Audiobooks: A How-To Guide

Hello World,
So I've been marketing my new audiobook (link here) the last few days. It's a short story, not a full novel, but I'm still excited to break ground in a new medium. I narrated it myself, which was a tiring but fantastic experience I hope to soon repeat with my other books. Today's blog is about the logistics of what I've learned...

1) You need a good microphone. I got mine for $20, so it's not a big investment, but without one you'll get nothing but background noise.

2) Location. Location. Location. You need a good room. Small rooms are better than big, and you definitely don't want empty walls. Empty walls will bounce sound around. What you want is lots of furniture to absorb all that ambient noise. I used my bedroom.

3) You need a decent editing program. Something that allows you to delete, copy, & paste is all you really need, but the further you can "zoom in" to your recording, the easier it will be. Zooming to 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 seconds aren't good enough. 1/16 are ok. 1/32 are better. 1/64 or further are ideal.

4) When you record, things will go wrong, but don't pause or stop the recording. That's what editing is for. Just keep that tape rolling. Not only will you mess up the reading and want to try again, but it's amazing what kind of other sounds are picked up (dogs barking/ neighbors casually closing car doors/ even your stomach grumbling is totally audible). When any of those things happen, just stop talking, go back to the start of the previous sentence, and read it again. When you edit you'll have to choose and delete the bad stuff, and it'll take a while, but the alternative (making a 'perfect' recording for each section of your story) is far worse.

5) Publish! There are lots of publishing platforms out there. I used www.acx.com and it was easy. Once I had a finished product to uploaded, it took them 14 days to process it. They sell it for you on three major audiobook platforms: iTunes, Amazon, & Audible.com.  They also choose the price for you, which is nice b/c you don't have to worry about over- or undercharging. Your cut is fair, and that's all that matters.

LMK in the comments if this helped you at all.

Narratingly yours,
-K

ps: Yesterday's Writing Results: No new words written or edited for several days, but my marketing results have been great, so I still did author-ly work and I'm not feeling guilty at all.  :D

The Greatest Folly for the Modern Author

Hello World,
First, let me apologize in advance for the length of this post... but it's not my fault. There's a big list down there that simply couldn't be helped. Feel free to just skim said list (in green) and actually read only the other good stuff.

 

Next, I didn't blog yesterday, nor did I write. However I was not a lazy, guilty author either.
:)

I was engaged in yet another long night of learning new tech.
:(

Here's a truth I resent but kind of geek out on: the modern author needs to be a salesman too.  With all the competition out there and the lack of connections most of us have, we are forced to do all the marketing ourselves. To prove how big of a deal it eventually becomes, here is a list of tech/ marketing I dove into, mostly in the past four years, and all solely in the hopes of furthering my writing career (presented chronologically for your amusement, starting in 1999):

THE LIST

-Reading the entire Microsoft Word manual
-Designing & printing flyers
-Designing & printing business cards
-Designing & printing bookmarks
-Researching portable wireless keyboards compatible with early smartphones
-Collecting a newsletter email list

-(Briefly) distributing an author's newsletter (this was before blogs existed)
-Designing & printing the proper page order in chapbook folio printings*
-Designing a website layout
-Working painstakingly with a web developer who frequently misinterpreted my website vision

-Researching proper formats for query letters to literary agents

-Writing & submitting query letters to literary agents

-Finding and attending a writers' convention

-Researching and submitting proper formats for short story submissions to magazines

-Following AuthorHouse formatting guidelines for my first book
-Designing book covers

___________________________________________________________________________

________________[demarcation line marking the year 2009... 4 years ago]_______________

-Learning to promote myself verbally to friends, family, & coworkers

-Creating and maintaining a short story submissions presence on Duotrope

-Creating and maintaining a Facebook author page

-Creating (and soon deleting) a Twitter author page
-Following Createspace formatting guidelines so as to make an actual profit with abovementioned book
-Establishing a valid PayPal account

-Attempting (and failing) to sell books on eBay

-Attempting (and failing) to sell books on Craigslist

-Researching and creating Facebook advertisements

-Following Kindle formatting guidelines & uploading Kindle content

-Following Nook formatting guidelines & uploading Nook content

-Researching and learning movie creator software

-Creating book trailers

-Creating a YouTube channel to display abovementioned book trailers

-Creating and maintaining an Amazon author page

-Creating and maintaining a Goodreads author page

-Creating (and soon deleting) a Pinterest page

-Creating (and soon deleting) an Etsy page

-Creating (and soon deleting) a Figment page

-Conceptualizing, designing, and launching a magazine for teenage authors

-Establishing a publishing company so abovementioned magazine retained legal standing

