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10 Top Tips On How To Create An Audio Book

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

I heard Don Katz, the CEO of Audible.com speak at the London Book Fair back in April. He explained the huge growth in audiobook consumption and said that there are simply not enough audiobooks to satisfy the demand.

But how do you actually get your book into audio format? Author and guest blogger Brendan Foley explains his journey and I've added a couple more options at the bottom of the article as this is a topic I am fascinated with and will soon be exploring further.

An audio book by accident

My latest exploration into publishing comes in the form of audio. It all happened from a chance encounter with a good friend who confessed that he hadn’t read my book (an all too familiar situation for an author!). When I pressed him he had a great excuse; “it’s my eyes you see, I find reading tiring, but I have to say that instead, I now listen to audio books. Have you ever considered doing one?”

In truth I hadn’t and until recently I didn’t listen to audio books either. WOW I didn’t realize what I was missing! With my hectic schedule I suddenly found that while driving or doing the washing up I could listen to an audio book. I feel like I’ve cheated time and stolen a few minutes each time I do. If you are not listening to audiobooks I urge you to give them a try.

Audition time

After trawling my contacts, a friend suggested that I contact a London based audio book company Creative Content run by two wonderful ladies Lorelei and Ali, to see if they had an interest in publishing. As it happened they did.

My first job was to travel to London and do a reading audition. It’s remarkable when you put on the cans (headset) and start to read your own words aloud. You suddenly realize the mammoth task that lies ahead of you.

For a start, how you read in your head and reading aloud have totally different punctuation and timing. You also become aware of how localized your speech is. As an Irish man I gave the UK director and sound man a few giggles when pronouncing  “tree hundread and tirty tree!”. However I got through the audition and got the part to play myself.

Tough but rewarding

A few weeks later I recorded ‘The 5 States of Success' over two days. It was a mammoth task and one that completely took me by surprise in terms of how much energy, concentration and accuracy was required. I won’t lie to you, like many things in the world of the writer, it was incredibly hard but also incredibly rewarding. Like the feeling you get when you’ve climbed a mountain or labored for some success.

My top 10 tips for audio book success

So what did I learn? If you are going to create an audio book here are 10 things to consider;

    1. To read or not to read? For a non-fiction piece it is best if the author reads to add authenticity while a fiction piece often is better read by an actor who can convey the different types of characters that you might have.

 

    1. Scripting. You will need to rework your book as a marked up script where you add natural pauses and emphasize certain words. You may also have to rework clunky or long sentences.

 

    1. Practice, Practice, Practice.You cannot practice your script enough if you are going to read your own work. Using Garage Band or audio software record yourself and then critique and rework pieces if required.

 

    1. With a publisher?I was lucky and got a publisher but then I also wanted to get their scripting, directing, recording and post-production skills. Unlike traditional print houses audio publishers understand digital, therefore I believe are more open to record an indie book that is doing well.

 

    1. The indie route?With modern software it’s easy to record your audio book so going it alone is an option. However good post-production is needed and you’ll need a content aggregator to upload it to iTunes and Audible, etc.

 

    1. Have fun! Audio allows you to express your fun side either with your own voice over or through an actor. You also get the richness of emotion conveyed in a way that is hard to do in print.

 

    1. Beyond CD’s.CD’s got scratched and were clunky to warehouse and because of cost most books were abridged. With modern MP3 files all these challenges are overcome and whether you record yourself or professionally it’s easy to sell and distribute audio books.

 

    1. Scope.The audio book market now includes not just iTunes and Amazon, but companies like Overdrive that service the library market and colleges. You can get your book featured as part of in-flight entertainment on long haul flights. You can get your book preloaded on MP3 players and so on.

 

    1. Accessibility. For vision impaired people, those with low reading skills, people without English as their first language, commercial travelers and sales people and many, many more suddenly can access your work. As well as all those who simply prefer the audio format.

 

    1. A hardcore market. Just like ebooks in the beginning had a hardcore following there is a huge dedicated audio book market that is really only receiving top selling titles. I believe it’s only matter of time before there is a large indie audio following. Stake your claim quick!

