A place Australians can create audio books??

[Ashley]

Hi Molly, I've been researching this for a while and it's exceedingly difficult.

Being blocked from access to the resource/royalty sharing options as we are, is a real killer, huh?

I've got audio production experience and equipment but I'm not a narrator and so my options would be to hire a professional, which could cost hundreds to thousands, as I'm sure you've noted in your research. (And the title I'd try record is only 50k and it will still cost me an arm and a leg even for such a short novel)

One option is to hire out the voice talent and post the reading to something like bandcamp, which is free but not quite the giant retailer Amazon is, nor known for spoken word :D

https://bandcamp.com/

Great freelance option:

https://www.voices.com/


Alana Woods explores some options in some of her posts - you've probably seen them?

http://www.alanawoods.com/apps/blog/s...


You could scour the universities for theatre students who are looking to build a portfolio and see if any are willing to narrate your title cheaper? You'd probably still have to pay for studio time if you don't have a set-up at home, which will be expensive of course.

I've been trying to figure out a way to do it in a cost-effective manner for a while and it's difficult. And even if I finally manage that - there's still distribution. Without access to Amazon, I loose access to such a large share of the market, meaning I can't recoup my production expenses.

Have you looked into getting a US bank account and tax number? That might help with acx?

[Mikana]

We've done this sort of ourselves, for you tube though, using Adobe Auditions. But it's having the voice talent, as you need a voice that people would be willing to listen to.

The cost's involved with getting a professional "sound" guy can be difficult as well, as some are really into their craft, whilst others don't really care about the production, and sometimes the only way to find out which kind of guy he is, is to try him first. We've found a guy at Newcastle that seems quite good, and has the equipment we needed for our current production, but this guy had 122 different mike's, all for different occasions. Some for music, some for voice, some for particular instruments.

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

Mikana wrote: "We've done this sort of ourselves, for you tube though, using Adobe Auditions. But it's having the voice talent, as you need a voice that people would be willing to listen to.

The cost's involved..."

Mikana have you looked here: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Chris]

Hi Molly,

Thanks for starting this conversation! Have been looking into this as well (even asked a busker who had a nice voice!) for my books.

Best advice I had was from an ex camera man who suggested, if going the DIY route, eat lots of eggs from the store. The reason? Their cartons are the best soundproofing you can buy. Line your walls, floors, ceiling... :)

Seriously though, a huge thank you also to Julie- that link is gold!

[Jülie ☼♄ ]

It's all happening here at Goodreads ;D

[Leonie]

I've been toying with this idea myself, as I still retain the audiobook rights myself. (And the movie rights, but somehow I seem to have missed the phone calls from James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson...)

[Katie]

Leonie wrote: "I've been toying with this idea myself, as I still retain the audiobook rights myself. (And the movie rights, but somehow I seem to have missed the phone calls from James Cameron, Steven Spielberg ..."

They do have a habit of ringing when you're out. I've noticed that myself!

[Ashley]

Molly wrote: "The idea to track down a university theatre person may be a good idea, Ashley, thank you."

My pleasure, hope it works - I'm still searching and occasionally pestering ACX to ask when they might expand their operations :D