5 Ways to Get You Started on Your 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 5 ways to get started with your 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. 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.

3. 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. When you publish and print your own book, there is nothing to stop you. 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.

4. Practice Pronunciations and Self-edit the Narration- 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. Pick mistakes that work for you. 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. Choose the Platform You Want to Use– This is perhaps a very important step, even before you start writing the book. Yes, we can spend a lot of time on 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 self-publishing 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 platforms like Amazon audible, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd etc. which distribute ready audiobooks. But if you need any assistance during the preparation of the audiobook, always feel free to approach publishers like Exceller Books who will take the entire responsibility of creating your audiobook.

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