Dog Ear Audio, the first lesbian audio book publisher, was founded 2008.  Many years earlier, when I first discovered lesbian fiction writing, I was thrilled when three or four print books could be purchased yearly. Now, thankfully, there are more publishers and titles in existence than I could ever have imagined.  What did not exist, were these books in audiobook format.  When I looked at the brand new sound booth my partner had built for her video production company, it seemed the perfect opportunity to solve this issue of no lesbian audiobooks.  Audio books are a great form of entertainment for those long commutes, vacation road trips, or just while doing the dishes. To listen to ‘our’ stories, is even better.  And, there’s no need to worry about where we set down our reading glasses.

We have 12 books currently in our library of titles at www.dogearaudio.com.  Traditionally, we have found authors who could handle their own narration duties, believing that the author would best be able to relate the emotions of their characters.  But we’ve also employed actresses such as Diane Gaidry, best known for her role as Simone Bradley in the much loved film, “Loving Annabelle” for one of our books.

Fast forward to today, and we are embarking on another adventure.  Janis Ian, legendary singer, songwriter, author, and narrator of her own “Society’s Child: My Autobiography” has just signed with Dog Ear Audio to record Book 1 of Catherine M. Wilson’s trilogy, “When Women Were Warriors”. Catherine offers this first book as a free download from her website, www.whenwomenwerewarriors.com.

About a year ago, I took advantage of this nice offer, got hooked on the amazing story and the quality of the writing, and purchased the complete trilogy.  I knew this story needed to be made into an audio book.  About the same time, Janis Ian had a similar experience. She read Book 1 while on vacation, gave the book a 5 star review on Amazon, and went on to read the rest of the trilogy.  Through a serendipitous series of events, Janis met Catherine at a concert and Janis said, “I was so excited to meet Catherine, I blurted out ‘Hey, I just won a Grammy for “Best Spoken Word – Society’s Child”, and I’m looking for more narration work, if you ever want to make an audiobook….” 

The author, Catherine M. Wilson is thrilled that Janis will be handling the narration duties:  “I admire Janis both as an artist and as a person. Her remarkable career and personal history make her the ideal narrator for the story of Tamras, the reluctant hero.” 

While the title may suggest battle and war, its focus is on a young girl, Tamras, whose journey leads her to be an unlikely hero while she discovers her place in the world.

As Catherine says of her book, “…the hero’s journey is the story of a person finding her own path through life. By doing so, she encourages us all to live our own unique lives as fully as we can. But just like the rest of us, Tamras pays a price for going her own way, and one of the things that make her a hero is her ability and her willingness to pay that price.”

In the spirit of creative independence, Dog Ear Audio will be utilizing Kickstarter, the popular crowd-funding organization whose purpose is,”…to help bring creative projects to life.”  Backers support the “dream to create something that they want to see exist in the world.” The direct link to our Kickstarter project is here.

Every backer is so appreciated. With creative endeavors like this, it truly is a community effort.

When not producing audio books, Karen Wolfer runs her renewable energy company, Daystar Solar Energy, installing solar systems on remote homes for their electrical needs. All the recording, editing, duplication, and printing at Dog Ear Audio is done using solar energy.  The logo for Dog Ear Audio stars Karen’s puppy, Halley, a rescue dog from the local shelter. For extra treats, she doesn’t mind posing for photo shoots.