Creative Reviews discussion
?'s for the Members of CR
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Can Indies do Audio books?
I'm meeting with a friend of mine next week who does audio books. I'm not sure what he charges yet, but I can let people know after I meet with him.
Mod
I'm not technically an Indie but I would be interested!
He's a friend, so he may give me a break. And I love his work. I honestly haven't done any research yet outside of him.
D. Robert be sure to let us know how it ends up!! Can't wait to hear about it!
Mod
And HOLY COW!! That guy is wonderful!!
Mod
http://azaleaagency.com/talent/sara-s...
Amy wrote: "For indies, where do you guys sell them? Places like smashwords do not allow you to sell there, would you be promoting it just on your own websites?And HOLY COW!! That guy is wonderful!!"
I know, right?
And, see I told you hadn't researched the whole audio books for indie publishers thing yet. I guess I was just assuming you'd be able to sell them through Amazon. I guess I need to do some research.
Now see....there is a job I would like to have. My late night FM DJ voice would come in handy maybe lol.Ok...now I have to go look up "do it yourself" audio books information. I might try putting my work into audio form.
Splitter
Nope! Yet another place that discriminates against the indie author. "...ACX serves only professionally published writers who have a track record appropriate for audio production."
Mod
I bet the guy that you posted may have the same capabilities.
What they mean by "professionally published authors" is traditionally published. You have to have been published by a publisher that is on their list. It has nothing to do with the quality of the production.
i really can't comment much on this because I don't know much about audiobooks. I never thought about where to sell them. I figured amazon but maybe not. Can you do something like that on Youtube? Or is it just videos? Ames that might be a good component to add to the website for book trailers...a place for audio books
Mod
And DRobert, I know what you meant, I was referring to having to use an "audio create space" where the indies would need to go to have it formatted and sold.
I didn't mean for it to sound like I was saying the indies would be putting out sub-quality work. :)
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Now see....there is a job I would like to have. My late night FM DJ voice would come in handy maybe lol.Ok...now I have to go look up "do it yourself" audio books information. I might try putti..."
I used to have a great voice - people would call up here just to hear the message I left on the answering machine ... but years of sinus infections have make it nasty now ... *sigh* I always sound nasal and thin-voiced.
Honestly...I think my wife and I are going to do my book as an audio book. Will anyone buy it? I dunno, but since we can both do accents, but it should be fun.Her regular voice IS Lorena.
Splitter
Mod
I've never bought an audio book, from ones I've caught snippets of, they irritate or lull me to sleep. But I might just have to check out splitter's . Oh yeah and they are expensive.
Jenn wrote: "I've never bought an audio book, from ones I've caught snippets of, they irritate or lull me to sleep. But I might just have to check out splitter's . Oh yeah and they are expensive."They certainly ARE expensive, and I also have a tendency to not focus well if I'm not reading the page. I got a few from that audio book club that is always advertised on Amazon, hoping I could listen to them on my little whatcha-call'ems - to play digital music on ... but for some reason the format the audio books were in wouldn't play on them. Dunno why ... I have a few books on CD audio books, but only have the ability to listen to them on my computer and switching out the discs is such a pain ... so they have been sitting for a loooong time ... Tried ripping them to again listen to them on the little whatchamajigs (why can't I remember the name of the damn doohickeys??) ,but again the format wouldn't play. ONly on the 'puter. I got a little CD/radio/clock thingie, but the CD player is so crappy it wouldn't play the discs without so much skipping I was losing entire paragraphs. SOOOOO annoying. *sigh* (and it's not iPod - 'cause I don't have the Apple version ... that's the only name I can come up with right now ... maybe after I sleep ...)
Fibromyalgia destroys one's mind ... it's so annoying dealing with the constant memory loss ... especially my vocabulary. I'M LOSING MY PERSPICACITY!!!!
MP3 player?And just maintain your perspicuity!
Splitter
A Cure to Die For: A Medical ThrillerHi everyone.
I just noticed your discussion on audio books and may be able to shed some light. I recently completed the audio book recording of my new novel, "A Cure To Die For". It was a remarkable experience and so much fun I’m still smiling.
