Mary Ellen Boyd's Blog
May 7, 2017
Authors are human, too
I probably jumped the gun on my Facebook page when I put up my upcoming book and labelled it “coming soon.” At that point, I had received the proof copy from Createspace and it was on the way to my Editor. However, editing, if done right (and she does it VERY right) is a time-consuming job. Editors have lives, too, and their health gets in the way, family life gets in the way, anything that can go wrong with a life does.
While she was busy editing and handling her own family and business affairs, I had my own health crisis, and I am here to tell you all that I am among the luckiest of women. I tell everyone that I know full well just how lucky I am.
On March 13th, I had a stroke. Not a big one, but a stroke nonetheless.
It has affected my balance, and I had a rather dramatic demonstration of that even before the results of the MRI were analyzed. The very day of the MRI, I fell and broke my wrist, not to mention cracked my elbow and sprained my jaw from how hard my face hit. (A bit of humor: I was on soft food for a week.) That was followed by a nasty case of bronchitis, which I am prone to, but not this severe. I blame it on the stroke’s shock to my system.
When I think of what else might have happened to me for having a stroke, I assure you I give thanks.
If you have read an earlier post of mine, you know I have a rare disease that took 25 years to be diagnosed. I can’t decide whether to be annoyed or relieved that now the doctors are finally paying attention. (I could have used a bit of this undivided focus for those 25 years!) I have been sent from doctor to doctor as they try to ensure that another stroke won’t follow this one.
Thank goodness my editor didn’t get all the editing back to me, because I wouldn’t have been able to focus on it right now. She tells me it will be another couple weeks, so hopefully I will be through the rash of doctoring when it comes. I fully expect both the editing and the first version of my Warrior audiobook to arrive about the same time, so I will have to listen to one book while I try to rewrite the other! That’s why I have to get this stroke situation under control and quickly!
I’m actually a fairly quick rewriter, and she gives me exact details on what is wrong, so that helps me to fix it. All I can do now is take care of myself, follow all the doctor’s directions, get plenty of sleep, and hope for the best.
While she was busy editing and handling her own family and business affairs, I had my own health crisis, and I am here to tell you all that I am among the luckiest of women. I tell everyone that I know full well just how lucky I am.
On March 13th, I had a stroke. Not a big one, but a stroke nonetheless.
It has affected my balance, and I had a rather dramatic demonstration of that even before the results of the MRI were analyzed. The very day of the MRI, I fell and broke my wrist, not to mention cracked my elbow and sprained my jaw from how hard my face hit. (A bit of humor: I was on soft food for a week.) That was followed by a nasty case of bronchitis, which I am prone to, but not this severe. I blame it on the stroke’s shock to my system.
When I think of what else might have happened to me for having a stroke, I assure you I give thanks.
If you have read an earlier post of mine, you know I have a rare disease that took 25 years to be diagnosed. I can’t decide whether to be annoyed or relieved that now the doctors are finally paying attention. (I could have used a bit of this undivided focus for those 25 years!) I have been sent from doctor to doctor as they try to ensure that another stroke won’t follow this one.
Thank goodness my editor didn’t get all the editing back to me, because I wouldn’t have been able to focus on it right now. She tells me it will be another couple weeks, so hopefully I will be through the rash of doctoring when it comes. I fully expect both the editing and the first version of my Warrior audiobook to arrive about the same time, so I will have to listen to one book while I try to rewrite the other! That’s why I have to get this stroke situation under control and quickly!
I’m actually a fairly quick rewriter, and she gives me exact details on what is wrong, so that helps me to fix it. All I can do now is take care of myself, follow all the doctor’s directions, get plenty of sleep, and hope for the best.
November 21, 2016
KENP, or why Kindle Select is Worth It
Early in my blogging, I believed, and I think I even mentioned it, that to join Kindle Select there was a minimum lowest price you had to have for your novel. Someone recently corrected me, and I am so grateful! My misunderstanding was caused by the minimum price for Overseas Sales. If you want the 70% royalty for books sold outside the US, then yes, you must have a price of $2.99 or more. Otherwise, you will get the regular 35% royalty. But what I was confused about and thought you had to give up if you chose a lower price was the payment for pages read, known by Kindle Select as Kindle Edition Normalized Pages Read, or KENP for short.
When I dropped Fortune’s Flower’s price so I could break into a new and crowded field, I knew I would lose the 70% royalties for my overseas sales, because I put the price below $2.99, the lowest price for that percentage. When I pulled the book out of Kindle Select, I also lost the payment for Pages Read. It was a bit of a whack to my income.
I made the decision because I wanted to branch out through Smashwords into iBookstore and Nook, and the dozen or more other outlets Smashwords affords. I let the experiment run for 6 months before I pulled the plug. That might not be considered long enough by many, but it was plenty long enough for me. When I left Smashwords, I knew I could do nothing for a while because it takes several weeks for each of the numerous outlets to get the word and pull the book.
What I did not know until it was pointed out to me is that despite my decision to keep the price low, Kindle Select was still open to me, and I could indeed begin getting paid for KENP. This is such important information that it bears repeating:
If you are exclusive to Amazon, you can still join Kindle Select and get paid for the first time read on every book sold!
The only possible exception may be if your book is permanently free. I don’t know the rules on that.
