So, I got the first fifteen minutes of my audio book for All Fall Down. I got the notification in the evening and I rushed downstairs to hear it. I was excited! I put in my earphones so I wouldn't be distracted and settled down to listen.
It's still surreal to have a professional reading my book. My words. The story I wrote. It's like having the story come to life.
I loved the performance. The way he read it, with great tone, building in suspense, using different voices, it was everything I wanted. But as I listened to it again, I noticed a few things I wanted the narrator to tweak.
Last week I mentioned that I would be looking for pacing, pronunciation, and whether he captured the characters and their voice. Keeping that in mind, I listened to my first fifteen minutes three more times, specifically looking for those things (and I also sent the download to a few trusted people that had experience with audio books and knew my work). They mostly all agreed that there was one character that needed a bit of a change, and a few minor pronunciation things here and there, but other than that, it was awesome!
I do have to say that I was curious as to how other narrators did things, so I went to Audible and listened to a bunch of samples. I can now say with confidence that I think my narrator is doing an incredible job.
So, now I'll message the tweaks and changes to the narrator and he will fix them. Or, at least I expect that's what will happen. I will let you know!
Read the rest of my journey!
Part 5
Meet My Narrator!
3 comments:
So you've listened to a bunch of audiobooks to compare your narrator to others. That's good. Then you should feel confident that he's doing it right when you give him the go-ahead. I'm glad. Someday I'd like to have my book done in audiobook form, but I wonder how feasible it is to have two readers doing it, one male and one female to read each genders parts. Is that unrealistic?
Glad you decided not to give much weight to my comments. =)
Out of curiosity, what's the ballpark cost to get an audio book done? Feel free to be vague. ;)
Debra, I did see a few books that did that. I can't imagine why you couldn't, but you'd have to pay two narrators.
Jon, did you see where I said "They MOSTLY all agreed?" You were why I put in mostly. :) I do value your opinion!
Audio books range in price because it depends on how long the book is. Every finished hour has a price to it. Or, you can do a royalty share agreement and the narrator will split the royalties with you. So, the price varies.
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