Arts
Another Vancouver private investigator series! Perry (PA) Wilson writes about a Vancouver private investigator named Charity Deacon. I said to Perry at the beginning of our interview that I feel like Charity and my own heroine Freddie Lark are PI sisters; they're both in Vancouver and they're both independent women living the lives that suit them, not to mention solving crime. Perry writes in several genres so if you enjoy reading outside the mystery genre I highly recommend you check out her other books. She is also in the process of narrating her books for audiobook. It's a laborious process but she's making progress and you can buy those audiobooks, including the one for Dreams, directly from her on her website. Selling ebooks and audiobooks (not paperbacks) directly to the reader is one way independent authors like Perry are able to earn a living from their writing. When you buy directly from an author's website, she doesn't have to share the royalties for her books with the online vendor. Last week on the podcast intro I mentioned a survey I had going about audiobooks. It was Perry who inspired that survey. She gave me some tips about the equipment she was using and after we stopped recording the podcast interview we talked about audiobooks and selling direct. The survey results looked like this: 37% of people surveyed read between 1 and 5 audiobooks a week; and58% of respondents DO prefer it when a narrator does character voices I wanted to know how audiobook readers feel about narrators doing character voices because I'm debating about narrating my own novels, but I'm not sure I could do different voices for each character. But now I have some information about readers' preferences and that's good to have. I don't have the bandwidth right now to add narrating to my plate, but maybe one day I will be able to pick up that project. Today's show is supported by my patrons at Patreon. Thank you! When you become a patron for as little as $1 a month you receive a short mystery story each and every month. And the rewards for those who love mystery stories go up from there! Learn more and become a part of my community of readers at www.Patreon.com/alexandraamor This week's mystery author PA (Perry) Wilson lives in New Westminster BC and writes while looking out over a busy arm of the Fraser river. Nothing like watching a tugboat pull a barge to inspire you. She worked in project management for several years after a long stretch at a local credit union. Always a writer, she found National Novel Writing Month in 2008 and hasn't looked back since. She writes mystery fiction with a thriller vibe and a few other genres which she admits are just mystery books with an other world backdrop. To learn more about Perry and all her books visit PAWilson.ca Press play (above) to listen to the show, or read the transcript below. Remember you can also subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts. And listen on Stitcher, Android, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, and Spotify. Excerpt from Dreams Chapter 1 “Hey, Charity, are you around?” Val’s voice floated up to the patio. I’d given up trying to make her knock on the door like a normal person and handed her a key. That way I didn’t waste energy wondering how she broke in. It’s not like she was disturbing anything private in my life anyway. “Grab a coke and come up,” I said. The great thing about a tiny home is you don’t need to yell. Or maybe it’s just my neighborhood, where yelling gets you the wrong kind of attention. I heard the fridge slam and then Val appeared in the door to the patio, Rory right behind her. They stepped out and grabbed a plastic chair each. I put the printout from my only actually active case face down on the table and dropped my phone on it as a paperweight. “What are you doing?” Val asked. She’d learned to preface her requests for favors with what appeared to be concern for other people.