Where to begin… Let me start by saying I think I have finally found the hardest part of being an author. It has nothing to do with writing. Not even the marketing. It’s what comes after you publish the ebook, paperback, and hardcover.
What’s next? The audiobook. Easy, right?
I was told by numerous people that I should narrate it myself. Someone mentioned how cool it was to hear Michelle Obama read her own audiobook and thought it would be great for readers to hear my voice too. I thought about it. Sure, I could do that.
I ordered a great microphone and downloaded Audacity. I’ll save you the pain of explaining how that turned out, but let’s just say… absolutely not.
My voice is not Sirena.
Sirena is written in first person, so I needed that youthful, clear, confident voice I hear in my head when I imagine her. That’s when I turned to Fiverr.
I hired someone who sounded legitimate. Maybe she was. I’ll probably never know. Things eventually fell apart over one Greek name: Amphitrite.
I explained exactly how I wanted it pronounced. In the original sample, she said it correctly. Then I listened to Chapter One and suddenly it sounded completely different, with sounds in the name that weren’t supposed to be there. I mean, come on…
I actually had other people listen just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. They heard it too. But the narrator insisted she couldn’t hear anything wrong with it.
Eventually, we went our separate ways. That’s when I turned to ACX.
ACX lets you either upload your own finished audiobook or open your project for auditions. Since recording it myself had already been a disaster and Fiverr hadn’t worked out either, I decided to hold auditions.
I received more than 70 auditions in a little over a week.
Seventy.
I wrote every name down. I took notes. I saved my favorites. I listened to the same auditions over and over, trying to find the voice that sounded like Sirena.
Then another concern crept in: How do you know you’re really listening to the person who will narrate your book?
With AI voices becoming so convincing, I started worrying about whether some auditions could be AI-generated, altered, or even recorded by someone other than the person submitting them. So I started reading what other authors were saying online.
The best advice I found was simple: Ask your finalists to meet with you on Zoom.
Talk about pronunciations. Talk about the characters. Talk about the story. Hear their natural speaking voice. See how they connect with the book.
That ended up being some of the best advice I received. One of my early favorites never responded when I asked for a Zoom meeting. A few others did.
Eventually, I found someone whose voice felt like Sirena.
And that was such a relief.
Because just imagine paying $1,000 or more for narration and later realizing it relied heavily on AI when you could have generated an AI voice yourself for a fraction of that. If I’m paying a professional voice actor, I want a professional voice actor.
But surprisingly, I think the hardest part of the whole process was listening to so many different interpretations of my own work. These actors actually took the time to read my story, learn the characters, record an audition, edit it, and send it to me.
That meant a lot to me.
And then came the guilt, because I couldn’t choose them all.
God, I am such a softy.
I tried to respond to everyone I wasn’t choosing and thank them for their time, effort, and interest in my book. Yes, they were auditioning for a paying job, but they still didn’t have to choose my book.
That part really stuck with me.
So, if I could give one piece of advice to another independent author thinking about producing an audiobook, it would be this: Take your time choosing your narrator.
Personally, I would skip Fiverr and go straight to a platform built specifically for audiobook production like ACX. Listen carefully. Narrow down your favorites. Ask questions. Have that Zoom call.
Your narrator is going to become the voice of characters you may have been hearing in your own head for years. Make sure it feels right.
For me, finding Sirena’s voice was much harder than I expected.
But I finally did.
So, on that note… the Sirena audiobook is coming soon!
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