M. L. "Matt" Buchman has 70+ novels, 125 short stories, and 50 read-by-author audiobooks. From the very beginning, his powerful female heroines insisted on putting character first, then a great adventure.

PW declares of his Miranda Chase action-adventure thrillers that: "Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead will clamor for more." About his military romantic thrillers: "Like Robert Ludlum and Nora Roberts had a book baby." He is also the founder and editor of Thrill Ride – the Magazine.

A project manager with a geophysics degree, he's designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, solo-sailed a 50' sailboat, and bicycled solo around the world…and designs quilts. He and his wife presently live on the North Shore of Massachusetts. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.

Narrate and Record Your Own Audiobook by M.L. Buchman

Audio is the up-and-coming market, but the price of entry can be a horrific $300-500 per finished hour and up.

M. L. Buchman has recorded and published over 30 audio titles—himself.

Here he covers the basics you need to record your own audiobooks.
•How to decide if it's the best option.
•When you should outsource the engineering.
•Why you're wrong when you "hate your own voice."
•Tools, techniques, and free studio space ideas.
•A step-by-step guide to recording and engineering your own audiobook.
•How to quantify direct, and most importantly of all, indirect costs.

This simplified guide delivers the confidence to tackle the unique opportunity of "Read by Author."

CURATOR'S NOTE

In a previous life, M.L. Buchman worked sound in theater. He learned a lot of tricks about audio, which he's been able to apply to his own audio books. He's narrated over thirty of his own books, and because he's a former (recovered?) project manager, he knows how to organize writers to make the most efficient use of their time. Narrate your own audio? Of course you can, if you follow the advice of M.L. Buchman. – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

REVIEWS

  • "The author does a great job of laying out what you need to do."

    – Amazon Review

  • "This book is jam packed with useful, actionable content delivered in a concise, entertaining manner."

    – Amazon Review

  • "Terrific information delivered in a simple, easy-to-read format. Just what I needed to get started on my own audiobooks."

    – Amazon Review
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

INTRODUCTION

So, you think you want to tackle recording your own audiobook.

Fantastic!

It is fun and potentially lucrative. It can also be frustrating, expensive in unexpected ways, and may not pay out.

This book was written to help you maximize the fun and profit and minimize all the other crap.

Why this book

There are dozens of ways to record a book and hundreds, literally, of possible settings to engineer your audiobook.

This volume is intended to cut through all of the choices and lay out a single clear path that has worked for this author in narrating over thirty of his own titles. Are there better techniques? I like to think not. Are there other, equally good techniques? Absolutely.

This is neither a technical treatise on audio recording nor an education in sound engineering. It is about the straightforward steps necessary to record a quality audiobook for public sale.

Why me

I spent over seven years as a live theater sound operator (among other roles). My mentors were two of the leading audio engineers in the Pacific Northwest. They were involved in everything from small productions that would eventually give birth to Seattle's Fringe Theater movement to touring with major Seattle bands. They engineered recordings for the Seattle Symphony and live broadcasts of Seattle Opera performances.

While I was never a truly brilliant sound man in the way that they were, I received a deep education that would stand me in good stead when I produced my first audiobooks starting in 2013.

About this book
This book is intended to serve two purposes:
1.Help make the decision about the whether or not recording your own audiobook is the right choice for you. (Chapter 1)
2.A simplified guide to the exact steps to doing so. (The rest of the book.)
In the course of the simplified guide we'll discuss:
•Basic and advanced techniques of giving your characters a voice.
•Dos and Don'ts of audio narration.
•Choosing software, computers, and a microphone.
•Selecting a good recording space / booth.
•How to record.
•A simple guide on how to approach the complex task of engineering—or whether this step is best outsourced.
•The crucial "The Listen" step.
•Properly saving your files.
•A few tips on markets and marketing.
Let's plunge in!