[image error]More and more, writers have new opportunities to publish/produce their own work, and I’m always interested in new forms. The thing that first drew me to the idea of making my books into audiobooks were thoughts about my own reading habits. I’m not able to read as much as I used to – as much as I would like. While I prefer to read the words myself instead of having someone read them to me,  I began to warm up to the idea of listening. I’d be able to enjoy a book while doing other things, driving in my car, or getting ready for work. And I know I’m not the only one who is at that point in their life. Plus, having my books in another format would be another step in the right direction.

I began to do some research on recording and found out that it could definitely be a costly process. To be done professionally – hiring an reader, the cost of studio time, or even if reading it myself in a studio would be expensive. I could go through ACX (Audiobook creation exchange through Audible, Amazon, and iTunes) and hope to find someone who was willing to work for cheap or take a royalty share. Maybe I’ll wind up doing that eventually for another work, but I’m in the business of trying things out for myself and doing things as cheaply as possible.

Could I record my own audiobook at home? I found out that I could. But should I?

Initially, I didn’t want to, but after exploring other options, I decided that this was the best way for me to start. Not only could I do it myself, but I would learn exactly how it works in case I wanted to work with someone else in the future. While I wasn’t willing to put my voice to just any one of my books, I did have one that I thought I could pull off. I decided that I would record my original gothic horror, The Needle’s Eye. First, I had to gather what I would need.

I had already purchased a mid-range microphone, a Snowball, for about $50. I purchased a pop filter for about $8. I already had a free audio recording program called Audacity (or if you have a Mac, you can use Garageband). The next thing that I needed was a silent place to work. Simple, right?

While I’d like to say that all I did after that was sit down and read my manuscript into the microphone, correcting myself when needed, and within a few days I had a great first recording, it didn’t happen that way. I spent the first week recording portions when I was able, just trying to figure out what I wanted it to sound like, what voice I wanted to use, how to edit using the software, how close I needed to be to the microphone, not loving how my voice sounded, and wondering why I had even decided to do this in the first place.

There was nothing quite as annoying to me than to record for 30 minutes, feeling I’d done a good job, then to listen and realize that I wasn’t close enough to the microphone, that my PC was roaring in a way that covered the entire track, or that the pop filter hadn’t quite kept all the pops away. (By ‘pop’ I mean the sound of breath that comes from letters like ‘p’ when it hits the microphone.)

I didn’t think it was going to be easy, but yet I didn’t think it was going to be so difficult. I would record in sections, and sometimes one file wouldn’t sound like another. I’d have to figure out why and do it again.I got pretty tired of reading the same sections over and over again.

But after a while, I began to get the hang of it. I learned what I wanted it to sound like. I knew what times of day were best for me to work, and I developed a process for how to edit the files.

Recording was easier after a bit, and it didn’t take me as long to go back and re-record a chapter I had already done.

Still, I cannot estimate how many hours I actually spent on this process. I started mid-April, took only a few breaks, but mostly worked on it every day, all the way to the end of August. I had to listen to it over and over again,

This is a very personal project, because not only is it my own book that I’m reading, but I am reading it myself. It is up close and personal all the way, and there is nothing to hide behind. I’ve beeen very vulnerable in this endeavor. Sometimes I feel confident and sometimes I feel anxious. I suppose only the outcome will tell me which I should be, but I have decided to not let my fear hold me back.

It was tiring, but I enjoyed it overall.

A few things I’ve learned:

-Your recording software is a friend. I don’t understand everything about what it can do, but it can limit sound and make your voice sound clearer and louder, even if the original recording is not.

-I listen closely to myself as I speak, and if I’m worried that something didn’t come out right, I immediately repeat the line once or twice, so hopefully I’ll have a good take in the same breath, so that I don’t have to record and plug a line later.

-It’s difficult to go back and re-record a line to insert into a certain section, and yet make it sound the same. There are more variations in my voice than I would like, and sometimes I newly spoken sentence doesn’t fit in.

-After recording a chapter, and length of the file is about twice as long as it will be after editing, because of mistakes during the recording. Then, to edit it down, it takes about 3x as long as the length of the audio. For instance, my initial recording is 30 minutes with mistakes, so once I edit it down, it will be 15 minutes, and it will probably take 1.5 hrs to edit it (once). And then I have to listen to it over and over to make sure it’s right and there are no weird sounds. So, a lot of work.

Want to know more about the actual process of setting up the audiobook? I chose to publish with ACX and Findaway Voices, but ACX requires you to sign on with them for 7 years. For an exclusive contract, you get a 40% royalty, or if you want to use your audio elsewhere, you can take 25%. I felt weird about signing away the audio rights for 7 years. What if I wanted to do something else with it? Since I did it myself, I didn’t have to worry about not making my money back or splitting it with someone else, so I decided to take the non-exclusive contract and also go with Findaway. I’ll just have to see how it plays out.

So far, I am way more impressed with Findaway’s system. I thought the site was easier to navigate and it seemed like less of a hassle all the way around. I’ve also heard that ACX is running way behind schedule on their approval of audiobooks, and I needed to have a little confidence that the book would actually release this month.

I had a little nightmare when I finally decided that everything was ready to upload. I started with ACX and began loading the files… and there were errors. I had a panic attack and thought ‘oh no! I have done all this work and I can’t even use it!’ But there was a solution, thankfully.  I had to encode the audio (I know nothing about this stuff, but I learned) and had to download a program called free:ac in order to convert the files properly. Once I had done that, everything was fine, but it scared me for a second!

I may update this post as I get more data, but for now, that’s what I’ve got.

At the end of it all, I can say that I’m already working on the audio for another one of my books, as well as having recorded Omri Koresh’s book, The Black City of Nuerva.

For now, the main things I know are that I’m proud of it, even if it doesn’t pay off, but I may have to reconsider the work effort if it doesn’t.