My Thoughts on Amazon/Audible Virtual Voice Audiobooks as an Author and Publisher

As many of you are likely already aware, I have been participating in Amazon's Virtual Voice audiobook beta for the past several months.

Thus far, I've published three of my books via the system, and intend to publish several more over the next six to twelve months.

I have also recorded, produced, and published a traditional, self-narrated audiobook via Amazon's ACX platform, a task I completed shortly before being invited to participate in said beta, so I feel reasonably confident making direct comparisons between those two experiences, which I believe will be useful in articulating and validating some of the points I'd like to make here.

My first Virtual Voice audiobook, "309," as it appears on Audible's website.

To address the elephant in the room: "Is Amazon's Virtual Voice technology AI?" In my professional opinion, as someone who worked as a full-stack software engineer for over twenty years, I would say the answer to that question is a definitive "No." That said, I do understand why many people might make assumptions or have concerns about the product and its mechanisms given the current state of affairs in the technology industry at large, so I will do my best to expand on that "no" a bit in a way that I hope will be understandable and relatable to those of you out there reading this who may lack the technical expertise to make such determinations.

First and foremost, an important clarification: In recent years, the term "AI" has been increasingly misused and misinterpreted by a variety of entities as a sort of catch-all for algorithmic operations that can and should be more accurately described as advanced automation and data-driven prediction. A big part of this has been perpetuated by the technology industry's (in my opinion) foolish and misguided attempt to turn a technical term and theoretical premise into a marketing buzzword. The simple fact of the matter is that the fundamental technologies at the core of everything from chat bots, to automated image and video manipulation and generation, to "spontaneous" code creation, documentation, and modification have existed in various forms for decades. Yes, the ways those building blocks are being arranged and leveraged have enhanced and changed over the years, as has the computational capacity of the systems running such code, but the vast majority of what we're seeing pitched and reported on as "AI" these days is only a natural evolution of software development practices that have been "in play" for ages.

Another important distinction that is often overlooked, which I believe is of particular relevance with regard to Amazon's Virtual Voice tech is the amount of human intervention required for such "AI" tools to produce useful and acceptable results. I suspect that a big part of what allows people to make the leap of calling something "AI" is the lopsided ratio of input versus output that often occurs when using such tools. 

Historically, and indeed until fairly recently, it was necessary to provide a computer with an amount of time, effort, and data at least comparable, and more often than not far in excess of the end result or "finished product" one was attempting to have the computer help them produce. Programmers might spend days, or weeks, or months, or even years writing code to generate specialized results that might well only ever be used in a single context (i.e. to solve a single problem,) and creatives might spend as much time using such software to produce content, be it writing a book with a word processor, or producing a video with a non-linear video editor, or recording a song with a digital audio workstation. Now, systems exist that can produce at least somewhat convincing text, or audio, or even video as a result of a simple, one-line prompt delivered as conversational language (i.e. how humans typically speak to each other - not code.) It's no wonder why many people, particularly those who don't understand the fundamental technologies driving such systems, tend to view such things as "magical" or ascribe "intelligence" to them.

Of course, any reputable computer scientist can spot the difference between such "tricks" and true artificial intelligence (i.e. sentience) from a mile away but most people aren't computer scientists and therein lies the problem. If something appears to be intelligent and the people using it lack the ability to conclusively determine otherwise, it's very easy for the vast majority of users to simply shrug and say, "I guess we have AI now."

Take it from someone who knows. We do not. What the tech industry calls "AI" in 2024 is merely a result of the mind-boggling amounts of data and computing power that humanity has amassed over the past fifty or so years since computers became ubiquitous. All these things could have been done in the 1970s, or at the very least the 1990s as there were some important developments with regard to programming principles such as object-oriented design and multithreaded parallel processing in that era, if we'd had the data sets and CPUs/GPUs we do today.

And of course, that's not to mention all the outright theft and unauthorized use of human-generated content and intellectual property that's been so-often "leveraged" to "create" the essential data sets for most if not all of the "AI" systems currently being touted as "revolutionary innovations" by the industry.

But I digress...

