Audio book recording and why it is a crucial part of the publication of your book

This week in our blog we wanted to talk about audio books and why having one is crucial to your publication. For every author who has spent so long writing a book have you thought about how you are going to get your book out into the world and being accessible to all audiences? You’ve of course got physical copies and digital versions but these are not accessible to everyone. Recording your audio book allows potential customers to not be bound to only reading when they have downtime. There is a growing market for streaming audiobooks whilst people are commuting or relaxing and is actually a great way for your book to be accessed.

The process is very straightforward and we can work with you from recording right through to publication.

Step 1 – Finishing your book. Make sure to have your book proof read by at least 2 other people. It is very easy to miss-spell or use incorrect grammar. This isn’t intentional but you naturally become hazy when working on a project you are invested in for such a long time.

Step 2 – Checking formatting is correct for your physical copies to be printed. If using online well-known distributors there are straightforward guides you can use.

Step 3 – Recording your audio book. This is a straight-forward process. We like to make this easy. It is simply a matter finding the correct person to read your book. You may have someone in mind or we can suggest people we have worked with. You come into the studio and recording the book from start to finish. We like to work in chapters so it’s start recording and read through. If there are point that need to be redone the best practice is to just stop take a breath and pick up at the beginning of the sentence you stopped at. Then keep going until you reach the end of the chapter. Any breaks will be tidied up in post-production by our in-house engineer. Working through the book in order and recording a chapter at a time allows for both us and yourselves to keep a track on progress and keep the recording process as efficient as possible.

The length of time to record the book is based on a few factors. How long is the book? How many times is there pickups when recording? There are a couple of different reasons why recording times are ambiguous. We will always do our best to minimise the amount of time that is needed.

Once recording is completed the post production process will begin. This requires a full listen through of the book by our engineer and then mixing of the book. We will listen through at 1.5x or 2x speed in order to identify any moments that need edited and correct these. This allows for the post production to be done efficiently. This does not compromise on any quality as edit gets done at normal speed.

We will mix, master and format the recording both into 1 long run of the book and also broken down into chapters as well as any introduction or conclusion etc. This will be made available via digital link in wav and mp3.

Step 4 – Distribution. Choosing where to publish and how can be daunting. It’s important to look at choosing mainstream platforms in order to get yourself out there and seen. Once you have distributed don’t forget you need to market. Try not to market by telling people to buy or forcing them to read but give relevant information about what it is you are offering in order to peak there interest.