Audiobooks 'R' Us! by author Barbara Venkataraman
Making an audiobook with a narrator is like
marrying a total stranger and hoping it all works out. As in a marriage, the
participants start out starry-eyed, but soon discover each other's
idiosyncrasies and quirks, realizing with a sense of dread that they are now
stuck with each other--at least until the project is finished. That's why it
makes sense to choose a narrator with experience and a stellar reputation, one
who has completed at least one project and done it well. Or you could fly by
the seat of your pants like I did. Boy, did I get lucky! After hearing other
authors' horror stories and seeing reviews of badly done audiobooks, I realize
just how lucky I was/am.
Unlike many authors, I write in two unrelated
genres, humor and mystery, specifically, cozy mystery. Ideally, I wanted to
find a narrator with the talent and skill to handle both genres. It needed to
be a woman (my mysteries are told in first person by a female protagonist) with
a sense of humor, someone who "got" my jokes. She had to be able to
do a range of voices to cover all the characters in my mysteries and, one more
thing, she needed to work for free! Now, when I say free, I don't really mean
free; I just mean that I couldn't afford to pay her anything. I figured I'd have to be the greatest saleswoman
in the world to convince a total stranger to spend hundreds of hours recording
my self-published, unproven books as unpaid labor, OR, I could find a narrator
through ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) who was willing to royalty-share
(spend hundreds of hours recording my self-published, unproven books as unpaid
labor AND split any future profits, assuming there were any).
I started on my quest to find the perfect Jamie
Quinn (the star of my Jamie Quinn mystery series). I stumbled through the
labyrinth known as ACX and, throwing caution to the wind, posted two projects
simultaneously: a book of humorous essays and my first Jamie Quinn mystery. I
listed both as royalty-share projects and put them out for audition. I must add
here that ACX allows you to choose the qualifications of your ideal narrator
and it's enough to make your head explode! First, you chose the gender and the
language. Easy enough. Then, you choose the accent, which can range from
British to American to Boston, Irish, to Southern drawl to…well, you get the
picture. Now come the hard choices. Do you want a voice that's warm?
Scientific? Authoritative? Matter-of-fact? Sexy? And so on and so on…I hate to
admit it, but I hadn't given any of that much thought, nor did I want to. I
hoped I could pick the right one. But what if I couldn't?
I got exactly three auditions, all of them very
nice women, none of them Jamie Quinn material. I felt so bad rejecting them.
The only thing I'd gotten out of this project so far was a truckload of guilt.
Then I realized that I didn't have to wait around, I could listen to the demo
recordings posted on the site. There were only a bazillion of them, no problem
at all. I realized that many of the demos were repeats as in the same narrator
putting herself up for different projects: here's me narrating a romance,
here's me narrating a thriller, etc. I listened to many women reading many
different passages until I started questioning the whole project and wondering
why I always had to do everything the hard way. Sigh. Finally, I heard a
"maybe" voice which gave me a little hope, enough hope to keep
trying. I kept slogging through until the heavens suddenly parted and I heard
an angel sing, only she wasn't an angel, she was Carrie Lee Martz, an actress
who did voiceover. Her demo wasn't of her reading a book;
it was a voiceover demo in which she showed off her range of voices. She was
perfect! Hallelujah! I made her an offer for both books and she accepted them
both. Oh, happy day! Then, I had a sobering thought, what if she didn't like
the books? I told her to look them over first and then decide. She decided yes.
Then we had an e-mail exchange in which I confessed that I'd never done this
before. She confessed that she hadn't either. We said we were both game and we
jumped right in. We are now recording our fourth book together (when I say
"we", I mean the "royal we"--Carrie is doing all of the
recording) and I'm not going to say that it hasn't taken a lot of effort, or
that we didn’t hit a few bumps along the way--like when I sent her the wrong
version of the second Jamie Quinn mystery and she had to re-record the last 5
chapters! But I am thrilled to report that we are very happy with our
arranged marriage and we've even started making some money! So, if you’re
thinking of making an audiobook, I hope you find the right narrator and that
it’s love at first listen.
Available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
About the Author
Award-winning author, Barbara Venkataraman is an attorney and mediator specializing in family law and debt collection. She is the author of "Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person"; "The Fight for Magicallus," a children's fantasy; a humorous short story entitled, "If You'd Just Listened to Me in the First Place"; and two books of humorous essays: "I'm Not Talking about You, Of Course" and "A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities," which are part of the "Quirky Essays for Quirky People" series. Both books of humorous essays won the "Indie Book of the Day" award.
Her latest works are "Death by Didgeridoo," first in the Jamie Quinn series, "The Case of the Killer Divorce," the second Jamie Quinn mystery, and, just out, "Peril in the Park," the latest in the popular Jamie Quinn series. Coming soon, "Engaged in Danger"--the next Jamie Quinn mystery!
Sharon x
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http://www.beckvalleybooks.co.uk
http://www.beckvalleybooks.blogspot.com
I enjoyed reading this post . It was very interesting to me.
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DeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed it!
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DeleteIt is hard enough writing a book and from what I have heard not all that easy to self publish--ya gotta be careful!! To actually have to choose a voice to read your book out loud--oh boy---I would probably have attempted it myself before going on bended knee to anyone who who attempt it! So glad you found the right "voice" for all your books!
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DeleteThank-you! I could never record my own books, ha ha! Not only would I need a lovely voice, I would need my own recording studio, like Carrie has.
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DeleteI love learning about new audiobooks. With me traveling so much its perfect for long car trips.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people tell me that audiobooks make their commute so much better. I'm glad I can help with that! :-)
DeleteThat's a wonderful idea. No one realizes the stress that comes along with it but hard work pays off. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank-you as well. Nothing is ever as easy as you think it will be, but it's worth it in the end.
DeleteThat was so interesting to hear about the process! I'm glad it has come to the point where you're making money too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz! We're very excited.
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