Listen to an Idea & A Resource List For You
Resource List:
I’ve written a number of software reviews and workflow articles over the past few years. Several of you have requested easier access to the most popular of these. I’m hoping this list of direct links to these articles is of use to you:
- Scrivener – organizes and formats manuscripts into books,
- ProWritingAid – grammar checker, style editor, writing mentor,
- Outlining Your Novel Software – gets you started on your next novel,
- My Paperless Writing Workflow – overall writing process overview,
- Creating a Book’s Cover Layout – per Amazon KDP standards,
- Useful Writer’s References – useful thesauri every writer should use,
- Mapping Character Relationships with Mind Maps – track visually,
- National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) – write your first draft in thirty days & get the t-shirt!
Audiobook Venture:
I hinted in an earlier post that production of audiobook editions might be on the horizon for my books in addition to paperback and Kindle editions. While I’m just beginning this journey, I’d like to share a couple of ideas along the way. So if this tweaks your fancy, watch this space.
While this is not a tutorial on audiobook production, just FYI–here’s a technique you might find useful as you write and edit, whether or not you plan to produce an audiobook. Veteran authors use this trick to significant advantage.
I read a chapter aloud while recording it, and then I listen critically to the playback.
A useful dividend: Even after a final edit, by doing this, I find a few further changes I should make to the ‘script, thereby improving it even more. Very useful.
Plus there is a lot to quality audiobook production, more than I’d have imagined, and I love to learn. Yet another dividend.
I have a dear friend who is a veteran professional voice. He’s offered to critique my “demo tape” for ambient noise in my recording setup and suitability of my own voice as a narrator. I’m excited.
If you’re interested, you can listen to that (first draft) demo of chapter one of my new book (a work in progress) here. Yes, there are a few verbal hiccups, but the intent was only to evaluate the quality of my recording setup and to get a professional assessment on the suitability of my voice as a narrator. The objective for this “take” was not to produce a perfect narration. Feet of clay, and all that.
I’ve been told there are at least two reasons why authors might be the best choice to narrate their own audiobook:
- Nobody understands the nuances of a manuscript better than its author (meaning, subtext, inflection, pacing, etc.),
- Professional narrators are expensive, but I have it on good authority that at least one author works for a song.
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So until… and wherever…
Gene
