THE Group for Authors! discussion

Hi,

I am planning my first audio book. Has anyone done one and got tips/resources/horror story/do's and don't's/guidelines. Much appreciated.
Alp Mortal

Alp wrote: "Hi,

I am planning my first audio book. Has anyone done one and got tips/resources/horror story/do's and don't's/guidelines. Much appreciated.
Alp Mortal"

I've listened to quite few audio books. from those I've heard, I can only suggest in investing in a very good reader - someone with a nice resonating voice and can empathise with the different characters. From what I've heard, it makes a huge difference.(Especially when accents, moods and intensity variations come into play). I actually enjoy them. They great when in the car and also allows you the freedom to do other bits and pieces when at home... Even if it just making a cup of coffee. :)

ACX is Amazon's audio site. You upload the book you want to have an audio version of as well as a sample chapter or two. Voice artists can submit audio auditions, and you can decide if they are a good match. (We've had one that was a great match--and got the 'voice' of our protagonist. We also had one that wasn't quite the right one for the book.) Then you can negotiate with them. One choice--that we exercised--was to split the royalties. You can also pay your voice person outright for the recording and retain all the royalties. The rest works similarly to to CreaeSpace.

Lorna wrote: "ACX is Amazon's audio site. You upload the book you want to have an audio version of as well as a sample chapter or two. Voice artists can submit audio auditions, and you can decide if they are a g..."

Thank you. I hope to get one done before Christmas - is it a necessarily lengthy process?

YES! You post the audition script and then wait for audio auditions. Then there's the negotiation process... The artist has several weeks to record the first three chapters. When you agree on those, you then have to allow some time for the complete recording. In the case of our current project, there were some words in a now-extinct Native American language. When we wrote the book, we worked with local Indians to get the pronunciation. One of them provided an audio recording which we forwarded to our voice artist. Therefore, our process was a bit longer than average, but I can practically guarantee you won't complete it before Christmas unless you record it yourself. And don't even think about it unless you have access to a professional recording studio!

I've had quite a few auditions, and the match is down to one actor. I hope she is interested enough to follow through. Glad to know about the first three chapters in a certain time frame from Lorna. ACX is good to connect with many talented artist/producers. Do it yourself if your voice is how you want your story to be told but make sure you follow the advice given, for example stand up, read three sheets at a time, etc. Good luck!

After making an offer to a narrator based on their audition, they will then record the first 15 minutes of your book in finished audio quality. This is to show you how they will actually be doing the book. This gives you an additional chance to confirm that this actor is going to work for you and your book.

If there's anything you don't like about how it's done, this is the time to bring it up and discuss and see if you and they can see eye to eye. If you can't, then thank them for their time and go back to looking for a narrator.

If you're satisfied with the first 15 minutes and approve it, you've now entered into a contract. After the book is complete, you can request two rounds of revisions to fix errors.

The due dates for the 15 minutes and the final product are either decided by you, or better yet, discussed between you and the narrator before you enter them into the project page on the ACX website.

I don't advise doing it yourself unless you have the equipment, software, recording space, acting skills, audio engineering/editing experience, and lots of silent time.

I'm doing it myself. If nothing else, the effort is improving my book. As a musician, I do have a fair amount of audio equipment and experience, plus I love a good experiment.

P.S. Will share my experience. So far, it's going very slowly.

E.n. wrote: "P.S. Will share my experience. So far, it's going very slowly."

Wow, that's a gutsy move but then again, I suppose you're no stranger to audio. Hope it works for you. :)

E.n. wrote: "I'm doing it myself. If nothing else, the effort is improving my book. As a musician, I do have a fair amount of audio equipment and experience, plus I love a good experiment."

Cool. The first one is definitely a learning experience. I was going to do one of my books, but kept losing my voice due to allergies, so I finally decided to have someone else do it. Then while they were doing it, my voice came back, so I did someone else's book. Then I got an offer from a publisher to do another book, which I just finished this week.

If your is going slow due to time constraints, I understand that. But if it's due to the learning curve, let me know if you're having any issues and I might be able to help with what I've learned so far.

I'll probably write something later about some valuable lessons I learned, and some incorrect things I learned that cost me a lot of time, labor and frustration.

I am now four chapters into my process via ACX. Thrilled with the process so far - now I understand it.

One issue I have had with ACX is playback from their site as an audio stream where volume varies - When downloaded to check the file (one file per chapter) volume is fine. Will update you as the process continues

Hi, I am also interested in creating an audio version of my recently published short story collection entitled Impromptu Scribe Does anyone have any views about or experiences of using either single or multiple voice artists for short story collections, where inevitably the theme of each story is entirely different and where there is no need for continuity or sequentiality ? Also, does anyone have comparable experience of ACX and other professional audio production outfits with views to share on how you got on with each ? Much appreciated. Thanks.

I just got the first 15 minutes back. I really got the best voice artist! We're using ACX, and so far, we're happy with it. It's hard enough to work with one voice artist. If you use several, your collection will be split up. Did you want the whole collection issued together? If so, I'd think you'd be better off having one voice talent do all of them.

