Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

Archives for 2026

Creating a PDF From a Public Domain Book

When I want to record a Public Domain book, I often buy a cheap hardback or paperback copy on eBay or Abebooks. I don’t mind destroying the book to create my PDF.

The first step is disassembly:

  1. Drew removes the book cover with a box cutter.
  2. He then would slice a sheet or a small group of sheets away from the adhesive binding in the spine of the book until all sheets are free from the binding.
  3. He would pull off any glue residue and hanging chads.
  4. To make the pages a consistent size for my scanner, he repeatedly would align small groups of pages in a regular paper cutter and trim the binding edge.

This process could take 45 minutes or so, depending on the book page count and the strength of the binding adhesive.

We just bought this 12″ heavy duty paper trimmer which drastically reduces the time needed for steps 3 and 4 above.

After removing the book cover, this time Drew inserted the bound pages into the 12″ cutter. With one smooth motion, this trimmer chopped off the adhesive spine, leaving all the pages loose with an even, straight edge ready for feeding into my scanner!

This disassembly job only took about 1 minute! It took more time to position and clamp the book into the cutter than to liberate the pages from the book cover.

I’ll scan the pages in my trusty Epson ES-500W scanner (replaced by the ES-500W II). It scans 35 double-sided pages per minute, collating the pages into a PDF.

I do have some extremely rare books for which I paid too much money to consider disassembling them. I’ll leave those books intact and use the CamScanner app to photograph their pages and create my PDF. The original books can hold court on my bookshelf for years to come.

Regardless of whether I made the PDF using my scanner or the app, I run Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and file compression on it. You’ll find my PDF Optimization instructions in Step 3 of Planning Your Trip to Public Domain World.

With an optimized PDF as my script, I’m now ready to prep and record the book.

 

Coincidence — Or Something More?

On Sunday 2 August, I copied this quote in my commonplace book because I liked it. I often connect to a quote for a particular, immediate reason, but this time I didn’t. The truth of the words spoke to me.

Signs and coincidences are not just funny little weirdsies… They are not accidents. They are real. They are cosmic messages. They are made of love, and they are for you… There is a web that connects all things, all timelines, all thoughts, all possibilities, and certainly all souls… What you call a coincidence is nothing more than a moment when you actually notice the web… If you were even more tuned in. more calm, and present at all times, pretty soon you will see nothing BUT such glimpses, signs, and coincidences.
— Elizabeth Gilbert, 8/2/26 Letter From Love newsletter on Substack

Shortly after writing the quote in my book, I was bloomscrolling on Substack and saw 2 random notes from people I don’t follow that contained the same message. When 2 people who didn’t collaborate say the same thing, I know the Universe is trying to tell me something! The messages were:

THIS DID NOT APPEAR ON YOUR TIMELINE BY MISTAKE! August is about to blow you away with massive abundance and success!
— @EliseMcDowell

August will be a month of abundance.
— @BadRedheadMedia (Rachel)
(The message looked like it came from a fortune cookie.)

ACX had notified me on the previous day that one of my audiobooks is on sale throughout August. That’s certainly one way the Universe could bring some massive abundance and success to me this month!

When our housekeeper came last week, she asked me about meeting the incomparable Barry Manilow. At the precise moment I showed her the pictures, the SiriusXM Escape channel started playing Daybreak! Even she recognized it as one of Barry’s songs!

That afternoon at the dentist, I liked the electric mix of music, but I was still surprised to hear ABBA’s Dancing Queen. I always feel that’s a hello from my Daddy!

It’s easy to dismiss or completely miss little occurrences like these. However, sometimes too many related “coincidences” are stacked together that I must believe they were ordered by the Universe.

When writing about my experience of meeting Barry Manilow, I was reflecting on all of his concerts I’ve attended. One in particular stands out because a number of so-called coincidences taught me a valuable lesson.

prickly green cactus with purple flowers on top of it

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Anatomy of an Author Scam

Updated 7/9/26

 

You may know that I am thrilled to be writing a non-fiction book. I’m planning to update you about it soon.

Right now, the important thing to know is that I’m only half done researching and writing my book. It is NOT published.

However, yesterday I received my first author scam from someone claiming my book came across their desk. In the immortal words of Navin Johnson and shared with his high level of enthusiasm and excitement:

I’m somebody now! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity…that makes people.
Things are going to start happening to me now!

I’ve written extensively about scams targeting audiobook narrators. I thought it would be helpful for me to post the message and show the ways I knew it was from a crook.

 

Scam Computer Key

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An AI Dilemma

I’m excited to be speaking on Tuesday 23 June at 4pm during the Audiobook Empire Narrator Summit! I’m passionate about my topic From Arthurian Legends to WhodunIts: Creating Your Publishing Empire With Public Domain Books. I hope you’ll be able to join us, especially since we’ll include a Q&A in the session.

You may be thinking, “That’s great, but what does your presentation have to do with AI?”

This article will answer that question.

[Read more…] about An AI Dilemma

Stop The Comparisons

Twenty years ago today, I was a computer specialist at the IRS. During a break or lunch, I looked at the Barry Manilow message boards on my personal laptop to see what was new. Someone posted an interview with Barry published that day in the Sydney Morning Herald.

One meaningful quote leaped off the screen at me! I immediately reached for the nearest piece of paper, which happened to be a notepad from work, and copied it:

I have never done anything for the money or the charts. I do what I want to do because I believe in it, and it’s always been that way for me.
I didn’t even listen to the radio back when I first recorded Mandy, so I never really knew what was going on, and I still don’t.
When you start trying to compete with what everyone else is doing, you’re lost. (my emphasis)

 

 

After suffering from comparison-itis for years, I wrote in my journal one day:

Maybe this is my purpose!
Maybe my biggest challenge is the thing
I was sent here to learn and teach.

While I can’t say I am completely cured from comparison-itis, I do have some techniques to keep it at bay.

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