Hey there!
I've started to record my 1st book in the Mali Hooper Thriller trilogy, and I have to say it's very interesting.
There were a few false starts as I got used to the rhythm, tone, and pace. But I'm on a roll now and have completed 15 chapters. I'm a little more than halfway through.
I decided to hire an audio engineer (AE) for the bulk of the editing for a few reasons, that I'll discuss below.
My part is to record each chapter and perform basic edits. When I make a mistake as I'm reading a sentence, I clap my hands once to spike the audio so I can find the mistake later then I repeat the entire sentence and continue. There are 2 reasons for this. First, to stop and correct it at that moment will slow me down and, second, it will throw me off my rhythm, tone and pace. Once I complete an entire chapter, I need only go back and find the spikes in the audio (ie., my claps). I can delete the bad sentence and just the good one remains. It's quick.
Check out this sample: https://www.kadyhinojosa.com/newsletter-links
As I complete each chapter, I send it to my AE and he does all the rest. He removes any background noise (like an A/C or dryer that I may not realize is on), he removes breaths (which can be very noisy), and he checks for errors that I may have missed. Perhaps I mispronounced a word, for example. If he finds an error, he'll send the text that I need to re-record as well as a clip so that I can hear the pace and tone and try to match it. I send the correction to him and he just inserts it in the appropriate place.
When everything is done, he puts it all together into a final audio book that meets the standards of the Audio Creation Exchange (ACX) which distributes audios. If the book is up to ACX standards, Amazon will also accept it.
PLUS, he takes any 4-5 minute clip that I want and makes a separate audio so I can use it for marketing and to include on my Amazon book page (there's usually an audio sample available so people can listen before buying).
For me, a novice where audiobooks are concerned, to do all that he is doing would take me so very long. And there'd still be no guarantees that it was up to ACX standards. Worth it!
I love the things I'm learning as I write more and now record. It's fun, challenging, keeps me busy, and is so rewarding.
Have a fabulous day everyone!!
Here I am, in my closet and recording. :)
Cy-Mon always likes to be close so he's napping (er, helping) in my t-shirt drawer. He makes it slightly uncomfortable for me when recording but he's too sweet to move.
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