-Creating and maintaining a website for abovementioned magazine

-Bringing on board first one, and later a replacement, assistant editor for abovementioned magazine

-Collecting, reading, rejecting, accepting, and offering kind suggestions to all submissions to abovementioned magazine

-Publishing several issues of abovementioned magazine

-Marketing abovementioned magazine on various paid advertising platforms

-Making the hard decision to close abovementioned magazine

-Coding a new author website all by myself

-Finding, attending, and becoming a regular participant in local writing groups

-Creating and maintaining an author networking presence on LinkedIn

-Designing a table of marketing display material for author signings

-Choosing and practicing the perfect excerpt to read aloud at author signings
-Learning Windows 8
-Heading up my own local writing group
-Researching best audiobook recording procedures
-Purchasing proper audiobook software and hardware then recording, re-recording, editing, and uploading my first audiobook to the proper platforms
-Creating and maintaining this blog
          *This one was probably the biggest waste of time in my life. A genuine pain in the ass to figure out and very little gain. Chapbooks fit four pages of text onto one piece of paper (two on front/ two on back). But the front is pages 2 & 3, and the back is pages 1 & 4. Then you fold the paper in half and voilà! a little book. But when you add multiple pages it gets REALLY complicated... Paper 1= pages 1&8/ 2&3, Paper 2= pages 4&5/ 6&7. And then to have to copy/paste sections of your manuscript to match. Yes, I know there are now programs that do this for you, but they didn't exist in 1996. I did it all manually in order to print a small collection of short stories. In the end it took me about two months of effort and I sold exactly 3 copies for $3 a piece.  

So about that list... kind of insane, right? That's exactly the point. If you didn't read it, I don't blame you, but know that none of the above is actually WRITING A STORY! None of it is me doing my day job or having a social life. All of it was done in my spare time, and most of it involves the dreaded learning curve...which in itself frequently means scouring FAQs and user forums or dealing with incompetent or unavailable tech support. All of that takes even more time behind the scenes.

What's worse is that this dreaded learning curve seems to go on forever.

 

Example: last night all I wanted to do was find a way to do a giveaway on Facebook for reaching 500 fans (an unofficial Facebook milestone). I researched and found out there are legal issues with Facebook and to avoid having your page deleted you must use a third-party vendor such as an app. So I researched apps and found 3 popular free ones. Then I tried them all out, chose the one I liked best (I chose ShortStack for all you other aspiring facebookers out there), and set about creating an account and creating my first giveaway. It worked, and I look forward to seeing the results, however it totally took up my whole evening. 

 

And this kind of thing happens all the time. 

 

One positive result of all this is that when I do a Google search for "K. Edwin Fritz", my name and books totally dominate the first three pages of results and most of the next six pages as well. That wasn't true five years ago. Hell, it wasn't true TWO years ago. That's because search engines base their results on overall internet presence. It seems I'm finally making headway. Maybe one day in the near future somebody in the publishing world will get my query, submission, or free copy and actually recognize me. If so, all those months and years of work may actually turn out to be worth it.

 

In the meantime, I have a book calling me and I really must be going.

 

[Insert plug begging for comments/ followers/ sales/ etc. here]

 

Virtually yours,

-K.

 

Ps: Yesterday's writing results: no new words or revisions, but I did get that app up and running. Additionally, the day before I successfully revised about 700 words of "Women Scorned", that pesky second novel I keep blathering on about.

Hey Look... Progress

Hello World,
It's me again, but this time I'm in the guise of an actual author. That's because last night after posting my blog I managed to stay awake until almost 3 in the morning and- while I didn't actually work the whole time- I did officially succeed in getting some revision done on my second novel.

But it's nothing impressive, so save your accolades for another day.

In the 4+ hours I battled my inner demons of distraction (Facebook, T.V., a dozen or so games of computer chess), all I managed to revise were 3 lonely little paragraphs. The total was 211 words. Whoopee doo.

They were, however, really good revisions. Score!

In truth, I'm feeling ok. Not happy or proud, exactly, but ok. For the past 24 hours, this guilt-ridden author has felt... wait for it... hope. That's a lot better than in the past 24 days where I've felt little more than stabs of inadequacy. Maybe this is because for weeks now I've felt like I've been standing on a snow-covered precipice. In my hand has been a single snowball which I've been carefully and patiently shaping as I wait for the right moment to stoop, place it on the ground, and let it roll from my fingertips.

