Hi all! Well, I’ve jumped straight into a new project since the completion of STAND, and in the last three weeks have produced about half of the audiobook recording for FLEE. It’s been a fun project, and has provided a unique challenge quite unlike anything I’ve attempted before.
I’ve come to realize that audiobook readings are less reading and more performing. It demands a lot more energy than writing the original story, and can take quite a few takes to get just right. Often, a single line of descriptive writing or dialogue can be read in a multitude of ways, and picking the right take can be challenging. In addition, performing this particular story, with its varied cast of characters, has meant performing various accents and ethnicities, requiring some amount of research (ie, watching videos of various speakers on YouTube) to capture. I’m not completely sold on my own performances, but I’m certainly learning from the experience, and it’s forcing me to improve in my reading skills. (This is particularly useful for me, since I’ve been in a foreign language field for the last twelve years and rarely read aloud in English.)
Since I’m enjoying the audiobook process so much (and there seems to be significant interest in full audiobook versions of my books), I’ve bitten the bullet and purchased a professional-grade condenser microphone. I’ve also purchased the materials to build a small acoustic box for my home office to dampen out any ambient noises. This has been a real pain for me in previous recordings, because our apartment building is right beside a busy highway, and the traffic noises inevitably seep into the audio. (Please excuse the occasional honks, beeps, and screeches!)
Once the new microphone arrives (an Audio Technica ATR2500, if anyone’s interested), I’ll use it to record the rest of the chapters, uploading them as usual to my YouTube channel. Then, once that’s done, I plan on going back and re-recording the initial chapters. With the experience and practice I’ve gained from the last few weeks, I know I’ll do a much better job the second time around, and the audio quality should be much higher.
When all twenty-one chapters of FLEE are completed, I will be uploading them to ACX, Amazon’s audiobook publisher site. Once that’s done, the full audiobook will be available for purchase on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. I have not determined what I will set the price at, but it will likely be a few dollars more than the paperback version of the book. After doing some research online, I feel this is a fair and affordable price, as audiobooks can range from $20-60. While I’ve never primarily been focused turning this into a career, I do need to make it worth my time investment, and those who would prefer a lower-quality version can always listen for free on YouTube.
After FLEE is released, I will see about doing other books, likely starting with STAY and STAND. Many readers have expressed interest in having the entire collection of this series in audiobook form, so we’ll see if I can set that as a goal for myself.
That is great news. I look forward to hearing the rest of the chapters done with the new equipment and will be buying the full audiobook when it is available. Thanks for your work on this.
ReplyDeletePS. I am also currently rereading All Things New (still my favorite) and I know it’s a long shot, but putting in my vote for an audiobook version of this too :)
Thanks so much for your support. I'd actually love to do an audiobook for All Things New, but I feel it really needs a full revision first. Another reason I decided not to start doing audio recordings for that particular book is the huge cast of characters, each of which will require a different voice. I'm not that confident in my voice acting abilities to perform that! FLEE seemed like a good stepping stone. We'll see how it goes from there.
DeleteAnd my vote goes to critical times👍👍👍
ReplyDeleteNow there's an idea! I could do a poll!
DeleteThat sounds great! I'm tempted to ask about getting some brothers and sisters to do voices to help with the other recordings, but even if not, I'll definitely be keeping up with this. Now, I just some time to sit down and listen.
ReplyDeleteI considered the same thing, but I think this would be a very difficult thing to orchestrate, as each brother and sister chosen to perform would need access to the right equipment and circumstances to record all of their lines. Maybe one day. But for now, I think the more feasible option is to record on my own.
DeleteI hope you will tolerate this question.
ReplyDeleteI have mentioned your books to a few of the Friends....I am in my first book, Flee, chapter 5. So far, I have been getting guarded comments about the possibility of you not being a Brother and readers could end up being mislead. Its my understanding that E.K. Jonathan is a pen name.....if so, it does beg the question....how do we know you are a baptized Brother in good standing. Others have said to me that we have been told by the Slave not to "speculate"....Can you address those questions, please? Thank you!!
Not a problem! I can understand the concern. I am, in fact, an active brother, and am currently serving as a need greater in a foreign country. I will not get more specific than that, and I do not give out personal details (such as my real name) for the reason of wanting to keep my identity as an author and my identity within the congregation separate.
DeleteOn a related note, I can understand the apprehension of some to read these books, which is why I always state clearly in a foreword of each book that what I write is fiction, and meant only as entertainment to upbuild. It is good to use judgement when deciding who to recommend the books to. While it is true that over-speculation (or, more specifically, being dogmatic about how future events will play out) could be divisive, we are also encouraged to "keep our eyes on the things unseen", "just see [ourselves" in the near future. I hope that these books help to achieve that goal, and I believe they speak for themselves.
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