Words On Tape: How To Create Profitable Spoken Word Audio on Cassettes and CDs

By Judy Byers

If you're contemplating entering audio publishing--creating audio books-- and you're not sure where to start, I'd recommend Words On Tape.

The book discusses the basic steps to create an audio product--preproduction (creating the script), production (recording), and postproduction (editing and mastering the tapes, duplication, and packaging).

Byers emphasizes the need to plan. Lack of planning leads to higher expenses. She advises creating a solid script and rehearsing it before entering the studio. Many publishers of audio books will hire professional voice talent to read.

Byers discusses hiring union or non-union voice talent. And, she provides a very basic contract that a small audio publisher can use which states that talent allows his/her voice to be used. (However, the contract could be significantly improved. For example, the contract should also read that the rights conveyed would also apply to any assigns of the publisher. So, for example, if the publisher sold the audio rights or his/her company, the purchaser wouldn't encounter any potential problems. For anyone working with publishing contracts, I'd also recommend the books by Jonathan Kirsch about publishing law.)

Using 1997 values, Byers says the typical audio book might cost about $2,000 per finished hour, with a big chunk of that going to studio recording time and professional voice talent. Maybe, $70 per hour for studio time, and, maybe, $200 on up for voice talent per hour. And, Byers says to typically allow two to four hours of recording time for each hour finished product.

Although not a technical book, for people who might try this themselves, Byers says a high-quality condenser microphone and DAT (Digital Audio Tape) should be used to make the recordings. Byers warns that recording directly to cassette creates too much hiss. (For the compulsive technology do-it-yourselfer who wants to know more about sound for advanced recordings, I'd also recommend "Audio in Media" by Stanley Alten.)

Byers also discusses packaging of audio products, including vinyl cases and Norelco boxes (those little fold-out boxes that come with many audio cassette tapes).

Also, Byers tells us a few interesting stories about creating audio. For example, Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen, creators of the "Chicken Soup For The Soul" Series have long been speakers and creators of audio. After telling us that Canfield earned over $100,000 a year from royalties from a self-esteem program long before he got into the soup, Byers relates a story about Canfield and Hansen trying to make a recording when things weren't going so well. They recorded into the night trying to get it right.

Quoting Canfield, Byers relates: "But, when it really got funny was after dark. A cricket had somehow found its way into the wall in the studio, and began to chirp. We'd already been at the microphones for hours, so we were tired, but we only had three more pages to go. Our schedules were too tight to come back, so we'd say a couple of sentences, the cricket would CHIRP. Mark would run over and pound on the wall. Then, run back, we'd do another few sentences. CHIRP. Run to the wall, pound, back, record, CHIRP again. It went on like that until we finished...." (Can't blame the little cricket for wanting to break into the biz, I guess.)

The book also lists many resources, although I didn't see as wide a selection of duplicators and equipment suppliers as might be desired. And, some of the resources are dated.