The Never Ending Writing Experience
Levels The Birth of an Audio Book
As pointed out in the very first post of this blog (Nov. 18, 2013), the conceptual editing phase of the publishing process proved to be a humbling experience when I learned that the polished, completed manuscript of which I had been so proud was neither polished nor complete.
By the end of the process, the 126,000 word novel had been reduced to 111,000 words. But at least I was finally finished writing - I thought.
A couple of weeks later, I was informed that the print formats of Levels had to be abridged to approximately 85,000 words so that the audio book would not exceed 8 hours listening time. Al Pacino's famous line from The Godfather III movie immediately came to mind: "Every time I think I'm through with the life, they keep pulling me back in!"
The abridgement required that I review the entire manuscript and create a shortened version that made sense and flowed smoothly. This required deleting entire sentences and occasionally a paragraph and then re-writing the scene so that the continuity would be flawlessly sustained and the listener would not notice.
It took me two weeks to produce a re-write that met the publisher's approval. But at least I was really finished this time. Wrong!
Samples of three professional narrators' previous works were sent by the publisher for me to evaluate and then choose the one whom I felt was best suited to narrate Levels. I chose Stephen Rozzell and have never regretted it. If you ever listen to the audio book, you will understand why.
Throughout the work-in-progress, I had to listen to each chapter and point out errors or dialogue which I felt did not express the emotion intended. The narrator had to return to the studio to re-record that particular part. After three weeks of this, production of the 9-disc audio book was underway and I was sent a complimentary copy. It was made available commercially August 14, 2011.
I was finally done writing! For real this time.
As pointed out in the very first post of this blog (Nov. 18, 2013), the conceptual editing phase of the publishing process proved to be a humbling experience when I learned that the polished, completed manuscript of which I had been so proud was neither polished nor complete.
By the end of the process, the 126,000 word novel had been reduced to 111,000 words. But at least I was finally finished writing - I thought.
A couple of weeks later, I was informed that the print formats of Levels had to be abridged to approximately 85,000 words so that the audio book would not exceed 8 hours listening time. Al Pacino's famous line from The Godfather III movie immediately came to mind: "Every time I think I'm through with the life, they keep pulling me back in!"
The abridgement required that I review the entire manuscript and create a shortened version that made sense and flowed smoothly. This required deleting entire sentences and occasionally a paragraph and then re-writing the scene so that the continuity would be flawlessly sustained and the listener would not notice.
It took me two weeks to produce a re-write that met the publisher's approval. But at least I was really finished this time. Wrong!
Samples of three professional narrators' previous works were sent by the publisher for me to evaluate and then choose the one whom I felt was best suited to narrate Levels. I chose Stephen Rozzell and have never regretted it. If you ever listen to the audio book, you will understand why.
Throughout the work-in-progress, I had to listen to each chapter and point out errors or dialogue which I felt did not express the emotion intended. The narrator had to return to the studio to re-record that particular part. After three weeks of this, production of the 9-disc audio book was underway and I was sent a complimentary copy. It was made available commercially August 14, 2011.
I was finally done writing! For real this time.
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