My point is that Amazon's Virtual Voice tech, which to the best of my knowledge is not marketed as AI but is often assumed to be, is not a small-input/massive-output system akin to something like a chat bot. It's a tool wherein the person using it has to make a considerable effort to "teach" the system how to effectively read the individual book being produced. For each of the three books I've released with Virtual Voice, I had to spend dozens of hours listening to them repeatedly, tweaking the timing, pronunciation, and reading speed of hundreds of individual words, paragraph breaks, and phrases to produce the results a customer hears when listening to the completed audiobook. This is largely because the system (good and impressive as it is) is far from perfect and indeed contains shortcomings that I was unable to work around completely and had to "live with" in the same way I would when using any other creative tool. That said, I'm fairly confident that the tool will improve over time and I do firmly believe that the results it can produce (even now) are at the very least acceptable if sufficient effort is made to make them sound as good as possible, which is what I have done and why I feel good about using Virtual Voice to publish audio editions of my works.

The other (I imagine) obvious question many of you might have is: "Why are you using this tool when you have the ability to produce your own audio?" There are several answers to that:

1. Having worked in the technology industry for a long time, I'm very aware of the profound impacts that new tech can have on other industries. I'm therefore always keen to study and assess such things as quickly as possible to determine whether or not they might prove a help or hinderance to the things I'm attempting to do as a creator. That made participating in a beta such as this a no-brainer for me but there's admittedly a bit more to it.
2. Having just completed the work on the audiobook for my first novel, "The Big Men," just prior to the invite, I was very aware of how much time and effort such a tool might save me, and the possibilities it might open up, such as having a female voice read "309," a book featuring a female main character. That was something I wanted to experiment with and an opportunity I couldn't in good conscience let pass.
3. The bottom line is that, had I not been invited into the Virtual Voice beta, I would have simply gone on recording and producing my own audiobooks with my own voice, as I did my first, (admittedly at a much slower rate,) so I felt completely comfortable exercising that option, knowing that the only person I'd be taking any work from would be myself. 

All that said, I wouldn't begrudge anyone else with other options choosing to make use of a tool like Virtual Voice for any reason. If you are happy with the results you're able to produce with it and you firmly believe that your readers will be happy (or at least content) with those results as well then, by all means, do what you think is best with your work. I certainly don't have the budget to pay for anyone else to narrate my books, so if I were unable or unwilling to do so myself, a tech like this could absolutely be a godsend and, even if I could afford traditional narration, it would still be my right as the creator of the works to put them out into the world in whatever way, and using whatever tool(s,) I see fit.

To wrap things up, I've been largely happy with my Virtual Voice audiobook publishing experience so far and I see a lot of potential for things to improve considerably over the next few years as the technology and its capabilities mature and grow. There have definitely been some rough spots in terms of technical issues, negative customer reactions, and instances where I've wished for the system to be a bit more capable than it currently is but all things considered, I'd say it's absolutely worth a look for any author or publisher pondering audiobook production options.

My current audiobooks:

• The Big Men (self-narrated)
• 309 (female Virtual Voice)
• Shards (male Virtual Voice)
• The Nemesis Effect (male Virtual Voice)

Visit my Amazon Author Page

8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines

It's been a few months since I published "The Spiral and The Threads," the book that "completes" The Nod/Wells Timelines as I originally conceived them, and it's been great getting to see people's reactions to it. I've been particularly pleased to learn that, as I'd hoped it might, it's also been serving as a unique and effective introduction point for some readers into the overarching universe.

Of course, as I've mentioned previously, there's much more that can, and likely will, be done with The Timelines, even as I begin to explore other writing-related projects. The first of these "expansions" already exists in the form of my upcoming short-story collection, "8: Tales of The Big Men from The Nod/Wells Timelines," which will make its debut in early 2025.

As some of you may already know, I've decided to release four of the twelve stories from the book as "story singles" throughout 2024. The first of these, "Paper or Plastic?," is already available and the second, "Office Hours," will be available on July 2nd.

