Navigating the Audiobook Process

Are you interested in having your print book converted into an audiobook? If your answer is yes, then you need to decide whether you want to narrate your own book, or whether you’d like a professional voice actor to do so.

(How to Make an Audiobook.)

My book, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self, is a raw and vulnerable rendering of my medical journey. Given the personal nature of my book, I thought I’d either be too monotone or too emotional if I were the narrator. Thus, I asked ­my publisher, Wise Ink Creative Publishing, to help me with this process. 

They sent a Narration Style Wish List to me, which included questions such as What is the tone of your book? What is the pace of your book? What is the overall feeling of the book? Based on my responses to these questions, they curated a list of voice actors, and then had these five individuals provide a sample reading of the first chapter of my book.

Follow Your Instincts

I listened to these samples—again and again—trying to discern who could channel not only my voice, but my mom’s, dad’s, and my husband Dan’s voices. I paid close attention to tone, inflection, and emotional range.

One challenge with basing this big decision on only the first chapter was that my mom, dad, and Dan don’t enter into the book later. Because of this, I focused on which narrator I thought had best narrated my authentic self and my friend Diana’s authentic self, who is the one other character in the first chapter.

Given that my book is a memoir, I obviously know how my characters sound in real life. That said, authors of fiction come to know their characters intimately and “hear” their distinct voices in their head. Thus, listening for a narrator’s ability to create distinct authentic selves is essential across all genres.

How did I ultimately make a decision, especially when there were many talented narrators in my pool of samples?

There is a chapter titled Following My Instincts in my book. For various reasons, I didn’t learn to follow my instincts until I was in my 30s. But since learning how to hone my instincts, I’ve realized how important it is to listen to my inner voice.

Something kept pulling me toward Jessica Taige. She seemed to channel my voice the most naturally. Also, she seemed especially poised to convey both fear and exhilaration, as well as pain and hope.

Build Relationships

Once I informed Wise Ink of my choice, they reached out to Jessica and Doug McDonald, my audio engineer, who ultimately was responsible for compiling and fine-tuning all of Jessica’s recordings. While this isn’t always the protocol, the two of them were willing to connect with me via Zoom so we could get to know each other. This provided Jessica, in particular, with an opportunity to hear me talk, which in turn informed her more as she strived to capture my voice and character.

Coincidentally, it was during this call that I also learned that Jessica lives in Bangkok, which just so happens to be where the opening scene of my book takes place. Jessica joked that she may have overemphasized the sentence in my opening paragraph that refers to Bangkok’s “heat and humidity.” I reassured her that, Nope, she hadn’t! She understood the intensity, and had captured this perfectly.

Set the Tone

While we continued to talk, I gave Jessica a heads up that there were sections of my book in which my mom and I have some tough heart-to-heart conversations, especially when my mom learns that Dan and I will be moving overseas. I worried about tone. 

As most of us know only too well, tone can be interpreted correctly or incorrectly—think back to a time when you’ve had a text or email misconstrued. I wanted Jessica to know that, even during our most difficult conversations, my mom, who is a big reason why I’m alive today, was coming from a place of love and concern.

Perhaps the most difficult conversation between my mom and me occurs in the chapter Surreal. It is in this chapter that Dan and I divulge that we have decided to accept job offers to teach at a school in Bangkok. Understandably, given my health history, my mom is concerned about this decision. 

Just this week I listened to Jessica’s narration of this chapter. I appreciate how well she narrates both my mom’s concern and love, which is such a tricky balance to strike.

Get the Right Pronunciation

Yet another benefit of working with Jessica was that she was willing to work with me chapter by chapter to make sure she pronounced challenging words correctly. While my book is not overly medical, the Author’s Note is chock full with tough terms, including Hallervorden-Spatz disease and pantothenate kinase-associated degeneration. To align with my past experiences, I made the choice to use Hallervorden-Spatz disease throughout the book. 

However, it was important to me to let my readers know that the disease is now referred to as pantothenate kinase-associated degeneration. But the weird part of this is that I had never actually heard anyone say pantothenate kinase-associated degeneration aloud. Thank goodness for resources such as Google. And for Jessica, who took the time to pronounce these challenging words correctly, strengthening my story and connection with my readers.

All this to say, I never knew how much tone, pronunciation, and capturing the voices and personalities of different characters would matter to me until embarking on this project. I’m so fortunate to have partnered with people who are committed to delivering such a polished project.

Build a Lasting Connection

To top it off, Jessica told me that she plans to purchase my—or, what I’ve come to think of our—book for her best friend who recently had a stroke and is still working to regain the mobility on the left side of her body. While my experience was different from this person’s, I can relate to where she’s at—a juncture where she wishes what had happened had never happened.

How do we learn to integrate difficult experiences into our identity so we can more fully live into our purpose? I, for one, don’t have all the answers—and I never will. But, as we grapple with adversity, perhaps my book can offer some hope.

And now, thanks to Jessica’s soulful narration and Doug’s audio expertise, my book will reach an even wider audience.