Tag: review

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Magic Arrives Progress Update And More

I just made progress on Magic Arrives! Read how I’m writing it and get a free book below.

How to Get a Free Book From Me

Life After Life Chronicles March Fourth Fun Videos
Enjoy all four novels in audiobook, paperback, or Kindle format!

One way is to simply give me ideas for my fantasy book, Magic Arrives. Should I have dragons? Elves? Trolls? Dwarves? (Or dwarrows, for those in the know.) Click here to give me a piece of your mind. If I use your idea, I’ll give you your choice of my books.

Another way to get free books from me is to click here. I give away eight free books of mine with every newsletter. But you’ve got to join first. Plus, I tell you about events, I give you free short stories, and more. The newsletter comes out twice a month, but you can reduce that to monthly or even bimonthly.

The Snowflake Method

I rediscovered the Book Progress app in Word Press and I decided to use it to report on the progress of my first fantasy book, with the working title, Magic Arrives. The app asked me about my writing method and I decided the Snowflake method is the closest to my process. I work on multiple parts at a time. Here’s the overall structure:

  • Story Structure
  • Characters
  • Scene List
  • First Draft
  • Editing
  • Proofing

Magic Arrives Progress – Story Structure

So far I’m 72% complete on the Story Structure phase. 8 Months remain until the deadline. I’ve captured the broad brush strokes of my plot for this book, and the next.


Magic Arrives
Phase:Story Structure
Due:1 year ago
72%

Magic Arrives Progress – Characters

I just made progress on Magic Arrives! So far I’m 54% complete on the Characters phase. I’ve got about fourteen characters so far. I’ll have about twenty-five to thirty when I’m done.

Magic Arrives
Phase:Characters
54%

Magic Arrives Progress – Scene List

I just made progress on Magic Arrives! So far I’m 6% complete on the Scene List phase. That’s 6 out of 100 scenes.

Magic Arrives
Phase:Scene List
6%

Progress – First Draft Words

I just made progress on Magic Arrives! So far I’m 4.9% complete on the First Draft phase. That’s roughly 4,900 words out of my goal of 100,000.
Shortcode

Magic Arrives
Phase:First Draft
4.9%

What remains to be done

After I finish the first draft, I’ll still have to self-edit. Then I send it to my editor, Dori Harrell. She’ll do both line editing and final proofing. I’ll also have to create a front cover, back cover and spine with my illustrator, Sean “Fuzzy” Flanagan. Fuzzy will also do my chapter icons for me.

Then there’s the small matter of uploading it to Amazon and publishing it there. Finally, I order paperback copies so you can get your copy here, directly from me, as less than Amazon.

The Feedback Loop Review

Since I’m writing a fantasy book, let me give you a review of one I’ve read this year. All my reviews are here on Goodreads. Clickity-click!

My Review

Magic Arrives Progress

January 11, 2023

Harmon Cooper writes an interesting RPG fantasy with the premise the main character is trapped in an endless loop in an RPG game. Sort of like Groundhog Day, only people are killing you every day.

The main character is unbelievably violent, killing first and asking questions later. This is due to years of being trapped. As he kills his opponents, he keeps adding their weapons to his inventory list, even items that don’t see like weapons.

I didn’t like the main character, probably because he’d gone crazy and was no longer rational. But persist in the series–he gets better.

Andy Zach
Author 10 books 85 followers

Get Your Free Books By Clicking Here!

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You Can Get My New Audiobook For Free

Produce Your Audiobook Secret Supers in Space
Produce Your Audiobook
Audiobook cover

You Can Get My New Audiobook For Free. “But how, Andy?” you ask.

Let’s cut to the chase: Click here to get it.

But maybe you want to know about my new audiobook, Secret Supers in Space.

Here’s the blurb:

The Secret Supers are bored out of their minds during summer vacation-until they go to Space Camp. They learn all about the space program, try out moon gravity and zero-g simulations, and practice docking with the International Space Station.

But that’s the easy part. The villains they defeated in the past are back with a diabolical plot that renders the middle schoolers’ superpowers ineffective. Jeremy, Aubrey, Dan, and Kayla face the biggest challenge of their lives. Even if they escape the villains’ clutches, will they survive?

Find out in Secret Supers in Space!

Get My New Audiobook – Click Here

My New Audiobook

Here’s Secret Super Kayla Verdera at the controls of the spaceship in Secret Supers in Space.

But what do my readers think of Secret Supers in Space? Here’s a review for you:

Top review from the United States

5.0 out of 5 stars Cute

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 9, 2022

I love this story, a great continuation of the first book. The Super Secrets have one heck of an adventure, and I was happy to be along for the ride.


darlene loop

Meet My New Audiobook Actor and Producer

My New Audiobook

Khai Lannor. His bio on Audible:

  • Khai Lannor 
  • Narrator
  • Full-time; versatile male audiobook narrator with a standard American accent. I’ve produced 600+ titles in many genres. Royalty share or PFH works for me; depending on the project. I can give you an exact price after seeing the manuscript or auditioning. Thanks for your interest, feel free to send me a message with any questions!
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Hawaii, United States
  • Website: freebooksforpeople.neocities.org
  • Available for: Royalty Share,Royalty Share Plus or Unspecified

Meet the Secret Supers

My New Audiobook

Jeremy Gentle, 7th-grader, in an electric wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. His father, Bradon Gentle, works as a financial planner and his mother, Denise, works as an occupational therapist.

He loves science, math, science fiction to the point he tends to be bit obsessive about his interests. His parents have adapted their home for him, putting in an elevator and giving him a science lab where he can work on his experiments downstairs.

In the book Secret Supers, he accidently gives himself a superpower.