As with all my other published works, "8" has been specifically crafted to tell its own self-contained stories that also work to support and enhance each other, and contribute to the speculative-fiction mythos established in my first seven books. Again, I'm hopeful this will make it a valid starting point for new readers as well as a satisfying extension for existing fans of The Timelines.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

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The Nod/Wells Timelines - A Retrospective

Having completed the seven books that comprise my original vision for the Nod/Wells Timelines literary universe, I thought now would be a good time to take a step back and talk a bit about each volume in the context of the overall "series." Of course, the books don't really follow the form of a traditional series, with their non-linear presentation of various story elements and their multidimensional settings and crossovers; however, with the seven "core" books available, it's much easier to look at the effort as a whole, and how the individual pieces contribute to and support it.

For the purposes of this retrospective, I'm going to number the books to match their order of publication but as I've said many times in the past, my intent was always that they should be able to stand alone (telling their own unique, self-contained stories,) or be consumed in any order a reader might prefer to give them an individualized reading experience. That said, the following is the order they were written in and could therefore be considered an "ideal" way to consume them.

Book 1 - The Big Men

This "paranormal thriller" tells the story of a young man who has a fascination with men of power, authority figures with a distinct and distinguished appearance whom he believes to be leading idyllic and covetous lives that he both admires and envies. Through a unique and unusual series of events, the young man comes to find that he has the ability to literally drain the life and "power" from such men and use it to his own advantage, but not without a cost. What becomes of him and the "big men" he encounters? You'll have to read the book to find out. "The Big Men" begins the "Wells" branch of The Timelines with the introduction of Alan Wells and, as the name implies, features the introduction of several prominent characters such as Albert Cox and Robert Cross.

Book 2 - 309

A classic science fiction first-contact narrative with several unique twists, "309" tells the story of Lisa Hudson, a young journalism student who finds herself unexpectedly transformed when she becomes one of a scant few survivors of a sudden and brutal alien invasion that proves to be much more than meets the eye. This book begins the "Nod" branch of The Timelines with the introduction of Alex Nod.

Book 3 - Shards

This collection of short, related works has a strong horror bent, with several of the stories veering into some fairly dark territory in terms of subjects and outcomes; however, it also maintains the sci-fi, paranormal, and fantastical elements established in the first two books and references or builds off of elements from them, even as it sets up various plot points that pay off in later books. Noteworthy new and recurring characters that make appearances in "Shards" include Roy Carter, Alan Wells, Robert Cross, Ortin Fleck, Walter Briggs, and most-importantly, Franklin Nod, with "The Field Journal of Dr. Franklin Nod" serving as the initial point of deviation between the "Nod" and "Wells" timelines.

Book 4 - The Nemesis Effect

Set in the near future, this somewhat-traditional science fiction tale puts the Nod/Wells Timelines spin on the classic "save the world" narrative and establishes the groundwork for my vision of what humanity's future might look like if the events depicted in the other six "core" books were to play out as written. Noteworthy characters include Tom Hallett, Jacob Westbrook, Muriel Westbrook, Sophia Fields, and the introduction of Albert Nodwell.

Book 5 - Big Man Down

A continuation of "The Big Men," this "paranormal thriller" continues the story of Alan Wells in the "Wells" timeline and heavily references characters and events from "The Big Men" and "Shards" while still telling its own unique standalone story.

Book 6 - 500

A continuation of "309," this science fiction "adventure" brings together many of the characters and events from the other six "core" books to extend the "Nod" timeline in some exciting ways that I wouldn't dare spoil. Needless to say, fans of the other books will find a lot to like in "500" but, as with the releases that preceded it, it has been specifically crafted to also work as a standalone.

Book 7 - The Spiral and The Threads

Without question, this collection of shorter, related works, which could certainly be seen as a continuation of "Shards," is my most-challenging release to date in terms of what it asks of its readers. With a strong emphasis on horror, heavy and thought-provoking themes, and its copious references to characters and events from the other six "core" books, it's perhaps the worst-possible starting point for certain types of readers despite being constructed as a standalone experience like its predecessors. As I mentioned in this previous post, while "The Spiral and The Threads" does represent "an" end to The Timelines, it almost certainly won't be "the" end of them as I have many more stories I'd like to tell in the universe I've established.

