Showing posts with label blackstone audio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blackstone audio. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Journal - Audiobook Heaven Prospering
`Audiobook Heaven continues to grow and prosper. In January, I averaged about 40 hits per day, and in February the average was about 42. March isn’t quite over yet, but I think it’s safe to say the average hits will be over 60. It’s been a pretty phenomenal month. My record for one day was 79 hits on a day back in January. In March, that record was broken 5 different times, including three days that went over 90 hits. The new record is 97. I’m continueing to get lots of new audiobooks in the mail. I just got three books from AudioGo, including a couple of Doctor Who books that I’ve really been looking forward to. I have a new L Ron Hubbard book here from Galaxy Press, and another one on the way. I also have a book coming from someone I just met. I got a press release from Audible.com on Monday that told about a new audiobook that’s going on sale. It sounded like a good book, and the narrator’s contact information was included in the release, so I emailed him and asked for a review copy. He emailed me back pretty quickly and said “Sure!” Joe Bevilacqua has been doing audio work for 40 years, mostly in radio from what I can tell. He’s done a bunch of shows on NPR and is just beginning to release them on CD. Joe told me that he has 45 audio productions coming out this year, and asked if he could send me copies of them. I had to tell him that honestly I might not be able to get through that many, but he said he would send a few and we will go from there. In addition, it’s almost time to put in another order to Blackstone Audio. I’ve been getting 6 books a month from them, but I think I’ll have to cut back to 4 in April because of all the other things I’ve been getting. I also made contact with another publisher this week, MacMillan Audio. I looked through their catalog and they have a lot of good audiobooks. MacMillan has some pretty specific guidelines for requesting review copies. They emailed me the procedure, which is no guarantee that they’ll send me any books, but I take it as a good sign. I’ll request a couple of books and see what happens. I’ve been giving some semi-serious thought to trying to find someone to contribute reviews to Audiobook Heaven on a regular or semi-regular basis. I’m not really sure how to work that out though. I can’t pay anyone of course, but I can offer free audiobooks, kind of like the deal I have with Susan Dunman. I think the hardest part would be finding someone that I’m comfortable with and that I can trust. Just something I’ve been tossing around a little. So that’s what’s going on at Audiobook-Heaven. Can’t wait to see what April brings!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Journal - Blessings
God just continues to shower blessings on us! On Saturday, we had a nice visit from Mom and Brenna. They brought out some Valentine cookies that they made that afternoon. We enjoyed the visit and the cookies, and I think Sassie made a new best friend. On Tuesday night, we are going up to Kearney High School for Brenna’s swing choir program, and she also has an orchestra concert later this month. I’m looking forward to that.
Audiobook-Heaven continues to be showered with blessings as well. Last week I received six new audiobooks from Blackstone, and 2 from Susan Dunman. I also made a couple of new contacts. I emailed AudioGo, formerly known as BBC Audiobooks America, and they agreed to send me some audiobooks. I picked out three books and just received them yesterday. I was also contacted by an author, who wanted to know if I would review the audio version of his book. I’ve never heard of this author before, but it’s pretty cool that he went looking for a reviewer and found me. He sent me a link and I downloaded his book. I started listening to that one today, but I had to write back to him and tell him I couldn’t do it. The language was pretty strong.
But wait, there’s more! Also today, I received the books from Galaxy Press. It was about three weeks ago that they mailed them, so I was beginning to think they had changed their minds, but here they are. Galaxy Press, if you remember, is creating audio versions of some of L Ron Hubbard’s older works. I’ve really been looking forward to those. Did you know that L Ron Hubbard was born in Nebraska?
Wait, wait, there’s still more! Also today, I got a response from another publisher that I’ve been emailing, HighBridge Audio. They have also agreed to send me audiobooks. That won’t be quite like the Blackstone deal. With Blackstone, I can pretty much pick anything I want out of their extensive catalog, but with HighBridge, I can only pick from the periodic press releases that they email out. Still a good deal, though, and very exciting.
Business is booming, as you might say. If I had any money I would probably hire an assistant or something. God has been so good to me, and I just can’t wait to see what happens next.
In other news, I’ve finally made the decision to play my sax at church sometime. I have felt God urging me to do this for quite a while now, but as usual I have been dragging my feet. I had a hard time deciding what to play. I couldn’t find karaoke versions of the first couple of songs that came to mind. So I decided to keep it simple and just play Amazing Grace. I found a nice accompaniment track at Amazon.com and downloaded it, and have been working on that for about a week now. I also emailed the music director at our church and we’re trying to nail down a time when I can come in and have a little audition. It’s a busy time for him because they are just beginning to set up the audio-video-lighting in our new sanctuary, which is nearing completion. We may have to wait until that’s all done, but I’m determined. God has been so good to me and it’s about time I started giving something back. I don’t have much money to give, but I can sure use the talent that God gave me to contribute something.
