Have you ever faced a situation where your neighbors were having a loud party while you’re trying to sleep, and to put the cherry on top, the music is so bad that you literally would kill someone to put a stop to it? Just like that, an audiobook with bad sound quality or unnecessary sounds would do the same for your listeners.
So now the big conundrum arises: how do you make sure that your listeners won’t suffer the same fate as you? Don’t know? Don’t worry. I got you covered.
In this guide, I will take you through how you can make sure that your audiobook won’t suck like your neighbor’s music. Below are a few takeaways about things that I will be talking about in this guide for you.
Key Takeaways
- Polish Before Publish – Before going all in, make sure your book is completely polished. Make sure your manuscript is edited and finalized thoroughly.
- Choose Your Style – Doing everything by yourself isn’t a great idea every time. Choose your narrator’s voice and style according to your genre. If you think you can narrate your book by yourself, it’s great, but if not, the best thing to do would be hiring an audiobook creation service.
- Understand the Recording Process – One of the most important things for you to do is to understand the process of recording so you and the narrator you hire to do the deed for you can be on the same page with each other.
- Audio Quality Over Everything – The most crucial element will eventually be the sound quality of your audio. If your sound quality is bad, then everything will fall to the ground like blocks of Jenga.
- Distribution and Marketing – Congrats!! You’ve completed your audiobook. The real struggle starts now, as you have to make sure it reaches as many ears as it possibly can. Distribute it to the right channels with the right marketing so you can succeed in the long run.
Your Words, Their Ears
Making an audiobook isn’t just about giving your book a voice. It’s about creating an experience that lands in someone’s ears and leaves your mark etched in their mind for millenniums to come.
Wait, hold your horses right there. Before even thinking about recordings, microphones, or narrators, you have to polish your manuscript like it’s about to be presented to King Arthur of Camelot. Even a single misplaced comma or awkward sentence will echo louder than Banshee from X-Men.
Once the words are locked and loaded, now it’s time for you to choose a voice for your book. Whether you’re doing it by yourself or hiring audiobook creation services online, make sure that the narration style and voice match your genre and resonate with your target audience.
In either way, you must get yourself familiar with the recording process. Make sure sound quality is at the top level. Only after completing these steps, we can move on to self-publishing and marketing of an audiobook.
Polish Your Book
First thing first, in order to make an attention-worthy audiobook, you have to make sure that your book has been thoroughly edited and polished.
Now, most of the time, before going forward with an audiobook, most authors have printed or published an ebook version of their work, in which case it’s already been edited and proofread thoroughly.
But if that’s not the case for you, then you need to arrange a professional book editor to go through your work—or some professional audiobook service providers like Bookquill can do both things for you before moving forward with your transcript.
After getting your manuscript polished, go forward with your transcript. For that, remove every image or line that you don’t want to get recorded, like the glossary or index. The idea isn’t adding notes or directions about how the script should be read—leave that to the pros. Just include the exact text you want to be recorded, nothing more.
It’s All About Style
There are a bunch of different narration styles making havoc in the audiobook market. Some producers like to make more of a theatrical experience. Others go with a pared-back approach.
Some producers even go to the extent where their book sounds more like Sergio Leone’s Western Spaghetti—full of background music and thrill. But what suits you best will ultimately fall upon your book’s genre and audience.
I recommend you to research popular audiobooks or do a survey before making any decision or committing yourself to a particular style.
Whether you decide to narrate your book yourself or hire a narrator to do it for you is entirely your choice. But keeping a single voice to narrate the entire book and the book’s characters would be the best strategy, as it would closely resemble the internal voice that readers develop when reading themselves.
Pro Tip: If you get a top audiobook creation service, they will also guide you in choosing your style that aligns with your audience.
Recording Process and Quality Control
Before you get to work, have a basic understanding of how the audiobook recording process works. Start with researching pacing, tone, pronunciation, and so on.
You wouldn’t want to give your audiobook to King Charles of England with a redneck accent, right? So make sure everything aligns with your audience.
Make sure your holy trinity of audiobook (pacing, tone, and pronunciation) is in the exact place where it is supposed to be. Use examples given below for an idea.
Pacing
A thriller might call for tight, breathless pacing—words clipped like footsteps in a dark alley. A memoir, on the other hand, might benefit from a gentler rhythm, allowing listeners to sink into your memories like a warm bath. Get this wrong, and your listeners might either fall asleep mid-chapter or feel like they’re being chased by the plot. Neither’s ideal.
Tone
Tone is the emotional undercurrent of your narration. It’s not just what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it. Is your book dripping with sarcasm? Make sure the narrator doesn’t sound like they’re reading the obituary section. Is your novel a heart-wrenching tale of loss? Don’t let your voice dance like it’s party time in Ibiza. Match your tone to your text—or prepare to be roasted in the reviews.
Pronunciation
Mispronunciations are like potholes in a smooth audiobook highway—they jolt the listener out of the experience. Whether it’s proper nouns, regional dialects, or industry-specific jargon, you need to nail them.
Pro tip: keep a pronunciation guide handy for tricky names or terms and make sure your narrator sticks to it like a prophecy.
Don’t Skimp on Equipment
If you’re the brave soul recording the audiobook yourself, don’t even think about using your laptop mic or your phone in a closet. Your listeners will hear every hum, hiss, and neighbor’s dog bark. Invest in a proper microphone, pop filter, and soundproofing gear. Software like Audacity or Adobe Audition can help clean things up, but no software can rescue garbage audio from the trash pile of listener reviews.
Edit Like a Perfectionist
Once recorded, your audiobook isn’t done—it’s just raw meat waiting to be seasoned. You—or your audio engineer—need to slice and dice every pause, breath, click, and cough. Silence should be intentional. Breaths should be human, not hurricane-force. Aim for that velvety smooth listening experience that gets people hooked from chapter one.
Self-Publishing Your Audiobook
Now the fun begins. Self-publishing an audiobook isn’t just slapping your files onto the internet and praying. You’ve got to strategize.
Choose a Distribution Platform
ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) is the juggernaut for Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. It’s great for reach, but has royalty and exclusivity clauses you’ll want to read like it’s a legal thriller. Other platforms like Findaway Voices or Authors Republic give you wider distribution and more control over pricing. Choose wisely, young grasshopper.
Marketing: The Final Boss
Your audiobook won’t sell itself. It needs a red carpet rollout.
- Create a killer cover: Yes, people do judge a book by its cover, especially in audio form where visuals are limited.
- Get those reviews: ARC listeners (Advanced Review Copy) can help you get early buzz.
- Tease with samples: Drop a juicy 3-minute preview on social media or your website.
- Hit podcasts and bookstagram: Collaborate with book influencers or jump on relevant podcast interviews to shout your audiobook from the rooftops.
Final Words of Wisdom
Turning your book into an audiobook isn’t just a project—it’s a production. It’s the transformation of your words into waves that ride the winds and settle in someone’s soul. It’s a grind, sure, but it’s also an art. Whether you’re whispering poetry or roaring through a sci-fi epic, your voice—or the one you choose—deserves to be heard with clarity, charisma, and care.
So go on. Hit record. Make some magic.