I have been a writer for more years than I like to remember.
Let’s just say I’ve been scribbling for decades. I’ve won major book awards and
published eleven books, nine fiction and two nonfiction, and a lot of people
like to read them.
I publish both paperbacks and eBooks, so why has it taken me
so long to think about audiobooks.
Well, when I say I hadn’t been thinking about this, it is
not actually true. You see, I have been thinking about turning my books into
audiobooks for quite a long time. I even at one point tried to narrate my
own audiobook.
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| How difficult can it be to narrate my own book? |
Now, as you know, I have a technical frame of mind, even to the extent I build my own computers. So, the technicalities of producing an audiobook weren’t beyond me. However, my confidence in the narration side of things was a totally different matter. So, although I narrated one book, I never had the courage to upload it. I had to think of my other options, and that was when it became difficult.
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| Job done - the computer build is finished |
So, apart from doing it myself, what are the other options? Only two spring to mind:
- 1) Pay a narrator to narrate the book; quite a costly exercise, particularly if you have several books and want to finance the audiobooks from the money you make from your business as an author. And believe me, unless your name is Stephen King or JK Rowling, you don’t make that much money from writing. Most authors don’t even earn the minimum wage from their writing.
- 2) Or enter into a royalty share deal with a narrator, which is the cheapest way to do it. But, of course, you then have to split the royalties you earn from the audiobook with your narrator, plus it ties you to ACX for seven years, and it was that last bit I baulked at. I never like to tie myself to exclusive contracts. I prefer to go wide even though Amazon and Audible are the major sellers of books of all kinds. I just don’t like to be tied down. That was probably the main reason I parted from my traditional publisher as well. I prefer my freedom. Freedom to make my own decisions, whether they turn out to be right or wrong.
Several years passed after I first thought about producing
my own audiobooks and it was always the cost which got in the way. And there
was no way I was going to finance this with a loan. I have an abhorrence of
debt!
Then Covid struck, and we all went into lockdown. All my conferences were cancelled so I had fewer expenses. Conferences can be quite costly each year, particularly when you frequent the bigger ones, like Crimefest at Bristol, Theakston’s at Harrogate, Bloody Scotland at Stirling, and the CWA conferences. You can spend a ton of money going to all of these and now I had an excess of funds going spare, so you can guess how I invested them.
Yes, you are right. I found a lovely narrator, Angela Ness, and got my first audiobook commissioned, closely followed by the next two. So, now I have three audiobooks on sale and waiting for my readers, or should I say listeners, to find them. And I’m saving up to get the next one done.
In the end, it wasn’t too difficult to make this decision. I
had far fewer expenses by staying away from my usual conferences and I didn’t
miss them as much as I thought I would. As a result, I’ve sworn off conferences
until I make all my books into audiobooks so that my readers/listeners can reap
the benefit.
In conclusion, I’m glad I took the leap into audiobooks and
if you happen to have an unused Audible credit lying around (hint, hint), it
would be great if you gave my audiobooks a try, and don’t forget to let me know
what you think of my narrator.
Until the next time.
Chris Longmuir