Umm, what else? It’s only a couple more weeks until my Medicare becomes effective. Starting in March they’ll be deducting $115 from my social security to pay for that. That will make it even harder to cover the bills each month, but I have to trust that God will take care of it. He’s never let me down before. Speaking of which, our church really came through for us again and paid our propane bill. Actually they paid our last two. Our energy assistance from the state was drastically cut this year. Last year we got about $1100, but this year it was only $200. They said there were a lot more applicants this year.
1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. NIV
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV
Audiobook-Heaven continues to be showered with blessings as well. Last week I received six new audiobooks from Blackstone, and 2 from Susan Dunman. I also made a couple of new contacts. I emailed AudioGo, formerly known as BBC Audiobooks America, and they agreed to send me some audiobooks. I picked out three books and just received them yesterday. I was also contacted by an author, who wanted to know if I would review the audio version of his book. I’ve never heard of this author before, but it’s pretty cool that he went looking for a reviewer and found me. He sent me a link and I downloaded his book. I started listening to that one today, but I had to write back to him and tell him I couldn’t do it. The language was pretty strong.
But wait, there’s more! Also today, I received the books from Galaxy Press. It was about three weeks ago that they mailed them, so I was beginning to think they had changed their minds, but here they are. Galaxy Press, if you remember, is creating audio versions of some of L Ron Hubbard’s older works. I’ve really been looking forward to those. Did you know that L Ron Hubbard was born in Nebraska?
Wait, wait, there’s still more! Also today, I got a response from another publisher that I’ve been emailing, HighBridge Audio. They have also agreed to send me audiobooks. That won’t be quite like the Blackstone deal. With Blackstone, I can pretty much pick anything I want out of their extensive catalog, but with HighBridge, I can only pick from the periodic press releases that they email out. Still a good deal, though, and very exciting.
Business is booming, as you might say. If I had any money I would probably hire an assistant or something. God has been so good to me, and I just can’t wait to see what happens next.
In other news, I’ve finally made the decision to play my sax at church sometime. I have felt God urging me to do this for quite a while now, but as usual I have been dragging my feet. I had a hard time deciding what to play. I couldn’t find karaoke versions of the first couple of songs that came to mind. So I decided to keep it simple and just play Amazing Grace. I found a nice accompaniment track at Amazon.com and downloaded it, and have been working on that for about a week now. I also emailed the music director at our church and we’re trying to nail down a time when I can come in and have a little audition. It’s a busy time for him because they are just beginning to set up the audio-video-lighting in our new sanctuary, which is nearing completion. We may have to wait until that’s all done, but I’m determined. God has been so good to me and it’s about time I started giving something back. I don’t have much money to give, but I can sure use the talent that God gave me to contribute something.
Umm, what else? It’s only a couple more weeks until my Medicare becomes effective. Starting in March they’ll be deducting $115 from my social security to pay for that. That will make it even harder to cover the bills each month, but I have to trust that God will take care of it. He’s never let me down before. Speaking of which, our church really came through for us again and paid our propane bill. Actually they paid our last two. Our energy assistance from the state was drastically cut this year. Last year we got about $1100, but this year it was only $200. They said there were a lot more applicants this year.
1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. NIV
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV
Friday, December 31, 2010
Journal - New Audiobooks
Wednesday turned out to be a pretty great day! I got two new audiobooks in the mail from Susan so I can review them for SF Site. Then just a few minutes after Adam brought in the mail, the UPS truck drove up and delivered five audiobooks from Blackstone Audio. Yes, they finally came! Last time Blackstone sent me some books, UPS lost them, so I was pretty happy to get these. The shipment included three books from my favorite science fiction author, Ben Bova. Can’t wait to dig into those.
Well, on top of all that excitement, I finally got a nibble from another publisher. I’ve continued sending out requests to various publishers, trying to get them to send me books to review, and my third request to Simon & Schuster Audio finally got a response. They haven’t promised me anything yet, but the person who responded, who is only filling in as it turns out, said she would check into it and see what they could do. That would be awesome if I can get books from them, but hey, I was pretty happy just getting a response.
Now, that’s all pretty exciting, but I’m still facing a little bit of a dilemma. Not so much a dilemma I guess, but just something I’ve been thinking about. I keep wondering if this is really how God wants me spending a majority of my time. On the one hand, I worry that maybe all this is taking my attention away from Him. On the other hand, some really neat things have been happening in that area, and I sort of think they wouldn’t be happening if God was against it. Maybe this is the beginning of something big that God has planned for me. That would be cool. Well, I’ll keep praying about it, and see where God leads me.