Just think: You can price your book at 99¢, join Kindle Select, and every time someone reads the book, even if only a few pages at a time, each new page read (calculated on an average page size somehow) goes into your KENP total and you get paid for it. It’s not a huge sum, now just under a half a penny per page, but it adds up and fast. For every 2 pages you get paid a penny. For a 200 page book, you get $1.00. Two people read the book, and you get $2.00.
There is one other reason to consider Kindle Select and their KENP payment. It lets you know that someone has your book, even if it’s checked out on Amazon’s Lending Library. That’s not a sale as in a regular sale, but Amazon has planned for that. Amazon Prime members can check books out. That is a massive audience you miss out on.
It is entirely possible that others might have much more success with Smashwords than I did, and for them, KENP may not be worth dropping the market they have found elsewhere. What I have discovered, however, in all the blogs I have read and the authors I listen to, is not that they have too much of a reach, but too little.
Rather than wonder where to put your book, try Amazon exclusively, join Kindle Select and see what it can do for you. If you don’t like it, your Kindle Select term only runs 90 days. Just uncheck the “automatically renew” box and at the end of that 90-day cycle, you are free to add any market you wish.
When I dropped Fortune’s Flower’s price so I could break into a new and crowded field, I knew I would lose the 70% royalties for my overseas sales, because I put the price below $2.99, the lowest price for that percentage. When I pulled the book out of Kindle Select, I also lost the payment for Pages Read. It was a bit of a whack to my income.
I made the decision because I wanted to branch out through Smashwords into iBookstore and Nook, and the dozen or more other outlets Smashwords affords. I let the experiment run for 6 months before I pulled the plug. That might not be considered long enough by many, but it was plenty long enough for me. When I left Smashwords, I knew I could do nothing for a while because it takes several weeks for each of the numerous outlets to get the word and pull the book.
What I did not know until it was pointed out to me is that despite my decision to keep the price low, Kindle Select was still open to me, and I could indeed begin getting paid for KENP. This is such important information that it bears repeating:
If you are exclusive to Amazon, you can still join Kindle Select and get paid for the first time read on every book sold!
The only possible exception may be if your book is permanently free. I don’t know the rules on that.
Just think: You can price your book at 99¢, join Kindle Select, and every time someone reads the book, even if only a few pages at a time, each new page read (calculated on an average page size somehow) goes into your KENP total and you get paid for it. It’s not a huge sum, now just under a half a penny per page, but it adds up and fast. For every 2 pages you get paid a penny. For a 200 page book, you get $1.00. Two people read the book, and you get $2.00.
There is one other reason to consider Kindle Select and their KENP payment. It lets you know that someone has your book, even if it’s checked out on Amazon’s Lending Library. That’s not a sale as in a regular sale, but Amazon has planned for that. Amazon Prime members can check books out. That is a massive audience you miss out on.
It is entirely possible that others might have much more success with Smashwords than I did, and for them, KENP may not be worth dropping the market they have found elsewhere. What I have discovered, however, in all the blogs I have read and the authors I listen to, is not that they have too much of a reach, but too little.
Rather than wonder where to put your book, try Amazon exclusively, join Kindle Select and see what it can do for you. If you don’t like it, your Kindle Select term only runs 90 days. Just uncheck the “automatically renew” box and at the end of that 90-day cycle, you are free to add any market you wish.
December 11, 2015
Converting Your Book into an EPUB For FREE!
I hope I can save everyone money here. After I decided to risk putting one of my books into other markets than Amazon, I paid $204 to have Fortune's Flower converted into an .epub. When it came back, it was a thing of beauty, but it failed the final test that would let it go into iBookstore. That simple failure blocked my book from going to anyplace other than Smashwords for several days, while I tried to figure out what was wrong.
Get this: I followed the Smashwords Style Guide and reformatted the same book from MS Word all by myself, and it passed! Every single check!
I did something that further delayed my book. Once it had been reformatted according to Smashwords' Style Guide, I still checked the box on Smashwords' upload page that said in essence, "Leave my previously submitted professional .epub version alone, do not replace with this one." Why would I want to risk replacing a book done by a professional with my own hand-done version? I did not realize that each time the book was rejected, it was the Other Version, the expensive one, that blocked my novel from being approved.
Apple has a very stringent screen that will block anything that doesn't match their parameters, and the professional epub book (even though it worked perfectly on every single epub reader I tested it on) ran into a brick wall at Apple. Initially you could buy it at Smashwords, but the book was not at Apple, nor at any of the other venues to which Smashwords sends the book.
So. If you want to branch outside of Amazon, and IF you are willing to give up all the benefits of Kindle Select (which are many), don't pay someone to do your epub book. Go to Smashwords, use your own document and follow their Smashwords Style Guide, no matter how idiotic their instructions seem at times, and let them help you format it for free!
Get this: I followed the Smashwords Style Guide and reformatted the same book from MS Word all by myself, and it passed! Every single check!
I did something that further delayed my book. Once it had been reformatted according to Smashwords' Style Guide, I still checked the box on Smashwords' upload page that said in essence, "Leave my previously submitted professional .epub version alone, do not replace with this one." Why would I want to risk replacing a book done by a professional with my own hand-done version? I did not realize that each time the book was rejected, it was the Other Version, the expensive one, that blocked my novel from being approved.
