Nowi_YLB

I’m coming up to the end of “Dangerous Territory, Book 2: Metz″ and I seriously need a mental health break. Between losing my mother in April, and now just this week my best friend’s father was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and is in hospice… I need a break.

However, I don’t like to NOT write, or at least some aspect of writing. (Editing is 90% of writing.) I thought about maybe creating a paperback version of “Book 1: Normandy.” Many have said they’d love to physically OWN the book, but I can’t legally SELL it. (Copyright reasons.)

But… is it legal to give a free copy to Patreons if they join at a certain tier?

Eventually, I want to rework the story (change names, some HEAVY editing, and a real translation team) and publish it as a novel. One part of me is like: “Is it smart to print both? You might be lowering your own sales down the road.” Another part of me is like: “Don’t you realize more people would want the fanfic AND the novel? The novel will appeal to a whole different demographic than SNK fans.”

So, that’s one thing I’m debating: publishing “Book One: Normandy” as it is, do NOT have it for public sale, and give away free copies to Patreons. Fanfiction is such a gray zone legally anyway, and Japanese copyright laws and nowhere near as strict as Americans. Doujin get published all the time, so maybe I don’t have anything to worry about.

Also, I just bought a new microphone (early birthday present to myself) and I would love to do audiobooks. Reading “Dangerous Territory” would be fun.

The problem: I do NOT speak French, my knowledge of German is very basic, and there’s A LOT OF BOTH! Then there’s the Yiddish parts, oy ve! (My husband studied French in school and knows Yiddish, so I would LOVE for him to read for Levi’s voice, since his voice is so low and sexy, but I know he’d never agree.)

Some scenes rely on the person’s accent. Yelena is Alsatian. Levi has a Parisian accent. Eren tries to speak High German but slips into a North Low Saxon dialect from time to time. Colt and Falco both have strong Swabian dialects. (Granted, those are all in Book Two and I’m talking about Book One, but still!)

Option one: Have Google Translate read the dialogue to me so I can at least pronounce things properly. You get what I can give, and any French or German speakers get to laugh at my American accent.

Option two: Power through lessons in French and German, then watch some YouTube videos on German dialects to try to get the accents as close as possible.

Option three: Find brave souls willing to read dialogue in both English and their mother tongue. (Way too many characters to make that feasible.)

I don’t want this to be a long hiatus, so learning a new language is off the table. (Maybe for the novel’s audiobook.) I’m not really stressing about this. It’s just an idea, a way to help me relax but still keep my brain focused as I take time off from creative writing.

So my question is this:

Is anyone actually interested in an audiobook of “Dangerous Territory”? Because, if only 10 people want it, I’m not going to spend weeks working on this.

Also the AMOUNT of people I told "Dangerous Territories" about is a lot and so many of them wanted to read it until I admitted it was a fanfic. I get it, not everyone's into that and might not enjoy the characters as much with knowing they're not original. But still! The story is so good and the amount of research put into it is so detailed and dedicated!!

I can keep going on but all in all, this story/book/novel deserves a spotlight🏆