Well, there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. As you might imagine, it's been an absolutely wild ride getting to this point and I don't know if I could ever adequately describe what it feels like to have finally reached it after nearly seven years of painstaking effort. Obviously, I'm very proud of "The Nod/Wells Timelines" and what I believe it represents, a modern, unique, and compelling speculative fiction reading experience built to stand the test of time. Of course, it's up to all of you to decide if that's actually the case but for what it's worth, I gave it my best shot and I like my odds.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

Visit my Amazon Author Page

"The Spiral and The Threads," and The Future of The Nod/Wells Timelines

When I first started publishing books back in 2017, I had a vision for what I hoped to create: a speculative-fiction literary universe that could stand toe to toe with any other such entity in terms of scope, novelty, and execution. For the first few years of that effort, I admittedly had my doubts as to whether or not I'd be able to pull such a thing off for a variety of reasons.

Now, as I prepare to publish my seventh book set in what's come to be known as "The Nod/Wells Timelines," I find myself a bit stunned that such a thing has actually occurred. There were so many times over the past seven years when things could have fallen apart or otherwise gone awry where this project was concerned, so the fact that it has become what it's become in spite of all that is nothing short of amazing to me.

Thus, "The Spiral and The Threads" represents a very special milestone for me as an author. It is, in many ways, the "conclusion" of "The Nod/Wells Timelines" as I originally conceived them, intended to bring a sense of completion and closure to fans of the previously-released books, while also fully opening the door to the multiverse of possibilities that's been only partially explored in those volumes.

Endings are always difficult. As a reader, I am often unsatisfied by them, simply because it's very rare that I'm unable to imagine a compelling way that the story being ended could continue. That said, I do appreciate a good "break or rest point" in a narrative, a moment where the biggest questions posed by a work are answered, or at least addressed in some fashion, and where the "loose ends" that have been swirling in my mind throughout the reading experience are (for the most part) tied up.

That, in a nutshell, is what I've attempted to do with "The Spiral and The Threads." It will be up to all of you to decide how successful I've been in that regard but for the record, this was my intent.

Of course, being a creative person by nature, I have many ideas about how the universe I've established in my first seven books can and should expand beyond those initial boundaries, and have in fact already begun work on an all-new short story collection, which will do just that, to be released "soon."

Beyond the aforementioned collection, I am also in the early stages of planning out a new series of three books that will extend at least one of The Timelines past its current endpoint, so there will certainly be things for fans of my worlds and their inhabitants to look forward to.

I mention all of this mostly to assure you all that, while "The Spiral and The Threads" may prove to be the last major release of its kind from me for a while, it is certainly not "the" end of "The Nod/Wells Timelines," but merely "an" end that I hope you'll all enjoy.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

Pre-Order "The Spiral and The Threads" via Amazon

Also, be sure to check out this episode of "The Post Mortem Report" for more about "The Spiral and The Threads," and lots of other cool things you might enjoy!

My Thoughts on Meta's Threads

Long before I became an author, I was a software engineer for many years. Technically, I still am a software engineer as I often write bits of code here and there to solve or assist with various problems that crop up throughout my efforts as a publisher. It's for that reason that I tend to enjoy analyzing new technologies and their impacts on existing markets and facets of the tech world, and the world at large. You might say that sort of thing is baked into me at this point.

Still, I've always been reluctant to jump in and pontificate about such developments without taking some time to properly assess the tech and the ways it's being used as I don't believe there's much value in rushing to judgment if one's goal isn't simply to "get some clicks."

Thus, I've taken my time with Meta's new social media platform, "Threads." I've studied it and used it fairly extensively over the past week or so since its launch and I've come to some conclusions that I feel reasonably comfortable sharing.

So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Threads:

For me, there are three key factors that differentiate Threads from the myriad of other social media options available, particularly when compared with its most-obvious rival, Twitter.

1 - the absence of hashtags, direct messages, and keyword searches

At its core, Threads is a platform that purports to be about "conversations," specifically public conversations, and nowhere is that ethos more strikingly represented than in the things (I believe) it intentionally lacks when compared with its social media contemporaries.

Users can only "search" for other users, not keywords, phrases, or topics. They therefore have to find people who create new Threads (posts) about things they're interested in either by already being aware of them, or by seeing their Threads in the "home" feed as a result of them becoming popular enough to show up there. They also are only able to communicate with each other publicly, via likes, reposts, and comments. There are no private messages, which ensures that any Thread or comment a user makes can potentially be seen by anyone, even non-Threads users who might view the content anonymously via the app's bare-bones web interface.