Apple has a very stringent screen that will block anything that doesn't match their parameters, and the professional epub book (even though it worked perfectly on every single epub reader I tested it on) ran into a brick wall at Apple. Initially you could buy it at Smashwords, but the book was not at Apple, nor at any of the other venues to which Smashwords sends the book.
So. If you want to branch outside of Amazon, and IF you are willing to give up all the benefits of Kindle Select (which are many), don't pay someone to do your epub book. Go to Smashwords, use your own document and follow their Smashwords Style Guide, no matter how idiotic their instructions seem at times, and let them help you format it for free!
August 30, 2015
Audiobooks Point #9: The Reading's Not Quite Right
It might happen in the First 15 Minutes submission, it might happen later, but guaranteed, somewhere along the line your producer will make a mistake. Anything from forgetting how to pronounce a character's name to getting the stress on the wrong word to omitting an entire sentence.
When I first flirted with the idea of recording my books by myself, I tried reading out loud. I'm a good reader, with lots of experience reading aloud in front of a group at my writer's workshop. I didn't get more than a couple pages when I made a mistake. I tried again, and again. Second or third or fourth time through, it happened Every Single Time. Imagine, then, reading a book of 200-300 pages or more, and doing it all perfectly. Your producer deserves all the credit you can give them.
But that doesn't get the blooper fixed. I worked out a system that all of my producers seemed to enjoy. I hardly think I can be the only one who came up with this same system, but it worked very well, both for me and for them.
When I started listening, I had the book open on my computer, and the recording playing, and followed along word by word. It doesn't matter which program you play it on, whether the ACX player or ITunes or any other one, they all (at least the ones I used) have a counter running. As soon as the producer made a mistake, I clicked over from the manuscript to the player and ran it back until I caught the minute and second it happened. Then I kept a list, minutes and seconds, what was said, and how it should have been said.
I kept the list going, each chapter, every minute and second of the blooper, and the corrections I needed. I tried not to send too many chapters with their errors at any one time, but each producer might be different on how they want to receive 'mistakes' listings. Some might well want to get it all at once. I felt sending sections at a time helped them know that I was in fact listening, that they hadn't been forgotten, without overwhelming them.
Granted, it is a bit of a juggling act, keeping track of which version of each chapter you have already proofed, but I can't think of any way around that. Each of my readers numbered their revisions, "chap 1 v[ersion]2, chap 1 v3," and the like. Some readers just fix the particular error, some reread the entire chapter or section in which the mistake occurred (which is actually how ACX wants it done). Until you get to know your producer's particular method of handling corrections, it is probably best to listen to the resubmitted chapters in their entirety. If you get a producer who reads the chapter over, there is always the chance of a new mistake.
One other thing: hearing your book read will show up any mistakes you might have missed. Redundancies, sentences you thought were clear that weren't - when someone else reads your work, trust me, anything that should have been fixed in your manuscript will show up. Producers' jobs are not to fix your mistakes, only their own. Some producers will agree to let you fix a few things, but sadly, you will have to live with your fluffs and bloopers for the next seven years, longer if you choose to keep the same narrator. Go ahead and correct them in the Kindle and Createspace versions, but know that they will still be there in your audiobook.
It will take time, and a lot of effort on both your parts, but eventually you will have a tight audiobook, ready to be sent out into the world.
When I first flirted with the idea of recording my books by myself, I tried reading out loud. I'm a good reader, with lots of experience reading aloud in front of a group at my writer's workshop. I didn't get more than a couple pages when I made a mistake. I tried again, and again. Second or third or fourth time through, it happened Every Single Time. Imagine, then, reading a book of 200-300 pages or more, and doing it all perfectly. Your producer deserves all the credit you can give them.
But that doesn't get the blooper fixed. I worked out a system that all of my producers seemed to enjoy. I hardly think I can be the only one who came up with this same system, but it worked very well, both for me and for them.
When I started listening, I had the book open on my computer, and the recording playing, and followed along word by word. It doesn't matter which program you play it on, whether the ACX player or ITunes or any other one, they all (at least the ones I used) have a counter running. As soon as the producer made a mistake, I clicked over from the manuscript to the player and ran it back until I caught the minute and second it happened. Then I kept a list, minutes and seconds, what was said, and how it should have been said.
I kept the list going, each chapter, every minute and second of the blooper, and the corrections I needed. I tried not to send too many chapters with their errors at any one time, but each producer might be different on how they want to receive 'mistakes' listings. Some might well want to get it all at once. I felt sending sections at a time helped them know that I was in fact listening, that they hadn't been forgotten, without overwhelming them.
Granted, it is a bit of a juggling act, keeping track of which version of each chapter you have already proofed, but I can't think of any way around that. Each of my readers numbered their revisions, "chap 1 v[ersion]2, chap 1 v3," and the like. Some readers just fix the particular error, some reread the entire chapter or section in which the mistake occurred (which is actually how ACX wants it done). Until you get to know your producer's particular method of handling corrections, it is probably best to listen to the resubmitted chapters in their entirety. If you get a producer who reads the chapter over, there is always the chance of a new mistake.
One other thing: hearing your book read will show up any mistakes you might have missed. Redundancies, sentences you thought were clear that weren't - when someone else reads your work, trust me, anything that should have been fixed in your manuscript will show up. Producers' jobs are not to fix your mistakes, only their own. Some producers will agree to let you fix a few things, but sadly, you will have to live with your fluffs and bloopers for the next seven years, longer if you choose to keep the same narrator. Go ahead and correct them in the Kindle and Createspace versions, but know that they will still be there in your audiobook.
