THE HARD GOODBYE audiobook is LIVE!

So, ACX (audiobook creation exchange) has lied to me on the past two audiobooks I’ve had produced. When I commissioned the great Tim Halligan to narrate TRESPASS (available here) back in early December, he knocked it out in little over a week. I approved it and it went to QC over two weeks before Christmas, at which time ACX declared (as they have on all my audiobooks) that it will go from QC to then be prepared for retail at Audible, iTunes, and Amazon. The whole process should take 10-14 days. Well, liar-liar, pants on fire, it FINALLY became live in very LATE January of this year. They blamed it on the Holidays, and I gave them a pass. Well, in late February/early March I commissioned the equally great Daniel Caravetta to narrate THE HARD GOODBYE. He assured me he would have it done by the end of March, and he made good on his word (as well as doing a phenomenal job on the production). It was approved and sent to QC and retail preparation at the beginning of April. I’m a bit of an obsessive type, so I would go and check on the production page daily–usually multiple times daily–despite my knowledge that as soon as it goes live they would be emailing me to let me know. None of that matters to an obsessive, of course, and I charged ahead checking and refreshing the page throughout April, keeping my anxiety level at a fever-pitch and chipping away at my already whithering patience. Then, FINALLY, last night about 6PM (April 22, 2019), I get the EMAIL from ACX letting me know my title was live on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon!

Now, some perspective…

This is the fourth audiobook I’ve commissioned, and the fifth that my work is featured in (my pal Nicholas Catron commissioned the anthology he put together Killers Inside with my short story IN THE HOUSE, which you can find here) and they have varied in length considerably. The first I had commissioned was A MURDER OF SAINTS (available here), narrated by Tim Halligan like TRESPASS was. This is my longest published work to date, and the overall length of the audiobook was 11 hours and 40 minutes. The second audiobook I commissioned was my short story FLUSHED (available here), narrated by the wonderful SW Salzman. This one came in at just 34 minutes total. In BOTH cases–representing my longest and shortest works in audio respectively–from the moment I hit “approve audiobook” to the time it was live and for sale, no more than 9 days passed. Well within the 10-14 days promised. TRESPASS took close to a month and a half, despite only being 2 hours and 11 minutes long. And while THE HARD GOODBYE came through faster than TRESPASS did, it still took every bit of 22 days, despite being merely 4 hours and 53 minutes long. And this time, the only holidays involved were Good Friday and Easter. While I find these holidays absolutley legitimate, I’m fairly certain ACX doesn’t do much of anything on weekends, and I’m sure they’re heathens anyway, so that doesn’t count as an excuse.

But what are you gonna do? If you want to have an audiobook produced and have it distributed on Audible and iTunes (by FAR the largest markets for audiobooks), there isn’t much in the way of other options BUT to go through ACX, especially if you’re a nobody slub like me. So, I grit my teeth and bear it, and keep pumping content out. Despite all my frustrations and the lengthy process of having audiobooks produced to compete in this ultra-fast-growing market, I’m proud to announce that THE HARD GOODBYE is available on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon, and you can get it now right here! Daniel Caravetta is a fantastic narrator, and after checking out his work on THE HARD GOODBYE, you should check out his work on THEM written by my friend James Watts here. I suspect he is going to become one of the great readers of our time, and a highly sought after talent. I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to have worked with him.

And that’s about all for now, folks. No new news on submissions for THE DAMNED PLACE yet, and THE DAMNED ONES is still with the editor. I’ve written a new short-story for an upcoming anthology, but that one isn’t coming for many months, perhaps not before next year, so I’ll save the details on that one for later, except to say it is my first foray into Lovecraftian Horror, and I think you’re going to really dig it. I’m also about a quarter to a third into a splatter western novella a publisher approached me about writing, and it’s coming along beautifully. More on that one later when I can release the details.

You guys and ghouls take care, and don’t forget to check out my entire library of work, all available in Kindle, all but one in paperback, and five of which availible in audio. It’s all right here.

Deuces.