Audiobook Series (Part 2): Who creates Audiobooks and How?

If you haven’t already, read Part 1 of our Audiobook series, well go read!

Answer the questions below thoughtfully, and then you may pass go, and hopefully collect more than $200. (This is a subtle reference to the game Monopoly that is not available as an audiobook.)

Who will be doing the reading? 

I went to school with Mike Villiers. When excited, sad, tired, angry, happy, or content, he had a voice that reminded me of a goose with severe Spring allergies being strangled by an instrument created for the Spanish Inquisition. We called him Melody.

It might be a good idea to skip old Mike. Nor would I suggest Pastor Peter Smith from my youth. He would, and we timed him Sunday after Sunday, with an interval never less than 45 seconds but never exceeding 1 minute and 13 seconds, he would make a sound that was somewhere between a swallow, a throat clearing sound and a friendly growl.

In a very belabored way, we are trying to make you aware that you must think before you open your mouth, or the mouth of your choice.

• Male or Female reader?
• Young or Old?
• One or many? Sometimes alternate chapters are about a specific character. Or you may consider a dramatized version.

How are you going to divide the book?

The answer that you will give, and we are willing to offer a free email address if you can prove us wrong, is by chapter, the best and most correct and conventional answer. When it comes to short, even very short chapters, this is not an issue but with longer chapters there can be some technical concerns.

Remember, that mp3s, in comparison to EPUBs, are huge. It is unlikely though that you will have a chapter that is Terra-bytes in length, but take into account that you will have to cater for the space to host these files somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight. (Quick, where does that come from?)

Also, keep in mind that the mp3 format does not allow for bookmarks. WMA, in turn, does allow for bookmarks. This means, that if you record in mp3 format, and if the relevant chapter is long, it might be a hassle to find your place again next time.

How much can I afford?

The easiest would be if you could just email the book to somebody and receive a completed product in a few days time.

Most indie authors can not afford this and have to do a lot of the process themselves.  Before embarking on a project like this, you have to know whether you can afford the time or not.

Now, we are subtly slipping in a Theodore Roosevelt quote that we Googled, in order to appear erudite and well read: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

In Part 3 of this series we will be looking at the technicalities that are involved in recording and creating an audio file. Remember, to paraphrase old Teddy, Everything is simple but nothing is easy.

Do you really have the time to do this? Will it not be cheaper to pay for it?

Conclusion

We have convinced you with our supreme logic and spell checked article that considering an audio version is worth it. We have started you on this journey by helping you to plan the project.

In the next part of the series, we will have look at the software, file formats and other technical aspects that will help or hinder you along the way.