7 Comments

June is Audio Book Month

If you’ve never listened to a book, then I recommend you try one. I listen when I travel in the car or even on a plane. You can download books onto your MP3 or iPod. Most of you probably don’t have a CD walkman any more, but books on CD are still on the market and in book stores. It is great when your eyes are tired from all day on a computer. Actually, it can be like when you were a child and your mother or father read to you when you went to be.

I want to share the following announcement with you:

Audiobook Month just keeps getting better and better.  Check this out: Our friends over at Macmillan Audio are running a sweepstakes as part ofJune Is Audiobook Month — and the lucky prize winner gets a year’s supply of free audiobooks.  To enter — and, let’s be honest, you’d be a fool not to try — CLICK HERE.

Have a great weekend!

 


Leave a comment

Audio Books

Audio books have been around for quit a while. There is a section at most book stores where you can find them and of course you can purchase them online through various websites like Amazon and Barnes & Nobel. I’ve borrowed many of them from the public library. I’m always reading more than one book at once and spend hours on the computer writing or reading so much that my eyes get tired. Listening to a book lets me enjoy reading even when my eyes are too tired to read from a  printed book.

Audio books remind me of bed time stories. Sometimes I listen to them while I’m cleaning house or working in the yard and garden. Audio books can be downloaded from some libraries and many books that are classics can be down loaded for free to computers or MP3 players.  One of the sites I use is Free Classic AudioBooks. They are great to keep you company and awake on road trips if you’re traveling alone or your companion is asleep during the drive. They are enjoyable and are a great way for people with vision problems or who have lost their sight to continue reading.

I’d love to hear how you feel about audio books. Leave a comment.


Leave a comment

Printed Books, Audio Books, and E-Books

Do you have a favorite? Some of us grew up going to libraries and reading. Others only read what they are assigned at school or at work. For me, I’ve always loved books. My mom read to us as we grew up. I love the smell of a library. About half of the books that sit on the shelves in my home came from Friends of the Library sales and second hand stores. The other half are brand new books and you can hear it in the binding when you open them for the first time. In case you didn’t know, I’m a tactile and visual person.

Publishing and the way we get access to books is changing, as you all are well aware. I treasure holding a book in my hands and turning the pages. Then, after hours on the computer five days a week, my eyes got tired and I wanted to read at night but my eyes bothered me. I’d heard of audio books but had never listened to one. After a trip to the Amarillo Public Library branch closest to me, the world of audio books opened up. A whole section of classics and new releases sat on the shelves and I’d never noticed. Audio books go on road trips, flights, and act as bed time stories. They are even in the yard with me sometimes while I get the garden ready for planting in the Spring. My mother-in-law lost her sight in the last few years of her life and she listened to audio books. She’d been a voracious reader all her life.

Enter E-books in all their forms. At first, many thought it wouldn’t be much more than a flash in the pan. However, it is revolutionizing the publishing world for all of us and opens up options for authors.

Now, I realize none of this is news to any of you, but as the industry has diversified, so must we. Keep a finger in all the pies. Versify your writing and use all the wonderful ways to get your writing out to others. I’ve learned this lesson over the past year and a half and am working on just how to get it all implemented. That’s where time management comes. The next post will address some time management tips for the busy writer.