My Audiobook Is Finally, Finally Finished
Months after my novel’s release date, more months after starting to record, and hours and hours of reading, editing, cleaning up, and engineering, the audiobook version of Last Hope For Hire is finally available as an audiobook.
So, so much work for the “audiobook” tab.
So much work went into this that the cost/benefit ratio would be massively skewed if producing it had cost me any actual money. Luckily, I had everything I needed to produce the audiobook already in hand. The time factor was brutal–mostly in the time it took to clean up the audio of all mouth clicks and oddities from my imperfect recording setup and myself as narrator. But, it is done.
I used ACX to distribute the book.
I chose ACX (Amazon Creation Exchange) to upload and distribute my audiobook. The choice of how to distribute an independent audiobook can lead to a lot of hand wringing, but I didn’t really see it as much of a choice. The reach of promotion and awareness for this book will always be small, and ACX seems to have the best mix of distribution and quality control, so I was glad to get moving forward.
One by one, each file started to add up.
The ACX upload process was relatively easy, as long as you’re able to make your way around Photoshop to create the cover art and Audacity to prep your files. The most difficult part in the beginning was making sure the files all met the basic average loudness requirements, and I was glad to have found an Audacity plugin that could analyze my file and tell me if I was passing or not. I’ll save you the details, but there’s no substitute for listening to your audio, so I have become quite familiar with this book and my own voice through the process.
After all the files were finally loaded and they all met the quick scan of technical requirements, it was time to submit it all to the ACX quality assurance process. I don’t know exactly what goes into that beyond an actual person listening to the audiobook for problems. The system said the turnaround time for QA screening was 10 business days. In the end, my book was approved within six.
Another drop in the content bucket.
The main goal of ACX really seems to be to fill up Audible with as much content as possible to help sell and maintain subscriptions to their monthly services. And honestly, that seems to be the best chance I have for people to listen to my audiobook anyway. It’s a much easier way to get someone to listen to an independent book that person has never even heard of than to get someone to pay $10-$20 and buy it outright.
Audible really, really wants people to subscribe. And for the money, it does seem like a pretty great deal. Think about it–how much time and money will people put into producing an audiobook of a novel that is just plain not any good? Sure, it’s possible, but I dare say there is a good baked-in chance that each book is at least worth a try if not a complete listen.
In the end, this project may very well have been more rewarding for the accomplishment of narrating, editing, and publishing my own audiobook than by the sales it may earn. That is a definite reality with a book that runs over eight and-a-half hours and took many, many more hours than that to produce. But it will always be around to find. And hopefully those who choose to listen will find reward in the effort.