ACX-Turning your book into an audio book
By Mike Jastrzebski
I have been thinking for some time about having at least some of my books made into audio books. Several weeks ago I took the plunge and listed Key Lime Blues on ACX (Audio Creations Exchange) and started looking for a narrator. There are two ways to find a narrator, wait for them to contact you or listen to various narrators on the site and contact them.
As the author you have the option of requesting that the narrator do a fifty/fifty split on profits with no upfront cost to you, or if you want to keep all of the profits you can offer upfront payment. I listed my book as a fifty/fifty split. Some narrators are open to the split, some want only upfront payment. (To clarify, payment is due when the finished audio is uploaded to ACX.)
The first two days that my book was posted I received three unsolicited contacts, and I contacted four additional narrators that I picked after listening to samples. Of the four I contacted two got back to me and said they were working on a project. They both indicated when they would be available and asked me to contact them at that time if I was still looking for a narrator.
At this point I requested samples from the three who contacted me and put the others on the back burner. I sent off two pages of the book that I wanted to hear (pick a section of the book with several different characters so you can get a feel for the narrator’s vocal versatility). Within twelve hours I had my first audition audio and within five days all three of the narrators had submitted auditions.
So how do you choose the right narrator? It’s not easy. Both Mary (my wife and trusted editor) and I listened to the auditions multiple times. Each of the three auditions I received had some pros and cons. In the end we decided on Kevin Pierce as the narrator, and we decided to pay him upfront instead of a split. I guess I’m just too much of a control freak to split the profits with anyone else. There were three reasons we chose Kevin:
1) He was prompt. He contacted me within hours of our posting the book, he had a sample to us within a day, and he responded to any questions I had immediately.
2) We liked his voice.
3) When we felt one of the character’s voice didn’t fit our vision we had of the character, he changed it to our satisfaction.
Kevin was also fast once we signed the contract with him. In less than a week we had the entire recording in our possession and began the editing process. It took us a week to listen to the audio, decide on changes, and get back to him. The next day we had the changes.
The cost to us for this project was $1658.00. Once I sent the payment through Pay Pal he notified ACX that we had paid and they began the process of vetting the audio. This process takes 14-20 days, then the audio goes on sale.
By the way, Mary and I both love the way this audio turned out, and when we decide to have Dog River Blues recorded the first person we will contact will without a doubt be Kevin Pierce.
Also, the cover for the audio has to be a square cover. Here’s the cover for Key Lime Blues.
I’ll post about it and provide a link when the audio is available.
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