Full title: Narrated By The Author: How to Produce an Audiobook on a Budget by Renee Conoulty
If you’re an author interested in getting your work into audio, and you’re thinking that it might even be a POSSIBILITY that you could do it yourself, I HIGHLY recommend you take the time to read this little book.
Renee Conoulty lays out in the simplest possible terms the lowest-cost method of doing it yourself. She breaks down the technical requirements and how to get your work to achieve them and pass quality checks used by the major distribution platforms, including Audible, and how to get your book ONTO those platforms. And she lays out for you the three things you need and how much they are going to cost:
Software; there’s a free one called Audacity which is adequate for the job.
Hardware; no, you cannot record on your phone. You need a microphone. It can be a cheap one to start with; there are USB mics out there under $50.
Recording space. Very possible to DIY on the cheap or free, but actually the most important thing of all to spend your time getting right.
I don’t think there’s any better recommendation than a testimonial, so here goes:
I started my career as an author narrator in December 2019 with this book, a walk-in closet full of clothes for a recording space, and less than $100 of hardware. Within two weeks of putting up a sample and asking for feedback, I was being paid to record audiobooks for other people. I’ve since recorded over 20 books and am pulling down excellent pay for them. I’ve upgraded my hardware and learnt some new software tricks, but this is absolutely where I started. I’m lucky enough to be blessed with an amateur dramatics background and the perfect accent for audio (neutral British English). If you’re a good storyteller and you think you can stand listening to your own voice, recording your own audiobook might be for you, and this book is an excellent place to start figuring out how. Five stars.