I didn’t want to do a traditional audio recording with one narrator droning on and on, I wanted it to be like the radio dramas of old with a full cast of characters, music and FX. For a model I used the guy and the show that started it all and created the genre, Orson Wells and “The Mercury Theatre On The Air” (You can go to www.mercurytheatre.info if you’re interested to hear these classic presentations from 1938-1940 for free including the original recording of “War Of The Worlds”)
To begin with I went to the head of the theatre department at Carroll College here in Helena, Chuck Driscoll, and told him what I wanted to do. He said I had to have a budget. I swallowed hard and told him I’d think about it. Meanwhile, he read my book and loved it. We met at a local Irish pub and he got to talking about all the people he wanted to cast and I got so excited I paid for the beer. That was the start of my $5,000 journey to audio book heaven.
My book, I was shocked to discover, has 85 speaking parts! Fortunately, Chuck knows every talented adult and student actor in town and after passing out a case of free books we had more volunteers than we could count. Chuck also has complete authority over the college performing arts theatre so that’s where we set up shop. The place is a huge, ancient stone building that, like most of Carroll College, looks like a classroom at Hogwarts.
For over a month or more we met several nights a week and recorded. One of the biggest expenses of the book was keeping a well-stocked crafts table for the actors; i.e., unlimited cheese and wine. An army and a theater company moves on its stomach. The biggest problem was getting quality audio recording. A theatre is not a sound studio and boy is there a difference.
Chuck took on the narrator duties. With his magical vocal cords and the endurance of a draft horse, he brought the text to life. Our actors ran the gamut: the obese and affable mortician with green thumb in the book was played by an obese, affable and marvelously talented actor with a master’s degree in Russian! The female protagonist was played by a young actress with range and depth far beyond her years who has since left to make her mark in Hollywood. The male protagonist was played by an angry and volatile young man with matinee-idol good looks who has just completed writing, directing and starring in his first feature film. We had nymphs playing alongside actresses who have been on stage for decades. We had a young and beautiful actress playing one of the major roles who was singing and dancing in one musical at the same she was rehearsing for another; who has her master’s in Theatre Arts and who is, as we speak, directing her first play in the same theatre where we did the recording. The list goes on. I made friends and memories to last a lifetime.
One of the characters in my book is a Salish Indian who is a software millionaire with an amazing personality. Our dilemma was that while our marvelous cast could perform almost any accent imaginable, no white person can do an authentic American Indian accent. We needed the real thing. As usual, Chuck knew just the person. Enter Jack Gladstone, a Blackfeet singer, song writer and poet who lives and performs up in Glacier National park and who is currently up for Poet Laureate of Montana. He read my book and drove all the way down from Glacier to perform in our play. The base and resonance in his voice almost blew up our cobbled-together sound system. Not only did he play the character to perfection, he is the character. It was as if I’d known him before I wrote him—which on some level I think I did.
One device Chuck and I invented for the recording is pretty clever. The microphones are extremely sensitive and will pick up the slightest movement or turning of pages. The head of the audio-visual department at the college brought us over a projector and screen and we put the Kindle version of my eBook up on that. Everybody could see it like a movie screen and Chuck, as director as well and narrator, could turn the pages with a simple touch of down arrow on his computer. As the author, even I got in the act by doing a few of the one-line parts and standing in on the audio board when our audio engineer had to perform one of the nefarious characters he played.
When all was said and done we ended up with about 18 hours of raw, unedited audio. Gulp! Jack Gladstone took me aside and in his quiet, almost non-verbal way, made me see the absolute necessity of hiring a professional audio editor. He introduced me to the man who does all his albums, this amazing musician and audio engineer from Kalispell who has recorded many of the Nashville greats and still tours with a number of bands. He liked the book and our raw recording so much that he has agreed to take on the daunting task of making us “a product we can be proud of” and work with me to hold the costs down.