It will take time, and a lot of effort on both your parts, but eventually you will have a tight audiobook, ready to be sent out into the world.
August 26, 2015
Audiobooks Point #8: You've Got a Narrator. Now what?
You have hit the "Make Offer" button, and given them up to 72 hours to respond. They contact you and accept your offer with delight. (All three of my readers accepted with delight, I can only assume that is the norm.) You're in contract with an audiobook reader! (I probably should start calling them 'producers,' since that's what ACX calls them.)
What do you do now?
ACX recommends you send them a 'friendly' message through their message system. One nice thing about ACX is that they make it very easy to contact the producer. Just go into your "Projects," either through the blue link at the top of the page, or through the tab in the middle of the page, and click on your book. When you get into the book page, on the right-hand side is always a link to contact them. Introduce yourself, even though they've read a bit about you in your book's listing. Thank them for their audition, and let them know you are looking forward to working with them.
One of the things I've learned is to find out how they prefer to receive the book. Do they want it in PDF, or would they rather have it in WORD? Producers often have very specific requirements, and these requirements are not frivolous. They all have their own system, and to help them be as efficient as possible, cooperate with them.
One other item of note: ACX lets you know that should there ever be a conflict, they will have only the internal messages from their own system as proof. Your producer might well give you their email address, but at least for my own protection, I sent my messages through ACX.
Your next step is to give them a set number of days to get you the first 15 minutes. This will give you some idea of how they work, how they sound in a longer piece, and gives you a chance to find out if you've missed any character names and pronunciations, or if your character descriptions are not clear. Let them know right away if they are mispronouncing anything. They might have been moving ahead with their reading, and better to catch any mistakes now rather than later.
Some producers will send the finished chapters through ACX's internal system, but I did deal with one who sent the chapters through Dropbox. I worked with them in whatever system they preferred, but still tried to send my messages through this internal system.
In Point 2, I mention the blue links at the top of the page. This is a good time to remind you how to get into your "Messages." Keep an eye on that blue word at the top of the page, because whenever your producer contacts you through the internal system, this is where you will see that notice, and how you get in to read it. However, unless they message you every time they send you more chapters, you have to go into your "Projects," and then the book listing to monitor when those come. New chapters uploaded will not show up as a "Message."
I understand before they can upload more chapters, you have to do an "approve" on that first submission. Make sure you "approve" it. If they have to make corrections, since this is the first 15 minutes of your book, those corrections will show up when Chapter 1 is uploaded. And if they didn't fix the first 15, when you give them the list of what you want changed in future chapters, you will definitely want to remind them in the corrections you send them.
So how do you let them know something needs fixing?
What do you do now?
ACX recommends you send them a 'friendly' message through their message system. One nice thing about ACX is that they make it very easy to contact the producer. Just go into your "Projects," either through the blue link at the top of the page, or through the tab in the middle of the page, and click on your book. When you get into the book page, on the right-hand side is always a link to contact them. Introduce yourself, even though they've read a bit about you in your book's listing. Thank them for their audition, and let them know you are looking forward to working with them.
One of the things I've learned is to find out how they prefer to receive the book. Do they want it in PDF, or would they rather have it in WORD? Producers often have very specific requirements, and these requirements are not frivolous. They all have their own system, and to help them be as efficient as possible, cooperate with them.
One other item of note: ACX lets you know that should there ever be a conflict, they will have only the internal messages from their own system as proof. Your producer might well give you their email address, but at least for my own protection, I sent my messages through ACX.
Your next step is to give them a set number of days to get you the first 15 minutes. This will give you some idea of how they work, how they sound in a longer piece, and gives you a chance to find out if you've missed any character names and pronunciations, or if your character descriptions are not clear. Let them know right away if they are mispronouncing anything. They might have been moving ahead with their reading, and better to catch any mistakes now rather than later.
Some producers will send the finished chapters through ACX's internal system, but I did deal with one who sent the chapters through Dropbox. I worked with them in whatever system they preferred, but still tried to send my messages through this internal system.
In Point 2, I mention the blue links at the top of the page. This is a good time to remind you how to get into your "Messages." Keep an eye on that blue word at the top of the page, because whenever your producer contacts you through the internal system, this is where you will see that notice, and how you get in to read it. However, unless they message you every time they send you more chapters, you have to go into your "Projects," and then the book listing to monitor when those come. New chapters uploaded will not show up as a "Message."
I understand before they can upload more chapters, you have to do an "approve" on that first submission. Make sure you "approve" it. If they have to make corrections, since this is the first 15 minutes of your book, those corrections will show up when Chapter 1 is uploaded. And if they didn't fix the first 15, when you give them the list of what you want changed in future chapters, you will definitely want to remind them in the corrections you send them.
So how do you let them know something needs fixing?
August 25, 2015
Audiobooks Point #7: Auditions: How to Make The Right Decision
We're looking at your one audition, or maybe two. They are both "almost" right. You think you might be able to live with them, but there's just something about those auditions that holds you back from jumping on the "Make Offer" button.
Is there any way to find out if it's just nerves, or if something is truly amiss?
