copyright 2011, Aaron Paul Lazar
Have you ever wondered how to get your published book
produced as an audio book?
If so, read on. I currently have five books in production
with ACX, an Audible (Amazon) company. I’m going to document the process for
you in a few articles so you can give it a try yourself. You’ll need to know how to get started,
how to get through the editing process, and what to do once your book is
available for sale.
A little bit of
history:
I’ve tried to record my own books. Lord knows, I’ve tried. I
spent a week downloading various (free) audio programs, playing with the
settings, recording just a few chapters over and over again every time I messed
up a word, or a loud truck went by, or the dogs barked.
I drove myself nuts. Finally, after hours of labor, I
created some audio files of me reading the first few chapters in
Tremolo: cry of the loon, and posted
them up on my website.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed it. I really did. But while I
was doing this, I wasn’t writing. And
if I had ever hoped to get my complete set of sixteen books recorded as audio
books, it would have taken months for each project. I’d never get my current
book finished at that rate.
I sent off a few of the mp3 samples to my publisher. She had
her “audio guy” listen to them, and he said they had too much “hiss,” that I’d
need a different mike. Of course, I had used the simple microphone that comes
with my MacBook Pro, and that naturally isn’t geared for serious recording.
For the time being, I let it go at that. After all, I had
seven books to edit that were scheduled for 2012 release, and was working on
the third book in my Tall Pines mystery series. With the full time day job,
there wasn’t must time left for anything extra.
The tip:
The dream of getting my books into audio books didn’t die, it
just simmered under the surface for a little while, until a good friend gave me
a tip. Her Simon & Schuster book was going to audio book format through a
company called ACX, part of Audible, which is owned by Amazon.
Excited, I started to investigate. ACX is a wonderful site
where authors, producers, and actors can network and pair up. The nicest part
of this is one available option called “Royalty Share” where the narrators/actors/producers
and authors to do the recording work up front, put no money down, and then
share the royalties when the sales start coming in. Of course you can also
simply hire a narrator and his studio to do the recordings, and keep your share
of the royalties for yourself, if you want.
Alternatively, you can
record your own books, but you’d probably have to invest in a good mike, become
well-versed in manipulating audio files, or have a an audio-techie colleague to
help you.
Important stuff to
know:
Now this part is really important. Please read this
carefully:
You need to find out who owns the audio rights for your book(s).
Check your book contracts, and if you’re not sure, call your
publisher.
I hadn’t really paid attention to that part of the
contract(s) with my publisher, Twilight Times Books, but soon discovered that she
hadn’t included audio rights in our contract, so the rights were mine.
For those whose publishers’ have retained the rights, don’t
panic. Your publisher or agent can submit your books to ACX if he or she is so
inclined, you’ll just have to share the royalties with her and your actor/narrator/producer.
If you establish that you own the audio rights, the next
step is to register. Please note that I’m pretty sure you must already have
books in the Amazon bookstore for all this to work.
I was surprised that Twilight Times Books wasn’t on the list
(lots of companies weren’t, since this is a new program and they are still
growing their lists), but didn’t let that stop me. I knew my publisher was
highly-regarded in the industry, that she’d been interviewed by Publisher’s
Weekly, and that our company was a member in good standing of Mystery Writers
of America (MWA) and International Thriller Writers. These credentials were
legit and impressive.
I was able to chat with Nicole O., one of the ACX customer
support folks, who was extremely helpful. We talked on the phone several times
about my publisher and my books, and I provided all the information needed. After
a while, the books were listed on the site for actors to listen to and
(hopefully) submit auditions. Of course, I had to upload all the details about
the work – number of pages, genre, synopsis, and a short excerpt for the actors
to use in their audition.
The first audition:
The voice actor/narrator, Erik S, did a great job, creating a
very young-sounding voice for my eleven-year-old Gus LeGarde. I was pleased
with his accents for Gus’s grandparents who live in Maine, Oscar and Millie
Stone (British transplants), Elsbeth and Siegfried (German twins, Gus’s
friends,) etc. Each voice was consistent and unique, and wonderful rendered.
You can hear a sample chapter
here.
The First Fifteen
Minute Sample:
After we started work on TREMOLO, Erik prepared the first fifteen-minute
sample. I listened, made a few minor suggestions, and then approved the posted files.
This is important for many reasons. For one thing, you need to confirm that the
voices for each character are suitable and hopefully match the “voices in your
head”.
Well, that sounded a little weird, but if you’re like me and
consider your stories like parallel universes, then you know exactly how your
characters’ sound, and you often picture them in movies with actors you’ve
already chosen for them.
