by Helen Lloyd
In celebration of ‘June Is Audiobook Month’ – #JIAM – this series has been looking at the various options available to authors and rights holders who would like to bring their work to audio, but who perhaps don’t know where to start.
In the previous article, we looked at the issue of finding out who owns the audio rights to your book. If you own the rights, or have acquired them from your publisher, you have the choice of working with an audiobook production company, or hiring a narrator and producing the project yourself.
Working with an Audiobook Production Company
One easy way to handle all these issues is to outsource your work an audiobook production company such as Raconteurs Audio, who would go on to produce and publish the audiobook in consultation with you as the author.
They would be responsible not only for finding the right narrator (or narrators in the case of the multi-voice production) and creating the recording. They would also handle the post-production work, (audio-proofing, audio engineering, editing, mastering, and QC), plus the creation of the artwork (if, for example, the rights to the original art work are not available.)
They would also draft the marketing copy and manage the distribution of the audiobook, usually via a third party such as Findaway, Spoken Realms, Authors’ Republic, or a similar distribution platform. The audiobook would then be for sale on Audible, Amazon, Apple Books and all the other usual audiobook outlets.
Producing an Audiobook Independently
Another option is for the author to work directly with a narrator to produce the audiobook independently.
If you go down this route, as well as hiring the producer and narrator, you are likely also to incur the cost of studio hire, an audio engineer to record, audio-proof, process and master the recordings to create the final audio version of the book, and you may need to work with an designer to create your book cover if the original isn’t available to you. So although at first glance this may seem an easier option, it can actually be more trouble and even be more expensive than working with a production partner.
The other thing you must factor in in all these scenarios is time – audiobook production is a marathon rather than a sprint! In the final part of this series, we’ll look at what actually goes into making an audiobook, how a narrator and engineer work, and what time commitment is really involved.
Meanwhile, if you’re interest in finding out how Raconteurs Audio can help you produce your audiobook, just send us a message – we’d love to talk!
About Helen Lloyd
Helen has been blogging for many years – about acting, audiobooks and other related stuff. She is a founder member of Raconteurs Audio, and as well as being an award winning audiobook narrator and producer, she is a narrator coach and mentor helping numerous narrators to hone their skills and advance their narration journey.
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