BY MARKOS PAPADATOS
Dan “Tito” Davis chatted with Digital Journal about his new audiobook for “Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive.”
From a technological standpoint, making an audio book is very different than writing a book. For Davis, technology was the “biggest obstacle” he had. “I literally missed a generation of change. There was a phenomenal amount of technical progress made when I was away from the U.S.A. and the mainstream world,” he said.
He continued, “When I left the country, they checked your oil and washed the windshield of your vehicle at the gas stations. There was no Internet, Wi-Fi, or Google, and no one could pay at the pump with a credit card or order online.
Davis noted that there is a difference of a printing press and a sound studio. “When an audiobook has the proper engineering, it is like putting a long hit record together. It isn’t easy you have to have the appropriate team and the material so they can work their magic,” he said.
When asked if it was hard to find somebody to narrate the book, he said, “Finding the proper narrator is like finding the perfect singer to make the song you wrote a hit.” Due to its rave reviews and commercial success, they had no than 200 narrators who auditioned. “There was a lot of competition to pick who we thought could be the best and most effective for our audiobook market,” he said. “Tom Hatting was selected because we believed he had displayed what we wanted and needed. He was a pleasure to work with and was very into the minute details of the book.”
He acknowledged that he hadn’t read his book in a long time, and described it as looking in the “rearview mirror.” “I realized how stupid I was and also how incredibly lucky I was,” he said.
Davis shared that his first book was a best seller because it was about the experiences that he had lived. “Few if any Americans have lived with the Medellin Cartel. I lived with them. I was part of their family, attending fiestas, weddings, funerals, baptisms, and graduations,” he said. “No other Gringo had those experiences. How could that happen? One of the bosses gave the word that I was family and under his protection.”
He hopes that someday his book will be made into a feature film or a mini-series. “There is violence, sex, betrayal, assassins, kidnapping, travel, romance, and extreme adventure. I have another 500 pages that aren’t in the book. Gringo definitely has the material,” he said.
Davis concluded, “Gringo is going to the next level it is only a matter of time. There is nothing like it out there. Enjoy the audiobook. Soccer moms, truck drivers, and all of you busy people. You will be entertained. Keep Rolling.”
His new audiobook, Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive, is available here!
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