Category: Audiobooks

Dragons’ Truth Audiobook

I hear it’s better for SEO (which I believe stands for “Blah Blah Blah,” or “I don’t Really Care,” I can never remember which) for me to make each blog entry contain only one topic instead of posting a big post covering several subjects.  So, tonight, multiple posts.  Let’s see if the silliness of this doesn’t cause me to forget several of my topics.

First: The Dragons’ Truth Audiobook.

I’m as satisfied with the recording as I’m going to be without doing a complete re-record from scratch, and after spending the last month recording, editing, and going over and over and over Dragons’ Truth I’ve remembered why it’s my least favorite of my novels, and have no interest in repeating the entire process immediately.  Maybe next year, or perhaps later this year, if I write a sequel (or the prequel I recently thought of and which -I believe- would make a much better book, all around), I’ll record both of them at the same time for a re-release and “box set” containing the pair.  Bleh, who knows?  Anyway, the recording is done, the mixing is done, I’ve got the Podiobook-compatible files ready and broken into eight episodes ranging from about 28min to 46min in length (avg. ~35min, if I recall correctly), I’ve got CD Master disc images of the MP3 CD and the 4-disc Audio CD versions created and ready to burn.  I’ve received the packaging for the MP3 CDs, designed it all, inside and out, and even have the first two copies burned, assembled, and shrink-wrapped. (Yay, shrink-wrap!  Very nice end-product!)  I forgot to take a bunch of photos of it being assembled to post – I’ll remember to photograph everything when I put together the first of the Audio CD packages, and do a couple more MP3 CD packages at the same time.  The packaging I chose for the multi-disc Audio CD sets will arrive Monday (UPS-willing), and I’ve begun working on the cover for that as well (which is a headache, btw, and I’m not sure my printer is up to the task.  If I forget, remind me to try: Print from two sides, 50% opacity on overlapping center, scream and cry when alignment is inevitably off), so with any luck, those will be good to go on Monday as well.  ((ooh, I forgot to buy more labels for those.  Sigh.  Add that to shopping list.))

Erk.  I just spent two hours (since the last paragraph) adding the MP3 Audiobook to modernevil.com (and updating the styling a bit).  You can now order the MP3 Audiobook.  I will add the link for ordering the audio CD version as soon as I have a copy in hand that I consider salable.  I’ve priced both the MP3 CD version and the AudioCD version a little lower than I probably ought to have, but since there’s no sales through standard retail channels (I don’t have & can’t afford mass production, warehousing, distribution, et cetera) for the audiobooks -which is to say that I’m manually making them with my own two hands and then shipping them out- I don’t have to worry too much about making sure I still get a profit after retail takes 50%+ like I do with my paperbacks; I’m the sole retailer.

The Dragons’ Truth Paperback is $12.99.

The Dragons’ Truth Audiobook on 1 MP3 CD is $12.99.

The Dragons’ Truth Audiobook on 4 Audio CDs will probably be $25.99.

If I offered a version that contained the paperback and all 5 discs for $44.99, would anyone buy it?

–Oh, and since I’ve passed 1:30AM now, I’m not going to do the other posts tonight.  At least one of them requires more Photoshop work.  I’ve made a list of them, and I’ll post more tomorrow.  LJ people who notice this post: I’ll cross-post tomorrow, too.  Goodnight!

Incorrectly sad; music credit != big deal

I don’t know why, but this little thing is causing me all sorts of psychological trouble, a wrenching feeling in my gut… It’s pushed me away from the computer (the work space) in the middle of the day, and I’m laying in bed with the cat, feeling bad. I know, intellectually, that this feeling, this reaction, is incorrect, is irrational. Either way I decide to go on this tiny question, it barely matters. But I still feel very strongly about it and am having to fight with myself over it.

So, here it is: I’m working on changing the “outro” for the podiobook version of Dragons’ Truth, and struggling with whether or not to include a music credit, and if so, then how it should be put. I did everything. I wrote the book, I recorded the audio, all the voices, I composed the music, I’ll even be burning the discs for people who buy it. I did everything. It feels weird/wrong to list it all out. If I’d used someone else’s music, sure, credit them. Have to. In fact, NOT having to put in a music credit was probably 1/3 of why I decided to compose my own music… No one to press charges when I don’t mention the music is theirs. So now, being told by trusted voices in podcasting/podiobooks that I ought to have a music credit, even though it’s mine is… Weird. It feels wrong. It conflicts with my intentions.

I don’t know. Maybe I’ll take a nap.

