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Post by thatwritergal on Jan 9, 2019 23:13:38 GMT
So, I keep seeing audio books being touted as the thing in recent times and especially now into the new year. I would so love to put my stuff into audio but I don't have the budget for a narrator and my voice sucks to narrate my own work. Does that put me fresh out of options for getting my work into audio?
I've been waiting for a while to see if there was another way, but nothing has popped out yet. I just thought I'd pick the brains of my fellow members here to see if anyone has found some kind of workaround.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jan 10, 2019 2:29:17 GMT
Dropping in my two cents until those with experience can give you better advice.  Audiobooks can be spendy, but I think they're cool to have for folks who like audiobooks. Do other people tell you that your voice is unsuitable for reading, or is it just that you dislike the sound of your voice? I can't stand the sound of my voice at all, but others have said it's calming. So you may want to try getting some honest opinions of others before throwing out that option completely. If you did then you could do your books yourself, if you can learn all the equipment. The other option is trying to find narrators who don't ask for much upfront and who are willing to be paid per percentage of sales. The problem, of course, is that there's no guarantee your audiobooks will sell, but it would be less costly up front. Have you looked into exactly how much a narrator who wishes to be paid up front would cost? You could always set up an audiobook fund, try putting away 5% of every book sale into a special account until you save the money. If you really wanted to do this and just don't have it right now, but are able to save some. This would be annoying because it could take quite a while, but it could be worth it. Another possible option is service trading or something with someone you know who has a nice radio voice so that you would compensate them, but not with money. |
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Post by thatwritergal on Jan 10, 2019 22:33:37 GMT
Thanks for your thoughts, K'Sennia! I poked around Fiverr which I used in the past for various writing jobs and hoo boy, it's gotten more expensive the more popular (and more big names) it attracted. The prices for narrators there were sky high for me. Not sure where I can look around for cheaper narrators, but it may be worth some more research just to see. I like the idea of service trading, too.
As for me doing it, it's my own opinion not just from my pov but also listening to a recording where I did some reading back in the day. Plus I don't think I could handle the slight voice variances and accents that would really bring the story to life. I'll have to consider your suggestions and see how that goes though. :-) Thanks again. :-)
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Jan 12, 2019 1:51:31 GMT
You’re welcome Yeah, doing accents and different gender voices is different from just reading. Knowing an actor would be cool, they make awesome narrators. Maybe do a Kboards search for authors who have narrated their own books. You don’t need to post on there just use google ebook narrator site:kboards.com, then copy/paste the url into the wayback machine if you find a ton of posts missing from the thread. If you find an author who has narrated their own book, go have a listen, and if you like what you hear, email them and make a proposition. |
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Post by writeway on Jan 24, 2019 5:58:51 GMT
People can tout all they want, but I can't afford to do them. LOL!
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Post by davidvandyke on Jan 30, 2019 16:40:54 GMT
For those who can't afford, there are narrators out there that will do royalty share. If you're not "big," the ones you can get will be newbies, but sometimes it's worth establishing a relationship with a newbie and working with them to get them up to speed--a sort of sweat equity. You provide mentorship and opportunity and patience while they make their mistakes (but you work with them to correct them) and you get audiobooks where you pay on the back end.
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