Am I right?
Okay, so the whole idea of checking out the first fifteen
minutes is so your British character doesn’t sound like he’s from the Bronx, or
your plucky heroine doesn’t sound too frail. Also, it gives you a good chance
to check the quality level of the recording facilities that your producer is
using.
We didn’t have to do much adjusting, frankly, because Erik
really nailed the accents without any coaching. He recorded the entire book
over a period of a month, sending me batches of audio files to listen to, and
when we were done catching any errors that might have crept into the files, he worked
on the technical items that needed fixing.
I panicked!
Erik went back to working on the files, and it was at that
point that I panicked. I was trying to upload my book cover art into the
required field on my TREMOLO ACX
page, when I discovered that the cover art needed to be a square image.
Square? All of my covers were rectangular, in roughly 5x8
inch format.
I tried to cut the book cover down by cropping it, but there
was no way it was going to work and look proper in a square format.
Finally, like most guys, I finally looked at the directions.
I studied the examples on the webpage of what was “acceptable” and what wasn’t.
Right there in front of me was the botched up cover just like the one I’d
attempted, with top and bottom cropped. Next to it was another stuck in a
square with white borders.
Nope. The cropping or squeezing-it-all-into-a-little-box
approach was not going to cut it!
The “acceptable” cover was designed from the beginning to
fit in a square template.
It was at this point that I started to worry about my rights
again. I would need the layered version of my covers so I could play with the
original art and design it to fit in a square box.
Who owns your cover
art?
Did I own the rights to my cover art? Would my publisher
object to me using them, since she wasn’t involved in this venture? I helped
with the designs, and yes, many of my own photos and concepts were used, but I soon
discovered I didn’t own the designs. My publisher was very sweet about it, but
she pointed out that she’d paid an artist to do the designs, and that they were
legally hers. I love my publisher and would never try to cross the line. So,
off I went to create new, square audio book covers.
Fortunately I have used Photoshop for years and knew how to
go about it. I’ve been designing “place holder” covers for years, even before I
submitted my manuscripts to my publisher, so I had lots of images to play with.
I like having a colorful image in my head (and on my websites) that gives a
feeling for what’s coming in the books.
I set about creating new, square covers using my Photoshop
Elements application.
There are specs you need to follow. For example, the cover
must be over 1200 by 1200 pixels, etc.
Here is the original cover for Tremolo and my new audio book
cover:
Erik uploaded the final files to ACX, and I automatically
approved them, since I’d already listened to each one so many times and felt
comfortable that they’d be fine.
My first mistake:
I always say, “Double check! Triple check!” and am usually
quite obsessed with being absolutely sure all is good.
Just recently, I received notification from ACX that some of
the chapters were missing or repeated. Both Erik and I had missed the uploading
errors. But thankfully, the Quality group at ACX does a screening up front, and
the errors were quickly corrected.
We’re waiting now to see TREMOLO pop up on the Audible
website. It’s supposed to take a few weeks after we approve the final version.
More auditions came
in!
Meanwhile, in the midst of the
TREMOLO efforts, I received and enthusiastically accepted an audition
from a Canadian Recording Studio, (Agile Sound) for
HEALEY’S CAVE, book 1 in Moore Mysteries, otherwise known as “the
green marble series.” The actor’s name is Dr. Tom Fraser, and he’s a genius. Really.
A true kindred spirit, I met Tom just in time to bring all
of my characters and books to life. I was floored by the recordings, and even
after I’d heard just a few chapters, I knew I wanted this actor to record as
many of my books as possible. His mature, warm, earthy voice was perfect for my
Sam Moore character (HEALEY’S CAVE), but he also would be a wonderful Gus
LeGarde, hero of my first mystery series with six books in production and four
more written and waiting to be submitted to my publisher.
Since I accepted his audition for
HEALEY’S CAVE, he’s also auditioned for and been accepted to record
MAZURKA and
FIRESONG. We are working on them all, and
HEALEY’S CAVE will be available for sale shortly. What a whirlwind!
Tom was born to be Sam Moore, and also fits perfectly for Gus
LeGarde. He seemed to agree, and we decided that from now on, he would record all
except the YA books.
If you’ve ever wanted to have your books recorded and
available for folks to listen to, give it a try!
www.ACX.com
You can listen to
some samples of my upcoming audio-books here.
Part II will discuss
what to do if you don’t get an audition right away, and will explain how to
find the perfect narrator.
Aaron Paul Lazar
