Today’s World Violin Day! As you know, I play harp, not violin. However, a violinist and his instrument figured prominently in my audiobook of FANNY HERSELF: A PASSIONATE INSTINCT by Edna Ferber and in the music I chose to go under the credits.
I started to write this quick story as a Twitter thread, but I strive to keep my original content on MY site and share it on social media.
Last updated 7/6/23
When the obstacle in your way seems to have stopped you in your tracks,
it’s not a failure.
It’s part of what’s calling forth the necessary change
so you can move through, around, over, or under whatever is on your path to success.— Christian Sørensen
This quote applies to my relationship to public domain books,
Although I started narrating audiobooks in 2002, it wasn’t until ACX launched in 2011 that I really got a foothold in the industry. Prior to that point, the market didn’t exist for a narrator who lived in Atlanta. You either had to be in New York or LA; otherwise, producers didn’t want to talk to you. With ACX, all of the rest of us could have a voice in audiobooks, too.
I soon burned out doing ACX projects since most of them were royalty share books where the rights holder was not promoting the audiobook. (Shameless plug: If you’re interested, I explain how to pick good ACX titles in my webinar Put Yourself in the ACX Drivers Seat, available on my Shop page.)
At the same time, I wasn’t getting traction with publishers. I decided to start recording more public domain books.
Public domain (PD) books are those where the copyright has expired. They belong to all of us, and anybody can do anything they want to with a book that’s in the public domain.
Over time, I’ve kind of become what I think of as the Public Domain Whisperer™️. I regularly search HathiTrust.org for interesting PD books. HathiTrust is a consortium of academic and research libraries with over 17 million digitized items, I often find a book that I think would be a good one for another narrator to do, so I send the link and the suggestion to them.
I’ve been gratified by the enthusiastic and excited responses to my finds. One experienced and award-winning narrator told me I had set them on a new path, and they’ve won a number of awards for their PD productions!
This article will be my Public Domain Narration Headquarters. I’ll start with ten reasons why I love, love, LOVE recording and publishing public domain books. Plus, check out the resources list below as well as the comments, where I answer your questions!
In July, I published the Kindle edition and audiobook of Edna Ferber’s classic coming-of-age story Fanny Herself: A Passionate Instinct. On the surface, the task of publishing new editions of a public domain work might seem simple. After all, the author has done the hard part of actually writing the text. As you’ll discover in a short series of articles from several journal entries I want to share, the effort and decisions occurring behind the scenes were almost as difficult and time-consuming as creating a new story.
You may remember from this post that in order for me to publish an audiobook from a public domain book on Audible.com — my end goal — I have to create a new Kindle version of the text. This version must be distinguished from the free version in the Kindle store in 1 of 3 ways:
I had illustrated my first book The Heart of The New Thought and decided to illustrate Fanny Herself.
When it comes easy, you know it’s meant to be, and the Universe was certainly smiling on me this afternoon to make it easy for me to illustrate Fanny Herself!
Last night, I started looking for stock images to illustrate the book. I thought it would be easy to find a Victorian, plush photo album shaped like an acorn. I’m sure I’ve seen such a thing in a magazine. I spent at least an hour and maybe even 2 looking for that one picture but came up empty. As we went to bed, I thought I should plan to annotate my Kindle book instead of illustrate it.
I started researching the famous violinist Schabelitz to see if he really was a violinist or an imaginary character. Ferber mixes real and imagined people and things so easily that I don’t know where fiction ends and facts begin.
I found info about the German influences in Wisconsin and a journalist in Cincinnati named R. E. Schabelitz. These were interesting finds, and I thought of other things to add.
I saw several links to the book and looked at a few. One was the Emory Women Writers Resource Project, which might be a useful repository of future publishing projects.
Another link was the JACKPOT! I found Volume 83 of The American Magazine containing their issues from Jan.-June 1917. Fanny Herself, I quickly learned, was serialized in that magazine starting in April 1917! And guess what?! Within each month’s portion were hand-drawn illustrations by M. Leone Bracker! I found 10 between April and June, which is all I need to offer the book on Kindle. I also found a picture of Ferber and made copies of the magazine cover and some promotional paragraphs.
I looked for volume 84 in Google. They have digitized a number of volumes of The American Magazine, but they weren’t in order. I never could find volume 84. I was thinking about checking libraries to find it.
