Indie Author Records Romance And Adventure, Podcast Crew Brings Laughter And Encouragement To The Airwaves

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The Dade County Public Library’s recording studio has been put to good use over the last couple years by two creative groups: Brandi Gann recorded part of her first audiobook in the library’s studio, and the Life With ROJO podcast found its footing in the library.

The studio room isn’t widely known about, but all library card holders have access to it free of charge. There is a sign-up schedule, but so far, finding open time slots hasn’t been a challenge.

Recording her audiobook gave Gann (an indie author focused on fiction) an opportunity to flex her creative voice actor skills, but creativity isn’t something she puts to use just here or there; it flows from her heart into everything she touches.

In between teaching art at three Dade schools (Davis Elementary, Dade Elementary, and Dade Middle), she also finds time to make her own art. Gann is half of the Gann Media photography/videography/graphic design team, with the other half being her husband, Jonathan. The two are also both musically talented. On top of all of that, she’s worked on eight books total, including novels, children’s books, and an anthology.

She wrote her first book, a young adult fantasy novel called “Firebrand,” in 2021. She created the cover herself and published it through Amazon’s publishing services but didn’t know about the possibility of recording it as an audiobook. “I was completely new to the indie publishing world. I didn’t know that audiobooks were even possible for indie authors,” Gann recalled.

As she heard other indie authors talking about their audiobooks, she started looking into Amazon’s audiobook services, but they were out of her price range.

Her vision for the recording was a duet with a male reader for all male characters and a female reader for the female characters, so instead of paying Amazon, she began looking for a male voice actor. “I think a full duet, making it a full production, works well for immersive worlds like fantasy,” she explained.

She found a male voice actor named Josh in England who could not only read the male parts but also produce the audiobook, splicing together his parts (recorded in England) and Gann’s parts (recorded here) line by line. It was still an investment for Gann, but with her reading the female parts and paying Josh directly, she was able to afford the project.

She and Josh used different accents and voices for different characters. “It’s not a complete graphic audio, but it’s very close,” she explained.

Gann recorded half of her part in a closet at her house and the other half in the library’s recording room. She invested in a couple pieces of equipment to improve the sound quality, and through the entire process, she learned a lot about recording. She was impressed by the library’s room, and her only wish to improve it would be better soundproofing to block out Highway 11 traffic.

It took her a year to write “Firebrand,” and it took Gann and Josh seven months to record the 12.5-hour audio version. Gann found that two hours was about the maximum time that she could read in one sitting.

“It takes a lot more out of you than I realized going into it. When you’re in the booth, every little sound picks up. Every time you move, every time you breathe, if you shift ever so slightly and your clothes rustle, it’s going to pick up in that mic. You have to have good posture and breathe correctly. You have to stay hydrated but not too hydrated, because it also picks up every mouth noise. Physically and mentally, it gets pretty exhausting.”

In the end, she was very pleased with the final production. It captured what she had envisioned while writing the story. In the future, she’d like to record more of her books as audiobooks.

While Gann recommends “Firebrand” for ages 16+, two of her other books are illustrated children’s books appropriate for young readers. She’s also written two other fantasy books, one book of southern gothic poetry, one young adult Halloween-themed rom com, and she curated a fantasy anthology with works from eight other authors and herself.

She intentionally keeps all of her books relatively clean. Talking about “Firebrand” specifically, she said, “The romance elements have been compared to mild Taco Bell salsa, so a little bit fan your face, but nothing too over the top.” She used some fake curse words, British curse words, and even an old word from the Middle Ages in place of modern vulgarity.

For her teen and adult novels, she doesn’t shy away from violence. She said her 16+ rating for “Firebrand” is because of “bad guys doing bad things. I am a Christian, but I don’t write Christian fiction. I fall more on the lines of Lord of the Rings where the Christian morality is present. I’ve had people say I shouldn’t write about violence or gore, but one of the most violent, horrific stories I’ve ever read is biblical—Judges chapter 19. Some have said I shouldn’t write romance because I’m a Christian, but have you read Song of Solomon?”

She prefers to wrestle with realistic themes and issues through the medium of fiction and lens of fantasy than to create a simplistically-happy fairytale world.