Happy New Year!
Psalms 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.
Well, on top of all that excitement, I finally got a nibble from another publisher. I’ve continued sending out requests to various publishers, trying to get them to send me books to review, and my third request to Simon & Schuster Audio finally got a response. They haven’t promised me anything yet, but the person who responded, who is only filling in as it turns out, said she would check into it and see what they could do. That would be awesome if I can get books from them, but hey, I was pretty happy just getting a response.
Now, that’s all pretty exciting, but I’m still facing a little bit of a dilemma. Not so much a dilemma I guess, but just something I’ve been thinking about. I keep wondering if this is really how God wants me spending a majority of my time. On the one hand, I worry that maybe all this is taking my attention away from Him. On the other hand, some really neat things have been happening in that area, and I sort of think they wouldn’t be happening if God was against it. Maybe this is the beginning of something big that God has planned for me. That would be cool. Well, I’ll keep praying about it, and see where God leads me.
Happy New Year!
Psalms 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Journal - Audiobook Heaven Update
Okay, more exciting news about Audiobook Heaven! I’ve been listening to the audiobooks that Susan from Audiobook Jukebox and SF Site sent me. SF Site is updated twice a month with new book reviews. It works kind of like a magazine, but since it’s on the internet it’s called an e-zine. I had written reviews for two of the books Susan sent me in the first part of December and sent them off to her. When the mid-December issue of SF Site was published, I was a little surprised, and a lot pleased, to see that they had used both of them. I reviewed “The Golden Apples of the Sun” by Ray Bradbury, and “Hull Zero Three” by Greg Bear, and they can both be found there now. I sent Susan a third review just a few days ago so maybe it will show up in the early January issue. In the meantime, I’ve also requested two more books from Susan.
In other news, I’ve been exchanging emails during the last week with my contact at Blackstone Audio. I hadn’t heard from her for a while so I was asking about the audiobooks she was sending. She said they had gone out by UPS on December 6, and when they tracked it, it showed that the package was delivered on the 10th. Unfortunately, I never got them. Good old UPS. I hope whoever got those books enjoys them. I was pretty disappointed, ofcourse, not only because I had been looking forward to getting them, but also because I was afraid Blackstone wouldn’t want to bother sending me any more after the first bunch got lost. My fears proved to be groundless, though. My contact, Tanya, was very gracious and said she would send them again. She even said that in addition to the three books I had requested, she was sending me two more. One of the books I requested was “Mars” by Ben Bova, and Tanya also threw in the other two books in the series, “Return to Mars” and Mars Life.” I can’t tell you how happy that made me! I received her email on Wednesday saying that she had sent them out, and I should get them next Wednesday, the 29th. I was a little disappointed that she had sent them UPS again, but I suppose that can’t be helped. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed next Wednesday as I wait for the UPS truck to come around.
In case I don’t post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Safe travels to those of you who might be traveling for the holiday.
Luke 2:10-12 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” NKJV
In other news, I’ve been exchanging emails during the last week with my contact at Blackstone Audio. I hadn’t heard from her for a while so I was asking about the audiobooks she was sending. She said they had gone out by UPS on December 6, and when they tracked it, it showed that the package was delivered on the 10th. Unfortunately, I never got them. Good old UPS. I hope whoever got those books enjoys them. I was pretty disappointed, ofcourse, not only because I had been looking forward to getting them, but also because I was afraid Blackstone wouldn’t want to bother sending me any more after the first bunch got lost. My fears proved to be groundless, though. My contact, Tanya, was very gracious and said she would send them again. She even said that in addition to the three books I had requested, she was sending me two more. One of the books I requested was “Mars” by Ben Bova, and Tanya also threw in the other two books in the series, “Return to Mars” and Mars Life.” I can’t tell you how happy that made me! I received her email on Wednesday saying that she had sent them out, and I should get them next Wednesday, the 29th. I was a little disappointed that she had sent them UPS again, but I suppose that can’t be helped. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed next Wednesday as I wait for the UPS truck to come around.
In case I don’t post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Safe travels to those of you who might be traveling for the holiday.
Luke 2:10-12 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” NKJV
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Journal - Free Audiobooks
Okay, here’s some more of the good news about Audiobook Heaven.
I already talked about Susan. She’s the person behind the website Audiobook Jukebox, and also the review editor for the website SFSite.com. She had asked me if I would be interested in submitting some reviews for SFSite and I said “Duh!” Well, I didn’t exactly say that, but you get my meaning. She told me about her list of books I could choose from and I was all happy about getting some free audiobooks. Since Susan is the editor of an audiobook review site, publisher’s send her the audiobooks for free since it’s good advertising for the publisher. Susan, in turn, sends the books out to her reviewers, of which there are about 12 including me.
