Stepping Up for South to Freedom 

I had never hit such an impasse when it came to writing and publishing. After exhausting all avenues and resources, I couldn't find a narrator for my new book, South to Freedom. I had spent hours upon hours searching through the talent listed on ACX, listening to sample narrations, and messaging those who sounded promising. I had some auditions, but no one worked out. I decided I'd rather not offer an Audible edition than to have one not up to my standards or listeners' expectations. 

You see, South to Freedom was going to be a difficult book to narrate. It's the story of slaves escaping from South Carolina in 1739, headed to freedom in Spanish held Florida. I needed someone who could do an African accent as well as a British or American one. Knowing how impossible it might be if I also added Spanish voices to the mix, I wrote around that by not having any direct dialogues with a Spanish character. For the most part, living at Fort Mose isolated the former slaves, so all the Spaniards were such minor characters that it wasn't hard and didn't limit the book too much. 

Then during one of my morning devotions, an idea came to me. I would email many of the narrators I had worked with, past and present, and ask them if they knew of anyone. I figured that, like in the writing community, they must also develop friendships and acquaintances. I was overwhelmed with the kind responses, but most of them didn't know of anyone.

Then I got a reply from James Cheatham, the narrator who produced Going the Extra Mile and Walnut Cake for Wylene for me. The only reason he hadn't done more is that he stopped doing royalty share and went to pay per finished hour. He said he didn't want to tackle the slave voices, but if I was open to dual narrators, he knew of a black narrator he could partner with. At the end of my options, I jumped at his kind offer. I had never heard of Shamaan Casey, but I trusted James, and it turned out to be a good decision. I'm very thankful to these two talented men and happy with the finished Audible. I think listeners will be, too. Click on the book title to check out the Audible that almost didn't make it. South to Freedom is available now in Audible, Kindle, KU, and print.

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