One area of the writing life that I haven't discussed yet is audio books. I'm no expert in this, but what I know I've learned by experience, and I'll be happy to pass it on. My narrator has just finished recording an audio version of my novella,
Surgeon's Choice, so it's fresh in my mind
. As for the finished product--well, read to the end to see about that.
When a book is released by a traditional publisher, the decision to turn out an audio version generally rests with that publishing house. This may vary with the individual contract, but that's how it's been for me. Of the ten novels of mine that were published that way, a few were also released in audio form. My share of the royalties comes to me as part of the royalty package for each book. I didn't choose the narrator, nor did I have anything to do with that process. It was automatic. Not so with indie-publishing.
The author holds the copyright on everything that's written, so if he/she is not limited by a contract with a publisher, that person can publish an e-book, a print book, an audio book--any or all of them. I have gone with audio versions of all four novellas I have indie-published. Since ACX pretty much has the market of audio books wrapped up, that's the way I chose to go. If you have an Amazon account, you can sign into ACX.com with that name and password. Then go to the FAQ segment to see how it works for authors--they have a lot of information, and present it better than I can.
Does it cost to do this? Your decision. I chose to do a royalty-sharing contract, which meant no money out of my pocket initially. The income from an audio book hasn't been huge, but it's like an annuity. It keeps paying.
If you choose to pay your narrator up-front, you get the entire royalty for every audio book sold. The average charges for narrators/producers varies but the range is shown on the ACX site. Another question, by the way, is setting the price of the recording. That's out of your hands, even as an indie author. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad, but at least it's one less decision you have to make.
Choice of a narrator is an important matter. You post your book by listing it on audible, add a 15 minute test segment for potential narrators to read, then choose one. Sounds simple, but it took me a bit of time and effort to settle on one. After that, you need to listen to every chapter after it's read--you're the only one who can tell if something is mispronounced, for example. This takes a lot of time, but it's worth it.
Of course, during these sessions of listening you find areas you wish you could change--we always do. Hearing the words read aloud is yet another reason to do that with your book before submitting it for printing.
At some point in the process, you have to upload a cover for the book. This is different in format from the print and/or e-book cover, but you can change the dimensions and format to meet the requirements of ACX. Your cover artist may be able to do this. After you accept the final audio book, it takes a few days for the technical aspects to be completed. Then it's posted on
Audible,
Amazon, and
iTunes.
Now, as for the audio version of my novella,
Surgeon's Choice, I've just been notified that it is available on Audible, and can be found on the other sites within a day or two. At the "find a book" tab, enter the title, add my name if you wish, and enjoy.
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