Yes. You too can make your own audiobooks almost free of cost

Thanks to many fellow writers in an author forum, I wrote up this quick article to alleviate some of the apprehensions many authors have about audiobook creation all on their own.

Every one knows that hiring a narrator or setting up a ‘perfect’ studio can be out of bounds for most authors. That too when you are not sure of getting back 1000s of bucks you invest in making an audiobook. 

Here are a few suggestions which I guess are within the reach of everyone.

1. Don’t hire narrators unless you are sure of returns. Hiring would typically cost you few thousand bucks.

2. You are the author – why not narrate it yourself? More than the money, it is fun to do it. Try it once.

3. All that you need is

a) A good MIC – something like Blue Microphone Snowball ICE that would cost you less than $50 (No, I am not selling them ;-))

b) A Laptop to which you can connect the MIC and record.

c) A free software like audacity and rudimentary knowledge about how to use it.

That is it. You can start with your project.

The snowball MIC filters out almost all background noise and also minimizes echo. If you still have something left, you can remove it using audacity. Look around on the net. There are plenty of short videos that explain how to do it using audacity.

You can use audacity to further enhance your audio (optional). You can do equalization, compression, normalization trio, to make the audio sound better.

You can get the final mp3 files by exporting the recorded audio using audacity.

What next?

You can use services like ACX to publish your audiobook for free – no exclusive contracts. See ACX site for details on their requirements.

But ACX option has following limitations.

1. ACX is not open to most international authors (only US/UK/Canada authors are accepted).

2. ACX distributes only to amazon, audible and itunes.

Other alternative that are more open and help in wider distribution (almost 30 outlets) exist. But be cautious – my own experience is that some of these are not trustworthy. 

Some have apprehensions about in-home recording. Normal house can have several things that may effect the quality of recorded audio. Here is a simple DIY recording cubicle that my friend built all by himself. It cost him only few 10s of bucks.

Simple cubicle for home recording (this is completely optional)

Step 1: Make a rectangular frame to host the cubicle as shown in figure. The components are all made using 1 inch PVC pipes. Don’t glue the joints so that you can disassemble them any time you want and stack them aside.

 

Step 2: Assemble the components into a cubicle frame. 

Step 3: Cover the frame with thick blankets to reduce echo and other effects.

That is it. You have a nice recording studio at home at almost no cost! 

If you have further questions, feel free to write a comment. I will try to answer them.

Happy recording and welcome to the world of audiobooks!

PS: I just forgot to mention - if you loved recording your own audio, then you can even be a professional narrator and earn much more than what you can earn by making audio books! That is a great opportunity!