Questions about audiobooks come up at nearly every book event I attend. I get it. I’ve been wanting to produce my first audiobook for ages… It’s taken nearly 10 years, but I’ve finally made that happen!
While I had several books to choose from, my heart was set on starting with my first novel, The Insistence of Memory. Still, that was a difficult choice when there were strong arguments for starting with To the Left of Death, my only first-person novel, or Healers and Thieves, the first book in The Psychic Traveler Society trilogy.
My first audiobook, The Insistence of Memory, will be available on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books in about 2 weeks. I’m very excited–and a bit nervous–about its release. But mostly excited!
From Print to Audiobook
Producing an audiobook requires extra roles in the publishing process, including a voice artist, sound engineer, and editor. There’s a lot to learn about distribution as well. While the process is similar to publishing a print or ebook, audiobook distribution has its own constraints for price-setting, royalties, rights, etc.
Some authors narrate, edit, and produce their own audiobooks. I considered that route. In fact, that’s what inspired me to start my Freely Written podcast back in 2021. It was a way to practice narration and build up my sound editing skills. As well as a way to share the creative fun of free-writing.
Yet, when I tried recording samples of my own audiobook, I wasn’t happy. The narration was fine… until I got to the dialogue. I quickly realized that I’m a writer, not a voice actor. Voices are hard! I felt ridiculous trying to change my voice for different characters, especially the men, and decided the “narrated by the author” route wasn’t going to work for my novels.
Finding a Voice-Over Artist
When distributing through ACX (Audible), there are options to connect with voice artists. You can choose to pay for narration up-front or enter a contract to split royalties. Either way, you can browse participating narrators and arrange auditions to choose the right voice for your project.
I began to look into that process several times, but was hesitant to move forward. Audiobooks are expensive to produce independently, and I wasn’t keen on a split-royalty contract. From the business side, I’m still unsure about the potential return on investment, but we’ll see how that plays out with this project.
What pushed me into my first audiobook was a serendipitous meeting with a local voice-over artist.
Jenna Rose Stein had been coming to my yoga classes for a while. We had chatted a bit, but didn’t know each other well outside of yoga. During one post-class chat, we realized that we both grew up in small towns that are unknown to most people, yet happen to be only an hour apart. It was, “Wait, you know my hometown?” on both sides.
More importantly, Jenna mentioned a recent business success, which led to this (paraphrased) exchange:
Susan: What kind of business?
Jenna: I’m a voice-over artist.
Susan (brightening): Do you narrate audiobooks?
Jenna (brightening): Are you in need of an audiobook narrator?
I don’t particularly believe in fate, but I do recognize an opportunity when it drops in my lap. Our animated conversation led to exchanging business cards and emails, setting up a meeting, and, soon after, signing a contract.
Producing an Audiobook
To produce the audiobook, I’d need a voice actor and someone to edit the files. I had the option to hire Jenna as a voice actor alone or to have her edit the files to ACX standards as well. That was a tough call, as I do have the ability to do my own editing. In the end, I opted to hire Jenna for both roles.
Working with Jenna was a fantastic experience. I provided her with a digital copy of The Insistence of Memory. She prepared her script and recorded some pace samples to be sure we were on the same page. From there, it was simply a matter of Jenna sending me the finished files for review.
Jenna checked in on the pronunciation of a few names and sent a quick voice note when she wanted to run a character’s voice by me. There were a few small sections where I requested a change in the way some lines were read. Overall, it was a smooth experience, and I highly recommend working with Jenna. (Visit her website here: JennaRoseStein.com)
Distributing through Audible has also been relatively easy so far. There were the usual hurdles of setting the metadata and uploading the files. (Why is it easier to write a whole novel than it is to write a blurb?)
Creating an audiobook version of the book cover was a task I took on myself. The audiobook cover is square and has some constraints to allow for a banner that may appear on the lower left corner.
It took a few tries, adjusting the layout to fit the new dimensions and still echo the print cover. I’m happy with the results.
Overall Impressions
To be honest, hearing someone else narrate my novel was… strange. From a listener’s perspective, I’m impressed with Jenna’s skill. I kept losing myself in her narration, often thinking, “This is a really good book. Wait.. I wrote this!”
From the producer’s perspective, knowing how listeners can be really picky added some anxiety. It was hard to separate what I liked from the fear of what most listeners might like. Which is no different than the hypercritical mindset I have to fight when editing my novels before they are published.
Jenna was great in that regard as well, reminding me that not everyone will like everything, and we can’t control that. In the end, I’m very proud of the audiobook we created and excited to share it with the world.
Please check out The Insistence of Memory audiobook (preview above for now), tell your friends about it, and write a review after listening. As always, your support is deeply appreciated!