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Bookwall
Forgive me for this. After diddling around with it for a few days, it now seems a little boastful. But I’m among friends here, so if you think it’s over the top don’t hesitate to say so.
I’m approaching another milestone, with audiobook #89 at the publisher for review and #90 being recorded. An author friend on Facebook is celebrating ten years of being a full-time writer, and a fan made a composite graphic of the covers of all her novels. It looked like a good idea, so I started collecting thumbnails of the covers of the books I’ve narrated and trying to get them to line up straight. As I said, it took a few days, and I couldn’t do it all at once without getting a crick in my neck. But I did it, and therefore: The Bookwall.
As always, if any of these strikes your fancy, let me know; I still have promo codes for almost all of them and I would be delighted to share the freebies.
I’m embarrassed by the quality of the first 15 or so, but I’ve learned a lot about editing since then. The first two (lower left) were self-published titles, but somehow I attracted the attention of a “real” publisher for #3 and #4. #8 was the first I did for University Press Audiobooks, and they have brought me more titles than any other publisher since. #35 came to me thanks to a conversation on Ricochet, as did #51 and #88. #53 is part of a series written by a fellow Eisenhower College alumnus. I have learned a lot from all of them, and enjoyed all but two (no, I’m not going to tell you which are the ones I wish I hadn’t done. Classified.)
Thank you for indulging me.
Published in General
Boast all You want, Pratt.
We’re fans Here.
Well, you’ve got me beat on number of books.
Wow, that’s an impressive wall, Doug! Outstanding!
I like it!
I wouldn’t compare narrating with reviewing. I think reviewing is harder. ‘Course, writing a book is hardest of all. I’ll never do that again.
I was thinking of books written. I written close to 1000 published reviews. At least 50/year from 2006-2020, and between 60-80 a year since then. That’s the weekly reviews I did for the Galveston Daily News and then Ricochet, the bi-weekly one I have done for Epoch Times since 2021 and a bunch of reviews for Nautical Research Journal, Ad Astra, and several other magazines and websites. Plus the blurbs for Epoch Times.
Well, you’re way ahead of me in output. Glad you share it here, I never miss your stuff.
Not boasting at all. In fact, congrats are in order!
Congratulations. I hope you blow up the photo and hang it somewhere. I’m on Chapter 3 of Fatal Sunday. It is the second one of yours that I listened to (the first was Engines of Empire). You certainly pick winners!
Those are two of my favorites. I’m delighted to hear you’re enjoying them!
Quite the accomplishment.
Thank you. I’m bookmarking this post. Ricochet is a special place because of the people who hang out here. I have been tempted to enjoy these audibles but haven’t requested the free code because I have always been more of a reader than a listener. After several years of listening to podcasts and because my book collection is already too large, I think I am ready to transition to audibles. I have developed an appreciation for things that allow me to close my eyes, relax, and listen. Having read many a little book to my children and grandchildren, I’m in awe of anyone who can read a large, adult book cover to cover. Love the display! Congratulations!
I also am more of a reader than a listener, but I have found that audio books and great courses are now my preferred content when I am driving. Sometimes I even look forward to being stuck in traffic because I can listen longer!
If you’ve addressed this before a link would be appreciated, but I’d like to know what hardware and software you use to make and edit recordings. Do you have a home studio with acoustic paneling and a red “Recording” light to encourage visitor silence? I do hope this is the case.
Reading to my kids was what got me started. We read the Harry Potter books to each other, and I started making cassette tapes of our bedtime reading to send to my mom in the nursing home. I found out that her friends were borrowing the tapes. So I got some voice coaching, and found myself with a nifty side gig, which has turned into my main occupation since retiring from the day job.
One thing I have always loved about audiobooks is the way they don’t demand your entire attention. It’s like radio as opposed to television. They’re also good company. I have several favorites I listen to repeatedly for the comfort: the Nero Wolfe novels narrated by Michael Pritchard, several titles read by Sean Runnette or Stephen Hoye, and the incredible performance of the Monster Hunter International books by Oliver Wyman. I know ’em by heart, but sometimes nothing else will do.
Don’t hesitate to ask for a freebie. Audible gives them to me to encourage reviews, and they cost me nothing. You don’t have to subscribe to Audible to use ’em, you just have to use the free Audible app and put up with the incessant nagging to subscribe. If you do happen to subscribe and pick one of my titles as your welcome freebie, the author and I get a nice little bounty.
I use a Blue Yeti USB microphone connected to an MS Surface laptop. It took a little work to find a laptop that didn’t have a fan, because the mike would pick it up when it came on, but the Surface is all solid state. The software I use is AVS Audio Editor. I record in WAV format, 256Kbps 16 bit. After editing I run a noise gate filter set to attack at 0.5 sec and release at 20 sec. Then I run FREAC on it to convert it to CBR 192Kbps MP3 files, which is what Audible wants.
I do two edit passes, one before normalizing and one after. The first one catches any parts that have to be re-recorded (pickups); I have gotten pretty good at blending them in. One trick is to record at the same time of day; right after breakfast works best for me. The second pass, after normalizing, lets me adjust pacing and catch any noise that doesn’t get removed by the gate filter. I diddled with the gate filter for a long time to eliminate heavy breathing without clipping sentences. I’m no audio engineer, but I’m not paying $50/hr studio time either.
The Audible Creators Exchange, ACX.com, has a lot of great information on this stuff. Be glad to answer any questions I can. I don’t really understand what most of those initials mean, but I know where to find them in the app settings.
This morning I had an appointment with a new cardiologist, who has taken over the practice of the doctor I used to see. When I mentioned that I do audiobooks he lit up. “I thought you sounded familiar!” He had three of my titles.
One of those little moments that make it easier to get back to work. Not to mention that he gave my ticker a clean bill of health.
As far as I am concerned Michael Pritchard is Archie Goodwin.
Absolutely. A satisfactory performance; no flummery.
Wow! More complicated than I thought.
It’s a craft. I’m always trying to learn and improve my craftsmanship.
It may be time for a new microphone; the Blue Yeti is 14 years old. I’m researching it.