Tag: audiobooks

What a week I’m having! Seems there’s no room on my schedule (or in my head!) for thinking about a blog. But rather than ignore all of you (my faithful readers!) perhaps I’ll tell you what I’m up to…

A visit from “Teddy”…

First, it’s another hurricane week – Teddy, this time. With memories of the damage from Dorian this time last year still fresh, we spent time putting outdoor things away and battening down the hatches. My hubby even put fresh caulking on the front windows that face the ocean. The storm has subsided now, and it all seems to have worked, except for damage to our poor flag…should have remembered to take it down. Thankfully, this storm wasn’t nearly as strong as last year’s…

Family too…

Next, a couple of my sisters-in-law who live up north are here for their annual shopping trip to Moncton… never too early to start Christmas shopping, and best to do it before the snow flies (and things ice up much earlier in northern New Brunswick than they do here). Of course, having visitors means doing some extra house cleaning so the place will look its best…and lots of chatting and laughter while we catch up!

And a new project!

But my big news is my new project… I’ve started working on the audiobook version of my book “Can I Speak to the Hormone Lady?” Some of you may have noticed that I made an audio version of my blog for a few weeks…that was to practice and learn now to read, record and edit audio files!

My book is aimed at women in their 40s and early 50s…those who are seeing menopause looming in their future, and who may already be noticing some changes in their cycles and want to be prepared.

When I was 40, I bought my first book on menopause because I didn’t want to be caught off-guard. I find that knowing about a subject makes it much less frightening. And knowledge gives you control.

Unfortunately, the first book I bought didn’t give me all the information I needed. Over the following 10 years I read many books about menopause and hormone imbalances. I realized that many women needed information and options, especially in the early 2000s when studies were finding problems with standard menopause therapies.

Many women had questions, and I researched to find answers and options for them. Eventually, I realized that if I met with them to gather information and learn their preferences, I could do a better job at making recommendations. I also realized that, if I wrote a concise report that summarized the information I gathered, we could share what I’d learned with the woman’s doctor. Almost all the doctors I did this for, appreciated the insight. They could never make enough time during a regular appointment to ask about all of a woman’s symptoms to form a complete picture of what she needed and how she wanted to approach therapy to get in control.

I constantly read studies and books, did online courses and attended live conferences in Toronto and Houston, Texas. I wanted to learn all I could so I could solve women’s hormone imbalance problems throughout her reproductive life. It was very gratifying to be able to make a difference in many women’s lives.

When I retired, I wanted to capture all I’d learned so I could continue to help women, so I wrote it all down in book form. I wanted it to have all the information women needed… I wanted it to be the book I was looking for when I turned 40.

Recently, I realized that younger women, the ones who could really benefit from my book, often prefer to listen to books while they’re doing other activities, like working out, driving to work or walking the dog. Being an avid reader since I was a child, I’d never really listened to audiobooks or podcasts and preferred books and blogs, written words.

But, since I want to be able to help as many women as possible, I decided to learn how to create an audio form of my book. I love learning new skills! I took an online course on how to create and edit an audiobook, tested out my skill by recording a few of my blogs, and got to work.

Meanwhile, I’ve been learning about how to market books… how to let people know that the information they’ve been looking for is available in a book I’ve written. The world of book marketing, whether a writer has published traditionally or self-published, is complex and constantly changing. So much to learn! But I keep studying ways to let people know about information I have to share, without being annoying or “salesy”.

Building a “Launch Team”

I realize that many or you who receive my emails are not interested in learning about the world of hormones. But I’d like to invite those who are, to join a separate group that will help me develop and launch my audiobook of hormone information. If you know any women in their 40s or early 50s that you think might also be interested, please pass my request on. I’m especially looking for volunteers who are keen to learn more about hormones, like to listen to audio, and will tell me what works and what doesn’t. It’s turning out to be a challenge to read the chapters that contain charts and summaries…and I could really use some feedback! Here is the link to sign up for the Launch Team list: https://mailchi.mp/a79fd38aac73/launch-team

I’m a little over half finished the recording now, and will have editing to do afterward, so it will be a few weeks until I have it ready to go. I’m planning to do a relaunch of my book at the same time and, hopefully, do a better job of it this time around!

Then I’ll be moving on to my next book – about another of my passions, the environment. No title yet!… I’m working on the outline currently…

#audiobooks #hormoneinformation