People often ask me if my books are available as audio books. (Okay, one person asked.) It used to be that some Kindles would read a print version of a book to you, but apparently that option has disappeared, so the only other option is an audio book.
To make an audio book, you have to find a narrator, preferably a professional narrator so that the book isn’t full of ums and ers and throat clearing. Ideally, the narrator must make each voice distinctive. All that runs into money.
To give you an idea of how much money, I am including here an excerpt from a company that distributes ebooks:
To assist with your budgeting, here are some rough guidelines on cost: Each hour of recorded content comprises roughly 9,000 words, which means a 26,000-word novella might run about three hours and a 100,000-word book would run about 11 hours. Narrators typically charge between $150 and $400 per finished hour.
Going by this formula, a mediocre narrator for Madame ZeeZee’s Nightmare would cost me about $2,300. Maybe someday I’ll make enough off my books that the cost will be worth it.
Meantime, I have a cheaper option. If you want an audio version of any of my books, call me, and I’ll read aloud to you.
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Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Unfinished, Madame ZeeZee’s Nightmare, Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Connect with Pat on Google+. Like Pat on Facebook.
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March 24, 2018 at 1:46 pm
I listen to a lot of audio books, and I would love for mine to be in audio book format. My publisher even has an audio book option, but that’s only if it can be afforded. Fingers crossed I can be that popular that we can finance an audio book.
March 24, 2018 at 1:50 pm
Fingers crossed!
March 24, 2018 at 3:30 pm
I don’t listen to audio books, perhaps because I’m too fast (or too impatient) a reader. I want to get on with the story… But I’ve got some of your print books in my collection – I’m sure I’d listen if you were reading them to me.
March 24, 2018 at 4:44 pm
Me too. I’ve tried listening to audio books, and even the most interesting story is boring because it goes at the slow speed of a voice rather than the fast pace of eye and mind.
March 24, 2018 at 9:33 pm
Ah, how perfectly you express it.