Bear in mind that picking a narrator is not an exact science. You are trying to match the voice in your head with someone else's, and they are not going to be perfect. I was so lucky with my first narrator, because the first book I worked on was a British Regency general fiction/romance. I'm from the American Midwest. No, I don't sound anything like "Fargo," but yes, I do know people who do. But British? I couldn't even imagine what my book was supposed to sound like. Couldn't even hear my characters voices speak British in my head.
When a Real Live British narrator read the audition, I was hooked. Even in that short reading, for the first time I heard my characters speak. It was such a thrill I'm seriously considering buying my own audiobook. (I don't know if that's allowed, but I fell in love with my book all over again just listening to her read it.)
My dream is to help everyone who reads this post have that same feeling. So how do you choose the narrator that will give it to you?
Can they pick out the proper sense in the sentence? the paragraph? the book? For example, let's take a simple 3-word sentence, and let's assume this is a pivotal scene so you've used it for the audition. "Don't leave me!" Three words. Did you mean the sentence to say, "Don't leave me!" Or was it "Don't leave me!" Or even "Don't leave me!"
Did the narrator pick out the right one? That's an excellent start.
Is your book heavy on dialogue, and do you want someone who can do voices? What if the narrator who can do voices is the same one who picked out the wrong word to stress in our sample sentence? Which is more important to you? Do you want a book full of character voices, but the wrong sense stress in the sentences? Or is it more important to have the character voices be obvious? That is one of the decisions only you can make.
The last step is to find out what else they have done. You have their samples on ACX, and there might be a number of them. Listen to them all, even if it's not the voice style you are looking for. Then do go to Audible and type their name in. See what else they have done. Listen to the audio book samples there.
And here I'm going to make a strange recommendation. If you think you're hearing the same thing on those samples that bothered you on your own audition, if you can at all afford it, buy one of those books. Listen to it for some time. Not necessarily all the way through, but give it a fair chance. Do you notice the same irritant that held you back from clicking that "Make Offer" button?
If so, you have a tough decision to make, and I wish I could give more help. Here, it might be the lesser of two evils. Sign them up and hope it's just you and no one else will be bothered. Or pass, choose to wait, and hope against hope that someone better will find you - or you will find them. If you do pass on them, take comfort that there is a whole site of other narrators to ask to audition.
And if you do pick one, make the offer, and find out afterward that you would like a do-over, yes, those contracts are for 7 years, but it is only 7 years, and afterward you can cancel with this reader and start over if you want!
Whichever way you go, at some point hopefully you will click that "Make Offer" button. Now what?
Is there any way to find out if it's just nerves, or if something is truly amiss?
Bear in mind that picking a narrator is not an exact science. You are trying to match the voice in your head with someone else's, and they are not going to be perfect. I was so lucky with my first narrator, because the first book I worked on was a British Regency general fiction/romance. I'm from the American Midwest. No, I don't sound anything like "Fargo," but yes, I do know people who do. But British? I couldn't even imagine what my book was supposed to sound like. Couldn't even hear my characters voices speak British in my head.
When a Real Live British narrator read the audition, I was hooked. Even in that short reading, for the first time I heard my characters speak. It was such a thrill I'm seriously considering buying my own audiobook. (I don't know if that's allowed, but I fell in love with my book all over again just listening to her read it.)
My dream is to help everyone who reads this post have that same feeling. So how do you choose the narrator that will give it to you?
Can they pick out the proper sense in the sentence? the paragraph? the book? For example, let's take a simple 3-word sentence, and let's assume this is a pivotal scene so you've used it for the audition. "Don't leave me!" Three words. Did you mean the sentence to say, "Don't leave me!" Or was it "Don't leave me!" Or even "Don't leave me!"
Did the narrator pick out the right one? That's an excellent start.
Is your book heavy on dialogue, and do you want someone who can do voices? What if the narrator who can do voices is the same one who picked out the wrong word to stress in our sample sentence? Which is more important to you? Do you want a book full of character voices, but the wrong sense stress in the sentences? Or is it more important to have the character voices be obvious? That is one of the decisions only you can make.
The last step is to find out what else they have done. You have their samples on ACX, and there might be a number of them. Listen to them all, even if it's not the voice style you are looking for. Then do go to Audible and type their name in. See what else they have done. Listen to the audio book samples there.
And here I'm going to make a strange recommendation. If you think you're hearing the same thing on those samples that bothered you on your own audition, if you can at all afford it, buy one of those books. Listen to it for some time. Not necessarily all the way through, but give it a fair chance. Do you notice the same irritant that held you back from clicking that "Make Offer" button?
If so, you have a tough decision to make, and I wish I could give more help. Here, it might be the lesser of two evils. Sign them up and hope it's just you and no one else will be bothered. Or pass, choose to wait, and hope against hope that someone better will find you - or you will find them. If you do pass on them, take comfort that there is a whole site of other narrators to ask to audition.
And if you do pick one, make the offer, and find out afterward that you would like a do-over, yes, those contracts are for 7 years, but it is only 7 years, and afterward you can cancel with this reader and start over if you want!
Whichever way you go, at some point hopefully you will click that "Make Offer" button. Now what?
Audiobooks Point #6: The First Auditions
Across the top of your ACX page, there are several hot links in blue. One of them is "Auditions," and at this point in the process, you are watching that blue link like a hawk. All of a sudden a number appears. You've got your first audition, or you've managed to find a reader who responds to your query and is interested enough to do an audition, and has sent you a response in the blue "Messages" link next to your "Auditions," letting you know it is coming. A real audition!
