TuesdayTips69

To celebrate the release of DCI Warren Jones, Out of Sight, as paperback and audiobook, I decided it would be a great time to sit down with Malk Williams, my long-time audio narrator, and have a chat about what it takes to turn a novel into an audiobook.
The full conversation was kindly hosted live on the Facebook page of UK Crime Book Club and is archived on their YouTube page. You can watch the whole thing here, and hear some of Malk’s favourite accents, as well as some of his stories about being a narrator.
But as this is a #TuesdayTip, I have distilled some key bits of advice from this conversation, plus other tips that I’ve picked up in previous chats with Malk.

Why Have Your Books Narrated?
Over the past few years, audiobooks have increased massively in popularity. Once seen as a niche market, increasing numbers of people have been turning to them when commuting, or as a way to while away the hours when doing other things, such as housework. Audible is owned by Amazon and books are often synced with the Kindle version of the novel, allowing readers to switch seamlessly between reading and listening. Depending on the price-point that the royalties for eBooks and audiobooks have been set to, audiobooks often come with a greater revenue cut. Although, it should be noted that the higher price of audiobooks is in part necessary to recoup the additional costs needed to produce the recording.
How Is It Done?
As with everything these days, authors can in theory create the audiobook themselves. But it should be noted that to create a professional-sounding recording, you will need a decent microphone setup, somewhere that can act as a soundproof booth, and appropriate editing software. Furthermore, you really need to consider paying for an editor, and that reading for twelve to sixteen hours takes its toll (a decent-sized novel might take a couple of weeks of full days)! Furthermore, not everyone’s voice is suited to reading aloud. Audio narrators are skilled professionals.
The process itself is somewhat more complex than it may seem – it isn’t just a case of sitting in a sound-proofed room, pressing record and reading. The specialist software is needed to help you edit out mistakes, balance sound levels so that each chapter is a consistent volume, and artefacts such as throat clearing or fluffed words are removed. The finished recording typically consists of a number of individual sound files – one for each chapter – which then need to be correctly packaged.
For most writers, paying a professional is the most sensible route to go down. In the same way that self-published books where the author has designed the cover themselves, edited it themselves and typeset and formatted the eBook/paperback, tend to stand out and look amateurish, self-recorded audiobooks are similarly difficult to produce. It’s up to you to decide if the investment is worth it, but if you are serious about producing a polished, professional product that will turn a profit, you need to think about hiring professionals. See the section below for more information about how you can get your books narrated.
The process.
There are several steps of which reading the text aloud is only one.
A typical work flow might look like this:
Pre-reading. The narrator reads through the manuscript. They make notes about which voices they will need to do, identify words that they need to verify the pronunciation for, and think about accents. Malk sometimes contacts me here.
Read each chapter and record it as a separate MP3 file. If they are working with a producer, they may send each chapter to them as it is completed.
First pass editing. Experienced narrators will probably do this themselves. They make sure there are no obvious errors and it all sounds even and clear. Often the narrator will pick up an error as they are reading. They can mark the error by clapping and continue reading (this creates a spike in the waveform, that can be easily located later) or they can “punch and roll”, where they press a button and the software rolls back a few seconds, so they pick up the narration before the error and just record over the mistake and continue.
Proofreading. Just like writers, narrators can miss small errors. The proofreader will return corrections, which the narrator re-records. An editor will then insert these corrections into the audio file, as well as cut out background noises or coughs and other artefacts and unnecessary pauses.
Mastering. Here the volume etc is balanced across the files so chapter one isn’t louder than chapter two etc.Dos And Don’ts.
(or how to be kind to your narrator!)
When I started writing my DCI Warren Jones series, audio narration wasn’t something I had ever considered. I was four books into the series before it was even mentioned. With the benefit of hindsight, there are things I would have done differently.

• The biggest error I made, was failing to mention until several books in that one of my characters has a distinctive regional accent. I knew from book one that DS David Hutchinson was a Geordie from Newcastle. But I somehow neglected to write this down until a third of the way through book 5! Obviously, it was too late to correct this. I managed to get around this by mentioning in subsequent books that he’d spent most of his adult life in the Hertfordshire, and so his accent has been buried, only to resurface after a few pints or if he has been watching Newcastle United playing football. Malk and I still laugh about this now 🤣. If you can, give some clues early in the text as to how you’d like the character to sound. That way, they’ll sound the way you want them to off the bat.
• Don’t give the killer dialogue in the prologue! It seems obvious, but your narrator will have to speak that dialogue in the killer’s voice, giving away their identity on page one! I dodged this bullet after a chance conversation with Malk – I subsequently rewrote the prologue of the book I was about to submit, so the killer’s identity was concealed.
• Another classic error from that first book was including a load of data in a table! The team had the phone records for a number of unknown mobile phones, which they were using to construct links between different people. This is a commonly used data analysis technique and reproducing the table for readers seemed like a sensible thing to do. It worked beautifully for the eBook and the paperback – but presented a challenge for Malk when he narrated! Fortunately, he has a background as a technical writer and so was able to succinctly describe the table for listeners, but it could have gone horribly wrong. Narrators are often asked to record textbooks etc so they can describe graphs, images or tables, but if you need visual data in your book, consider writing a few lines of description for your narrator to read out – they’ll appreciate it!
• A final faux pas from that book was the inclusion of a written note by a person with dyslexia. The text on the page was spelled phonetically, with the incorrect use of some homonyms (words that sound the same, but are spelt differently with different meanings – eg there and their or bear and bare) and it was obvious to the reader that the writer was dyslexic. Fortunately, my forensic linguist character discussed the note in detail, so listeners didn’t miss anything. If I do anything similar in future books, I will have to put some thought into how my narrator can make it obvious to the listener, without me patronising readers.
• Read your manuscript aloud to yourself. It’s amazing how we often read what we think we wrote, not what we actually typed! Reading aloud will pick up many of these mistakes, and so is good for editing generally. But it also highlights tricky sentences with complex punctuation – whilst a five-line sentence may be grammatically correct, will your narrator actually be able to read it aloud in one breath!
• Finally, emojis. These are available in character sets for printed material now. Malk assures me that he can deal with them, by reading a sentence and describing the relevant emoji eg “I’d hate for something to happen to you 😉” would be spoken as “I’d hate for something to happen to you, winking emoji”.