As to audio book distribution, forget “Audible”. They are the biggest elephant in the room and take unfair advantage of it. Their cut is so large that it is impossible to make any money. The place to go is CDBaby.com You can set your audio book up for $39 and their cut is roughly 25%. That means as the author you receive approximately 75% of every sale! That’s huge! And they’re honest. A significant number of musicians and bands have gone over to them.
There is more to this story—this is kind of the “Reader’s Digest” version—but Like Woody Allen says, “90% of life is showing up” and as Goethe said, all manner of things appear that you never dreamed possible once you commit yourself fully to a task.
The audio book will be out for the Christmas season and I’m hoping it will help cross-pollinate holiday print and eBook sales. I have a major email campaign planned to promote it using some innovative ideas I have developed with this amazing lady who helps me with internet promotion—but that is another story.
Hope this is of some help and support to those of you out there on a journey-of-a-lifetime similar to mine. I’ll be happy to answer questions if I can. You can contact me here on Goodreads or email me at info@creativeartistspublishing.com
Stephen G. Mitchell, author of “A Cure To Die For: A Medical Thriller”
Mod
I do love supporting the authors and putting as much money in their pockets as I can, but I always have to remember my pocketbook too. I pay them $15 bucks a month for a credit, and can get almost any book I want with one credit. Some are two credits, but it isn't that way for the majority of the titles.
I know that probably won't sit well with some of you, but I like my Audibles! :)
C.S. Splitter wrote: "MP3 player?And just maintain your perspicuity!
Splitter"
Yeah .. that's the ticket!! Thanks!
Amy wrote: "I know I am probably going to get lynched for this, but I like audible. They make it so easy to get my book loaded to any of my devices, and the book prices are much cheaper than I can get anywher..."That's what I was talking about - they wouldn't work on either one of my MP3 players - only my computer! so weird ...
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Honestly...I think my wife and I are going to do my book as an audio book. Will anyone buy it? I dunno, but since we can both do accents, but it should be fun.Her regular voice IS Lorena.
Spli..."
I'll but it!! I can't wait to hear the authentic voice of Lorena!! How do you plan to get one together?
I have some quality sound equipment and a good mixing program. There is also free software out to put together an audio book (chapter breaks, etc.). Doing an mp3 downloadable version is easy with the software. A DVD version is a bit trickier. I also have a few DVD burners laying around I am willing to sacrifice for the cause.
Now...I think there would be much more involved if I cared about DRM. But for me, the day I get notified that something of mine has been pirated, I will do a little victory dance.
As for voices for my characters, I don't ever plan on having a ton of characters and I hear their voices in my head when I write dialogue.
Lorena has a non-descriptor east mid Atlantic accent. And, of course, can turn on the purr of seduction.
Tom is me, only pitched a little higher. Same cadence.
Jake is like the bass singer from the Oakridge Boys (Bah-bah-Bobbysue) and Johnny Cash mixed.
Lloyd is casual North Carolina (someone once asked me why my PA characters sound southern, but I could never spell you-ins lol).
Clem is more hillbilly WVA mixed with western MD. Very low brow with a touch of Gabby Hays (sp?).
The bad guys are easy. My only problem there is that they use two words I can't say. I would probably edit those out for audio.
If you look into DIY audio books, it's not that tough. Sound effects can be downloaded or recorded. It's just really time consuming to read and edit seamlessly.
Oh, and Splitter's dulcet tones will be heard on Journal Jabber September 6th lol.
Splitter
Splitter
LOL. We are counting down for Sept. 6th!!Sounds like you have a really good handle on the ways to make it work! Sounds great.
I agree I might do a dance if i heard someone liked my stuff enough to pirate it. LOL.
let us know when its ready to go so we can all buy it!!!
Where do you plan to sell it?
Hey, just to be clear, I don't know what I'm doing yet lol. What I have done is a little research that tells me I probably have the means to do it already.I may start it, or do it, and decide that I screwed up ;).
I haven't looked into "where" to sell it, but I know there are a lot of outlets for audio books.
I am SO looking forward to Sept. 6th. I want everyone who reads this board to be there because we are going to have fun!
Splitter
Mod
But they should be there this week too, I know you will be, right, everyone? :)
Everyone be there Sept. 6th. Because I SAID SO.that is all.