Now what?
Your journey toward getting your book into audio is underway. My first word of advice is: Do not accept the first audition. I maybe should put a codicil on that: Unless some time has passed, no other has come in and you are positive you are happy with that first audition.
Here is where my experience might diverge from the average. I got a nibble from someone who promised an audition but never delivered, and got an actual audition that didn't match the voice in my head. After those first two contacts, I got the stipend and new auditions came in thick and fast. (I think narrators get a notice of stipends.)
But what if I don't get a stipend, you might protest. What if I only get the one audition and I think I'm lucky to have that much?
To which I say, if it seriously looks like that is all you will get, or you are afraid if you wait too long they will get another job and be unable to accept your offer if you make one, then that's a decision you will have to make.
Just remember, you are in a 7-year contract. For the next SEVEN YEARS, the voice that will be associated with your book will be that one. If it's good enough and you think you will be okay with the reviews that come in, then go ahead and make an offer. But if you will cringe every time someone complains, in person or online, then my personal opinion is to wait.
Just as a cautionary note, go through Audible in any genre and look up the books with few stars. Find out what people object to. I can't count the number of reviews I've seen where people say, tactfully or boldly, "Get A Different Reader!" Do you want that said about your book? I have a favorite book, one I've read over and over again and I jumped on the audiobook when it first came out, but I have never finished it. Ever. The narrator was that bad. And I've had the book for ages, since I joined Audible near the beginning.
I also have a book where the same narrator was signed on by the author's publishing house. Most of the time she's excellent, but she only has a small range of female voices. Three books in a series share the same character, but in the third book that character has a minor role. The narrator used her "elderly woman" voice for that now-secondary character, even though both characters are in their twenties. I won't listen to that book either.
You have to decide what you can and cannot live with in a reader/producer. Might you make a mistake? Certainly. Going back to the badly chosen narrators issue, no doubt those authors picked them because they had the best audition. Are there any tricks to help minimize your mistakes? I'm going to give a few hints - not foolproof but they might help - in my next blog.
Now what?
Your journey toward getting your book into audio is underway. My first word of advice is: Do not accept the first audition. I maybe should put a codicil on that: Unless some time has passed, no other has come in and you are positive you are happy with that first audition.
Here is where my experience might diverge from the average. I got a nibble from someone who promised an audition but never delivered, and got an actual audition that didn't match the voice in my head. After those first two contacts, I got the stipend and new auditions came in thick and fast. (I think narrators get a notice of stipends.)
But what if I don't get a stipend, you might protest. What if I only get the one audition and I think I'm lucky to have that much?
To which I say, if it seriously looks like that is all you will get, or you are afraid if you wait too long they will get another job and be unable to accept your offer if you make one, then that's a decision you will have to make.
Just remember, you are in a 7-year contract. For the next SEVEN YEARS, the voice that will be associated with your book will be that one. If it's good enough and you think you will be okay with the reviews that come in, then go ahead and make an offer. But if you will cringe every time someone complains, in person or online, then my personal opinion is to wait.
Just as a cautionary note, go through Audible in any genre and look up the books with few stars. Find out what people object to. I can't count the number of reviews I've seen where people say, tactfully or boldly, "Get A Different Reader!" Do you want that said about your book? I have a favorite book, one I've read over and over again and I jumped on the audiobook when it first came out, but I have never finished it. Ever. The narrator was that bad. And I've had the book for ages, since I joined Audible near the beginning.
I also have a book where the same narrator was signed on by the author's publishing house. Most of the time she's excellent, but she only has a small range of female voices. Three books in a series share the same character, but in the third book that character has a minor role. The narrator used her "elderly woman" voice for that now-secondary character, even though both characters are in their twenties. I won't listen to that book either.
You have to decide what you can and cannot live with in a reader/producer. Might you make a mistake? Certainly. Going back to the badly chosen narrators issue, no doubt those authors picked them because they had the best audition. Are there any tricks to help minimize your mistakes? I'm going to give a few hints - not foolproof but they might help - in my next blog.
August 24, 2015
Audiobooks Point #5: Finding a Reader
You've got your book up on ACX, ready for a reader. So do dozens, hundreds, of others. You've made your book sound as appealing as possible, picked the best scene in the book to intrigue any reader who happens along. And nothing happens. One day, two, three go by, and no one comes knocking. Discouragement nibbles at the edges of your enthusiasm. You wonder if anyone will ever find you. Surely someone out there would love to read it and make buckets of money.
How do you find a reader?
You go hunting, of course. One thing I learned: on ACX it is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to invite a reader/producer to audition for your book. Don't believe me? Here's a direct quote from the ACX website:
How do you begin? Listen to the choices the readers have posted. Under Search-Producers For Hire, there are currently 36,000 samples posted. These are not individual actors/readers, these are each and every sample each and every reader has posted for you to analyze. Readers will put up examples of their range. Can they do accents? If they can do humor, can they also do serious? They will list their own favorite bits, read from books, or plays, or poems, little morsels of their talent.
You can narrow the 36,000+ samples down. On the left-hand side of the Producers section, there is a filter chart. If you need the English language, a British accent and a female voice, as I did, once those three filters are applied, 36,000 samples are down to 1,491. Bearing in mind that each reader might have posted 5 or 10 (or more) examples of their talents, you might have just reduced this down to less than 200 readers to pick from. That is manageable.
