The Making of an Audiobook: The Ghosts of Culpeper Antiques

There is nothing more satisfying to me as an author than hearing another person read my written words out loud. And even more so with a professional narrator skilled in understanding the spoken word: how to exude the proper emotions, time the delivery of words and pauses, and apply different dialects to different characters. Audiobooks also allow me to control the speed at which a listener takes in my words, and it frees them up from holding a book or device. They can just sit back, close their eyes, and imagine.

Though it takes a lot of time and effort to turn a written book into an audiobook, the process can be quite rewarding. Here is what it took to turn The Ghosts of Culpeper Antiques into an audiobook.

The Process

1. First, I had to have the written book completed and already published on Amazon.

2. Next, I submitted a few select pages of the book on ACX.com, the platform used by Amazon to create Audible books. Within a few hours I was receiving free auditions from narrators, sometimes 2-3 an hour. After receiving about three dozen auditions over the week, I narrowed it down to four and asked a few of them if they could alter their takes a bit to be more in line with what I had in mind for Mary, the story's main narrator, who is in her 70s. I made sure to message each person who auditioned and thanked them for their time.

I finally chose actor and narrator Elizabeth Schmidt (American Sniper, Law & Order, Grey's Anatomy). She did a wonderful job of capturing Mary's general demeanor, and just as important, her audio recording quality was superb. We worked out a Royalty-Share Plus agreement where I would pay her upfront at a reduced rate after the production and we would split the royalties from sales.

3. To help with the understanding of all 16 characters, I came up with a detailed description of each, which included their ages, general demeanors, and ethnic backgrounds. I even searched the web for photos of people that best represented what I had in mind. This made it easier for the narrator to determine the right tone and articulation for each character.

4. After I approved the initial 15 minutes, the fun began. This is where it's important for you, the author, to assist the narrator as each chapter is completed and uploaded for your review. If a character is not coming off how you had in mind, you want to guide the narrator in the right direction as soon as possible. This can be daunting, because you are hearing actual spoken words for a character that was once only in your head. 

5. There will be mistakes along the way--wrong words, mispronunciations, and delivery problems. This is to be expected. So you make a corrections spreadsheet and give it to the narrator at the end of all the recordings.

6. Once all chapters were approved, and payment was made to the narrator, I submitted the book for a final review on Audible before it was published. The entire process to create the four-hour audiobook for The Ghosts of Culpeper Antiques took two months. You will be sick of your book by then, so give yourself a good break afterward.

The Results

Here is a 2-minute snippet from Chapter 1 of The Ghosts of Culpeper Antiques, now available for FREE with a new Audible subscription. Order here. Enjoy!

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