I decided to look on eBay. I queried “American Magazine 1917” and got 41 results, most of which were for different magazines like the American Magazine of the Arts, Mentor, etc. Someone had the April 1917 issue of The American Magazine for $20.
I about jumped out of my skin when I saw the holy grail: Volume 84, bound like a library copy, of the July-Dec. 1917 issues of The American Magazine!! I didn’t even read the description! I saw the pictures and the price of $18 plus $3 shipping, and I bought it!
I then saw that the front and back covers of each magazine are missing, along with about 12 pages throughout the book. The probability that those 12 pages were the pictures I want is too remote to even consider. It’s coming from North Carolina, so I should have my book later this week.
When I think of the probability of the very book I need being on eBay at the precise time I looked, my astonishment and elation increase. What are the odds?! Obviously the Universe and perhaps Edna Ferber herself want me to have an easy time of bringing new life to this book! I’m soooo excited that I will be able to include the original illustrations from the magazine in my book!!
Dirty Harriet Rides Again is book 2 in Miriam Auerbach’s Dirty Harriet mysteries. Once again, Harriet Horowitz has to kick some serious butt in Boca Raton….after consultation with her friendly local alligator Lana, of course! 🙂
It’s not the first time that Harriet has been at a wedding when a murder occurs. The first time was when she shot her abusive ex-husband. (Well, he did deserve it.)
This time, she is attending the wedding of her gay friends Chuck and Enrique. I won’t tell you who gets killed, and I certainly won’t tell you how Harriet figures out the killer! I will say, though, that the zingers in the book are hysterical, and the singers in the Holy Rollers Motorcycle Club and Gospel Choir provide more than just a little entertainment!
This cozy mystery audiobook runs 5 hours and 36 minutes. It’s a fun listen, especially while poolside or at the beach.
By the way, I was thrilled to learn that author Miriam Auerbach is a finalist in the Best Novel: Cozy/ Traditional category for the 2014 Silver Falchion award! I loved narrating the audiobook of her nominated book DIRTY HARRIET. Congrats to Miriam and Bell Bridge Books on this honor!
The next new release really means a lot to me because I published it!
For the first time on Audible on iTunes, I’m proud to present the UNABRIDGED edition of the classic text FANNY HERSELF by renowned American author Edna Ferber.
Due to Amazon/Audible/ACX publishing rules, my audiobook has a different title: Fanny Herself: A Passionate Instinct.
This wonderful, coming-of-age story follows Fanny Brandeis from her childhood in Winnebago, WI into her 20s as a businesswoman in Chicago. Even though the book was written in 1917, many of the themes are still relevant.
Fanny’s mother, a widow, makes a decision about her children’s education that affects all of them throughout their lives. Like many of us, Fanny has to decide how whether she will pursue wealth or her creative dreams. We also wonder whether Fanny will find love.
I have recently discovered Edna Ferber and find that she is a brilliant storyteller. Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1925 and may be best known for her book Show Boat, which was adapted into a successful and long-running musical.
Rather than relying on dialogue to progress the story, she offers such vivid descriptions that we feel we are right there with the characters, experiencing the world as they did. Her female characters are strong and assertive, and I could identify with both Fanny and her mother. I was sorry when the story ended!
The book runs 12 hours and 44 minutes, perfect listening for those long drives to and from the beach or rainy weekends.
Ferber originally published this book as a serial story that ran in the April-November 1917 issues of The American Magazine. Check out my companion Kindle ebook which contains the original, beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations that accompanied the magazine segments.
I love Edna Ferber’s work so much that I narrated the first of many of her short stories to come: Cheerful By Request.
As a child, Josie Fifer always spoke in front of crowds and liked to make people laugh. She thought she would be an actress on the stage. However, her life changed in a freak accident.
Can she find happiness and fulfillment in a new career?
Although the story is over 100 years old, it offers an important truth that is still relevant to the modern listener.
The black, the pearls, the theatre marquee, the star, and the mauve — oh, especially, the mauve! — are all important elements of this wonderful short story. I get giddy with delight when I think about how perfectly the cover art and the music in the credits complement the story.
The story runs just over an hour, an ideal length to hear while commuting, cooking, or doing other tasks.