For myself, I wanted my reader to sound adult, but not TOO adult, since I had a twenty-something female protagonist. Applying the "Voice Age" filter with "Adult" brings the individual audio samples down to 1,052.
Is your protagonist brooding? Sarcastic? Inspirational? There is even a "Vocal Style" filter.
If you hear something you like, by all means send a message through the ACX message icon and invite them to audition. All they can do is say no. Or ignore you altogether. Think of it this way; When you contact them, they know they have something out there that people like. I had one lovely reader get back to me and say she was booked up right then, but she thanked me and wished me well. I was very impressed with her. Enough that I kept a record of her name and someday might well contact her again. Whatever you do, be polite and courteous. You might just have found your next reader and be working with them for a long time.
Most of all, don't give up.
How do you find a reader?
You go hunting, of course. One thing I learned: on ACX it is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to invite a reader/producer to audition for your book. Don't believe me? Here's a direct quote from the ACX website:
Post your book so Producers (narrators and studio professional) and audiobook publishers can contact you. Or do your own casting call—listen to sample narrations already posted by actors and then invite a handful to audition for your book.
How do you begin? Listen to the choices the readers have posted. Under Search-Producers For Hire, there are currently 36,000 samples posted. These are not individual actors/readers, these are each and every sample each and every reader has posted for you to analyze. Readers will put up examples of their range. Can they do accents? If they can do humor, can they also do serious? They will list their own favorite bits, read from books, or plays, or poems, little morsels of their talent.
You can narrow the 36,000+ samples down. On the left-hand side of the Producers section, there is a filter chart. If you need the English language, a British accent and a female voice, as I did, once those three filters are applied, 36,000 samples are down to 1,491. Bearing in mind that each reader might have posted 5 or 10 (or more) examples of their talents, you might have just reduced this down to less than 200 readers to pick from. That is manageable.
For myself, I wanted my reader to sound adult, but not TOO adult, since I had a twenty-something female protagonist. Applying the "Voice Age" filter with "Adult" brings the individual audio samples down to 1,052.
Is your protagonist brooding? Sarcastic? Inspirational? There is even a "Vocal Style" filter.
If you hear something you like, by all means send a message through the ACX message icon and invite them to audition. All they can do is say no. Or ignore you altogether. Think of it this way; When you contact them, they know they have something out there that people like. I had one lovely reader get back to me and say she was booked up right then, but she thanked me and wished me well. I was very impressed with her. Enough that I kept a record of her name and someday might well contact her again. Whatever you do, be polite and courteous. You might just have found your next reader and be working with them for a long time.
Most of all, don't give up.
Audiobooks Point 4: Preparing to Reel In A Reader
You have an account, you've claimed your first book, and you're beginning to learn your way around the site. New terms and rules are buzzing through your head.
The whole goal of this is to get the right person to read your book. To do that, you have to make your book irresistible. The first part of this is very similar to what you did when you set your book up on Kindle. You want a synopsis that will grab their interest.
When you are working up your 'sales pitch' you can put in links to your book's page, to your author website, if you have one, to anything pertinent that will convince a reader that you are a serious author who deserves their time and attention. Savvy readers will check you out 60 ways from Sunday. They will look up your rating on Amazon, they will read your reviews, even see how many followers you have on Facebook, if it will help them decide whether or not to sacrifice the next 2 months or more of their lives to your book.
Put some time and attention into this part. Do you have a number of characters? I had characters ranging from small children to elderly men and women. Give the feel of the book, if it's horror or romance, if you want someone who can do wistful or brooding or sarcastic. I needed someone for my first book who could do everything from snobbish British upper crust all the way to Cockney. For my other two books, done in formal Biblical speech, I needed readers who would not be intimidated by books that had no contractions at all, and made a point of that in my listing.
You will have to put up a sample of your book for them to use as an audition. That section might be what makes or breaks their decision to audition. You can take this from anywhere in your book. Include a brief setting, and a character list with name pronunciations for them. After all, if you have unusual names in your book, it won't be fair to listen to someone massacre them and then try to judge. Pick a section that will give you a chance to hear their range. Old, young, tense, funny, whatever will let you get a feel for what is important in your audio. ACX gives you a word count that will be only 4 or 5 minutes, as I recall, so find something that includes enough to let you decide.
When you have chosen a reader, you will have to give them a Complete Character List along with the full manuscript, so this is a good chance to get part of it ready. Believe it or not, there are actors all over the place who very much want to show off their stuff. What better than a novel that lets them play every part by themselves? If they have range, they will leap at the chance to stretch.
You can go back and edit if necessary if you find your initial approach doesn't work. Make it the best you can, and prepare yourself for those first auditions. Take it from me, seeing that first audition show up on your page is exciting!
The whole goal of this is to get the right person to read your book. To do that, you have to make your book irresistible. The first part of this is very similar to what you did when you set your book up on Kindle. You want a synopsis that will grab their interest.
When you are working up your 'sales pitch' you can put in links to your book's page, to your author website, if you have one, to anything pertinent that will convince a reader that you are a serious author who deserves their time and attention. Savvy readers will check you out 60 ways from Sunday. They will look up your rating on Amazon, they will read your reviews, even see how many followers you have on Facebook, if it will help them decide whether or not to sacrifice the next 2 months or more of their lives to your book.
