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| Ebook, Print and Audio covers for Rose |
If you don’t know already, the
audiobook format is gaining in popularity. Why? Because more people are able to
access ACX, Audible’s author-friendly version for indie books and books for
which authors own their audio rights. Now authors can take charge of the
audiobook process, producing their own product through Audible downloads.
Every day more and more people
have devices capable of storing and playing back downloaded audio. Many of
those devices are Apple products for those owners of the fab-favorite iPhone
and other products like the iTouch, Nano, iPad and iPad mini. But even if you
aren’t an Apple owner, Audible books can be downloaded to your computer and
listened to there or transferred to an MP3 player. For Kindle Fire HD and HDX
owners, many audiobooks are also available in Whisper Sync, meaning the
audiobook is synced with the e-book and you can listen to it or stop and read
exactly where the audiobook stopped.
When I wrote with a partner as
Terry Campbell, we once has an audiobook produced through contract with a
company called Books-in-Motion. However, we had no control over the narrator or
production process. The book was okay, but if we’d been able to direct the
narrator, it would have been far better.
Just the beginning of this
month, I dipped my toe in the ACX water and have six books in varying stages of
becoming reality. So far, I have found it amazingly simple. I was very fortunate
that a wonderful narrator stepped forward and auditioned for my inspirational
nonfiction book, In the Stillness. However, I found it was better for me to
contact narrators for the rest and get those whom I thought were appropriate in
tone and versatility of character voices to narrate the material.
Right now I have three books
being produced by three separate narrators. The work has been phenomenal and I
am excited. The gentleman producing Rose
has an amazing voice and is also a well-established radio personality and
voice-over teacher. The woman who is doing the nonfiction book has a great
previous history with narration and is a singer and also works with a gospel
band. I entered the market at the right
time. If you are a writer, don’t hesitate while good narrators are still less
difficult to find using the 50/50 royalty option. I understand it is harder now
than it was. Take the tiger by the tail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bobbye Terry writes mystery/suspense,
romance, fantasies and dystopian fiction and also inspirational nonfiction. Nothing
Ever Happens in Briny Bay, a compilation of the Briny Bay novellas, was
released in print by Turquoise Morning Press during July. She just
started a new mystery series, “As the River Runs” with the first book, The Widow James to debut from Black Opal
Books in the next few months, For
more about Bobbye, visit her at www.BobbyeTerry-MysteryHappens.com, www.DarynCross.com and www.BobbyeTerry.com.
Bobbye, I think you're right about audio, and you need the right narrator. I have one book in audio, but I haven't noticed it doing all that well. I don't know if it's because of the narrator, or the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this interesting post.
Interesting, Bobbye. A friend had one of her books made into audio with the help of Amazon through ACX. She chose her narrator and he's very good. It was unbelievably easy to download Audible to my computer and my iPhone. I can also sync it with my Kindle so I can read along with the narration if I want. It's all very cool. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteI've looked into this and been scared about the whole process. You make it sound easy. I was also nervous about finding someone who would agree with the 50/50 royalty option.
ReplyDeleteThe right narrator makes it all the more interesting. I heard a book that had a male narrator and he did okay with the female lines but I couldn't let go in my mind of him reading her parts. Maybe I'm still too stuck in the movie mode.
Can you do this with a book pubbed by a known publisher? Sounds interesting, but is it only for self-pubbed books?
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments. Melissa, if the right man narrates it, you can envision the woman saying it. Jean, if you didn't give your publisher the audio rights, you can do this. If you gave them to him/her and they have not be used, you may be able to get the publisher to revert your rights back to you. One of my publishers has done this and another has offered to. Of course, in most cases they own the art work, so you will have to start from scratch. The audio cover has to be 2500 pixels square, so no matter what, a new cover has to be configured.
ReplyDeleteAs for finding a narrator for royalty share, they're out there. You just have to search out and ask unless by some miracle you can get a stipend from ACX. They will give the narrator up front an hourly rate but they still get their 50/50 share. Only books with really good sales and your evidence of a large social media audience to your sites will assure that happens.
Hi Bobbye! Great post. The whole process can be rather intimidating, but it's well worth it. I'm so glad you're taking the plunge! I put three of my "Ecstasy Spa" books in audio and it was a great experience. I'm working with someone to do the other three. It's time consuming, and can be expensive if you don't do the royalty share, but I agree that more and more people are turning to audio. It think that the market is going to get bigger in the years to come. :)
ReplyDelete