as soon as she was back, she began listening to the whole thing, quickly approved the files, and sent them back. I thought we were home free because it was just before the book’s pub date of August 6, and in my fantasy life, the last step had just been completed: the publisher’s final approval of the files.
Oh, it’s truly amazing how wrong I can be. What I didn’t know was that then Audible Books gets (and takes!) ten working days to review and issue their approval of the files before they will upload them to retail sites.
Sometime during the early morning of Aug. 15, Audible notified the publisher: the audible edition had been uploaded up for sale.
I thought you might be interested in my doubtless still flawed and approximate understanding of how this all works! and most of all, I hope
that those of you who are devotees of audible books will love this all new edition of A Matter of Mercy. The narrator is just excellent and I hope you’ll think the story is, too. Please do let me know. Reviews of the audiobook will be gratefully appreciated just as much as reviews–particularly on Amazon and BookBub–of the ebook and tradebound editions. They help a book find its readership more than you can imagine.
AND I have two free audiobooks to give away compliments of Amphorae Publishing Group! If you would be willing to post a review on BookBub and Amazon about the audiobook after you’ve listened, please enter by asking in the comments. I’ll put the names in a bowl (and keep a list). Whatever two names Cassie eats first will be the people who receive them!