You can find Gann’s books at our library (except for the audiobook) or purchase them on Amazon. Soon, she’ll be Audible exclusive, meaning the “Firebrand” audiobook and any future audiobooks can be found on Audible only.

(There is another author named Brandi Gann who pops up in some search results. To find Dade County’s Brandi Gann, look for “Firebrand.” For the other Brandi Gann, look for “A Quiver Full of Arrows: Accepting the Blessing of Children.”)

If you’re looking for a local, family-friendly podcast, check out Life With ROJO hosted by Mark Miller and Austin Barnwell. The two friends started the podcast in January 2024 and are now approaching their 60th episode.

Miller explained, “Through COVID, we felt like a lot of people’s joy was zapped out. We wanted to find a way to bring joy back into people’s lives and show people that you can have a good time without anything negative or inappropriate.”

So, they started telling stories, talking about life, and interviewing all kinds of different people on the podcast. They keep it clean because they want all ages to be able to listen. The friends sense that people are leaning away from crude comedy and satirical commentary, instead longing for entertainment that offers a break from heated cultural and political topics.

“People are wanting to go back to family friendly things. They’re wanting that positive, clean influence,” said Miller.

At the very beginning, they started recording on their phones at home. Barnwell lives in Cleveland, Tenn., and they found out that a library near him has a recording studio, but it was booked up three months out. Miller lives in Rising Fawn, and that’s when they learned that Dade’s library also has a recording room, but without the wait list.

“We fell in love with everybody at the library,” said Miller. “They’re like family to us.” They eventually switched to an office space in the old Shaw building (13056 North Main Street) where they now have a ROJO dedicated space, but the library will always be part of the history of the podcast.

The team decided to host a fundraiser for the library, so next week, on Dec. 11, they’re hosting “Laughs and Lattes” at Corner Coffee. They hired two clean comedians to perform, and net proceeds will go to the library. The event starts at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $30. They’ve been selling out quickly, so email lifewithrojoevents@gmail.com to check availability.

The crew’s goal is to bring live clean comedy events to Dade County every other month. They’re also planning rucking events where fans of the show can join them on a ruck (i.e. a hike or walk with a weighted backpack), and they want to use these as fundraisers for other local organizations.

The ROJO team doesn’t know exactly how many listeners they have across all platforms, but they know it’s in the thousands, and they’ve seen growing interest from potential guests. People with similar interests, clean comedians, and people seeking exposure often reach out about being on the show.

Life With ROJO picks guests who fit the goal of the show, so they’ve had to turn down some potential guests. For example, people who work in government and politics have reached out, and although fascinating, Barnwell said, “I think people want a break from politics, even from the political parodies.”

One of the friends’ favorite things about the podcast is getting to meet and interview guests. “It’s allowed people to hear real stories from some really interesting people who we otherwise might not hear from,” said Miller.

“When we first started, we didn’t really know what we’re doing,” said Barnwell, but they’ve seen their interviewing and improvisation skills improve. “We flow well together, so learning that flow has also been cool.”

They also enjoy reading comments from listeners. Miller said, “Just the fact that people are being encouraged by the podcast, laughing, joking with us. We’ll share a story, and people share the similar things that happened to them. We’ve got one kid who’s five or six who will write in, and we’ve got people in their 70s or 80s who listen, and every age in between. That’s what we really wanted the show to be.”

The project is also extra special to Miller because his family gets to be a part of it. His daughter, Angel Phillips, is the show’s producer/editor, and the rest of his family pitches content ideas and helps out in other ways.

One thing Phillips enjoys doing is finding unique foods for the guys to try on air. “She often buys really disgusting things for us to try so people can make fun of us,” Miller laughed. He and Barnwell agreed that a Warheads Blue Raspberry Pickle-In-A-Pouch was one of the worst things they’ve ever eaten.

Both Barnwell and Miller have full-time jobs, so it can be tough to balance work, family, and a podcast, but they’ve chosen to make it a priority. Barnwell said, “It’s become part of our normal.”

Miller added, “We’re motivated to do it because so many people struggle finding joy. Even if it’s just one person, if we can help put some joy in their life, that’s important to us.”

You can listen to the podcast on all major podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Find the show on Facebook (Life With ROJO), Instagram (lifewithrojo), YouTube (Life With ROJO), and TikTok (life.with.rojo).