Audiobook Release Announcement - "No One Dies Today"

As part release announcement, part inspirational message, I wanted to highlight the journey I took to narrate Dan Gindlesperger’s debut novel: No One Dies Today: Long walk into the black hole. My hope is that this will assist other voice over artists and audiobook narrators when navigating a similar process.

Search for projects

As part of my daily audition routine, I scan the Adobe Creation Exchange (more commonly referred to as ACX) website for audiobook titles accepting auditions. I came across one that suited the criteria I had at the time (this changes with my current availability), and decided to record an audition and respond using the ACX platform.

After some back-and-forth discussions related to the project, Dan accepted my offer, we both accepted the “contract” through the ACX platform, and I was provided with the manuscript for me to really get started.

What helped on this project, compared to many other ACX narration projects, is that the author was thoughtful enough to have prepared an audition script that was a compilation of four distinct sections from the novel, which together contained some sample dialogue from all the major characters. In the audition request, he also gave a one-liner description of all those characters, telling me his vision of each character in his mind.

I am not a vocal impressionist like the late Robin Williams, but I am able to adjust my voice so the listener can at least differentiate the voices in the scene. For this audiobook, I prepared and practiced some voices in advance based on the descriptions, narrated the audition scripts with those voices, and finally submitted them to the author. Dan offered some constructive feedback on the audition, I made a couple of modifications to my audition recording to match, resubmitted, and was finally accepted.

Getting to work

Once I was accepted as a narrator by the author, I got to work on the first task: reading. Yes, you have to read the book. Yes, before you narrate it. Why? If on page 200 it says that the lead character always “holds their ssss like a snake, without fail”, yet you have been speaking the character normally since page 1… you have a problem. Or if a character is said to stutter, but you have him speaking smoothly and confidently… you have a problem. Do you re-record? Do you push on with the way you have been delivering? Do you switch mid-book? You must read your book before you begin - for no other reason than to ensure your characterizations are accurate. You don’t really need to read for the plot, but you must at a minimum skim for characterizations.

Take notes, with name, sometimes page numbers, with a brief description of the characterization. When you get to that character in your narration, mark your recording or make a note of the chapter and time index where that first line is in your notes. When you return to a seldom-used character three chapters later, you will be glad you did, so you can quickly return, re-listen, and continue recording with a matching character voice.

First checkpoint

ACX has a 15-minute checkpoint built into their audiobook narration routine, so I followed the process. After I recorded the first couple of chapters (more like 20 minutes), I cleaned up the files, performed a quality-assurance listen-through, and did a final export, making sure the resulting file met all the required ACX submission parameters. It may just be a checkpoint, but it is also a demonstration of my audio engineering and mastering skills and will be judged accordingly.

I submitted them through the ACX system for official author review. This is sometimes a nerve-racking process, as the author has a few days to listen to — and provide feedback on — your recording. Thankfully, because the author’s audition script covered a portion of the book’s introduction, my performance of the checkpoint chapters was uneventful. The author signed off on it and I was welcome to continue recording the remainder of the novel in the same style.

Narrating the audiobook

At this point, I went back to work narrating the remainder of the novel, keeping to the vocal characterizations that I had set down in the audition. This is where properly marking your character voices in your digital audio workstation (DAW) is important, as it allows you to quickly flip back to your “reference phrase”, listen to it a few times to queue your memory, and then return to your current recording location to continue. No One Dies Today - DAW View.png

Quality assurance (QA)

When I got to the end of the audiobook, I performed my quality assurance (QA) listen-through. I actually use several different techniques to optimize my time in my voice over work, and your processes will almost certainly be different, so don’t believe that any one technique is the be-all solution. I use the punch-and-roll technique to record, so I end up with a reasonably-clean recording to start with. My QA consists of listening to the audiobook recording in my DAW, with all relevant audio effects applied, so I am listening to the sound that would be rendered. In a different window, I have the audiobook script open.

And now this is the most important point to remember: you need to keep your eyes glued to the script as you play your recording.

Remember, you are not just delivering an audiobook file that sounds great. You are delivering an audiobook file that sounds great and matches the published script EXACTLY. That means no extraneous “um"s, or “ah"s, no missing words or phrases, and no extra words or phrases. If you aren’t following along word-by-word in the script, the audiobook may sound great and complete, however, it might not actually match the published version.

Fixing things is pretty straightforward. Any discrepancy is immediately re-recorded and spliced into the recording, and I rewind before the problem section, and continue with my QA starting just before the problem was found, to ensure it blends nicely with what came before and after it.

Uploading the finished audiobook

Once I finished the audiobook QA process, I mastered and exported the project to individual files, uploaded it to the ACX project space provided, performed the automated ACX check, then submitted it. The author now has some work to do. They can and should listen to the audiobook you produced, they add appropriate artwork and provide various pieces of metadata for the ACX and Amazon listing. Once they are done, they submit the audiobook for final verification by the ACX team.

This process takes time. More time than you would expect, however, you need to remember you are not ACX’s only project being submitted. This can, and probably will, take a week. Often, the ACX team will take issue with something in the author’s submission, such as a missing piece of metadata, or artwork that was not to the ACX specifications. In that case, everything stops and the issues found need to be fixed and the project re-submitted. Thankfully I have never had a rejection due to an audio problem — just follow the given audio submission requirements, and you will never have a problem either — but if it is rejected due to an audio issue, refer back to the submission requirements, carefully analyzing the feedback given in the rejection notice.

Going live

If all goes well, a week or so after the author submits the audiobook for ACX’s evaluation, you and the author will receive a message indicating that “Your ACX audiobook is now available for sale!”

At this point, your work is done, and you can breathe a bit easier. Depending on your initial contract, you might be paid up-front with a per-finished-hour (PFH) contract or some up-front and some deferred in a royalty share plus contract, or entirely deferred in a royalty share contract. The experiences on these three methods are different and deserve their own write-up. I will amend this article once I have that one published!

Conclusion

Now that you’ve heard of my journey, be sure to check it out now on ACX. Who knows, perhaps the author will release a sequel, and I will get the opportunity to narrate it for them as well!

Hopefully, some of this was helpful, whether you are just looking to get into the audiobook narration business or have a few audiobooks under your belt. Sometimes, hearing of someone else’s journey can help you take the next step in yours.

As always, stay Dedicated to VO.