 

I hope that you have found this useful and thought provoking. I hope that you will be encouraged to leverage the great work you may already have written into a new medium. As always live and write with meaning!

… and now some extra material from Joanna.

Introducing ACX – Audiobook Creation Exchange

Audible has recently set up ACX which is a marketplace for authors, narrators and audio producers, with the intent to have more audio created and published. If you own the rights to your work, you can submit it here or make some deals to get it produced.

Podiobooks

Another fantastic resource for audiobooks is Podiobooks, where you can get serialized audiobooks in a podcast format. You can also record and submit your own books here, another means of marketing. Check out the For Authors page if you want to submit.

Podcasting Fiction to New York Times Bestseller

I know a number of fiction authors who have turned their podcasting success into traditional book deals. I've also interviewed quite a few of them. Here's some further interviews and articles if you're keen to find out more.

 What do you think about audiobooks? Have you released any? Sold your audio-rights? Plan to self-publish on audio?
Please do leave a comment below.

About the Author

Brendan Foley is a Life and Business Coach, founder of Seachange Training, author and speaker.  The 5 States of Success is available in print, ebook and audio formats http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-States-Success-Brendan-Foley/dp/1856358046/

‘Having seen Brendan Foley speak, it came as no surprise to learn that his 5 States of Success is well-written, and with some great insights into the kind of values, attributes and mindset required for success and happiness.’ – Alastair Campbell, Writer, Strategist and former advisor to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Twitter @foleybrendan

Facebook www.facebook.com/brendanfoley.net

Blog www.brendanfoley.net

Book website www.the5statesofsuccess.com

Update: bestseller achieved!

If you are a regular reader of the CreativePenn then you may know that last September 2011, I released my second book The 5 States of Success; Create Meaningful Success in your Career, Business and Life (see the blog post about it here). Since then I am delighted to say that for a few days it reached #1 bestseller spot on Amazon.co.uk in the careers section. This achievement is in no small part due to the inspiration on book marketing that I have gleamed from this blog. So take a bow Joanna! I know some of you probably helped to make that happen so thank you too.

 

 

Tags: audiobookspodcasting
Joanna Penn:

View Comments (31)

  • Joanna, thanks for featuring Brendan. You always bring timely and immediately useful information to us.

    Brendan,

    Thanks for sharing the steps and tips to creating an audio version of your book. When I set out to create an audio version of just a 34 page ebook, I discovered what a monumental task it is.

    First mistake: I didn't create a script. After all, how hard could it be to read my own nonfiction work?
    Second mistake: I found myself wanting to reword what was on the page as I thought of better ways to express the text.
    Third mistake: I tried to record the whole ebook in one sitting. Exhausting.

    I haven't finished that recording yet, but with the tips and sources offered in this post I'm encouraged to return to creating my audio book.

    As for turning my 213 pg print book into audio, I'm very definitely investigating the services who have proper studios and know what they're doing.

    • Hi Flora,

      Yes when you start to look at audio you begin to see how different it is as a medium. I can so empathize with your mistakes above, but they are worthwhile in pointing you in the right direction. To build on your learnings I would say;

      Mistake 1 - No Script; rewrite your piece or mark up your text. By this I mean use a color coded system and series of symbols to show where natural pauses are, words that need emphasis, changes in tone and links where sentences should flow into each other.

      Mistake 2 - Edit as you go. Here is where you really benefit from a director or sound engineer. We often take things for granted or assume our readers know what we are talking about. Having another person there when recording allows you to be challenged as to your flow or meaning and then you can do a live edit. Also when using a sound engineer there are two ways to edit as you go; 'rock n roll' or 'fluff n repeat'. So 'rock n roll' is where you make a mistake and the sound editor drops you in at the point of the mistake and then you continue on, 'fluff n repeat' is repeat the entire paragraph until it is right. I used 'rock n roll' when I recorded because it saves time and edits if they need to be made can be added to the script quickly. see http://loreleiking.blogspot.ie/2011/04/its-only-rock-n-roll.html

