If you read my last post, Making a Music Soundtrack for a Novel, you know At Last, my new ebook release from Amazon/Montlake, has a companion soundtrack. It includes eight romantic American standards that were recorded by the amazingly talented Barbara Calderaro specifically to go with the story (since my heroine is a singer). The goal was to release both the novel and soundtrack at the same time.  I, Amazon, and Barbara worked together to coordinate this. The music was already “in the can,” since the eight tracks are part of a previously released CD. The soundtrack is digital only, so all we needed was a new cover that would coordinate with the ebook cover.

Creating Covers

Amazon created a beautiful cover for the ebook with plenty of time for us to create the coordinating cover for the soundtrack. Once we got that to the singer, all she had to do was re-upload the eight tracks we’d selected with the new cover. (The full version of the CD is still available with the original cover.) Everything was running like clockwork. Until…

The Best Laid Plans

The first hiccup came right before Christmas when we realized the images used to create the ebook cover had a time limit on the copyright license.  Which meant throwing out that beautiful cover that I loved and looking for new images. Did I mention this was right before Christmas? Everyone was traveling. I was heading for NYC to see family, so there I was, emailing my editor at Amazon and my agent with my iPhone in the airport. Have you ever tried to type a message on a phone while standing in a moving tram? With one elbow hooked around the pole so you don’t fall over? Not easy!

We finally got a new cover, and it’s gorgeous, but we were down to the wire. We had one week to create a cover for the soundtrack. The only way to meet that tight of a turn around was for me to do the soundtrack cover. I’m a graphic designer, so this was not a problem. Except the singer was in the hospital for knee surgery. She didn’t have access to her computer until Friday night, which gave us three days to upload the files to CD Baby and have them distribute it to Amazon. And two of those three days are Saturday and Sunday. Ugh!

Roadblock

Sadly, despite the singer jumping through every hoop she could working with a live person at CD Baby, we couldn’t push it through the process fast enough. The ebook, At Last, went live on Tuesday – and I’m thrilled to say it’s selling very well. But this is Thursday morning and we’re still waiting for the soundtrack to go live at Amazon. Late yesterday, however, CD Baby did finish their end, so now we’re just waiting for it to arrive at Amazon, so they can create the product page for the music and provide a link to that on the page for the ebook.

Temporary Fix

Amazon has posted the cover to the soundtrack on the page for the ebook along with a list of links to the individual songs. But that takes you to the tracks with the original cover to the full CD. As soon as this goes live, there will be a link to a page with the new cover where you can download the full soundtrack or individual songs.

In the Meantime

At Last, the Soundtrack IS AVAILABLE AT CD BABY. You can listen to sample and/or purchase it there. It really is fabulous. I love Barbara’s voice, and how she sings all the songs. I’ll let you know as soon as this special soundtrack goes live at Amazon!

And, of course, the ebook, At Last is available for sale at Amazon. It was awarded Best Single Title Contemporary by Bookbuyers Best the year it came out in print under the title Unforgettable. I hope you’ll give it a try.