Smashwords has a partnership with someone to do audiobooks - hang on will find the link.http://www.smashwords.com/links/podio...
I don't do audiobooks myself as I hate having someone else's interpretation overlaid on my imagining of a book; but my partner used to drive long distance as part of his job and loved listening to audiobooks as he was driving.
I guess there's a market for it though or Amazon wouldn't do them!
JAC
C.S. Splitter wrote: "MP3 player?And just maintain your perspicuity!
Splitter"
Interesting point, Splitter. Has Katy lost PERSPICACITY or PERSPICUITY? Lucidity or discernment -- or does it really matter? Hope you get it back soon, whatever.
Thank you! I thought I kind of lost everyone there. Maybe you can post your definitions for tomorrow's vocabulary word(s) :)Splitter
I'll be there the 6th!! The show is a litttle after one of my classes you all wil be great fun afterwards!
Podiobooks... I was reading this whole thread trying to remember that!!! Thanks JA! A listener from JournalJabber linked us there when we interviewed Debora Geary...
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Thank you! I thought I kind of lost everyone there. Maybe you can post your definitions for tomorrow's vocabulary word(s) :)Splitter"
I think I've lost 'em both ... I used to read dictionaries for fun and to freak out my opponents before speech events ... I've lost SO much of my vocabulary since I've been ill that it's not even funny. But I also just simply don't think things through as well. *shrug*
I just talked with the folks at redplanetaudiobooks.com They provide audio book production, as well as distribution. I asked them if they would work with me if I did the production myself, and they said yes. It would be $299 to set up my provided audio file and cover artwork. I also asked about distribution and they said they distribute to the following:Amazon (physical/digital)
Audible (digital)
iTunes (digital)
Baker and Taylor (physical)
Overdive (digital)
Barnes and Noble (physical/digital)
iScroll (digital)
They said that they could tie the ISBNs together so that the audio book would show up under searches for the print and eBook.
This sounds like a pretty good route to go. I maybe checking it out after I talk with my voice guy.
Mod
Amy wrote: "That doesn't sound like a bad deal at all! I wonder how much it costs to hire the talent to do the reading and recording..."Heck, if you don't mind, get some friends to do it for kicks - buy them dinner or something. :-)
After falling out with the publishing industry years ago, my mom decided to create her own audiobook business, TimeFare Audio. She invested in the equipment, made a sound-proof room in her house and even commissioned my band to create original themes for each book. It was an ambitious idea, but it was ultimately undone by a lack of knowledge on how to break into the business. She managed to record several audiobooks, including one of her own, and even though she took apart the studio she’d built, she still has the recording equipment. Now that she’s self-publishing, she’s taken an interest in the possibility of producing her own audiobooks again.
Has anyone tried going through the option on Smashwords?
SL, if she can do it to a high standard (and I don't know how quickly that sort of hardware dates) then she should absolutely get back into it again. There are a lot of small publishers out there who might be up for making her their main port of call for audiobooks and if the book is already published, she could just make them downloadable from a website and get them to put the link (or a free code for it or something) in the book. That way Amazon / Smashwords / whoever do the distribution and she simply reaps the benefits. Besides, I daresay there will be something like Amazon but for music somewhere - afraid I don't know enough about it to know though. Her other option might be podcast-type adverts for books. Can you upload audio files to Youtube?
JAC
JAC, thanks for the information. I'll have to pass it on to her. The self-publishing landscape has changed signifigantly since she first set out to start her business (back in...'98? Sigh, where has the time gone?). She's probably better off focusing on her writing than recording at this point, but it's good to know there are more options out there.
I have gotten audiobooks from podiobooks, I think its a great option for authors who what to open another channel for their work.
I wish I could get Stephen Fry to record an audio copy of my book. But I think he's *probably* a little bit beyond my funding!
PJ, get a soundalike! There must be impressionists out there!;oD
JAC
I know, but the prestige of having Stephen Fry read my book would be awesome!I would feel like I'd make it. Well, maybe one day ...
Mod
If there was a way, would you indies out there be interested?