      Mistake 3 - Time and energy. This is the one that really got me. I speak for a living as a motivator, coach and trainer. I am fit and healthy. I thought this would be a walk in the park... I was amazed at the level of concentration and effort required. So here is what I would do;
      1. Warm up physically by walking as you will be sitting for some time.
      2. Warm up your voice signing HIGH, Middle, low.
      3. Drink LOTS of water as your vocal cords can dry out quickly, it also stops you sounding 'lippy'.
      4. Read for no more than 40min periods then break, stretch out and relax your brain.
      5. BREATH. Your voice is created on your out breath so find a way to breath deeply to give you a good length of phrase. (Roger Love the US voice coach has some good techniques in his book).

      I hope that this helps and best of luck with your audio endeavors!

      Yours in 'meaningful' success,

      Brendan.

      • Hi Brendan,

        Wow! Thank you so much for your generous tips and
        expansion on what you had already shared in your post

        Now I feel compelled to share these on my blog, with
        proper attribution of course. I hope that's OK.

        Blessings,
        Flora

    • I think this is part of my hesitation about recording my own ebooks for my fiction. I am worried that I will want to rewrite as I go along, as nothing is ever really finished :) Maybe it's best to use a different narrator in the end.

  • What a fantastic idea, Joanna. I used to be a radio journo back in the day, so I love the concept.

    And thanks for sharing your experience Brendan. I'm intrigued by the thought of your Irish accent. Surely that's reason enough to buy your audio book, all by itself???

    I'm going to bookmark this post and add it to my (increasingly long) Things to Think Seriously About list.

    Thank you for giving us such good ideas about publishing!

    • Hi Belinda,

      Joanna is such a resource for writers! Her additions with regards to the audio links are really good.

      Given your radio background I would really go for audio. It's also a good time to do this as with the global recession there is less advertising and with that there is more studio time available, as less radio ads are being made. And of course there is great DIY audio software, but as has been said many times on this blog a good editor is worth their weight in gold. This goes for audio as much as the written word.

      As for the Irish brogue, is not the Queen's English but then it's who I am! Given the nature of my work it suited to use my voice, but in a fiction piece I would use an actor or professional reader. This would then allow you to direct and set the tone and release your inner Spielberg!

      Best of luck with your work.

      Wishing you 'meaningful' success,

      Brendan

      • Thanks Brendan. I love the idea of you voicing your own non-fiction book. It's so personal. Readers today love to feel like they are connecting with an author, especially with the type of topic you are writing about.

        One of my current WIPs is a humorous memoir about my dog (it's better than it sounds) (I hope), and that would definitely be best in my own voice rather than a voiceover talent. But the novel is another matter. I'm thinking of those strings of dialogue where one person speaks after another, without even a "he said" to break it up...

        That's great if studios are cheaper/easier to book at present. With digital software etc today, we have so many options for DIY. But I think one aspect of a studio that is incredibly hard to reproduce at home is the "dead" sound thing. No ambient noise or machine noise from the recording device, all those padded walls.

        Thanks for such great tips! Belinda

  • Great idea Joanna - this is something that I've been looking at. Might be worth checking, but when I looked (about a month ago), Audible and ACX don't accept users based in the UK ..... but you don't find that out until you've looked at all the blurb, watched the videos and finally go to sign up! Groan ..!

    • No way! I didn't know that, and it seriously annoys me. I don't understand why they need to restrict these services. But most of them open up to global pretty quickly. Thanks for letting me know. I hadn't read through all the small print.

  • Thanks for sharing your experiences. Let me just suggest that, while it's *often* a great idea for nonfiction authors to narrate their own books, that's not *always* the case. Frankly, some wonderful writers are just not wonderful readers of their own work — they need a professional to do justice to their material. It's a different set of skills. I'm a narrator who has done several nonfiction books (some of them written in the first person), and on a good day I feel that I've conveyed the author's message with powers of articulation and expression that he has on paper but may not have vocally. And, of course, some writers read beautifully — including some fiction writers!

  • I really want to do an audio book now but I don't know if I can afford it. Hmm . Maybe if I do the acting .

