Conda Douglas on Her Audio Book Experience

I've mentioned lately I've been taking my book to audio. When I discovered one of my favorite writers, Conda Douglas, was also delving into the media, I asked her to write about her experience turning "A Crispy Rice Christmas" into a sweet auditory treat. So, here's Conda!

First of all, thank you Marva, for this opportunity!

Around about the beginning of November, I decided to do my first audio book, ever. This turned out to be a daunting task, at least at first, as I determined how to do so. Since I'm a film maker as well as an author, I know a great sound person who is producing audio books. However, when we discussed the process of producing an audiobook, it was obvious that it would take a lot of time and money, neither of which I, as is so common for authors, possess in great abundance.

A number of my fellow authors had good things to say about ACX, the audio production part of Audible (which is owned by Amazon) so that was my next and last stop. I found several advantages to ACX: it's fast and easy to start a production and find a producer (narrator) and there are different ways to pay for creating the audiobook, including a 50/50 royalty split with the narrator. Since my fellow authors also mentioned that many authors were going the ACX route and to be proactive about getting a narrator, I contacted a gal right away with a contract offer, which she accepted right away. Both of us were newbies, so it was a great learning experience. And my narrator did a great job.

The main thing I learned? Well, I had posted for production a Christmas romance, figuring since it was early November and it was a short story, it'd be produced and posted by early December. It was produced, but I hadn't counted on there being a four week long period of ACX "reviewing" the audio. The audio book was published the day after Christmas! Urk. Ah well, live and learn.

Overall, it was a great experience, one which I'm eager to repeat soon!

Visit my blog, Conda's Creative Center at http://condascreativecenter.blogspot.com, for hints, tips and secrets for creative people.