10 Steps of Creating Your Own Audiobook

Ever thought of DIY-ing your audiobook? Sounds exciting! No waiting for publishers to respond, no appointments with literary agents, sound experts or distributors, no fuss with paid narrators, and yet your audiobook can be heard by the world when they drive, cook, work or run. According to Deloitte, global audiobook sales reached over four billion dollars in 2020, that’s a 2% year-on-year increase. As a self-published author, audiobooks form an increasing proportion of my monthly revenue from book sales, because most people use smartphones and tablets that are compatible with audiobooks; moreover, with a busy schedule, most people prefer audiobooks so that they can multitask. It’s easier than ever for indie authors to create or self-publish their first audiobook. Yes, it is very promising and satisfying publish and print your own book, earn and become a celebrity, however, it takes hard work, time, some investment of course and lots of patience. Especially when it is an audiobook and you really want to create it independently, you have to ace many other things beyond just writing a book manuscript. In case of an audiobook, you are the author, the narrator, the sound designer, the distributor and the publisher. That is a lot of responsibilities. But if you are open to learn a few techniques and willing to spend some finances, you can create something amazing.

Here are 10 ways in which you can create your own audiobook-

1. Complete your manuscript– It is the first step to publishing anything; complete your manuscript so that the book is ready to narrate. Writing and narrating at the same time is too much work and one causes distraction for the other. In fact, if you have in mind that you want to make an audiobook, you can write a script that has speech parts in-sink, or appropriate for a narrated tale, to make it more exciting. Audiobooks require special editing techniques too, so make sure you start narrating a book that has already been sent to the editors, beta readers and proof readers.
2. Choose the right voice– Most often, you can be the narrator, if you publish and print your own book. You don’t have to pay professional artists to provide a voiceover for the words that are written by you. In fact, you can best communicate your thoughts with correct emotions, hence that adds a personal touch to your audiobook. But you have to understand whether your voice sounds right for a narration. Make yourself heard; take critiques from others; if other says you sound great, go ahead. Or if you feel you are hesitant, or find it hard to express yourself, or find your voice inappropriate in some way, hiring a professional narrator can be worth it.
3. Practice pronunciations– Most often than not, you will choose to narrate your own book, but that takes practice too, even if your voice is great. Pronounce the words loud and clear several times. Practice reading your own script in an unbiased way, because its easy to overlook mistakes in a script that you have written yourself; your brain fills in the gaps automatically; that is how cognitive processes work. But open your eyes when you are reading, read the words aloud, identify if there are mistakes and correct them. Practice pronouncing difficult words more often which sound like tongue twisters, because your audience might not get the hang of it, if pronounced incorrectly in recording. Also, reading the entire script together, and reading them in parts are different things, and you have to practice reading in the individual ways, and hear them yourself, to see which method works best for your manuscript.
4. Pick which mistakes work best for your narrative– As part of the reading practice, this is what you want to do. Audiobooks rely on sound rather than sight, so sometimes narrators will add a word or change a clause slightly because it “flows” better when spoken.If it sounds fluid and normal, it is okay to let the ‘mistake’ go by, allowing the narrative to sound more colloquial. You might want to change a few phrases and expressions as you read along the way, but do it before the final recording. As an added bonus, it also saves editing time.
5. Buy the right equipment– This can be tough. You have not tried a tool but you don’t even want to spend lots of dollars buying microphones and rejecting them if they don’t work. So here you need a little bit of research. A USB microphone, a microphone arm to move it around, an aluminium shockguard, a pop filter, a headphone and a modern computer are things that you will need pretty much to record your audiobook. Additionally, a quiet space and an audio editing software, available at subscription basis, are things mandatory for executing the process. In all it can cost about $500 to get the equipment, but go online, search different brands, read customer and professional reviews before choosing the right sound device.
6. Decide on the location for Recording– Even though self-publishing an audiobooks intends that you record the book in your own home avoiding all the studio and production costs, but it will be fair to remember that recording at a personal space will affect the quality of your audiobook, will have irregularities and production issues when compared with a formally produced one. So, you might consider spending some for the studio recording equipment, space and sound design for a better experience. If you record in a studio, avoid moving too much during the recording, because studio mics are very sensitive to voice inputs. But, that doesn’t mean you cannot set up a studio at home with the equipment you bought. You can record an audiobook, in a room of your house, an apartment or even in your closet. Close all doors and windows tight to eliminate outside noise, switch off your phones to kill echoes of any kind, and you should be good to go.
7. Check the noise floor– Before you start recording find the most comfortable position for you to sit in. It is also important to sit at the right distance from the microphone. Sitting too close, too far, or moving back and forth throughout the session will result in tone modulation and echo. Turn on your microphone and record a minute or two of dead air. Listen back to this recording with headphones, and check if you can hear any unintentional noises like traffic outside or creaking pipes. For our purposes, the noise floor is the sum of all noise sources and signals in a room other than what you’re saying or actively recording. Each time you record a chapter, turn on your mic and record the sound of your room for at least thirty seconds and listen back to this recording. For example, turning down the gain will reduce a hissing sound. Or the fan on your computer may be too loud. Your home studio could sound ok today, but that may change. Repeat the same exercise, this time narrating a page of your book. Place a towel over your desk beneath your microphone. This will help you soften the noise floor around your microphone and reduce echoes.
8. Prepare yourself Before Final Narration– Warm up your voice by clearing your throat. Drink some luke warm water before starting off. Take deep breaths to calm yourself down. You must have your script, or page that you are going to read, printed in front of you using a large double-spaced font. Prop the pages up on a document holder so you can transition from one page to the next without making much noise. Alternatively, open your Kindle book on an iPad or tablet and prop it on a stand. Keep your manuscript at eye level. Be realistic about the recording time. The time taken to a record depends on the lengthof the book and the experiences of the artist. On average to record a 10 hours long audiobook, it’ll take you close to 20 hours. While recording the narrator has to stop after every chapter and rerecord the errors. After the first 2-3 hours, the tone in the voice also starts to change.
9. Choose the Platform you want to use– Yes, we spent a lot of time of the processes of narration, because indeed narrating is a major step of creating an audiobook. But if you want to publish and print your own book, you have to choose the right platform to publish it. You can choose a platform like Exceller Books who will provide amateurs end to end service for selfpublishing an audiobook from narrator audition to production and distribution. But if you have already covered the previous steps, you have to select the platform just for distribution. You can publish it on Amazon audible, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd etc. which publish ebooks and audiobooks. But take a note of the genre before you send your work for distribution.
10. Promote your audiobook– For every book to sell, it needs to be promoted. It’s imperative that you spend time marketing your book, whether you’re making eye-catching Facebook posts or giving out promotional copies of your book.

For audiobooks, it’s important to find audiobook enthusiasts who will honestly review your book. If they leave genuinely good reviews on sites like Audible or Goodreads, potential readers will become more inclined to purchase your hard work. Giveaways can also spread the word about your audiobook and generate honest reviews. You can also hire a professional publishing guide for just promoting the book.

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