Meet Dan Elanga, the next Secret Super

My New Audiobook Your Sixth Literary Gift Love These Superheroes
Dan Elanga – He can read minds and sensory impressions.

Dan Elanga, is the son of Cameroon immigrants, Elisha and Beulah Elanga. He was born blind and his father, a successful merchant in Cameroon, migrated to the US to help their son fully develop his abilities despite his blindness.

Dan became Jeremy’s best friend, perhaps because they were opposites. Dan was big and gregarious. Jeremy was small and private. Dan likes to joke. Jeremy is serious.

Dan was the second person to get a superpower.

Secret Super Three: Kayla Verdera

My New Audiobook Your Sixth Literary Gift Kayla Verdera - Love These Superheroes
Kayla Verdera

Former cheerleader and singer, she lost both abilities through spinal menengitis. She has partial paralysis of her vocal cords and trouble talking and walking through lack of muscle control

Kayla notices Jeremy and Dan talking and wants in on their secret. She too gets a superpower, but she still needs her walker. Very small, she’s 4 6 and 75 pounds.

Aubrey Wilcowsky: Secret Super Four

Aubrey Wilcosky
Aubrey, super powered heroine.

Aubrey’s 13, loves softball, and lost two legs in an auto accident. She got 3D-printed prosthetic legs, along with her super power.

Unlike Kayla, she’s loud and boisterous, since she has four noisy older brothers. Still, they’ve been best friends for years. Kayla coaches Aubrey on classes and Aubrey has stuck loyally by Kayla even though she lost her voice and walking ability.

Secret Supers in Space Audiobook 

Produce Your Audiobook

Here is where you come in: would you want to buy the Secret Supers in Space audiobook?  Reply to this post, or contact me, Andy Zach, right here. (Click here)

The audiobook will be for sale on Amazon, Audible, ACX, and Apple Books.

You can get all eight of my audiobooks for free by clicking here. I offer free audiobook codes to all my newsletter subscribers, as long as the codes last.

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Produce Your Audiobook in 4 Steps

Produce Your Audiobook Secret Supers in Space
Produce Your Audiobook in 4 Steps Paranormal Privateers Novel Progress
Andy Zach Author photo

Produce Your Audiobook 4 in Steps – what are they?

I covered this six years ago (!!!) in this blog post: 4 Steps in Producing Zombie Turkeys Audiobook. Since then, I’ve created eight audiobooks using six different voice actors.

You can see them all, except my eighth book, which is in production, right here on my Audible author page.

Find out all that I’ve learned in six years and make your own audiobook starting today!

Produce Your Audiobook – Step 1

Step 1 is join ACX as an author. Create your ACX audiobook account and connect it to your published book.

Produce Your Audiobook

An example of your Audible sign up page.

Produce Your Audiobook – Step 2

Secret Supers in Space Produce Your Audiobook

I then published the audition script for the book, selecting the best sections to show the reader’s capabilities. You want the reader to voice your major characters. Be sure to provide voice directions about the age and personality of the characters and any accents you desire. Then I put the book out to for audition on ACX.

My most recent audiobook, now in production, is Secret Supers in Space.

Here’s the page where you upload your script for audition.

Produce Your Audiobook

Step Three: Sending the Script

After selecting a voice actor, Khai Lannor, I submitted a contract for the audiobook, and he agreed. ACX has pre-made contracts to offer to voice actors and producers.

Here’s Khai’s profile on ACX

Produce Your Audiobook
  • Khai Lannor 
  • Narrator
  • Full-time; versatile male audiobook narrator with a standard American accent. I’ve produced 600+ titles in many genres. Royalty share or PFH works for me; depending on the project. I can give you an exact price after seeing the manuscript or auditioning. Thanks for your interest, feel free to send me a message with any questions!
  • Gender: Male
  • Location: Hawaii, United States
  • Website: freebooksforpeople.neocities.org
  • Available for: Royalty Share,Royalty Share Plus or Unspecified

Royalty share, Royalty Share Plus are alternative contracts you can offer.

Royalty Share means you split the audiobook royalties 50-50.

Finally, Royalty Share Plus means you split the audiobook royalties and pay the voice actor/producer a fee.

Produce Your Audiobook: Step Four

Approving the Audiobook

Produce Your Audiobook

Khai sent me a fifteen-minute sample. After I approved that, he finished the book. That leads us to the final step of the process.

Along the way, I also send him directions on how I want the characters voiced: their accent, tone, and age.

I have nine main characters in Secret Supers in Space, all with different voices

Here’s one, Jeremy Gentle. He’s 12 going on 13, with cerebral palsy. He’s in an electric wheelchair most of the time–except when he’s using his telekinesis power.

Aubrey Wilcosky Produce Your Audiobook
Aubrey, super powered heroine.

And here’s another, Aubrey Wilcowski. She’s 13, loves softball, and lost two legs in an auto accident. She got 3D-printed prosthetic legs, along with super strength through the Secret Supers.

The Final Step: Selling the Secret Supers in Space Audiobook 

Produce Your Audiobook

Here is where you come in: would you want to buy the Secret Supers in Space audiobook?  Reply to this post, or contact me, Andy Zach, right here. (Click here)

The audiobook will be for sale on Amazon, Audible, ACX, and Apple Books.

You can get my audiobooks for free by clicking here. I offer free audiobook codes to all my newsletter subscribers, as long as the codes last.

Let’s close this post with the latest review of Secret Supers in Space

darlene loop

5.0 out of 5 stars 

Cute

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2022

I love this story, a great continuation of the first book. The Super Secrets have one heck of an adventure, and I was happy to be along for the ride.