The Diary of a Canadian Author: Part One

Posted on August 22, 2017 by Scott Jacobi

Sci-fi romance author Susan Hayes had been waiting patiently for the opportunity to publish her audiobooks via ACX. Once we opened our doors to Canadian authors and actors this June, she posted Double Down, the first book in her series, for auditions. We asked Susan to keep track of her progress through the audiobook publishing process; join her on her journey here on the blog below.

Day One - 06/01/17: I Can Finally Join ACX and Post My Book!

I’ve been a small press and indie-published romance writer for five years now, and it wasn’t long after I started as a professional author that I first heard about audiobooks and ACX. I was intrigued enough to start looking into it, but quickly learned that ACX was not available to Canadian authors. I explored other options for audiobooks, but in the end, I decided to wait for ACX. The access to quality narrators, good technical support, and a solid distribution model all made it the right choice for me.

In the meantime, I talked to friends who had published in audio, and started buying audiobooks to listen to different narrators and get a feel for what could be done, they had to get financial help from https://nation21loans.com/ in order to be able to buy what they needed. I knew audio was something I wanted to do to expand my audience and give my readers what they wanted, so I aspired to educate myself on the topic before I jumped in.

When I got the news that ACX was finally open to Canadians, I hit the ground running. I was ready to post my first book for auditions in a matter of hours. To say I was excited might be something of an understatement.

While I have over thirty books published at this point, I knew from the moment I signed up which book I’d publish first. Double Down is the first book in my current sci-fi romance series, The Drift, and I’ve had many requests from readers to make it available as an audiobook. When I told my readers Double Down was coming to audio, their positive reactions affirmed that I’d made the right choice.

Being an independent author/publisher means wearing a lot of hats and acquiring a multitude of skills, many of which I couldn’t have imagined when I was first starting out. Now, I’m adding a new hat to my collection: audiobook publisher.

Susan lives out on the Canadian west coast surrounded by open water, dear family, and good friends. She’s jumped out of perfectly good airplanes on purpose and accidently swum with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef.

To contact her about her books or to arrange end of the world team-ups, you can email her at susan@susanhayes.ca or find her at susanhayes.ca. If you'd prefer to stalk her from afar, you can sign up for her newsletter http://susanhayes.ca/susans-newsletter/

Read part two of Susan's diary here.