(or How I Did It, a “.doc”-umentary)
Audiobook Part 2
Once my offer was made and accepted, we were off to a great start. Next came the bit B had been advising me to do for months: setting up character profiles with voice traits and quirks. Stacey’s website (which included a link to a “Welcome Packet,” a great resource for writers considering audiobook projects) has a character questionnaire (included on the site) 
for each of the three main characters, as well as all of the major side characters. This helps the narrator better portray your characters the way you want. We also included actors in specific roles for each character to help Stacey hear their portrayal in another context (she loved this!), and a pronunciation guide, since there were a number of medical terms and South Pacific names for which pronunciation isn’t common knowledge.
It took us a couple of days to complete this detailed questionnaire for all the major players in the story, but the process was fun, and gave *me* greater insight into the characters I’d written. (I suggest doing this as soon as you know your book is ready to publish, so you’re not holding up the production process by doing it at the last minute, like I did. I’ll be doing it earlier in each project’s process in the future.)
As a side note, I don’t know if other narrators would ask for this info; but I’d recommend submitting one to your chosen narrator anyway, because that will help them more artfully and accurately design the voices that will personify the characters from your book.
Once I submitted this, Stacey took a little over two weeks to produce what is called “the first fifteen” – i.e. fifteen minutes of their narration, in segments from several different scenes so that B and I could get a variety of her sample interpretations of my notes and characters. This would be my last chance to make any major changes to Stacey’s character portrayals before she dove in for the rest of the manuscript. B and I made careful notes of anything that needed revising, and I sent Stacey a list (in detail) of what we found. Once I’d submitted my changes to Stacey, she gave me a projected time frame of when she expected to finish.
I uploaded the cover for the audiobook right around this time. Audiobook covers have different dimensions than ebooks or paperbacks, so Duncan had to do a new version of the cover art. ACX’s design specs are kind of specific, so we tweaked it a few times to get it right before I uploaded. (I made sure to name Stacey as the narrator on the cover!) She also advised me that once she began her work, I wouldn’t hear from her much.
Once she finished, she uploaded the book to my ACX project page, with each chapter as a separate file—easier to revise that way. B and I listened to each and every one while following along in the written text, making notes of anything that was wrong or misinterpreted, so we could ask for changes. (Writers, do note that if the narrator has to invest a lot of time changing things that should have been noted to them long before this point, there may be an extra fee.) Luckily, we found only a few small things – mostly glitches where a word got chopped too abruptly in the voice track editing, or some such thing. It was easy to “Request Changes” through ACX. Stacey and her audio team were quick to fix and replace those few chapters where we found issues, and a second run-through proved they were indeed corrected.
Once we were happy with the audio files, I approved the project and paid Stacey’s final invoice. The completed project automatically went to ACX’s Quality Assurance team, where they reviewed the project to ensure everything was up to their standards. That part took about ten days.
Meanwhile, Stacey provided me with a few audio samples to share on social media as part of my promotional efforts. This is a really cool little detail I don’t think I was expecting! If you’re auditioning narrators, ask if they offer this little perk. (Check out one of Stacey’s awesome samples at the end of this post.)
The ACX QA team found no errors or issues with Phagey’s audiobook submission, and on October 9, 2023, the project went live. I even got my first audiobook review three days later—five stars across the board! Wow! Also note that ACX offers two bennies you should be aware of: a list of “promotional” links for giveaways (for reviewers and the like), and a “bounty” link to share in your promos. If a customer clicks on your bounty link, then joins Audible, and your book is the first one they buy, you get a nice bonus along with your royalty. (I’m not sure, yet, if that is a benefit of being exclusive to ACX; still need to check that out.)
Now that I’ve done one audiobook, the prospect of doing a second one isn’t so scary. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth every penny. Stacey was a joy to work with, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
**Please note that I am not a professional. Outside the writing part—for which I have taken numerous classes and workshops, and for which I’ve seen enormous improvement over the years, but which I am still learning—I mostly have no idea what I’m doing. I’m reading everything I can get my hands on, looking at how others who have been successful have done it, and learning this process as I go. I don’t want any reader of these posts to think I’m teaching THE way to self-publish; there are as many ways to do this as there are writers on the path. I am only sharing how I have done it. Your mileage may vary.
Image:
“Audio Book,” Courtesy of Findaway Voices on Unsplash