Word is out that audio books are hot sellers. (Tell me, is it so?)
So I outlaid. Speak Out-Don’t Freak Out joined the clamour of audio books. But last week, I realised my audio book had become Phantom of the Audible. Terse phone calls and emails resulted in links to other sites while the go-between negotiates with Amazon Audible to reinstate.
Listen Up and Speak Out!
A lightbulb moment brightened recent gloom. With time on my hands, experience of speaking, of training and coaching speakers to confident performance polish and even the book (but sorry, no T-shirt)...
Why not narrate my own books?
Cue self-sabotage...
I'm a bear of limited tech brain.
But, aha! I know a savant who revels in such. Musician colleague and former student Kathy is paying off the Classical clarinet I no longer play. She has some time on her hands and welcomes a project. Hear her on Soundcloud, a site she led me to. Rather than borrow her kind offer of tools of trade equipment, we went to an audio shop and I bought the most user-friendly device possible, a Zoom TN1. Too easy!
The mic sports a “dead cat” to block extraneous noise, so I can record out on my deck. I begin narrating Burn my Letters, the first book of the Midnight Sun to Southern Cross trilogy.
Cue a Molotov cocktail of self-sabotage, frustration and reality check
Have I bitten off an elephant of words! Perhaps it's enough to narrate a chapter of each book as PR teasers?
And what to do with male Swedish voices who predominate in the book? Its main protagonist hero is a Finland-Swede, and my book includes magical realism conversations with him. I begin to regret this clever trick which enables me to go inside heads and explore motives.
Northern Light and Sound
Email a friend of 50-years with decades' experience as a music journalist with Swedish Radio. Now retired, he has time on his hands. Professional but humble, Carl (“Calle”) sounds caution. Any mispronounced colloquial words would shriek unprofessional. Feel free to ask another friend of 50 years. But hear Calle in this narration, round 3'40". after an intro précis) reading lines from Kalevela. What say you?
Email Jan Westerlund, a flautist with whom I performed in Regionmusiken 50 years ago (see pp 47-46 of Burn My Letters). He's interested.
Sound circles around the globe
So my team consists of two Swedes and we two who live streets away in Brisbane. After recording takes, I drop the SD card into Kathy’s letterbox, she edits and uploads.
LISTEN UP! Enjoy our team work Introduction and Chapter 1 of Burn My Letters
It includes an excerpt of Grandad's 1960s radio interview 2'30".
Opportunity: Do you dream of your own titles morphing into audio books? Would a teaser audio chapter boost your book sales? As I finesse my narrative skills and eventually learn editing expertise (meanwhile supported by Kathy's brilliant savvy) I'll offer these to other authors. Contact me if my voice suits your book.
You, too, could enter a new genre, the talking book.
RUTH BONETTI is author/editor of a dozen publications, firstly in her primary field of music and performance. Her passion is a heritage trilogy Midnight Sun to Southern Cross, of which Burn My Letters won the Omega Writers Nonfiction CALEB award in 2017.
Ruth channels Karl Johan's Facebook page
Order autographed copies of Ruth's books
Thank you for reviews on Goodreads. They're gold to authors who hate blowing their own trumpets. Though this one is so excited by her new foray into tech, please forgive the many links!
Well done, Ruth. Yet again your intrepid adventuring spirit paves the way to create something special. I've just enjoyed listening to your Soundcloud offering and especially loved the interplay of voices - gives even more life to the characters from your pages, even though they were already brimming with it through your text. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thumbs up, Mazzy. How I am blessed with my friends and team. No way I could have faced this giant leap not the tech universe without Kathy's encouragement, patience and hard work editing! And without Calle's professional feedback.
ReplyDeleteWell done for taking on that challenge, Ruth. I'm having enough trouble just writing mine at the moment, but it's definitely something to look into. Hope the audio version goes well for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd we look forward to reading your next book, Nola.
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