What this means is that you won't see the typical wall of hashtags in a post you might find on other platforms, unless you happen upon something posted by someone relatively new to Threads, who's yet to realize that they don't actually work or serve any purpose in that context.

Users can be "mentioned" as they can on other social media apps via an @, but that's about the only such targeting convention that Threads allows, which again means that you as a user will largely end up seeing content from other users that you've specifically interacted with in some way (followed, liked, commented on, mentioned, etc.)

The end result of this key design decision is a platform that inherently feels more personal and intimate because it is. Sure, when you first start using Threads, your home feed will be inundated with "popular" posts from "popular" people and entities; however, the more you use the app and the more you interact with other users and their content, the less generic and more specific, and (for lack of a better term) curated, the experience becomes.

That said, it's early days for Threads and who knows what it will end up being like if and when advertising and biased algorithms become involved but for now, it has a very pure "old-school internet" vibe to it that I'd say represents the bulk of its appeal and its most stand-out quality in the current "tech culture" landscape.

2 - its emphasis on text over imagery

It may seem like a small thing but I believe the decision to position the text of a post over any media associated with it, versus how things are done on Instagram for example, where images and video are front and center and any captions are generally presented and consumed as an afterthought, if at all, strikes me as very intentional. Again, this seems to reenforce the notion of Threads being targeted at conversationalists, who value a well-written bit of prose over any sort of meme or eye candy.

I've even noted quite the pushback against several posts primarily containing video from many in the community who seem to feel such things have no place on Threads and "belong on Instagram."

Note: For those unaware, Threads and Instagram use the same login credentials and to a large extent, Threads is being pitched by Meta as the text-centric, conversational extension of Instagram despite being its own separate app with its own unique endpoints (web site, mobile apps, etc.)

On a related note, I also find it interesting that the Threads app generally discourages an abundance of media in posts. Users can present external links, an image or group of images, or even a video but only one of them will render in the post, and always at the bottom, after all text and before the engagement buttons (like, share, comment, etc.)

Again, I think this is very intentional and speaks to the overarching goal of the app being to create a place more about text-based conversations than anything else, despite other mediums being allowed, ostensibly to support or enhance those conversations.  

3 - the stripped-down, minimalist UI/UX

A lot of people have been floating the idea that the current Threads user experience is only as "simple and clean" as it is because "missing" features haven't been finished and added yet but I seriously doubt that's the case. With the money and resources Meta has at its disposal, I imagine there's very little they wanted in the app, which, let's face it, isn't anything all that impressive from a technical standpoint beyond its need to scale to accommodate tens or hundreds of millions of concurrent users, that isn't already there.

Sure, they no doubt have a roadmap, and there will almost certainly be changes and additions to Threads throughout its lifespan, but I suspect it's already far closer to "finished" than many seem to think.

If so, I consider that a good thing. My experience using the app thus far has been surprisingly positive and I don't have any trouble seeing why people have been flocking to it. Is it a silver bullet "Twitter killer?" Maybe, but I'd argue that most of Twitter's biggest wounds, particularly over the past year or so, have been largely self-inflicted.

One thing's for sure, though. Threads is definitely "unique" in the current social media landscape. When I look at it compared to other micro-blog "Twitter competitors" like Mastodon and Bluesky, I see a lot that differentiates it beyond a core philosophy (Mastodon's fediverse) or exclusivity (the only thing Bluesky really seems to have going or it at the moment in my opinion.)

It will definitely be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks, months, and years but those are my thoughts at the moment.

If you're on Threads, or interested in checking it out, be sure to visit my profile and consider giving me a follow there. As always, you can find all my social media links here, or via my Linktree.

