• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Erggo

Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

  • Home
  • Demos
  • Titles
  • Reviews
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Shop

Audiobooks

From Casting a Narrator to Happily Ever After

13 December 2017

Last week, I looked at the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX.com) as a matchmaking site between indie authors and narrators. Today in part 2 of the series, we’ll continue exploring the ACX process, from casting the narrator you love to living happily ever after with your completed audiobook.

I should mention at this point that ACX refers to everyone on the production side as a producer. Some producers only manage the project, but most ACX producers are also the narrator with whom you will contract your book. Therefore, I’ll use these 2 words interchangeably.

In most cases, one narrator will perform the entire book, giving voices to characters of both genders. You can find your ideal narrator by taking either of 2 non-mutually exclusive paths on ACX: contact narrators individually, or let them find your title.

[Read more…] about From Casting a Narrator to Happily Ever After

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Authors Tagged With: ACX.com, Audible Approved Producer

Author Seeks Narrator: Must Love Books

6 December 2017

Indie audiobook publishing, where you produce your audiobook and retain all audio rights, follows a similar format as Internet dating. You register on a site and create an intriguing profile hoping to attract Mr. or Ms. Right for a long-term relationship.

In this 2-part series, I’ll discuss audiobook publishing using the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX.com), the first and best-known audiobook matchmaking site. You’ll see how to maximize your ACX title listing to captivate your ideal narrator! I’ll address independent production on other platforms in future articles.

 

Girl holding laptop with ACX on the screen

[Read more…] about Author Seeks Narrator: Must Love Books

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Authors Tagged With: ACX.com, audiobook, indie

Finding Your Own Road to Tara

8 November 2017

A few years ago, I started my audio publishing empire with a public domain book. Today, I am thrilled to publish my first contemporary audiobook ROAD TO TARA: THE LIFE OF MARGARET MITCHELL by Anne Edwards.

Road to Tara: The Life Of Margaret Mitchell by Anne Edwards audiobook cover art

I’m not the first narrator to acquire audio rights and publish an audiobook of a current book. Nevertheless, I wanted to retrace my steps in this article to inspire more of you to follow a similar path. As actor/writer/director Bob Fraser used to urge people, you can cast yourself!

[Read more…] about Finding Your Own Road to Tara

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Away From the Mic, Business, Narrators Tagged With: Anne Edwards, audio rights, Gone With the Wind, Jessica Kaye, Margaret Mitchell, marketing, Road to Tara

Top 10 Q & A About Audiobook Production

20 October 2017

As I’ve talked with authors about producing audiobooks of their work, I’ve noticed that many are new to the format and ask similar questions. I’ll answer the 10 most common questions I’ve heard about audiobook production in this post.

Thinking business woman surrounded by question marks.

[Read more…] about Top 10 Q & A About Audiobook Production

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Authors Tagged With: ACX, hybrid, per finished hour, royalty-share, RS

Are You Leaving Money on the Table?

3 October 2017

Each day an author doesn’t have her books in audio, she’s leaving money on the table.

man counts $100 bills and leaves some on table

[Read more…] about Are You Leaving Money on the Table?

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Authors Tagged With: audiobooks, growth, WhisperSync

One Email That Isn’t a Scam

20 July 2017

When you receive an email from a Nigerian prince, you probably think, “This so-called prince is just somebody who wants to take my money.”

Other types of emails may cause the same reaction. Authors are inundated every week with solicitations from marketing and web site gurus, proofers, webinar hosts, and more. It could be easy to become jaded to the constant barrage of offers.

However, one email that isn’t a scam is the one from an audiobook narrator who wants to collaborate with you on producing your audiobook. The reaction to that kind of email should be one of giddy excitement, such as, “This is somebody who wants to MAKE me money! What a prince!”

touch screen mobile phone with email messages floating in the air

Although narrators routinely work with audio publishers, we are independent, freelance business owners just like you are. We don’t have agents who deal in audiobook work. Each narrator is on her own for ensuring she has a steady workload.

Until recent years, only about 5% of all books were made into audiobooks. Even though audiobooks are the fastest growing segment of publishing and have had double digit growth for the past 3 years, the overall number of audiobooks is still a relatively low percentage of the number of available books.

Consequently, the majority of authors do not have audiobooks of their titles and may not know how to create one. Narrators frequently do outreach with authors to help them learn about the production process. We speak at authors’ conferences and workshops. Some of us (ahem) write articles to share our knowledge and love of this medium.

We also prospect to line up projects on our own. We look for authors who are prolific in writing and releasing their books and treat their writing as a business. Once we find an author of interest, we research her work to find a book that:

  1. isn’t already available as an audiobook
  2. is a good fit for our voice, skills, and interests
  3. contains content suitable for an audiobook in a genre that is successful in audio
  4. could be expected to sell well in audio

With the research complete, the narrator will contact the author — usually through email — to inquire about the possibility of creating the audiobook.

If you’re on the receiving end of an unexpected query email from an audiobook narrator, you might initially think it’s a scam. What should you do?

[Read more…] about One Email That Isn’t a Scam

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Authors, Business Tagged With: ACX.com, Ann M Richardson, Audible.com, AudioForAuthors.com, Blackstone Audio

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 18
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Erggo

Karen@KarenCommins.com

© 1999-2023 Karen Commins // Site design by Voice Actor Websites // Affiliate links to Amazon are used on this site.