Like many authors, I write in spurts, except mine are more like gushing explosions of volcanic ash and lava. I have long- almost epically long- dry spells, but then something changes and I go on a frenzy. A year ago my first novel was sitting in the same stage its sequel is now: a long draft filled with continuity concerns, plot holes, and screams of thematic questioning. Then one day it occurred to me I had done a little bit of work for several days in a row. A week later I suddenly realized I had worked more than 5 hours a night for 8 or 9 straight days. Each session went well past midnight. I had even pulled an all-nighter and gone to work the next day, too stoked on adrenaline to let it affect me. Two months later I hadn't skipped a single day, had probably averaged 25 hours of work each weekend, and had pulled 6 more all-nighters, 3 more of which were on a school night.


Yeah, I binge-write, in other words.

It's unlikely that last night's baby steps will result in immediate snowball-like momentum, but one can hope and dream, and that's the message of tonight's blog. Of course one can also give oneself a fighting chance, so I'm going to check this for spelling errors, click 'post,' and open up that damned file before I lose the nerve. Tonight's goal: Revise a whopping 212 words. ;)

With a nudge of my snow-tipped fingers,
-K.

Ps: Yesterday's Writing Results: Revised words... 211. Paragraphs perfected... 3. Hopes and dreams reignited... Just the one, but it's all I need.

I'm Creative- Deal With It

Hello World,
I will, on occasion, hear that most cliche of questions eventually asked to all authors... "Where do you get your ideas?" I have by no means reached the level of annoyance purported by the famous writers out there (what a wonderful problem I hope to one day have), but I can see how it could get that way.

I mean, seriously, why is it that "I'm just a creative person," isn't a good enough answer for these people? Because the truth really is that simple.
Is it because my very creativity requires, in their minds, that I am required to produce some kind of brilliant, enlightening answer that could somehow transform anyone into an author? Is it because they hope to gain a wonderful anecdote for their water-cooler moments? No, I think the truth is much simpler than that. In my humble opinion, the people who ask that kind of question usually have an honest interest in the life of an author... but they lack the creativity themselves to ask more pertinent, engaging questions. And it's not their fault. I'm the creative one, after all.

I remember my first official interview. My college roommate (a future news reporter) needed to do one for a class and he instinctively chose me as his subject. I can't recall any of his questions, though I know they were few and they were good. He hadn't prepped me on them, at that had scared me a little, but each had elicited my excitement. I also can't recall my answers, other than that I felt like I had probably talked too much and might have ruined his project. What I do recall is his reaction when it was over. He essentially called me the perfect interviewee because, he claimed, I was exciting to watch and he didn't need to do any real work. I told him he had it all wrong. HE was clearly the perfect interviewER because his questions were interesting and worthy of my time. Rather than feeling like I was doing my roomie a favor, I had actually enjoyed myself. In the end, we agreed we had both used our respective talents and had simply done what came naturally.

That was probably the first time in my life I truly felt like a storyteller, because given the opportunity that's just what I had done. I became inspired and used my natural creativity to tell an engaging story. I had never seen myself in that light before. And today I can confidently state that it's simply what I do. It's who I am.

Creatively yours,
-K.

Ps: Yesterday's Writing Results: Ahhhhhhhhh, fuck it. Let's just admit it, I've been a lazy piece of shit for a week now. The answer, once again, is zero. I did, however, go to my weekly writing group and listen to other authors share the writing they've actually accomplished. Strangely enough, that never adds to my guilt. It only inspires me. I was actually very close to doing some work last night, but the late night and a rare, splitting headache knocked me on my ass.

Another Day, Another Rejection

Hello World,
So I got another rejection today. This time it was from an agency, not even a publisher. For those who don't know the difference, agents help you get published (and only get paid by taking a cut of your profits/royalties). So they are kind of the author's friend. To be rejected by one hurts a little bit more than being rejected by a publisher directly. It suggests you're not even worth fighting for.

Having said that, today's rejection did come from a very high-end agency that rarely takes on new clients. It was a long shot, so the results were not at all surprising. Having said THAT, rejection still sucks. I try to embrace that age-old author's adage of "Develop Thick Skin", but it's hard to do so all the time.

One other interesting thing is that today's rejection letter was a form letter but very polite, very sensitive. The emphasis was on their workload rather than their disinterest. The distinction I'd like to make is that rejection in years past were more informal, more brusque. It's a nice swing in the right direction.

