Murder by 4: AUDIOBOOKS: HOW IT'S DONE THROUGH ACX, Part II

It's been a while since I wrote my first article about how to get your book made into an audio book via ACX. I now have twenty-six books that have gone through the process, and I've learned a great deal as I've blundered through. ;o)

As a listener, I've also been an Audible member for a while now. I love Audible - I get one book per month for $14.99, but it's not enough so I end up buying more credits. I need to upgrade my membership to a higher plan.

Here is a collection of tips I've thrown together that might help you get started and have a successful audio book project. Please also consider reading these previous related articles to help give you perspective:

Read this first for the nuts and bolts of how to start:

AUDIOBOOKS: How it's Done Through ACX, Part I.

And here are some more articles that deal with the subject. Dora Machado's piece is wonderful, I highly recommend it.

No Time to Read? Try AudioBooks!

The Making of an Audio Book by Dora Machado

Here are a few tips, and thanks to Christine Amsden for tip 8! Please feel free to add to the list in the comments.

Tip #1: your book must be available on Amazon as an eBook for you to be eligible to sign up with ACX.com, which is owned by Audible, which is owned by Amazon.

Tip #2: listen to a series of professionally done audio books before you select your narrator. I did not do this - and I wish I had. My first few books were recorded by a a wonderful guy with a great voice, but he was a novice, and I realize in hindsight it was a mistake. Now I can't undo it. Fortunately now I have great narrators I adore. But it takes time to learn, so be patient.

Tip #3: listen closely to all preliminary chapter recordings, listen twice or three times if you need to. Don't be afraid to suggest changes in how words are emphasized or pronounced.

Tip #4: Go through the book in advance for names or places that might be hard to pronounce. Record a voice memo with all the pronunciations up front so your narrator doesn't have to struggle or wonder about them!

Tip #5: Don't be afraid to listen to narrators and ask them to audition. There is a search in both directions, and you may find a perfect guy/gal for your book by being assertive and not sitting back to wait for auditions to pour in!

Tip #6: If you sign up for royalty share, you won't have to pay any money up front. You will forever split your profits with your narrator, however. That's how I do it. Unless you have big bucks and want to hire them by the hour, I suggest this method.

Tip #7: You need a square image for the cover - it must be 2400x2400 pixels and you must have rights (or gain permission to use) the original art. Your book cover as is is NOT an acceptable size for the audio book cover.

Tip #8 from Christine Amsden: Make sure to include some dialog in your audition script. I didn't do this originally, and had to go back and edit later because I wanted to know what the female narrators would sound like doing a male voice. (note from Aaron: Sometimes male narrators go too high with the female characters. I didn't want falsetto - I wanted a "softer" tone for the ladies.)