A James Baldwin book read by Jesse Martin? Hell yeah! #audiobooks
Jess Mahler
boosted
If you like audiobooks, or if you dislike Amazon and how predatory it is, please check out this petition to try to get Audible to change their new proposed payment model to pay authors fairly. Robin Sullivan, wife and business partner of fantasy author Michael Sullivan, does a good job of explaining the new system and showing how bad it will be for authors not in the "Plus" program. Daniel Green just did an interview with Robin on YouTube that does a deep dive into the changes, that's where I found the petition. It's also linked below. Please share the petition with your reader friends!
#Bookstodon#Audiobooks#Audible#Amazon#Books#Authors#WritingCommunity
https://www.change.org/p/convince-audible-to-revise-it-s-new-royalty-model/actions
If you like audiobooks, or if you dislike Amazon and how predatory it is, please check out this petition to try to get Audible to change their new proposed payment model to pay authors fairly. Robin Sullivan, wife and business partner of fantasy author Michael Sullivan, does a good job of explaining the new system and showing how bad it will be for authors not in the "Plus" program. Daniel Green just did an interview with Robin on YouTube that does a deep dive into the changes, that's where I found the petition. It's also linked below. Please share the petition with your reader friends!
#Bookstodon#Audiobooks#Audible#Amazon#Books#Authors#WritingCommunity
https://www.change.org/p/convince-audible-to-revise-it-s-new-royalty-model/actions
alcinnz
boosted
PRO TIP3: you can make requests! https://lnk.to/LibrariesRock
PRO TIP3: you can make requests! https://lnk.to/LibrariesRock
phildini
boosted
I have a bunch of new followers who seem to be mostly in tech (hello!) so I should point out that I narrated an audiobook that may be of interest to some of you:
Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track
by @lethain
If you are reaching the top of the tech ladder in a large organization but don't want to go into management (and who could blame you), this may be the book for you.
I have a bunch of new followers who seem to be mostly in tech (hello!) so I should point out that I narrated an audiobook that may be of interest to some of you:
Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track
by @lethain
If you are reaching the top of the tech ladder in a large organization but don't want to go into management (and who could blame you), this may be the book for you.
Been working on de-Amazon-ing... now I'm wondering what Audible alternatives there are.
The library is out because I listen to books while I fall sleep and it can take me a month+ to actually get thru. Needs to be a format with like two month loan periods or somewhere I can get books for a reasonable price.
I know Kobo sells audiobooks, but I wanna know what folks are using and where they're getting books.
I backed @pluralistic 's project to support one of my favourite authors in his no- #DRM policy for #audiobooks and #ebooks so he sees many people support him his past actions and for his future endeavours.
If you appreciate that you can read and listen great stories with #FreeSoftware, and if you want to support him writing future stories inspiring the younger generation, please support him as well:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-auf-deutsche-drm-freie
(Interesting background about it: https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/21/martin-mensch/#horbuch )
alcinnz
boosted
So if you need to batch download and de-#DRM your #Audible library, this works stupidly easy so far on my Debian system.
So if you need to batch download and de-#DRM your #Audible library, this works stupidly easy so far on my Debian system.
Neil Brown
boosted
I'm looking for new homes for more than one Mastodon account, so tell me savvy-friends: Are there instances for audiobook fans & narrators?
*I realize that the answer is probably either "no" or "wut?", but if you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate them.
**What do I narrate? Romance & (under a different name and account) erotica. Even my spicy alt is solidly PG-13 though.
#Audiobook #Audiobooks#Bookstodon#Romancelandia#AskFedi @audiobooks @bookstodon @romancelandia @smutstodon
I'm looking for new homes for more than one Mastodon account, so tell me savvy-friends: Are there instances for audiobook fans & narrators?
*I realize that the answer is probably either "no" or "wut?", but if you have any suggestions, I'd appreciate them.
**What do I narrate? Romance & (under a different name and account) erotica. Even my spicy alt is solidly PG-13 though.
#Audiobook #Audiobooks#Bookstodon#Romancelandia#AskFedi @audiobooks @bookstodon @romancelandia @smutstodon
Jess Mahler
boosted
The Pass the Salt audiobook sample, narrated by Kevin R Free, is now up! https://weirdwritings.pinecast.co/episode/88bcf5c8/pass-the-salt-audiobook-sample#Audible#Audiobook#Audiobooks
The Pass the Salt audiobook sample, narrated by Kevin R Free, is now up! https://weirdwritings.pinecast.co/episode/88bcf5c8/pass-the-salt-audiobook-sample#Audible#Audiobook#Audiobooks
As someone that hates the whole of tech industry in general, take this for what it's worth! #AI is text to speech, just with unnaturally huge processing power behind generating these voices and generating how they will say things, etc. Virtual Voice is something Audible chose to call their particular brand of voice, probably because it would possibly be better received then calling it AI narrator or something like that. It's an absolute insult to audiobook listeners like myself. For one thing, AI narrated/virtual voice books aren't free, so there's absolutely no way I'm paying for one of these things, at all. For another, my screen reader, which is on device, is easier to listen to. It's faster. I can highlight text in an EBook. I can speed up the reading with less distortion. I can switch voices on the fly if I wanted. I can even change punctuation level anouncements if I want. With my screen reader, I am in control. With whatever Audible is doing, I have very little control at all, but that's not even the reason why I listen to audiobooks in the first place. When I listen to a book, I want to be taken on a journey and I want that human narrator to give me an experience as they read. I know, strange concept right!
It's not just about the text, although, that's a big part of it too! But I wanna sit down with a loved narrator and I want them to tell me a story for hours and hours and hours. I want them to show me how they feel about a scene by the slight intonation in their voice.
These higher powered AI voices try to be emotional, but it just comes across as really really really obvious this is TTS/AI after a while.
For a breakdown, you can read about the prices and stuff here.
https://daisy.org/news-events/articles/ai-text-to-speech-cost-comparison/
I have my favorite audiobook narrators. I even spoken to a few of them recently over Zoom and they were so overjoyed that they basically grew up with me. They were in my ears from an early age. Without them, I wouldn't care about stories and literature as deeply as I do. I told them, sincerely, thank you for bringing worlds and characters to life for me. They were so touched.
With an AI narrator, I'll never have that connection, ever. I'll just be experiencing the words and if I wanted to do that, I'd just read the eBook.
It's super frustrating because this isn't making audiobooks cheaper. It isn't making narrators get paid more. It's just a way to push out content just because authors are afraid of creative solutions such as creative commons to get their audiobooks made. Audible knows this, and are capitalizing on the fact that narrators are these expensive sacks of flesh. It's so disgusting, but corporations gonna corporation.
jaz :twt: :wales_flag:
boosted
Great news! Just discovered that the app my library uses has a load of Raymond Chandler audio books narrated by Ray Porter, so that's going to keep me satiated for a while 😁. Audiobook recommendations welcome - I read a lot but only just started listening to books, and seems that the narrator's voice/style makes a big difference to whether I like them.
#AudioBooks
Great news! Just discovered that the app my library uses has a load of Raymond Chandler audio books narrated by Ray Porter, so that's going to keep me satiated for a while 😁. Audiobook recommendations welcome - I read a lot but only just started listening to books, and seems that the narrator's voice/style makes a big difference to whether I like them.
#AudioBooks