It's Audio Book Month - 

#loveaudiobooks - for the Audiobook Publishers Association.

The talented Jacqueline de Boer narrated Imagining Violet, and InD'tale Magazine filed this review:

Imagining Violet

Mary E. Hughes

Narrator: Jacqueline de Boer

Genre: 

Audiobooks

https://amazon.com/dp/B09NYL8XYJ?tag=intama-20

 

It is 1891, Violet Courtenaye is an incredibly talented violinist determined to make her place in the world. She’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime to audition for the prestigious Leipzig Conservatory in Germany. To prepare, she must practice endlessly with the best tutors in the city. If she succeeds, she will be one of the few female concert violinists. A number of obstacles stand in her way beyond her gender. The city is alive and full of distractions! Then there is her handsome tutor, her quirky landlady, and a rather delightful Canadian piano player. With the demands of her teachers high, she must find a way to achieve her ambitious goals, but not lose herself along the way.

“Imagining Violet” is a bright, creative, historical tale! Ms. Hughes has put in a great many small details that make the world she’s created vibrant and full of life. Told in the form of letters, the story covers Violet’s journey through music school. Because the book is told only through letters, there are hardly any scenes that involve dialogue or show any other characters. Everything is told through Violet’s account, and some readers might find this off-putting, delivering more description than action. In a few places, the story slows a bit as well. However, Violet as a character is strong and engaging to read, with interesting observations that carry the book through to the end.

Ms. Boer’s performance as Violet is energetic! She is able to capture the innocent and lighthearted essence of Violet’s character perfectly! This portrayal keeps some of the slower parts moving and creates an emotional connection to the events of the book. Readers will instantly connect with her voice and become immersed in the story because of it!

This is a great book for readers who enjoy historical fiction!

Chelsea Andersen

 

 

The Audible Imagining Violet

 The Audible version of "Imagining Violet" has arrived in the world, and can be found at Audible.com for those who prefer to listen to their books. I am absolutely delighted with the performance of Jacqueline de Boer who narrated and produced this edition. I listened to all 8.9 hours of it and found Violet to be a most engaging young woman. 

I have a supply of promo codes and would be pleased to provide one upon request either through a comment on this post or to my email, if you have it. In the meantime,

Here are links to the sample on Sound Cloud and the Audible page:  

https://soundcloud.com/search?q=imagining%20violet

https://www.audible.ca/search?keywords=imagining+violet&ref=a_hp_t1_header_search

Here is the link to the posting on Amazon.com where you can listen to a free sample of Jacqueline's excellent work:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=imagining+violet&crid=2P31U2HYH7PCK&sprefix=imagining+violet+%2Caps%2C170&ref

Reviews of "Letters from Lake Joe"

S. Lynn Hilton, a writer of fantasy books, wrote this on Goodreads:

 This lovely historical fiction book tells its story of summers spent cottaging at Lake Joseph, Muskoka, Canada, through the medium of letters written by the main character Violet (Courtenaye) Welsman. Illustrated with period photographs and postcards, the book is divided into two parts, each a different historical period. The first part is the longer of the two and far more detailed. That is Violet’s time period. The second part, while shorter, was just as enjoyable to read and contained the author’s thoughts and reminiscences of times spent at Lake Joe in roughly the middle to last half of the 20th century.

Violet’s fictional letters read like something I’d expect a woman of that time period and status to write and painted a detailed picture of the lives of the people who summered at the lake. The story provides a delightful taste of life from another time, both good times and a few sad times, and its conversational tone perfectly fit the (mostly) leisurely pace of the summers described. I enjoyed how the small collection of “mid-century Muskoka memories” rounded out the book and provided a different view of the cottage and island where Violet summered so many years earlier.

I really liked this creative non-fiction (as the author describes her books about her ancestor Violet). The book is an engaging slice of life story, an entertaining read. 

Chester Sing added this: 

This is a wonderfully written and imagined series of letters that transports the reader back in time to a rustic, simpler era. It is charming and nostalgic, and is a lovely ode to the author's grandmother and family history. Read this for a trip back in time to a bygone era! 

flagL

Letters from Lake Joe SRO

 Well, that's an exaggeration, but we did sell, or place on consignment, all the 110 copies I sent to Ontario. Most of them sold at the local ice cream store, Shaw's at The Cove Marina, at Footes Bay. Did it help that my 15 year old granddaughter Scarlett was working there?  Krista, the store's owner reported that one woman bought 8 copies! 

Several other stores in the area took half a dozen or a dozen books, and of course several people showed up at our cottage to pick up a copy.  There should still be books at Lake Living in Port Sandfield, Veranda in Bracebridge, the Boathouse Marina on the Joe River and Macleod's Cafe on the way into Mactier. 

I had expected my print run of 125 to last two summers, but am surprised and pleased that that was not to be. I've now created Letters as an Amazon paperback, so anyone shopping at Amazon.ca will get one of those books which they print on demand. Seems to take 3 to 4 weeks for delivery from the US. 

Or you can still buy one directly from me, using the Order Form on the blog. 

Letters from Lake Joe

 The spin-off book - Letters from Lake Joe - has been published.  I've extracted all the Muskoka - relevant letters from the three Violet books and assembled them, with some connecting narrative into a book I hope will sell to the cottagers on Lake Joseph and other Muskoka Lakes. Mark Hand has created another fetching cover for this latest effort. Musoka  Books in Bracebridge Ontario will have copies and marinas on Lake Joe as well, I hope. 

Audible Audiobook in Production Soon

 

I am delighted to announce that British-born Jacqueline de Boer has agreed to narrate and produce Imagining Violet as an audiobook for Audible. Jacqueline has several other projects underway, so we won't hear the Audible version until sometime next fall. I am confident that Jacquelne, known as as The British Voice Over Lady, will make a wonderful Violet.

Jacqueline operates her voice-over business from a fully equipped professional home studio in the Greater Boston area in Massachusetts, USA. She is continuously developing her audiobook narration, production and voice-over skills with coaching, training, industry membership and event attendance. She is also married to a Canadian from Mississauga.

Audible offers an opportunity to produce an audiobook with zero up-front production costs, provided you give them exclusive distribution rights for seven years.

. But I didn't expect I would ever recover the cost of paying the production costs myself. Thankfully, Jacqueline is willing to do this on a royalty share basis.

Audible

 I've decided to turn Imagining Violet into an audio book. After doing a lot of research into the pros and cons of Audible and Amazon Creative Exchange (ACX) vs other production opportunities, I have somewhat reluctantly chosen to pursue this project using Audible.

Mainly because I may be able to do it on a Royalty Share basis which means no investment on my part. The downside is, Audible audiobooks cannot be accessed at Canadian libraries. And as an audiobook counts as a "new title" with the Public Lending Right Program, I am foregoing potential revenue. 

On the other hand, the cost of paying for production was looking like something in excess of $2500. I realized I would not likely recoup that investment in my lifetime, what with being nearly 78 and all. 

The fun part, right now, is listening to auditions. I have had over 20 auditions submitted and many of them would be quite good as Violet. The women who are submitting seem keen to play the part. I'm thinking Violet as an audiobook could be a fun way to "read" the letters. 

This may not work, but it's surely worth pursuing.