Alex wrote: "Does anyone have any views about or experiences of using either single or multiple voice artists for short story collections"

I can give you some feedback as a voice actor. I would much rather be asked to read a collection of short stories in a different voice for each one, rather than be one of many people sharing the profits.

Alternately, you can pay multiple artists by the hour, but I'm not sure how that will work. Another way is to hire one producer, pay them hourly, but make it a requirement for them to hire out multiple actors for the many stories. Then you have only one person to deal with directly.

Edward,

I don't write short stories, but have a novel that uses 8 voices, some children. Would you be interested?

David wrote: "Edward,

I don't write short stories, but have a novel that uses 8 voices, some children. Would you be interested?"

That depends. Do they need eight different British accents?

;)

Just kidding. Do you have the book on ACX? If so, I can take a look at it and the audition script and see if I think I can do it justice.

You can also have a listen to my demos, one of which has me doing a few British accents, which makes me cringe a little to think of a real Brit judging them. :)

My ACX profile

I had all 5 of my Kindle suspense novels converted to audio books last year. The Audible process is fairy easy, but it does take time to choose a narrator and review each chapter. You'll get plenty of auditions to listen to.

Be advised of several things, however -- 1) just after I did my 5th one, Audible unilaterally cut the split of royalties from 50/50 to 40/60. 2) They only do digital downloads, and miss all the hard copy market such as libraries. 3) The good news is that if you do a 50/50 deal with a producer, it costs you nothing to put out an audio book. 4? The bad news is that When all is said and done, after my selling 500 audio books, I ended up with about $2.00 per copy sold, so don't think you'll get rich doing this. Audible does a lot of promo discounting to get members, and guess who looses? And 5) I learned that people who read e-books by and large do not listed to audio books. Only a very small percentage do. They give the author 25 free promo downloads. I approached my fans and reader base, and found I couldn't give them away. Eventually, digital will rule everything, but for the present, their main marketing focus on Amazon Kindle customers is flawed to begin with.

William Brown, author of the e-book and the audio editions of The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Winner Lose All, Thursday at Noon, and Aim True My Brothers. I used two different narrators. If you listen to the free samples of these on the Audible site, you'll see how different they can be.

Can anyone kindly give me an idea of how much it costs to turn a novel of, say, 90,000 words into an audio book? I live in the UK.

Sylvie wrote: "Can anyone kindly give me an idea of how much it costs to turn a novel of, say, 90,000 words into an audio book? I live in the UK."

That's sort of like asking how much it would cost to paint a house. It's impossible to say in general terms.

I can give you a rough starting point though. Consider approximately one hour for each 10,000 words. Then multiply that times the rate of the voice actor you hire. On ACX, I see rates ranging from $100 to $400 per finished hour.

(It takes about 4 or 5 hours to produce one "finished hour." That's why rates are worded that way. You only pay for the finished hours.)

Taking a quick glance at some U.K. prices, you may be looking at a starting point of £4000.

U.K. Audiobook Production

Ladbroke Audio says they have rates that are lower than most London studios.

Hello,
This sounds interesting. Do audio books sell well? Is it worth the effort?
James

Thank you Edward. I had no idea what it might be. It is more than I had hoped - funny how almost any occupation seems to earn more than writing! But I will explore the UK market further.

I find all of your comments so valuable. I have a trilogy of YA novels and am considering going the audio book route with ACX. I am also delving into a crowd-funding project with PUBSLUSH for illustrated versions of my books. I'm really good at creating and the necessary details, but am a complete dinosaur when it comes to promotion: I don't have "friends," don't do social media (yet) and am probably at a disadvantage with today's remarkable social media/tech-savvy authors out there. At 72 years of age (I've been writing forever!) the game has changed considerably. Any hope for me? (FYI, I have an author page on Goodreads for "The Secrets of the Moon Singer" trilogy). Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.

I would like to thank Alp for posing this question and will also join with B in thanking you all for sharing so much information and experience. Several sites geared to indie authors have recently been suggesting audio as a way forward. I had therefore started to consider the option but was concerned about costs (I have very little in the way of resources). The information provided above has shown me there is no way I could afford to go down the audio path. Shame but at least I now know. Perhaps in the future.

T. wrote: "I would like to thank Alp for posing this question and will also join with B in thanking you all for sharing so much information and experience. Several sites geared to indie authors have recently..."

I have gone down the path - my only cost so far has been time - ACX allows royalty sharing with a narrator/producer or an up front fee. I have gone down the share path. So far I have about 25% of the book narrated. My time costs are - another cover formatting, uploading script - i.e. MS and reviewing the auditions and now completed chapters against the text for both accuracy but also style and tone. I must say it's been a wonderful experience hearing another voice read my story. I am sure there will be pitfalls ahead but so far so good.

T. and Sylvie, you guys should consider doing a royalty share to get your audiobooks done at no cost. You have to split your profits 50/50, but that beats abandoning the idea altogether.

Philip wrote: "T. wrote: "I would like to thank Alp for posing this question and will also join with B in thanking you all for sharing so much information and experience. Several sites geared to indie authors ha..."

Thank you, you're quite right Edward, and I will look into the royalty-sharing.

Thank you Philip for the details and Edward for the encouragement. I am currently awaiting reviews for one book. Once I have them, and if they are favorable, I will look into the royalty sharing idea.