The Duty’s Cost audiobook has been out for a few months now and is slowly gaining traction (still figuring out how to market a book…). A couple of folks have asked about the process, so I thought I would post a few observations—no particular order.
- Riding the Creative Sine Wave: Like most of my writing experiences, the process started off really fun, turned into a bit of a drag for a while, then got fun again at the very end. Now, it’s something I’m genuinely proud of.
- Using ACX: I went with ACX, and must say, they make the entire process incredibly easy. Highly recommend for anyone considering creating an audiobook.
- The Freelancing Vibes: If you’ve ever used a freelancing site, the process will feel familiar. You post your project, get proposals, pick a contractor, and dive in.
- Audition Overload: ACX served up over a hundred auditions for the narrator. Yes, over a hundred voices reading the five-minute snippet I uploaded. If you want to experience decision fatigue, try listening to that many interpretations of your work. The variety was fascinating, though: young, old, male, female, American, British, unidentifiable accents, dramatic, droning, sexy, macho—you name it.
- Porch Council: Luckily, the weekend I was deciding on a narrator, my wife was hosting a girls' weekend on the ridge with her high school besties. So, naturally, we turned it into an event: cocktails on the porch and narrator auditions. There were plenty of opinions, but thankfully, the group coalesced around a mostly unanimous pick. (Fun fact: women buy the majority of books and audiobooks. So, you know… genius move by me.)
- The Tedious Middle: After selecting the narrator, the actual work began. Mark (the narrator) would send batches of chapters, and I’d listen to ensure correct pronunciation and approve the narration. Mark was fantastic, but the process is painstaking. It reminded me of the final editing stages of writing, staying hyper-focused on every single word. Ugh. (Side note: military acronyms were a challenge. Who knew “160th” had so many wrong ways to be pronounced?)
- Reading vs. Listening: I learned that some things that work on the page don’t translate well to audio. (Yeah…it was a kinda face palming, duh! moment) Internal character thoughts, for example, are indicated with italics in print in my books, but that doesn’t exist in audio. When these came up, the narration sometimes felt disjointed. I ended up tweaking a few sections in Mark’s script to make them more audio-friendly.
- It’s a Whale: Like the print edition, the audiobook is a whale, clocking in at over 25 hours. (The average audio book is about 10 hours long.) Using the road trip yardstick, Duty’s Cost will get you from New York City to Miami—with time left over to enjoy the last hour or two of narration on the beach. For those dealing with Return to Office mandates, think of it as a solid chunk of commute time well spent.
Want a Free Copy?
The best part: I still have some FREE COUPONS for the audiobook! If you’d like a free copy of Duty’s Cost on Audible, message me here. Supplies are limited, so act fast!
Thanks for coming along on this journey with me. I hope you enjoy the audiobook as much as I enjoyed creating it.
- TR