The Author's Guide to Audiobook Creation

By: Richard Rieman

Narrated by: Richard Rieman

Length: 1 hr and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Should you have an audiobook version of your book? How do you do an audiobook? And, most importantly, how do you make money with an audiobook?

This guide to audiobook creation and marketing will also help you decide whether to voice your own book or hire a great narrator. The Author's Guide to Audiobook Creation includes the critical details of audiobook self-publishing on Amazon's Audible, iTunes, and beyond. Over $2 billion dollars in audiobooks were sold in 2015.

This is how you join the audiobook revolution!

©2016 Richard Rieman (P)2016 Richard Rieman

A quick and very potent trove of information on audiobook creation

Richard Rieman has written (and expertly voiced) this incredibly well-organized road map to creating audiobooks from your existing book. I listened to it from beginning to end in one sitting, and was really impressed. He paced his delivery perfectly, giving his listeners an opportunity to actually consume and understand the information he is offering.

As an author and audiobook narrator himself, he draws on his own experience, and relates appropriate wisdom from working professionals in the audiobook business. He gathers expertise from engineers, producers, coaches and narrators, but never wastes your time with unnecessary minutiae.

Rieman also looks at where the industry has traveled since audiobooks were created (the "10 Things You Didn't Know About Audiobooks" is worth the price of admission alone), and explores your options with both traditional audiobook production process, and the process Audible offers with ACX, or the Audiobook Creation Exchange.

Whether you want to voice your own book, or have a narrator produce it for you, this book is an incredible bargain, and a rich, dense and extraordinarily helpful resource. As an Audible Approved Producer with ACX, I can tell you that Rieman has taken great pains to be as complete and accurate as possible as he leads you to the audiobook production promised land.

A Must-Have for Authors

Richard Rieman presents a remarkably organized way to for authors to understand the audiobook process and get their book produced in one of several ways. It's easy to understand, and an enjoyable listen thanks to Richard's excellent presentation in both tone and pace. If you wonder whether turning you book into an audiobook is worth the effort, this guide will seal the deal, and make it much easier and faster to get it on the market. It cuts through mountains of information that would otherwise seem pretty confusing or daunting.

While I was given this book at no charge in exchange for a fair review, I honestly can't say enough good things about the way it handles this topic.

A great resource

For all of your audio book creation needs Richard Rieman provides what you need to know. Very informative and a great guide. He tells you how to create your own narration but strongly suggests hiring a professional to do the work. Others may not agree with his strong stance but you need to be very self motivated to go this route. Overall I would suggest this book to anyone wanting to bring their story from the page to the headphones.

***I received a free copy at my request from the author, publisher or narrator in exchange for an honest review***

Excellent guide

With a running length of only about an hour and a half, the author/narrator takes you through various aspects of audiobook creation. Great insight and step-by-step instruction is included on whether you should record your book, where to publish it, whether and how to record it yourself, where and how to hire a narrator, how to market your audiobook, and much more.

This guide may be short, but it certainly doesn't lack in useful details.
“This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.”

Great intro to audiobook production

Really enjoyed this audiobook. Narration was excellent and content was very thorough. I could have used this book two and a half years ago when I was stumbling through my first and only audiobook recording project.

Super helpful tips from an insider who knows the ropes and won't coddle you.

Get this book if the title grabs your attention.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

An excellent resource for an emerging market!

Richard has done a practical, helpful and super-informative job of educating authors and independent publishers!

A Must for Authors and Narrators

This book was provided to me by the author and narrator Richard Rieman. That being said, I can assure anyone writing (or that has written) a book they also hope to have in audible form, to listen to this book. Buy the hard copy too.

Richard will tell you with clear, straightforward, easy to understand information how to get your book into the audio format. If you want to narrate your own book, he tells what is needed to prepare for that endeavor. If you need a narrator, he gives important tips on how to find the right one. He explains the different contracts ACX (Amazon's audiobook platform) offers rights holders and narrators and what they mean. He explains other options an author has to get their book to a listening audience, and the astounding statistics of the audiobook industry growth.

This book is packed with info. I highly recommend it to authors and narrators alike!

Useful Advice for the Would Be Audiobook Creator

I assume that I'm not alone here, but I suffer from the delusion that not only am I capable of becoming a published author but that I would actually do an amazing job narrating my work myself, thereby reaping a huge financial windfall associated with the current audiobook boom sweeping the globe. I mean, I feel like I could literally be swimming in hundreds of dollars.

So, I was pretty interested in the topic. The advice contained in Rieman's Guide is practical, pragmatic, and applicable to anyone who shares this particular mania. Not all of it was strictly common sense. There were quite a few things I would never have thought of myself and would have had to muddle through on my own.

Most of the content felt original, but it was sprinkled throughout with tidbits from other indie authors and narrators.

As a narrator, Rieman wasn't bad, himself, but he wasn't my favorite either. He did a fine job with the material and wasn't a distraction.

The only negative I'd have about the book/audiobook is the cover art. It's really, really bad IMHO. Especially, in light of how Rieman specifically counsels authors to ensure they have high-quality artwork so their works will sell.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the audiobook business either professionally or out of a general curiosity.

***Full Disclosure: I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Concise and helpful guide

What did you love best about The Author's Guide to Audiobook Creation?

I enjoyed the fact that the book was not padded. He did a great job of just giving out relevant information and not repeating it endlessly just to fill the time. I have often found that some of shorter guidebooks are most useful because of this. This book fits that bill. It covers a great deal of material and is short enough that I can give it another listen or two to let the material sink in. Some of the advice on recording equipment and setup I think could apply to podcasts as well.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Author's Guide to Audiobook Creation?

I especially appreciated the quote about changing sentence lengths to add interest.

Have you listened to any of Richard Rieman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't heard any of his performances before, but he does a good job of having enthusiasm without it being over the top. His pace was solid as well. He didn't drone or go too fast. Good overall modulation.

Any additional comments?

“This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.”

Great Instructions, Invaluable Resource

This book is totally worth the price and the time it takes to listen to it. Any author new to audiobook production should absolutely own it. It will save you the time and effort of scouring thousands of online resources just to mine the tiny nuggets of information presented to you here in one glittering treasure chest. I have gone through the book once so far, but I plan to listen to it again and take notes. Simply excellent.

Thank you to the author for taking the time to make this information available. it's incredibly valuable.

I received this book for free at my request from the author, publisher or narrator and have voluntarily left this review.