Welcome to the fantastical side of romance with magic and myth, ,
Breaking Fate is now launch in Audible! And I found a few freebie fantasy books for you to check out in the Indie Features section!
I wanted to include the sound in my email, but my newsletter service doesn't include mp3/mp4 compatibility. You can listen to the sample of my narration of Breaking Fate on Audible today here:
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0DJRT539F
Or on my Instagram here:
Stevie McCoy (@authorsteviemarie) • Instagram photos and videos
For some of you who don't know, I narrate my own books, plus other indie authors! At first, my intention in getting into audiobooks was because I wanted my books to be more accessible to all kinds of readers. I hired a wonderful narrator named Tara Marie Kirk for my first series the Divine Series, a YA vampire fantasy. I no longer have the books available, but they are still available in Audible format for people to listen to. https://www.audible.com/series/Divine-Audiobooks/B09H3H7SXP I kept them available in Audible, because I think the book is still enjoyable to listen to, and Tara did a great job narrating.
I pulled the books because they were my first books completed and not representative of my current writing skills. I didn't want to lose readers if they didn't enjoy the stream of consciousness of the series, so I pulled them so that first time readers could experience a better version of my writing that was not so confusing to follow. Some people loved the series and some people hated it, but without it, I wouldn't be where I am today.
I do have plans to completely rewrite this series, but I'll save that for a side project that I get back to after I've got a few more projects out of my head.
Quickly, I realized that I wouldn't be able to afford to continue to hire a narrator for my books, but I still wanted my books to be accessible. So, I invested in learning how to do it myself. I emptied my closet, researched microphones, booth set up, and software. Hired a coach to help me with tuning my space, and my mastering sequences for my voice.
I then narrated for Thomas Kane's Mara of the League series, a YA medieval fantasy series. I narrated for 4 books! https://www.audible.com/series/Mara-of-the-League-Audiobooks/B0B3SFDF6P
Breaking Fate will be my 11th completed Audiobook, not including the one I just finished narrating for Sarina Langer's Blood Song YA vampire fantasy, which will be available as soon as we are finished with prooflistening/edits, and I'm working on my 13th narration for Alyssa Rose's Binding Fate fantasy romance.
I fell in love with the process of narration, and even though it does cut into my writing time, I find it's a fun way to decompress and get more reading done at the same time! I get to read a fun book and bring it to life! It's also a wonderful way to do a final proofread of my own books.
Just in case a few typos get through the editing process, when I say things out loud to narrate, I find a few more to fix and get updated for future readers to enjoy the book even more!
Some may think that audiobooks are a lucrative edition to a product you already have available, and for some that's true, but for small indies like me, adapting a book to audiobook is unlikely to receive its return on investment the same way launching a new book is a gamble on breaking even on launch costs.
Why?
Because narrating takes around 4 to 8 hours of time to make a single finished audio hour. With an 11 hour audiobook, that's around 44 to 88 hours of time. When I first started narrating, my first few books took 8 hours per audio hour. I've gotten my narration time down to 4 hours per audio hour now.
That's 40 hours for me to narrate Breaking Fate, but it takes me two weeks, because my voice really only lasts for 4 hours a day before getting hoarse. Which means if I wanted to make a minimum wage on my two weeks that's 1,200 to produce the audiobook. That means 400 people would need to grab my audiobook for me to make my time back.
And you can't simply market an audiobook, you don't market the medium in which a book is given, you market the book, the story. Which means that I need 400 readers on the book itself that happen to also want to listen to their book instead of reading it in e-book. In 1 year since Taking Medusa's audiobook launch, the audiobook has made around $100, so it still has quite a ways to go to pay me back for my time investment in producing the book, and it costs an indie around $50 to a graphic design to have the bookcover adapted to audiobook. Essentially, I've made $50 on my audiobook so far out of 40 hours, that's around 80 cents an hour, after 1 year.
I'm not saying this to dissuade fellow indie authors from pursuing audiobooks, the industry is growing, and more and more people are enjoying audiobooks year after year, but you don't sell an audiobook, you sell the book, and the reader just happens to either want to read in whatever their preferred format is. Meaning, audiobooks are profitable if your books are profitable.
