SISTERS IN CRIME/LA March 2020 Meeting Recap
For MARCH 2020, Sisters in Crime/LA met on MARCH 1ST at the THOUSAND OAKS LIBRARY.
The featured reader for the month was Wendall Thomas.
Wendall Thomas teaches in the Graduate Film School at UCLA, lectures internationally on screenwriting, and has worked as an entertainment reporter, development executive, script consultant, and film and television writer. Her first Cyd Redondo novel, Lost Luggage, was nominated for the Lefty and Macavity Awards for Best Debut Mystery of 2017 and her second, Drowned Under, has been nominated for a Lefty for Best Humorous Mystery of 2019. Her short fiction appears in the crime anthologies Ladies Night (2015), Last Resort (2017), and Murder-A-Go-Go’s (2019).
DROWNED UNDER:
When Brooklyn travel agent Cyd Redondo’s former in-laws go missing on an Australian cruise, she helicopters Down Under, only to stumble over a dead body and a desperate plot to save the world’s last Tasmanian tiger.
MAIN PROGRAM
Audiobook: Publishing’s Biggest Bright Spot!
Jessica Kaye
Jessica talked about all facets of production, distribution, and contracting that goes into audiobook product, and trends with this format. Kaye also took questions from audience members about where to seek help in structuring deals; how to ask publishers for clarification on audio rights; and how to find voice and editing talent, should you decide to produce your own audio material.
Jessica Kaye is the current president of the SoCal Chapter of MWA, and both a lawyer and a producer/director of audiobooks. Kaye will speak about current trends in audio publishing; how contracts are structured for audio; what you should ask yourself when considering audio for your already-written book or one you plan to write in the future; and what the future of audiobooks holds for mystery, crime, true crime, and thriller genres.
In addition to her duties as president of the local chapter of MWA, Kaye oversees a law practice that runs a gamut of intellectual property issues, from copyright and trademark to negotiating or consulting about publishing contracts and audiobooks. Apropos of that, in 2019, Writer’s Digest Books published her business book, The Guide to Publishing Audiobooks. In 2006, she founded a digital distribution company for audiobooks, the first such company. It is still going and it is called Big Happy Family, LLC (www.bighappyfamilyaudiobooks.
Kaye is also on the board of the Audio Publishers Association.