Of course my real problem isn't having to add to my collection of rejections, it's how comparatively small that collection is. I NEED to make submissions (short stories to magazines, my novel to publishers, myself to agents) on a more consistent basis. I'd estimate the total number of rejections in my writing career has not yet reached 50. (In comparison I've collected roughly a dozen acceptances... a pretty good ratio, if I do say so myself). That means I have yet to submit a hundred times. All the stories of authors of the past report crazy numbers like hundreds upon hundreds of rejections with only 20 or maybe 50 acceptances before getting their big break.

I don't think I'm a bad writer, or even a mediocre one. I think I'm at least average, probably a little ahead of the curve. But I'm definitely a relatively unproductive writer. I should probably do something about that. Like work on my book or something.

Dejectedly yours,
-K.

Ps: Yesterday's Writing Results: Nothing. Nada. Niente. And that comes despite my growing guilt. Maybe tonight I'll do better? I'm certainly stoked enough to write right now, but I'm also pretty damned tired (it's almost 11pm). *sigh* We'll see.

I Hate Mondays

Hello World,
I know, I know. You hate Mondays too. Welcome to the human race, right?

Fair enough. But my Mondays- right now at least- have a unique collection of annoyances that impede upon my writing abilities.

First of all, Mondays are my 'duty' days at school (I'm a teacher, remember) which means I'm automatically short a half hour of my already-preciously little "free" time. Usually I'll take care of emails during this time... or, to be honest, play a videogame (see my earlier post, "Addicting Personality"). But never on Mondays. :(

But Mondays are also the first day utilized at school for parent conferences. These are always in lieu of other meetings, but I'd rather have a meeting with other teachers than with a parent who may or may not turn out to be pissed or crazy or both. (Today's parent meeting was blessedly 'normal').

Mondays are also faculty meetings, and these are a unique level of hell that only other teachers can fully understand. The worst part about them is the unknown factor. We never know what speeches, chores, new initiatives, or upcoming-and-class-interrupting-assemblies we get to learn about.

But when that's finally all over and I "get" to leave work and do my own thing...? For the past several weeks I've been tutoring right after school. Now don't get me wrong, I like tutoring, and it's great (necessary) to get a little extra money, but it's also another Time-Sponge. Not only is it another hour-plus stolen from my Mondays, it's also about two hours of prep time at some point over the weekend.

...unless I spent the awakens eating turkey and driving all day lime I just did, which means I worked through lunch again in order to be ready in time.

[insert plug for comments, fans, etc. here]

Wearily yours,
-K.

Ps: Yesterday's Writing Results: No new writing. Very bad for a weekend. I can claim it was the 8-hour drive home that did me in. That, however, would be a lie. 

Pps: My guilt level has been rising lately. Perhaps I'll actually write tonight to assuage some of those demon voices.

Holidays Are Not Relaxing

Hello World,
In case you missed this, the holidays are not relaxing. And I'm not talking about the regular deal-with-your-family b.s.  I'm talking about author stuff.  I'm no better myself. I keep looking forward to holidays and coming out the other end disappointed. Allow me to explain...

Holidays mean time off from work. That's awesome. That must mean time to write. Even awesomer! False, dear author. You're about to embark on an experience I like to call "The Holiday Hopefuls." That's when you see several days off work in front of you and make the ridiculous assumption that you'll get some writing done. You won't. Not even a little bit. And if you do, you'll be made to feel guilty for it by that wonderful family of yours.

An author's job is a very solitary one, see, and holidays are filled with people. Nice people, usually, despite the stereotypical grumbling, and usually you'd like to spend time with them. So you do that instead of write. Which is fine. What isn't fine is that you thought there'd be some 'down time' in there when you'd do some writing. So you take your laptop or your notebook with you wherever you go, but you rarely open it up. And if you do, you probably have just enough time to check emails & Facebook, etc. Should that rarity of rarities actually occur and you really do some real writing work, how long before the next once-a-year family distraction will come sauntering through the room or ringing through the phone? Minutes. An hour at most, and even that's a basic miracle.

So by the time we authors get back to work after a holiday, the rest of the world asks us that wonderful question, "How was your holiday?" which is immediately followed by "Get any good writing done?"

And we lie. We say "Yes," or "A little" just to be pleasant when the truth is that we're more stressed out than when we left.

[insert plug for comments/ fans/ followers here]

Until next time,
-K.

Ps: Yesterdays Writing Results... No new writing, but I did submit "Bombardier" to Fiction Vortex, an online magazine.