I've committed myself to adapting my books to audiobook regardless. I consider it an investment in the future of my author career. One day, I do believe that my tribe will grow and find me, and when they do, it will be available for them to listen or read! You are already part of my tribe, and I thank you for that!
If you haven't checked out my new release Breaking Fate, it's a Greek Mythology Romantasy Retelling of Medusa. Though, I hesitate to say "retelling" as it's a completely "What if" plot line based on the idea that history is told by the victors of war and hardships. So, if bards are merely spreading the story of what the victors wanted to be known, then it stands to reason that its possible it's not the real story at all. At least not the full story. So, I took bits from Greek Mythology and asked myself, what was the other side of the story?
Perhaps the heroes weren't heroes at all? They were simply who "won" the right to tell their side of the story. Thus, Medusa's story was born.
Did you know Medusa actually means "protector"? Why would someone named protector, be a monster?
What people have been saying about Breaking Fate: here are a few snippets from the reviews so far!
✨"Breathtaking romantasy" - N.N. Light
✨"Flipping pages late into the night" - Rebel
✨"It's like watching a movie, only better" - N.N. Light
✨"I couldn't put it down" - Amy's Bookshelf Reviews
✨"Powerful and ever-changing FMC" - Mary
✨"Twistedly Brilliant" - Rose
✨"Mystery of fates and desires... Deliciously Torturous" - Jess
✨"A Fascinating Colossal World" - Sandra
✨"I absolutely love this book!" - LaWanda
✨"Hungry for more" - Jess
Thank you for checking out my slow-burn Medusa Romantasy and if you haven't already, you can start reading right away! Start with Taking Medusa and read on through to the newly released Breaking Fate!
https://books.steviemarie.com/takingmedusa
https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Thank you to recently reviewers on Amazon!
See the rest of the recent reviews here: https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Happy reading, and perhaps you'll find your next favorite read among the featured indie authors below!
xoxo
Stevie
Lottie bought a house in the woods, not knowing that danger lurked around the corner.
‘A unicorn walks into a bar….’
That is not a joke. Look, I’m a bartender, I have nothing to do with the xenos. I don’t care if it’s an elf or a vampire—as long as they don’t bother me, I steer clear.
Hope you find some great indie reads! Chat soon!
xoxo
Stevie
Read Taking Medusa today in Kindle Unlimited: https://books.steviemarie.com/takingmedusa
Taking Medusa is available in Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!
Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150498806-taking-medusa
Book two is LIVE! https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Add to your Goodreads shelf: Breaking Fate (Dark Gods Rising, #2) by S.M. McCoy | Goodreads Breaking Fate on Amazon: https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Check out the Author store and grab the signed hardcover or signed paperbacks! https://payhip.com/BrokenBooksPublishing
Also by me: Do you like Alien Romances?
Check out my Pen Name Sky Robert!
Author Updates/Writing Progress!
Breaking Fate IS LIVE available in KU and Audible!
What I'm working on now?
Goblin's Treasure, a standalone Labyrinth dark fantasy romance retelling. I know, I know... some of you are probably like, WHA? You need to be writing book three Reaping Olympus. And I am, but as you'll soon find out about me, is that I usually hop around books until one gets finished. Breaking Fate gave me a huge book hangover, and I'll be honest, I need a mental reprieve of writing something without the pressure of making sure the book is better than the previous books. Sooooo, I'm writing this one, with no expectations other than writing a fun, magical, romantically dark adventure.
Meaning, I think we're due for reimagining the Labyrinth and perhaps viewing the goblins a bit differently. Are you ready to join the Goblin Kingdom with your book bestie? What if your book date with your best friend turns into a nightmare of being sucked into the Goblin Kingdom, and being eaten alive by gremlins that look like cute little bunnies? What if Goblin Kingdom is so dark because of an ancient curse on the land and you may not be a chosen one, but your heart has certainly chosen a handsomely twisted goblin to uncover the secrets of the goblin's past and find what was stolen from you? Then maybe you won't mind if you became the Goblin's Treasure?
If you would like to help support future books, and this series, you can grab Breaking Fate on Amazon here or read in Kindle Unlimited! https://books.steviemarie.com/breakingfate
Chat soon!
xoxo
Stevie
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