How Can You Get Your Books Narrated?
If you decide that you would like your books narrated, then there are a few steps you can take.

• First, make sure you possess the legal rights to audio narration. If you have been published by a publishing house, check your contract. You may have granted the rights to audio narration etc to the publishing house, in which case you would need their permission to record the book. When signing a new contract, look at the terms – get it checked by a lawyer or join the Society of Authors and get them to vet the contract. If the publishing house is a large one, and they have already produced audiobooks of other authors’ work, then you might be better off speaking to them about whether they would be willing to have them recorded (that way, they’ll pay for everything!). If you are independently published, then you probably own all your rights, so there’s no need for permission.
• Once you have the rights secured, you will need to choose a narrator. ACX is the talent exchange owned by Audible, but others exist. They have a database of performers that you can search to find a match that suits your book. They detail their skills and availability, list previous books that they have worked on and have samples that you can listen to.
• If you are looking for specialists in the British crime genre, there is a newly formed collective of experienced, award-winning narrators. Malk Williams, my long-time narrator, is a founding member, but between them they have contacts for most of the narrators working in the UK. Check out www.raconteurs.co.uk.
• Payment methods vary. You can pay them a one-off upfront fee, or you can enter into a royalty-share agreement, whereby they get a cut of the royalties earned. As you can appreciate, this is a gamble for them – if the book doesn’t sell, they won’t get paid, so don’t be disappointed if they want some sort of fixed-payment upfront to cover the time they will be investing. A novel may take two to four weeks to record and is a full-time job, meaning they can’t do other paid work. If you register your book for PLR (the payment system for UK library loans), they will typically get a share of that also.

How Can You Get Into Audio Narration?
If you fancy getting into audio narration, be warned that it isn’t for everyone. I know a couple of voice actors who steer clear of audiobooks. They’ve done them, but didn’t especially enjoy the experience.
Malk cites the voiceover coach Sean Allen Pratt (paraphrased):
If you think audiobook narration might be for you, then go and sit in a cupboard. Choose a book to read. Start at the beginning. If you make a mistake, go back to the beginning of the sentence and start again. If you come across a word you are unsure of, stop and look up the pronunciation online – don’t guess. Continue reading for several hours. Do that for several days in a row, until you’ve finished. If you haven’t gone mad by the end of it, then maybe the job is for you.
To get work, you should record some samples and post them on ACX or similar.
When you have recorded a few books, then you may be able to apply to join a production company, whose casting directors might put you on their books and start contacting you, rather than the other way around.
As with anything in life, professionalism is key. Don’t over commit to unrealistic deadlines. Make sure you are clear about any limitations (eg if you can’t do Scottish accents, say so upfront, don’t embarrass yourself and the writer). Keep a portfolio of work you are proud of.
It’s also worth noting that at the moment, because of Covid, the market is saturated with out-of-work stage and screen actors.
Home-based narrators with their own studios, like Malk, were fortunate during Covid to be able to continue working, however, you don’t need to commit to that sort of outlay. You can hire studio space as well as editors and producers.
Your Voice Is Your Tool.
Like all professionals, you need to take care of your work equipment – namely your voice.

• When I started my teacher training, we were taught how to look after our voices. For example, if you need to speak at high volume, practise this (there are tutorials on YouTube) – otherwise you can strain your vocal cords.
• Keep your voice well-lubricated. For example take regular sips from a bottle of TEPID water (cold can constrict the vocal cords) – use a bottle with a screw lid, not a glass, to avoid any expensive accidents!
• Take regular breaks when you try not to speak for a while – your vocal cords are muscles and will need periodic rests.
• Try not to start recording “from cold” eg as soon as you wake up. Speak a bit to loosen your vocal cords before recording, otherwise the pitch might change as the muscles warm up.
• Some suggest that coffee might dry your mouth, but it’s not an issue that Malk has ever found a problem.
• If your voice is feeling scratchy, try a spoon full of manuca honey to soothe your throat.

So there you are. I have been delighted with my audiobooks, I love them! There is something special about hearing a skilled professional like Malk bringing my characters to life. Even if you aren’t considering having your books recorded, I hope you’ve learned something and please do check out the video, Malk is an entertaining speaker.
Until next time,
Best wishes,
Paul.