    I love looking up info for audiobooks now. Thanks for the post. :)

  • Thanks for sharing this post. This is very interesting to me. I have recently listened to several webinars about pod-casting and am considering doing it myself. I have a new book coming out soon which was written from a speech I did. It would be a great candidate for an audio book. This may be something I have to check into real soon. Blessings, Deborah H. Bateman-Author

  • Great post.
    Creating an audio book is usually a much bigger undertaking than most people think. One of the things I have always recommended to authors considering turning their novel into an audio book is to NOT start off with a full cast production (multiple voice actors) because chances are you will just get overwhelmed or run out of steam and quit. For the same reasons you should never start uploading your novel until it has been completely recorded and edited.

    I think having different voice actors perform the various characters adds an extra "something something" to the story, but unless you have some audio editing experience, know exactly what you're getting yourself into, and have no social life (or at least plan on abandoning the one you do have for a while) a full cast production is probably not the best choice for your first audio book.

    Can it really be that much harder? My audio book, DEAD HUNT, features almost two-dozen voice-over actors from the United States, Canada and Australia. Each episode took me anywhere from 8 to 13 hours to edit and produce (and I'm an experienced audio editor) and if you narrate the story yourself add even more time to the equation.

    Creating an audio book is not hard but it is, without a shadow of a doubt, a long, lonely and often boring process. But when you hear the final playback and read the comments from your growing fan-base, it is SO worth it!

    Here's a few of the tips I give folks just starting out:

    - Practice reading.... scratch that... practice PERFORMING written words out loud every day (newspapers, short stories, anything you can get your hands on!)

    - Listen to other audio books. Podiobooks.com is a great place to find free audio books created by DIY authors.

    - Record yourself. Everyone hates the sound of their own voice at first. Get over it. Then get comfortable with it by recording yourself a LOT and listening to the playback. Take notes, make adjustments, rinse and repeat.

    - Use whatever you mic you have on hand and just start practicing. Edit a few "chapters" to get a feel for the process using free software like Audacity because it doesn't have to sound great right now, it just has to be good enough to give you an idea of the process to see if you are seriously committed to jumping into the audio book world. When you are ready to get started for real, start looking for a decent microphone and quality headphones.

    - Last but not least, when it comes to narrating always remember to TELL me a story, don't read it to me.

    ~Kenn

    • Thanks for sharing your experience Kenn. I have shied away from full audio productions as I know how much work they are. It's enough for me to do a 30 min podcast :)
      Great tips also for reading - people can tell if you're just reciting the words, you've got to feel them and put expression into your voice. This is the same for public speaking. A good writer doesn't necessarily make a good speaker or reader of their own work.

      • Thanks Joanna,

        I noticed something in my post that *may* be taken the wrong way. In the middle of one paragraph I said: "Edit a few 'chapters' to get a feel for the process using free software like Audacity because it doesn’t have to sound great right now......" I did not mean to imply that Audacity will not make your audio sound good, I was referring to whatever mic you happen to have is good enough to start practicing (even if it's built-in to your laptop or one of those $5 stick mics.)

        Audacity, which is free software, is used by a LOT of podcasters and podcast authors. It does an excellent job. Some of my favorite Podiobooks were recorded using Audacity

        If anyone wants more info on Audacity and other free software that can help you on your journey to creating an audiobook (or a podcast) I posted some links at http://podiorookie.com/tools

        Kenn

  • Thanks for this. I have been wanting to make audio copies of my books. very useful information you have here.

  • hi! my name is mike and living in south africa soweto township and i have recorded my audio book but i dont know where to submit it can you please help me for the information on submiting it.
    thank you regards
    Michael.

  • Hello,
    This is Mohamed from EGYPT - Cairo.
    Really thanks a lot and too much appreciated the lovely in depth article which really helped me a lot to get a better understanding for various techniques for audio book.
    Please I'd like to ask about something related to the way for making the audio book itself.
    Please may you tell me for the best required hardware I may use to get the best result?
    Thanks a lot.
    Mohamed

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