Audiobook packaging

I’ve just ordered $160 in empty CD packaging.  ((*goodbye, money!  I’ll miss you!*))  It will be enough for up to 30 MP3 CDs and 20 AudioCD sets.  ie: they cost a little over $3 each, with shipping.  I’ve ordered super-premium cases for the single-CD products, and if the company offered multi-disc cases (they currently only hold max of 2 discs) I would have used them exclusively.  I ordered wallet-type holders for the AudioCD sets, since Dragons’ Truth will be four discs, and Lost and Not Found will probably be 12… Wallets was the best way to go without going custom and expensive.  To people who do “real” publishing and “real” productions, numbers these small seem like nothing, and the minimum order of 300 of the really nice, custom multi-disc sets seems reasonable and small.  To me … well, I sold a total of 6 books in the last 6 weeks (directly, through modernevil.com) for under $70 in direct book revenue, and I don’t know how many audiobooks I’ll be able to sell, so spending $160 to order just the packages to put 50 audiobooks in is … a lot.  If those sell through, though, the profit will more than cover a re-order / bigger order.  If they don’t move fast enough, then it feels like money wasted.

Anyway, I spent about two working days’ worth of time just shopping through the various options for packaging.  Put me a little further “behind” my hoped finish time, but … since I have to wait for these orders to arrive before I can sell physical product, anyway… I suppose that’s okay?  Sigh.

Trying to do, perhaps, too much at once

So, I’ve been working on the audiobook version of Dragons’ Truth (available now in paperback from Modern Evil Press) for the last several weeks.  At least a full week, perhaps week and a half, was spent learning how to use the hardware and software tools I have available to reduce background noise as much as possible.  In the future (when I’ve been at this for longer, and have more experience (and more equipment.  ie: a better sound environment)) I’m sure I’ll want to re-record Dragons’ Truth.  I’m somewhat a perfectionist, and this recording isn’t as perfect as I’d like. But it will have to do, for now.

That is the conclusion I came to after the first week of fighting with the background noise.  The other few days were just me trying to get it “good enough” for now.  It’s better than a lot of the stuff that’s out there, it’s just … not as good as I’d like.  I’ve played it  for a couple of “normal” people (ie: not audiophiles) through “normal” audio players (ie: not high-end closed-ear headphones; just a regular stereo, regular earbuds) and they don’t even hear the things that bug me about it, so … it’s good enough.  Lost and Not Found, which I would like to tackle next, should be better.

I’m planning on podcasting these audiobooks, for free, through Podiobooks.com and perhaps through a Modern Evil Press feed that has everything. (Multiple books, videos, et cetera…)  There are hundreds of authors/titles already on podiobooks.com, and a huge base of listeners, hungry for new books. The traditional model for podiobooks authors seems to be to only have a few episodes (or none) recorded ahead of when they hit the site (typically one episode a week).  The guide recommends to have 5 episodes finished before your first episode goes live, in case anything slows production down the line – no one wants an episode to be posted late, and it’s a sure way to lose traffic fast.  So, for most first-time podiobookers, based on what I’ve seen in the mentorship forum and from chatting with them on Twitter, they spend several months working on an episode or five, and then just try to stay ahead of the release schedule from then on.  I state this for contrast from what I’m doing:

Even including the 1.5 weeks lost to my insanity, I’m spending less than a month recording an entire audiobook.  I want the whole thing done, ready to go, before the first episode is available for free to the internet.  I want the completed audiobook to be available for sale before the first episode hits the internet for free.  I want to have links to where you can buy the audiobook as an MP3 CD (or AAC CD), as a set of audio CDs, or where you can subscribe to dl it for free, one episode at a time over months, and I want all three links to go up at once.  That month includes composing intro/outro/bridge music (so I don’t have to pay or credit anyone else for that), editing, mixing, test-burning CDs and designing labels and packaging for them, because I plan to do all that myself, too.

All of this is possible because of digital tools available to me relatively cheaply.  This audiobook is relatively short (it’ll probably come in at around 4.5hrs when I’m done), but with experience recording should go faster, so the next one will probably take fewer days per hour of audio, and at a higher quality.  Packaging for the LaNF audiobook, which will probably be on 10+ CDs, I don’t know about right now, but I’ve already got some good ideas about how to package D’T, and some ideas about combo-packages I can offer (buy the paperback and the MP3 CD together and save!)…  hopefully this will help with sales of everything.

Anyway, I’ve been somewhat busy lately with this one project, at the exclusion of almost all else, because I want to get this launched ASAP.  I want to get the audiobook broadcasting (podcasting) as soon as possible. But since I also want to get the entire thing done ahead of time … it’s a lot.  Oh, and people keep reminding me First Friday is THIS Friday, and am I ready?  Of course I’m not ready!  Are you coming?

International Postage

So I sent the first CD to Spain yesterday. There probably won’t be very many of them. I didn’t even include a note or a message or a memo or a sticky note or a letter with this one. I’m not sure whether I’ll send anything other than the CDs on their own and then not anything after that. I think that that seems like what I’m supposed to do: complete the task I said I would and try not to prolong the increasingly futile attempts at maintaining a connection that she doesn’t want. That is not what it feels like I should do, but sometimes feelings cause problems for the people who aren’t feeling them.