As a little bonus, here's my current "wish list" for Threads:

• an "edit" button (This could be character and/or time limited but it would be nice to have some option rather than having to delete-repost just to fix a simple typo.)
• a limit on the number of new Threads users can create in a given time period (I think 1 per-day or 3-5 per week would greatly increase the quality of Threads being created and encourage users to interact more with the Threads others have started, rather than just churning out a slew of their own.)
• a dark mode toggle for the mobile app (Oddly, such a toggle is already available via the Threads logo in the web app but I've yet to locate an equivalent function in the iOS version.) 
• a proper desktop app
• a proper (fully functional) web app (as opposed to the current "view-only" offering)

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

"500" and its Place in The Nod/Wells Timelines

As many of you already know, my new novel "500" will be released very soon, with the paperback and hardcover editions available on Tuesday, May 2nd, and the Kindle edition available on Friday, July 7th!

What you may not be aware of is where this new book sits along The Nod/Wells Timelines as my original post about them was (intentionally) a bit vague regarding that.

So, without further ado, I present an updated iteration of the timelines with a few little tweaks and enhancements.

As you can see, there is only one book left to "complete" the timelines as I originally conceived them, which will be announced and released in early 2024. That being said, I'll have more to share about some future works related to the timelines as part of that release.

For now, my focus is very much on "500" and the pivotal contribution it will be making to the overarching narrative, even as it retains the standalone nature customary of my previous works.

Until next time, happy reading!

500 (via Amazon)

The Post Mortem Report

As an author, it can often be quite challenging, not only to make potential readers aware of one's works but to pique their interest in said works to the point where they feel compelled to acquire and read them. As you might suspect, nothing beats a ringing endorsement from a trusted third party, such as the following video, which recently featured one of my books, "The Nemesis Effect," in addition to several others you might find interesting.

Of course, such things, wonderful as they are, can rarely be predicted. Consequently, an avenue that established authors often pursue is the creation of a podcast. Those efforts have a lot of potential benefits, allowing authors to ideally connect with new and existing readers alike on a regular basis, providing them with a better sense of who the authors are as people while possibly becoming more interested in engaging with their works as a result.

It's for this reason that I recently started a podcast with fellow speculative-fiction author Ronald McGillvray called "The Post Mortem Report." In each episode, we talk about various social media posts and topics that we both find compelling, often featuring books, films, music, TV shows, and video games.

With five episodes under our belts and a sixth about to be released a few days after this post, I feel fairly confident suggesting that we've managed to create something pretty special with this show, which I believe has the potential to appeal to a wide range of people, regardless of their level of familiarity with our accomplishments as authors.

Thus, I present the following YouTube playlist, which features all the current episodes of the show from newest to oldest. Hopefully, you'll all enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed creating them!

The Post Mortem Report - Official Site - YouTube

The Nod/Wells Timelines

I've talked quite a bit over the years about the ways that my books directly and indirectly relate to one another despite being self-contained stories specifically designed to be consumed in whatever order a reader might prefer but I've never really visualized that in a tangible way... until now.

Thus, I present the first publicly-available version of "The Nod/Wells Timelines," which not only illustrates the ways that my first five novel-length books correlate, but additionally offers some insights into how the next two releases I plan to announce in 2023 and 2024 will fit into that structure.

As my published works become more plentiful and widely read, I'm increasingly asked questions like "What order should I read these in?" and the fact is that there's no "correct" answer. In my mind, it would be just as valid to read everything in the order of its publication, or following the above timelines, or even reversing or randomizing them. Granted, that would undoubtedly provide a very different experience as readers would encounter characters, events, settings and other narrative elements in significantly-different ways that would almost-certainly alter their perceptions of them but I see those potential variations as part of the fun inherent in this project's unique construction.

Having said that, I will list the books below in their order of publication for anyone interested in contrasting that with the above timelines:

• "The Big Men" (2017)
• "309" (2018)
• "Shards" (2020) - includes "Academic Displacement" (originally published in 2019) 
• "The Nemesis Effect" (2021)
• "Big Man Down" (2022)
• TBA in 2023
• TBA in 2024 - will include "Mr. Perkins Goes to Hell" (originally published in 2021)

Hopefully, everyone finds this information helpful, or at least interesting, but in any case, the thing I really want to emphasize is that (as far as I'm concerned) there is no right or wrong way to read these books in terms of sequence and readers should always feel free to come to their own conclusions about that. Of course, this being the internet, at least some folks will undoubtedly feel compelled to share their own thoughts about the subject, and various other aspects of the things I've created, but again, I feel that's part of the fun.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

Michael Shotter's Amazon Author Page