Technically the sound now is much better, a few well directed pointers and the quality of the recordings have improved substantially. I tried getting Marina (my wife) to read it, I think she actually did a better job than I did but, It seemed wrong in her voice. Listening to her and directing her was beneficial though, I had always thought of it as quite and reflective so the read should match, but that seemed to come across as dull and uninterested, she put much more life into the read, and when I followed suit it did result in a better outcome.
In an ideal world I would be able to hire some voice talent to read my works. I have no aspirations of being any sort of actor, there is evidently much more to being a good voice actor than being able to put on funny voices when reading to kids.
Next time I’ll try to plan something that doesn’t involve me reading, but at least if need I have a few new recording skills.