As I was discussing all this with Susan, it occurred to me that hey, I run a legitimate audiobook review site of my own, why can’t publisher’s send free audiobooks to me? I looked around the web a little bit and found that this is a fairly common practice. Publisher’s like to send out review copies to reviewers at newspapers, magazines, websites, and yes, even little bloggers like me. So I started contacting some publishers. I’ve been reviewing for over a year so I know several of them. I looked up their contact information on the internet, and sent email inquiries to about half a dozen publishing companies to see if they would be willing to send me review copies. Of course, I provided them with links to my blog so they could check it out if they wanted to.
About eight days went by and I was beginning to despair, but then I got a bite! Someone from Blackstone Audio sent me an email saying that they were interested. She asked me how many audiobooks I could comfortably handle per month. The answer to that is between 15 and 20, but I didn’t want to seem greedy, so I said three. She had also asked me to go ahead and pick out some books from their website, which I did last Monday. Several more days went by, but on Friday she wrote back and said she had two audiobooks ready to send to me. The third one I picked is apparently still in production and not available yet so she asked me to make another selection, which I also did. Her only requirement is that when I review one of their books, I include a link to the product page at Blackstone for that book, and send her a link to the review I write, which is no problem at all.
This is really exciting! I haven’t heard back from any of the other publishers I contacted, but I’ll be getting audiobooks from Susan, and from Blackstone Audio, so that’s pretty awesome. Oh, the really exciting part is that Blackstone carries my favorite science fiction author, Ben Bova. I’ve been listening to audiobooks for about three years now and have never found a single one by Ben Bova, so I was really happy about that.
My career as an audiobook reviewer is really taking off! Now if I could just get someone to pay me! For now I’ll be content just to get somefree audiobooks. This will make a much wider selection available to me than what I’ve been able to find at the library.
Here’s the bible verse I got in my email yesterday:
1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
Today is my 40th birthday, but apparently God thinks I’m still young, so that’s good enough for me.
I already talked about Susan. She’s the person behind the website Audiobook Jukebox, and also the review editor for the website SFSite.com. She had asked me if I would be interested in submitting some reviews for SFSite and I said “Duh!” Well, I didn’t exactly say that, but you get my meaning. She told me about her list of books I could choose from and I was all happy about getting some free audiobooks. Since Susan is the editor of an audiobook review site, publisher’s send her the audiobooks for free since it’s good advertising for the publisher. Susan, in turn, sends the books out to her reviewers, of which there are about 12 including me.
As I was discussing all this with Susan, it occurred to me that hey, I run a legitimate audiobook review site of my own, why can’t publisher’s send free audiobooks to me? I looked around the web a little bit and found that this is a fairly common practice. Publisher’s like to send out review copies to reviewers at newspapers, magazines, websites, and yes, even little bloggers like me. So I started contacting some publishers. I’ve been reviewing for over a year so I know several of them. I looked up their contact information on the internet, and sent email inquiries to about half a dozen publishing companies to see if they would be willing to send me review copies. Of course, I provided them with links to my blog so they could check it out if they wanted to.
About eight days went by and I was beginning to despair, but then I got a bite! Someone from Blackstone Audio sent me an email saying that they were interested. She asked me how many audiobooks I could comfortably handle per month. The answer to that is between 15 and 20, but I didn’t want to seem greedy, so I said three. She had also asked me to go ahead and pick out some books from their website, which I did last Monday. Several more days went by, but on Friday she wrote back and said she had two audiobooks ready to send to me. The third one I picked is apparently still in production and not available yet so she asked me to make another selection, which I also did. Her only requirement is that when I review one of their books, I include a link to the product page at Blackstone for that book, and send her a link to the review I write, which is no problem at all.
This is really exciting! I haven’t heard back from any of the other publishers I contacted, but I’ll be getting audiobooks from Susan, and from Blackstone Audio, so that’s pretty awesome. Oh, the really exciting part is that Blackstone carries my favorite science fiction author, Ben Bova. I’ve been listening to audiobooks for about three years now and have never found a single one by Ben Bova, so I was really happy about that.
My career as an audiobook reviewer is really taking off! Now if I could just get someone to pay me! For now I’ll be content just to get somefree audiobooks. This will make a much wider selection available to me than what I’ve been able to find at the library.
Here’s the bible verse I got in my email yesterday:
1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
Today is my 40th birthday, but apparently God thinks I’m still young, so that’s good enough for me.
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