Beginner Tips to Help You Succeed with Audible
Are you an audio fan like me?
I used to listen to books on tape way back in the day…
Yep, I am dating myself.
I still have a few plastic bins of books on CD that I treasure. A proud collector of knowledge!
I have books on CD from authors such as Deepak Chopra, Jack Welch, Wayne Dyer, Grant Cardone, and Jim Collins, to name a few. I have a breadth of spiritual and business audio that helped me with my business and life.
If you are an author, it’s essential to understand the power of audio and that the majority of books do not become audiobooks. It’s a minimal amount considering the demand. If you are a listener, how many times have you been disappointed that your favorite book is not on Audible?
People’s schedules are becoming busier, but they still may have to drive somewhere or wish to listen to something educational or fun while walking, running, or working out. Many people are trying to maximize their time in any way, shape, or form, and audible can help.
I decided to record both of my bestselling books, which I released in 2021 on Amazon.com, also on Audible.
Why? Because I plan on writing many books in my lifetime. After reviewing all the various self-publishing options and expenses, I spent my self-publishing budget on recording quality audible books. I researched and decided to work with a studio in Miami www.elitemusic.com, to record my audiobooks. I had a long-term vision for that choice and am glad I did the research.
Now that it’s been a year since the launch of my first book Confidence Mastery for Couples— Roadmap to a More Intimate Relationship, I have had time to sit with my learnings and hindsight about the process. As a result, I have some beginner tips for you if you are interested in recording an audible.
Here are my three tips and hindsights:
1. Understand why you want to do it and if it’s something that excites you! All-day long, I see people following advice from experts and coaches that do not excite them. The advice may give them anxiety or contribute to feeling overwhelmed.
Just because someone else had success doing something doesn’t mean it makes sense for your business or how you feel. It’s best to take some time to think about what you are planning to do, check-in with your body, and see how you feel before proceeding.
2. Go with the flow! For some people, that’s easier said than done. If you are a public speaker, you may have had events where things happen that you could not have anticipated. The same situation can occur when you are recording an audiobook. I am a planner, so I try my best to have my day mapped out, but with both books, unexpected things happened, and I needed to remain calm and trust that it would all work out.
With my first book, CMFC, the power on the street went out in the final piece of recording. I was so excited to be almost done and nailed it in one day when the nearby construction hit a power line, and the whole block lost power. Not only did this halt our recording for about a half-hour, but it also made me panic that wondering if he had saved everything. Luckily, after I said a prayer, the power came back on, and all was okay. The engineer had saved everything, so we needed to finish the closing, and it was complete.
Whew!
With my 2nd book, Life & Love Lesson—How to Discover Confidence Through Your Spiritual Journey, after the first day, I lost my voice. I was shocked because I didn’t have any issues with the 1st book, and I wasn’t aware this could happen.
It was awful, and I eventually had to call “uncle” and go home. As I mentioned in the above section, your energy and tone have to be consistent. So, I made the call to go home and then reschedule when my voice came back. The recovery took a week.
All in all, it worked out because it was my 2nd book, and ACX approved it much faster than Confidence Mastery for Couples, which took a month. So, I was glad I stayed calm and knew it would all work out because it did—more on ACX in Tip 3.
3. Three ways to record your audiobook. My last tip is more tactical. At this point, there are three ways you can record an audio book:
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- Hire a professional studio and record your book(s) with your voice, as I did.
- Hire a professional studio and a narrator.
- Record your book at home using your voice and equipment.
In determining which direction to choose, it’s essential to reconsider Tip 1, know yourself and you’re why. Since I am already a regular podcaster and planned to have more than one book in my lifetime, it made sense to me to also use my voice, so I went with Option A.
If you choose to use your voice, you need to know you will be sitting in a chair very still for several hours and even days. During this time, your energy level tone of voice needs to be consistent.
If you get tired quickly or antsy, this may not be for you. Again, your energy level and tone have to be consistent.
Along with your energy level, you have to be aware that every little mispronunciation, wrong word, click, etc., must be rerecorded. You may often catch the errors yourself as you speak, but the producer will also notice the mistakes.
If you make an error, you have to stop, go back, rerecord and proceed again. This process may be tedious or even annoying to some folks.
However, if you are not on an audible platform with an audience or wish to have one book, let alone not interested in audible from an energetic level, Option B with a narrator may be best for you. It also saves you time; your voice and net net are about the same money. For example, the cost of my 2nd book was almost $3K which is the same as the current price I heard from someone using a narrator.
This is a great option because some people may not have the time, nor care that it is not in their voice.
Also, if you are a professional speaker, like Tony Robbins, you may choose to hire a narrator, so you don’t strain your voice.
Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins uses a narrator. Tony reads the intro and then passes it off to a professional narrator. The decision to use a narrator sense is that he needs his voice, and with his busy schedule, he cannot afford downtime to rest. I am not at the level yet, so a week off was not a hardship on my schedule. Many other famous, successful people choose this route too, and the listener can quickly adapt to the change.
Option C, recording at home, is the most challenging to execute. However, many people are up for the challenge, have the time skillset, equipment and many don’t mind saving some money! There are also courses available for people to learn how to record an audible at home. It’s essential to know that recording at home may take additional time, and patience.
I chose to go to a studio because I don’t like to be stressed or worried about my books not getting accepted by ACX. ACX is the platform that you load the chapter files on (one by one), and then once accepted, it automatically feeds your book to Audible. ACX can reject you, and then you can either fix what is rejected or start again. To me, the additional concern wasn’t worth it.
All in all, recording your book to audible and then loading it to the platforms is a wise long-term choice if you can afford to do it.
Obviously, it’s not crucial, but I have personally found that many people interested in my books are very excited they are both on Audible and choose to purchase that medium.
The more people who listen, the more people your experience can help. A wider audience will also build your brand and contribute to your success. For my eyes and ears, it all adds up to a win-win!
Wish to hear more scoop on audiobooks? I always have extra nuggets that pop out in my podcasts. Click here to listen to Crush It In Sales Episode 127: Best Tips to Record and Self-Publish Your Audio Book.