Another FIRST – My first Audio Book release!
The picture above showed up in my Facebook feed this past week to remind me of my first from last December – the publishing of my first book – A Leap Year of Firsts! The picture was taken at my publisher’s Book Baby’s manufacturing facility as my first book came off of the assembly like. This is THE picture of THE first cover printed. I was there to take THE first completed book off the press. I still have that first copy. This was also THE first time Book Baby allowed an author to come into their facility to be present while their first book came off the production line. A thrill I will never forget.
I can’t believe a year has passed since this first happened. How time flies. The book and this first of publishing my first book “A Leap Year of Firsts” gave me a number of additional firsts that followed this past year. My first book allowed me many more undocumented firsts this past year. These firsts included my first Book signing. First Book Launch party. Frist Stand-up Comedy performance. And multiple first-time speaking opportunities based off of the book. I won my first Speaker of the Year award from my industry for my talk I gave at our national meeting based on the book. I’m actually working on my first TED Talk based on the book. I submitted my first 2-minute “pitch” video this week to be considered for Ted Talk consideration.
I was also asked for another book related first with my publisher. I have been asked to be THE first author of my publisher Book Baby’s first AI (Artificial Intelligence) generated Audio book program that they will be rolling out. Honored & humbled! They have been working on this for the past year. I was asked to test the process and the product. I just went through my third and final edit yesterday. I selected the automated voice from over a hundred offerings. It is so cool! In listening to the AI reading, for the most part, it was GREAT. In some instances (small percentage), the emotion or the natural flow of a human read was just slightly off or not “natural.” It wasn’t the pronunciation; it was just maybe a dramatic pause or the emotion of the ending of a sentence. Subtle nuances of speech. Some words were said correctly with the pronunciation right – it was just “flat.” I don’t know how you address this. Personally, I just accepted this as part of the AI experience and grateful to have an audio book. I’m sure over time with improvements in the tech, by much smarter people than I, they will continually improve this aspect to capture more of the emotion of the read.
NEVER in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be an author with an Audio Book. The firsts have influenced me to step out of my comfort zone. My many firsts have made me grow. It is amazing where this this journey of firsts has taken me. If you would like to hear the audio book it is available here: A Leap Year of Firsts: 366 Adventures to Appreciate and Learn from Life by Keith L. Baldwin | BookBaby Bookshop