Audible now distributes independently published
audiobooks, which is great news for us independent authors. Now all we need to do is read our books into
a microphone to distribute them, right?
Turns out, it’s a bit harder than that; at least for
those of us who have a bad stammer and aren’t used to acting.
The first thing we did was made my computer cabinet into
a mini studio. My neighbor at the time I
did this happened to be a semi-professional recording artist. Though I didn’t have a recording studio, I
have doors on my cabinet that can be closed in around me, and when he put
blankets on each door and above me, the recording into a mic in front of my
screen looked great. I read the book off
the monitor as I spoke just above the microphone. (Staying above it reduces pops; as does
having a sock over the microphone.
Reading wasn’t so difficult; although I struggled with my
mild form of dyslexia, stumbling over my words constantly. I would have to fix it in post. This involved going through after I was
completely done and cutting every point where I stammered. Recording took weeks, but post took months;
so much so that the entire process took me more than a year and a half. Now I know why audiobooks are so expensive.
I had done this one myself instead of getting an actor
because I wanted to see the whole process.
(Also, for some reason, when I started it I thought it would go faster
that way. And I’m in the book, so I
figured it would sound better when I said “I” to actually be the one speaking.) I learned partway through that you can go to
Audible and hook up with a reader through them.
Audible even splits the profits between you. That’s what I will be doing from now on.
