I’ve been getting variations of this question a lot. I was trying to keep quiet about it because the full, honest answer involves loads of drama, and I prefer to only write about fictional drama (AKA my books), not real-life drama. Fictional drama is fun. Real-life drama—especially when it’s happening to me—not so much.
But the questions keep coming, so it’s gotten to the point that I need to explain to my fans what’s really going on.
The Background Story
You may have seen the Legion of Angels (Books 1-10) audiobooks for sale.
What you might not know is that these audiobooks were published by a large audiobook company (a subsidiary of the largest audiobook publishing company in the world).
And what might shock you to learn is that this large corporation never held the rights to publish the audiobooks for Books 9 and 10. But they did it anyway.
When I confronted them, the answer was the equivalent of “oops, my bad”. No apology. No offer of compensation. Nothing.
I told them to take down all Legion of Angels audiobooks. To be perfectly frank, I don’t want to work with a company which has violated my copyrights.
And that’s when they ghosted me.
The Fallout
From what I saw, it appears they pulled Books 1-4, 9, and 10 from sale. They left Books 5-8 up. Sigh. There’s little point in having only Books 5-8 up for sale because the Legion of Angels series needs to be read in order. So this makes no business sense at all.
But they left those middle books up anyway because they don’t actually care about the listening experience. And also, likely, because they’re annoyed and want to “punish me”, even if that means annoying all of you. People can be really petty, even if they’re not actually people, but rather big companies. And even if they know they are legally 100% wrong.
The Solution
Like I said, this situation is not fun, but rest assured, I am working on it. I will be putting out all new Legion of Angels audiobooks, and they will be amazing. It will be the entire series, updated and enhanced, including all 13 novels and all 16 bonus stories. All produced by me with an amazing team and fantastic actors.
Excited About The New Legion of Angels Audiobooks? Here’s What You Can Do.
- Please be patient. This is an enormous project, over 1.1 million words. It will take time to produce. A lot of it. It will also be very expensive for me.
- Sign up for my newsletter to be notified when my new books and audiobooks are released. (My newsletters also include bonus stories.)
- Get the new Legion of Angels audiobooks when they come out.
- In the meantime, buying my books, reviewing my books, and recommending my books to others are all great ways to support me, the author. Did I mention these audiobooks will be really expensive to produce? 😉 I have quite a few series. Take a look at my Books page and try one out!
- Words of support are always welcome. Write me a mail, comment on my website, or join my Community. I love hearing from fans!
- Please don’t buy the audiobooks of my books which the Company That Shall Not Be Named still refuses to take down.
To close this off, here’s an obligatory cat picture. My cat Savannah, enjoying a life free of drama. Sometimes I wish I could be a cat.
Have you thought about working with Graphic Audio? That company does full cast versions of audiobooks and their really good.
Full-cast dramatized audiobooks (with music and effects) is exactly what we’re doing, but we’re producing them ourselves. This way, I can ensure quality and maintain creative control. That means selecting the best actors for the characters. And also the most appropriate use of music/effects, so that they add to the experience but don’t overwhelm.
I’m calling these books “immersive audiobooks”. They are already in production for Phoenix Dynasty and Paragons. Legion of Angels will be next.
Thank you for explaining, i will wait until they come out and read the few i have left. Good luck
Thanks, Cheryl. 😊
Awesome! I buy a lot of audiobooks, I do have 1-4 but still interested in new ones. I’m really interested in seeing who will be our Nero. Someone with a deep sexy voice. 🤩
Shell, I’m talking to an actor right now for the Nero role. He has a great voice. We’re just trying to figure out scheduling. That’s one reason it will take so long to start production: coordinating all the actors and their schedules.
Ohhhh, can’t wait! Thanks for the update 📚🤩
I was wondering why the audio books after the first 10 were not released.
Hi, Andrew. So even books 9 & 10 weren’t licensed; the publisher just published them anyway without holding the rights. So I’m sure you can understand why I wouldn’t wish to work with them after that.
The good news is I will be releasing the whole series as audiobooks: all 13 books and all 16 bonus stories. And since I am personally overseeing production, you can be sure quality is a top priority. These are going to be amazing audiobooks with a full cast of fantastic actors.