Dyslexia Foundation UK and Audio Books, Paul Anthony talk about a new scheme to create an audio library for the Foundation.
I wondered on whether the title of this post should be either ‘How to Produce Audio Books’ or ‘Audio Books - A Missed Opportunity’. It’s debatable. So I invite you to read my story and then you can decide.
In 2011, the Dyslexia Foundation UK, selected one of my books to be the first audio book in their forthcoming library to be located primarily in the Manchester and Liverpool area of North West England. They picked a book published by a traditional house so I rang my publisher and arranged to donate electronic distribution rights to the registered charity. Two ‘phone calls later, the charity bought a dozen books at a discount price suitable to both parties concerned and commenced the project. The project is designed so that the dyslexic individual can simultaneously read a printed book whilst listening to the audio. This stimulates the brain and enhances both the reading ability and educational standard of the dyslexic person. Dyslexia isn’t a disease. It’s a condition that we can do something about. I’m lucky, I’m not dyslexic. Are you? ‘Do you need any more books from different authors?’ I asked.
‘Yes please,’ they replied. ‘We’re making a library.’
‘I’ll write an open letter to all the authors I network with,’ said I. ‘We’re bound to get some interest.’ ‘Do you have any network friends?’ They asked.
I responded, ‘Across ‘social media platforms’ - about 5,000 and rising.’
‘Oh, we don’t need that many. It’s just a small library,’ they replied.
I wrote the letter and transmitted it to my 5,000 ‘friends, likers, and followers.’ It’s on this blogsite.
Audio production began.
The Foundation engaged a BBC producer to firstly read the work and become familiar with the syntax and the characters defined in the book - so that one might have an understanding of the actions and emotions that leap from the pages into the narrator’s speech. They used software to turn my 350 page single spaced novel into an 850 page double spaced A4 script for the narrator to read and speak from during the production. Then they hired a recording studio in Manchester and recorded the work over a five day period. It took time and it was their first production. Of course, once the work is recorded, it has to be edited in the studio so that the quality of the recoding is maximised and not lost in the electronics. Then it’s packaged into a CD or an MP3 and it’s ready to go. And oh yes, we’ll stimulate some press interest - local and regional radio stations, regional television, and local newspapers in the North West. Mmm.. We’re done; the work is completed, we’re ready to go in 2012 - with one book.
The Foundation will rent out the recording and the printed book to their members at a couple of pounds a time and all the money will go to their charity. They’ll give me the CD or MP3 and I can sell it wherever I want if I wish. Err.... yes, I can sell it too. So my book is in an audio library; the Foundation will make money from the audio book, and I can sell it elsewhere if I want too - or to be precise, copies of it - just like Amazon audio books then and in the same format!
You can produce an audio book at home, I hear you say. Correct, you need to have a computer, buy the relevant software, and have a really quiet room and a very expensive but really good microphone. And then you need to be able to read and record the work without picking up the noise of pages turning and all the background noise you might expect in a house. You know, passing traffic, voices, telephone ringing... and, oh yeah, you do have a good voice for narration, don’t you? I’m pretty sure some authors work pretty hard at producing audio books from home and make a good job of it. But you could also hire a recording studio yourself and pay a narrator and a sound engineer to do the work for you. Do you have a calculator? Are you adding up the cost of this project? If you’re already published by a traditional house then your publisher may well have you in audio already, but there are actually very few audio books out there. And if you’re a self publisher then cost will be no object at all, will it?
‘So how’s the response been to your open letter from other authors?’ I hear you say.
Well, research reveals that the Goodreads community is awash with authors who give away their printed books every day of the week in the relevant area of that website. You put your book cover and blurb in the Giveaways section and then people enter a free raffle for your book(s). I’ve done it with all my books. It’s free marketing for a month for the author and a free book for the winner, and it’s fun. Free books! Oh yes, Smashwords and Amazon are saturated with authors giving away those free books - sorry ebooks - They even got blogsites and websites dedicated to the distribution of free books. They’re climbing all over each other to give away free books that are ebooks. It’s so dangerous out there you could get injured pushing in front of someone determined to give you a free book before someone else does. But it’s good to give free books away. Good for marketing, exposure, and future sales. Why on earth would you want to donate a free book to a charity? No marketing, exposure or future sales there, is there? And some of the ebooks we know of are also in print, aren’t they?
Well, reader, I’m a self publisher now because I choose to be and I’m in print, kindle and all the other technical formats that you can think of. I’ve donated all my books to the Foundation. I’ve worked out it will cost me.. Nothing.. Other than a few printed books and a postage delivery... to ‘go audio’.
So how many of my 5,000 cyberspace ‘friends, likers, and followers’ have donated their work so far?
I’ll tell you - Here’s their names, not including myself, ... Elizabeth Marshall, Magda Olcahwska, CC Cole, Sonia Rumzi, Miriam Wakerly, .... and, well that’s five ..... from 5,000. (But not forgetting Zoe Saadia who isn’t in print but has offered to assist in marketing the project) Yep, thank you, ladies. I mean thank you. That’s part of 2012 taken up in recording your books.
The cost to you? Err.... Sorry, I lost my calculator. You work it out!
Now then is the title of this posting correct? How to Produce Audio Books.... Or.... Audio Books - A Missed Opportunity.... You decide.
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