Dear
Readers,
So what have I been doing the last few
weeks? Writing…lots of writing, just not for the blog. I’ve been working on short
stories for inclusion in a compellation to be published in the next few months.
I’ve completed five so far, not all
of which will be included in the first book. Since the common wisdom dictates
you should write about what you know, the first book of short stories will be
based on a horse/livestock theme.
On Saturday past, I attended a
seminar where a new content creation platform for electronic books was
presented. Reading accompanied by audio elements? I was not particularly
impressed with the idea at the beginning of the presentation. But half-way
through I was curious, and by the end I was inspired to try it out.
To that end I have uploaded and
posted “Beezle” on Booktrack.com.
The service is free, no charge to download and use Google Chrome, which you
need to have in order to access the content. There is no charge at present for
using the site, and all the reading material is currently free. Eventually they
will have a premium channel, but for now, in its early stages, it’s FREE.
Oh how I love free, and it has been
my observation so do other readers around the globe, which is why blogs are so
popular.
So how does it work? Currently you
use your PC to read and listen to the books, poems and short stories. Booktrack
will be launching a new app, in the next couple of weeks, which will allow
readers to use their smart phones and tablets.
These are not audio books; they are
books with sound tracks. When I read the first one, I found it distracting. But
very quickly it all came together for me and I really liked it. So there is,
what I would call, a reading curve.
The reading speed is adjustable, so
the sound effects should be heard in the right places for readers of any speed.
So be sure to use the + and – symbols to adjust the reading speed, though the
program is intuitive after you have completed the first few pages. It would be
a bit of a distraction to have gun shots going off when you have immersed
yourself in the next scene, which could be a romantic encounter, a wedding or
even a birth.
Since I tend to read quite rapidly, I
did find that the sound effects loading at the beginning of each page included a
bit of a lag. I learned to pause or slow down as I turned each page. This is an
issue that will be corrected when the new app is launched.
I spent hours sifting through all
their sound effects, and music clips to come up with what I thought enhanced
the reading experience. If you don’t like the sounds and just want to read the
story, turn down the volume. Beezle has nine scenes and the action is quite compelling by the time you get into scene nine.
There
are a lot of classics currently available and quite a few authors have included
pieces in order to introduce readers to their work. I got a kick out of reading
a couple offerings in the young adult section.
One in particular I felt compelled
to add a comment to when I’d finished it. If you have time take a look at it; “Priscilla and the Wimps” and it is written
by Cole Martin and Robby Brocoli . It is short and entertaining. I don’t know
if these are the author’s real names, it has a kind of veggie feel to me, like
they may be pulling my leg. But nonetheless, I liked the story, if not the ending.
So here’s the link to my short
stories on Booktrack: Beezle is an
adventure with lots of action. Token is a flight of fancy I wrote for my
Fantasy critique group. I’m not sure the fantasy genre is in my wheelhouse. But
I do love Lord of the Rings. I hope you
enjoy reading and listening to Beezle
and will want to read my book when it comes out. http://cdn.booktrack.com/studio/index.html#!/bookshelf
Or you can type in Beezle or my last name in the search engine. You don’t even
need to sign up to read. But if you choose to leave a comment, or rate it, you
do.
So if you haven’t already seen
Booktrack.com, I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to share it with you.
Next blog I will be looking at the races.
Take
care,
Shelley
Lee Riley author of Casual Lies – A Triple
Crown Adventure
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