And so, my Audiobook Adventure Begins...

I self-published "Daclaxvia" in 2019 after writing the 90,000 word novel, mostly... on my cell phone.

At the time, I was pastoring at what turned out to be my final full-time vocational ministry assignment in Benton, Wisconsin.

I had always wanted to write a novel and the serene countryside home that we lived in at the time was the perfect place for me to give it a try. I would come home from my office and in the warm summertime weather I would sit on the front porch of our rented 150+ year-old wood-framed farmhouse-- the oldest of such a structure (so we were told) in that far southwestern corner of the state. Something in those rolling farmland hills settled me into the frame of mind to begin writing.

As the weather turned cold, I would steal away to a coffee shop in historic Galena, just over the border in Illinois. It wasn't a far trip to drive on the snowy roads in the winter since our backyard fence line shared its length with the northern border of Illinois.

From summer, to Fall, to winter and then to Spring I finished writing my first draft of the novel and began the edits. After a few months doing my own edits; a practice not recommended but very much necessitated by my budget, I cranked out a 'good enough' copy, I thought, to upload to Amazon through their KDP self publishing system.

My first upload existed so that I could give copies away to friends and family as a 'test audience'. Knowing that "a prophet hath no honor in his hometown" I also branched out with a secondary upload months later and eventually sold around 600 copies of both the eBook and paperback version of "Daclaxvia" combined.

Then my time in Benton came to a close, then COVID... then a downturn in my health from a past toxic-run-in from leukemia (recovered from in 2008-2010)... onto disability and... well onto this new life of mine as "The Retired Journeyman Writer", the title of this blog.

I had thought about doing a full rewrite of the novel to get a more seriously edited version "out there", until a crazy thought crossed my mind after talking to a friend who had just published his first book. He put a seed in my mind about producing Daclaxvia as an audiobook after telling me how his publisher had recommended it for his book.

After mulling it over I remembered that my modus operandi of writing this particular book was to write it like I was directing a movie in my head. As I tick-ticked away at the keyboard on my cell phone, I would picture myself in a big screen movie theater and creating the story and action in a way that I would want to watch it.

Since I didn't really have the budget for a full-blown Hollywood movie, I thought the next best thing would be a play... still not enough resources for Broadway. That left the third option-- an audiobook. Still with budgetary concerns, I knew that Hollywood and Broadway would need to genuflect to... Pewaukee, WI-- in my basement office.

That being the case I tallied up what I might need after asking my basement office AI assistant what would be the most affordable way and cost to produce an audiobook.

$99.

That's it. Using a program designed by a company called ElevenLabs, I have decided to produce Daclaxvia as a good quality audiobook. The $99 a month tier subscription to the AI-driven program will allow me to get the 450,000 'characters of my 90,000 word novel recorded into an MP3 file ready for upload anywhere that I may further find to get it distributed. More on all that stuff later...

So... that's my plan and my budget for producing the audiobook of my novel "Daclaxvia."

I am inviting you to journey along with me on this venture. I (probably very naively) believe I can produce it in one month and stay right on budget. I am doing preliminary work right now, downloading a first month low tier subscription just so I can learn the software.

But starting in October of 2025, I plan to start the project and I am hoping that you will join me as I let you know how it is going... showing you what I am learning, step by step. I'll be asking for preferences and presenting examples of the audio-- hoping for input from those of you who listen to audiobooks. I am not one of those.

To start with I wanted to share with you a section of a narrative in chapter one. I chose an AI voice actor on ElevenLabs named Bradford. I wanted a British accent for the narration because much of the book deals with high-tech and some very intellectual characters bantering back and forth; and I think a nice mellow British accent seems to carry well along those kind of conversations and ideas.

So, click the link below and have a listen to the Preface of the book. It partially sets the stage for the story and links to its backstory. I will be tweaking certain phraseologies and accents... but, I think you get the feel of "Bradford" and my narrator.

[I welcome your critiques, ideas, suggestions.... thanks!]

Listen To The Preface of 'Daclaxvia'