I hired a pro (April Doty) to narrate and produce my two short works, and she was wonderful to work with! It gave me an affordable way to gauge reader/listener interest before committing to creating audiobooks for my (very long) novels. Your own voice is so lovely, perhaps you could just work directly with someone to package and produce your own narration? I think your readers would love to listen to your author version!
Oh my gosh, that is so, so sweet. Thank you so much!! I have actually thought about that but then when I think about trying to do a male POV (I have laughably one male voice and they all sound like a middle aged woman with a mouth full of crackers), I rethink that. But thank you so, so much! I do love the suggestion of trying a short work first... Thank you so much for this!!
You're so welcome! For whatever it's worth, I don't think novels necessarily need to be acted out...I think when authors narrate, it's about our sensitivity to the pacing and subtext that really elevates a recording. You could poll your readers, though! Good luck either way!
I paid an experienced friend to record my book for me and I did the reading. It was hard. 😑 You’d be surprised how many times you say uh, or um when you speak. I didn’t promote the audio version enough and it hasn’t paid for itself. Maybe I should do it now. 🤔
Thank you so much for sharing this, Charisse! Did you use an audio editor at all? I know they can edit out those ums and etc., and I've heard that process is expensive as well, but I really appreciate you sharing your experience with this. I do hope your audio earns out at some point! I know I love audio and listen to TONS of audiobooks these days, so maybe promoting it a bit more will move that needle for you! (I hope so!)
I paid the person who bought my bar to record it for me. He did all the techy stuff and prepared it to send to Audible. He wound up being better at that than running a bar. Doing business with friends is tough. He did a great job on my audiobook, but he’s destroying the bar. 😔
I hired a pro (April Doty) to narrate and produce my two short works, and she was wonderful to work with! It gave me an affordable way to gauge reader/listener interest before committing to creating audiobooks for my (very long) novels. Your own voice is so lovely, perhaps you could just work directly with someone to package and produce your own narration? I think your readers would love to listen to your author version!
Oh my gosh, that is so, so sweet. Thank you so much!! I have actually thought about that but then when I think about trying to do a male POV (I have laughably one male voice and they all sound like a middle aged woman with a mouth full of crackers), I rethink that. But thank you so, so much! I do love the suggestion of trying a short work first... Thank you so much for this!!
You're so welcome! For whatever it's worth, I don't think novels necessarily need to be acted out...I think when authors narrate, it's about our sensitivity to the pacing and subtext that really elevates a recording. You could poll your readers, though! Good luck either way!
That's actually such a brilliant idea! Thank you so much! (Polling about what they prefer in audio!)
I paid an experienced friend to record my book for me and I did the reading. It was hard. 😑 You’d be surprised how many times you say uh, or um when you speak. I didn’t promote the audio version enough and it hasn’t paid for itself. Maybe I should do it now. 🤔
Thank you so much for sharing this, Charisse! Did you use an audio editor at all? I know they can edit out those ums and etc., and I've heard that process is expensive as well, but I really appreciate you sharing your experience with this. I do hope your audio earns out at some point! I know I love audio and listen to TONS of audiobooks these days, so maybe promoting it a bit more will move that needle for you! (I hope so!)
I paid the person who bought my bar to record it for me. He did all the techy stuff and prepared it to send to Audible. He wound up being better at that than running a bar. Doing business with friends is tough. He did a great job on my audiobook, but he’s destroying the bar. 😔