Award-winning author, Niamh McAnally, with a practical how-to piece for writers on the commitment required in narrating your own audiobook.
Even the most avid readers are listening to audiobooks. I do. Usually, I have three books on the go. A paperback for reading outdoors in the sunshine or one that requires flicking back and forth for pictures or charts, an eBook for traveling or reading in low light, and an audiobook to listen to during exercise or chores.
If you’re an author and would like to narrate your own book here are my ten steps to completing the process and ensuring high enough quality to pass ACX standards (www.acx.com) and be listed on Amazon’s Audible and other online sites.
- YOUR RIGHTS.
The first question to ask is if you own the audio rights to your own book. If you are self-published you automatically do, but if you are traditionally published check your contract.
But just because you have the right to narrate, should you? How does your voice sound? Is it high pitched or nasally, cracked or thin? Do people like listening to your accent? Are you able to vary your tone, pace and intonation? Can you engage your listeners? If you are unsure, record a page or two and ask some beta listeners to give you honest feedback before you commit to the lengthy and costly production process.
- REHEARSE
Now that you have established that you own the rights, are the right person to narrate your own book, and you are willing to commit time and money to the project, the next step is to rehearse.
Read the entire book aloud. Phrases that are easy to read may not be easy to narrate. It helps to record this run through on your phone so you can listen back. Your voice never sounds like it does in your head. You’ll also pick up on sections where you need to heighten the pace to match the drama or slow down to complement the sentiments.
Research pronunciations of place names or foreign phrases. I find the website www.howtopronounce.com very useful.
- MARK YOUR SCRIPT.
During the recording process you can either work from a printed script or from a screen (never the actual book). I prefer a screen for two reasons — a) to enlarge the font size and b) to eliminate any noise from changing pages.
Marking your script involves making notes of where to take a new breath, emphasize certain words or phrases, where to pause for dramatic effect, and where you might need deep resonance or a whisper.Highlight any dialogue. Use different colors for each character. Generally, I use variations of greens for males, light blues for females, and in the case of my memoir, I reserve yellow throughout the book for my own voice. Only highlight the spoken words between quotations. Speech tags like ‘he said/she said’ should be spoken as the narrator not the character. Allow the personality and emotions of the speech to come through.
If you are good at different accents then by all means speak like your characters would, however, only do this if you can do all the accents of all the characters. For instance, I have several phrases in my memoir that are written in French. I speak the language so when my character speaks in French I use a French accent, however when he speaks in English I don’t. Why? Because I also have characters from Australia, Kenya, Vanuatu, Thailand, Fiji, Tonga etc. and I can’t do those accents justice. So, it must be either all or none.
For words that can trip you up, like foreign pronunciations, I replace the correct spelling with my own version of phonetics so that I will read the sounds. For example, in Following Sunshine I rewrite Hoàn Kiêm lake in Hanoi as Whan Key-emm. In my normal speech pattern, I tend to talk quickly, and sometimes swallow my words. So, for long, multi-syllable words I break them down with hyphens — Cumulonimbus becomes cu-mul-o-nim-bus.
- THE RECORDING STUDIO.
Decision time. Home studio or professional recording studio? For the home studio ACX has plenty of instructional videos on the equipment you will need and its approximate cost. If you plan on recording several audiobooks each year this might be the right approach and least expensive option in the long run. However, you will need to allow time to learn the technical aspects of the recording requirements, noise floors, room tone, as well as editing. The learning curve can be steep. Decide where your time and money are best spent.
I hire a professional studio and sound engineer. Before negotiating studio time, I assess the approximate length the finished audiobook will run. How do you do that? The average person speaks at approximately 3 words per second, or 160-180 words per minute. A 95,000-word book might translate to a 9.8-hour audiobook. Let’s round that up to 10 hours. Allow approximately a 4:1 recording ratio. For example, assume a 10-hour book will take 40 hours to record. As you become more proficient, that ratio can drop especially if you can edit on the fly.
(c) Niamh McAnally
Read Part 2 of this article here.
To contact Niamh visit www.thewriteronthewater.com
About Following Sunshine byNiamh McAnally:
“A truly brave, enriching memoir that will take you on a global adventure.” –Liam Neeson
In her honest and heart-warming memoir, writer and adventurer Niamh McAnally shares the story of her liberating journey from being unemployed, homeless, and divorced in her fifties, to embarking on a global quest to find purpose through volunteering and ultimately finding a profound love that changed her life.
From volunteering for marine conservation projects on remote islands in Belize, Vanuatu, and Tonga, to exploring exotic destinations like Bora Bora, Palau, Fiji, and St Barths, Niamh takes readers on a captivating journey where each destination unveils a layer of her self-discovery. An encouraging read for the dreamer in each of us, you’ll learn about unique cultures, dolphin research, turtle conservation, and coral reef protection. And be prepared for the most unexpected love story when she is selected as crew for a solo sailor in the Bahamas—a project that was only supposed to last a month but will now last a lifetime.
While telling the story of one woman’s quest for meaning, Following Sunshine also serves as a roadmap for the rest of us, inspiring us to awaken to the potential that lies within and choose a path truest to our being. Perfect for fans of adventure travel, romance, and anyone seeking meaning and fulfillment through giving back.
Order your copy of Following Sunshine byNiamh McAnally online here.
