Speak Your Words, part 1 - Bring Your Written Work to Audible Life!

In addition to narrating and voicing products for NASA, the National Geographic Society, and others, I have recorded a few audiobooks in the past few months. This has prompted me to ponder why any author would want to read his or her work out loud and how they would approach such a project.
What vocal, acting, or interpretative skills would an author need to develop to present her work? Additionally, what sorts of issues of confidence might need to be addressed as part of developing these skills and presenting their work out loud?

Before I proceed any further, let me tell you why I am qualified to give you this information. I have been doing voiceovers and narration for almost 25 years. I have been teaching public speaking and its cousin singing for over 20 years. And, I, too, am an author. So, I have inside knowledge from both sides of this endeavor. Here is a short list of my qualifications.

• Voice Actor: Audiobooks, Movies for NASA, National Geographic Society. Numerous Voiceovers and narrations.
  Teacher: Vocal coach for more than 20 years.  
• Singing teacher private instruction and through classwork
• Adjunct at Howard Community College, 
• Producer and Instructor Work In Harmony corporate team-building singing workshops. 
• Author: “Life Elements: Transform Your Life with Earth, Air, Fire, and Water” and “The Fiddler’s Talisman.”

I developed the Speak Your Words workshop to help authors learn ways to improve their writing and increase sales by sharing their work out loud. I have begun presenting this workshop to local writers' groups and associations and will branch out to writers' conferences in the coming year.

In my opinion, there are four main goals when attempting to bring written work to audible life.

Authors must:  

• Voice and develop characters' voices and become acquainted with their Narrator
• Determine the exact goals of each reading/recording for each fiction or non-fiction work
• Apply good vocal technique when reading their work aloud
• Develop the confidence and enthusiasm crucial to bringing out a nuanced and authentic reading

Before I go any further, let's take a look at why an author might want to enter this arena. Why do we present our written work out loud?

• Audiobook
• A book reading/signing
• Attending Conventions
• Interviews on either television or radio
• Book trailer production
• Crowdfunding initial video
• Podcasts
• Reading to the blind or visually impaired

There are likely others, but we will work with this list for now.

Over the next few posts, I will detail what an author or anyone who wants to present vocally, needs to do in order to bring nuance, excitement, and great characterization to any reading. I will also address how to increase confidence and comfort level when presenting in front of groups.

I will also detail how an author might start to build a home studio. I will give an equipment list and some of my thoughts on how to set up a studio that will yield good-quality recordings without breaking the bank.

I hope you'll come back and join me on this journey.

The Writing Road is full of cul de sacs, bumps, and superhighways

I've released two books. One is non-fiction and the other is fiction. The first "Life Elements," I released back in 2008. It's done well, and I periodically still do workshops and other marketing to boost sales. What hadn't I done until yesterday? For whatever reason, I waited and waited and waited until more than five years later to release it as an official Kindle version. How ridiculous is that?

For this book, I do have a good reason. Some of the things I needed a Kindle edition to be able to do (links, etc.) was not terribly possible when I started. I needed the book to be interactive. There is an assessment to take in the print version of the book that was impossible to convert to Kindle. So, I waited. And I was biding my time to see if/when it would be possible. I developed (with help) a version of the assessments that are up on the book's website and that people who get the ebook can get to via links instead of having the assessment in the ebook like it is in the print edition. It was just not practical to try and build something like it with the tech the way it was. Yesterday, I grabbed it all by the short and curlies and just did it. Links and all, it's finally up. Who knows what it will bring in terms of sales, but it was way better than not having the book up at all.

For the second book, "The Fiddler's Talisman," I had absolutely no excuse not to get the book up and out and doing its thing along the internet superhighway. I had it stuck in a little hidden cul de sac and it was doing a beautiful job of going round and round but not getting anywhere. I knew I needed to make some changes to it. I knew the cover was skewing too young for the content matter of the darn thing. I knew, I knew, I knew. And I also knew it was darn important for me to get the book out there in the Kindle format. People are purchasing ebooks more than ever before (and the vast majority of them buy ebooks on amazon) so if you are an author and you don't publish your book on Kindle, you are taking a hammer to your foot.

And yet, I hesitated. Oh, I had lots of excuses. The whole DRM and Kindle Select issues made me squeamish. Redesigning the cover also did a number on me. Plus, I admit it. I was just afraid. I love the book I wrote. I'm proud of it. It's so important to me to tell this story because I do believe in the power of music to heal and to make magic. Plus, this is the first book in the series and I have many more stories to tell in this wacky universe I've created. Heck, each of the Fairy Godparents could have their own tale. And yet, I think because it was so important to me, I waited. And waited. And waited.

This whole experience made me come to the obvious conclusion. When it's important, I get it done. When it's really, really, super duper important? I'll sit on it like a mother bird on a golden egg, and some part of me will be too scared to let it hatch, breathe, and live. I'm so glad a bigger part of me wanted to release Evie Songbottom on a larger part of the unsuspecting world. Despite the fear, I had to do it anyway. Yes, it might jump out of the nest and fall to its death below. Or, it might leap and fly. In the end, I have to find out which it will be.

Regardless, I'll keep writing the tales of Evie, Joanna, Daniel, Zeke, Mar, and the rest. They've taken on their own lives now and they will be pissed at me if I ignore them like this again.

See you on the Writing Road.