Put some time and attention into this part. Do you have a number of characters? I had characters ranging from small children to elderly men and women. Give the feel of the book, if it's horror or romance, if you want someone who can do wistful or brooding or sarcastic. I needed someone for my first book who could do everything from snobbish British upper crust all the way to Cockney. For my other two books, done in formal Biblical speech, I needed readers who would not be intimidated by books that had no contractions at all, and made a point of that in my listing.
You will have to put up a sample of your book for them to use as an audition. That section might be what makes or breaks their decision to audition. You can take this from anywhere in your book. Include a brief setting, and a character list with name pronunciations for them. After all, if you have unusual names in your book, it won't be fair to listen to someone massacre them and then try to judge. Pick a section that will give you a chance to hear their range. Old, young, tense, funny, whatever will let you get a feel for what is important in your audio. ACX gives you a word count that will be only 4 or 5 minutes, as I recall, so find something that includes enough to let you decide.
When you have chosen a reader, you will have to give them a Complete Character List along with the full manuscript, so this is a good chance to get part of it ready. Believe it or not, there are actors all over the place who very much want to show off their stuff. What better than a novel that lets them play every part by themselves? If they have range, they will leap at the chance to stretch.
You can go back and edit if necessary if you find your initial approach doesn't work. Make it the best you can, and prepare yourself for those first auditions. Take it from me, seeing that first audition show up on your page is exciting!
Audiobooks Point #3: Learning the Terms and Rules
This one probably should have come earlier, but you likely won't get a reader the first day. Even if you do, I recommend you not jump on the first one, so while you're waiting, get acquainted with the terms and rules. Where do you find those rules?
On the ACX Platform banner running along the top of the page there are 5 links. "About ACX," "How It Works," "Promote Yourself," "Need Help," and "Search." Don't think of this Search as the search we're all used to, where you can type in a word and up will come all manner of possible answers. No, this search is how authors or publishers find narrators (or "producers," as they are known here). And how producers find "Titles Accepting Auditions."
Click on any of those 5 choices except the "Search" one. Each of those 4 options will bring up a page having a lovely column running down the left-hand side, with all kinds of intimidating titles like "ACX Audio Submission Requirements" and "Rights Holders" and "Submitting Auditions."
I just started clicking on those links. I'm a button-pusher and I'll follow links all over trying to learn things. Like, "Rights Holders" are any person or company who holds the audio rights to a book. If you are self-published, that means you are the Rights Holder.
I recommend you just start down that column and begin reading. Find out whether you would be better off doing your book yourself (you'll probably discover it's not for you and you're in the right place). You will learn that you get paid for the previous month, but that you must earn $50 in royalties to get that payment.
Even if you read everything through, a good portion of it won't make sense until you start using it. At least you'll know where to find information and hopefully answers later on - because you almost certainly will have questions.
One other thing: ACX does NOT have a Search box anywhere. At least, not a "Search," search. We've already met what they have under the "Search" on that top bar. Instead, they have Frequently Asked Questions on that lovely left-hand column, but thankfully those are quite complete. The only problem is, you often won't remember where you read something and there is no way to do a real 'search' to find it. Inconvenient? Yes. If you are truly desperate for answers, they do have a "contact us" section. To find it, go to the very bottom of that left hand column, and find "Need Help?" Click on that and it will give you several options of how to get a real answer from a real person.
About this time, head bursting with new knowledge, hopefully you will feel ready to tackle the job of preparing for and getting auditions.
On the ACX Platform banner running along the top of the page there are 5 links. "About ACX," "How It Works," "Promote Yourself," "Need Help," and "Search." Don't think of this Search as the search we're all used to, where you can type in a word and up will come all manner of possible answers. No, this search is how authors or publishers find narrators (or "producers," as they are known here). And how producers find "Titles Accepting Auditions."
Click on any of those 5 choices except the "Search" one. Each of those 4 options will bring up a page having a lovely column running down the left-hand side, with all kinds of intimidating titles like "ACX Audio Submission Requirements" and "Rights Holders" and "Submitting Auditions."
I just started clicking on those links. I'm a button-pusher and I'll follow links all over trying to learn things. Like, "Rights Holders" are any person or company who holds the audio rights to a book. If you are self-published, that means you are the Rights Holder.
I recommend you just start down that column and begin reading. Find out whether you would be better off doing your book yourself (you'll probably discover it's not for you and you're in the right place). You will learn that you get paid for the previous month, but that you must earn $50 in royalties to get that payment.
Even if you read everything through, a good portion of it won't make sense until you start using it. At least you'll know where to find information and hopefully answers later on - because you almost certainly will have questions.
One other thing: ACX does NOT have a Search box anywhere. At least, not a "Search," search. We've already met what they have under the "Search" on that top bar. Instead, they have Frequently Asked Questions on that lovely left-hand column, but thankfully those are quite complete. The only problem is, you often won't remember where you read something and there is no way to do a real 'search' to find it. Inconvenient? Yes. If you are truly desperate for answers, they do have a "contact us" section. To find it, go to the very bottom of that left hand column, and find "Need Help?" Click on that and it will give you several options of how to get a real answer from a real person.
About this time, head bursting with new knowledge, hopefully you will feel ready to tackle the job of preparing for and getting auditions.
