Away From the Mic

The Still Small Voice

7 August 2017

If you’ve read my articles about Barry Manilow (here and here), you probably suspect that music is an important part of my life. Did you know that I also play music? I ask your indulgence while I write about music for a few minutes. I promise that I do have a point that relates not only to audiobook narration, but to living the life of your dreams.

Introduction and Exposition

I started piano lessons when I was in second grade. My brother was taking them, and I thought I should do that, too. (By the way, I feel blessed that my parents gave me the gift of a musical education so early in my life.)

In fifth grade, I took up clarinet as part of the school band. I don’t remember deciding I wanted to play the clarinet. I wanted to be in the band, and I think perhaps the band teacher suggested it for me.

While I was in sixth grade, I decided to learn guitar because someone I sort of competed with was playing guitar. Admittedly, competition probably is not a good reason to start anything. I didn’t know then that I don’t have to prove myself to anyone. When the school orchestra needed a string bass player during my seventh grade year, I accepted the challenge and learned to play string bass.

Eighth grade saw me add 2 more instruments to my list: oboe and flute. The band director asked me if I would like to switch from clarinet to oboe. Yes, please! Playing oboe gave me to a chance to stand out. Why be one of 10 or 15 clarinetists when I could be the only oboist?

The flute was different. Rather than playing an instrument because someone else thought I should play it, I wanted to play the flute because it was lovely both in sound and appearance.

Mailbag: 6 Questions About Audio Publishing

6 June 2017

After reading my article How I Started My Audiobook Publishing Company, a couple of people recently wrote to me with questions about the process. With their permission, I am answering their questions here so more people can benefit from and join in the discussion.

Before you read further, I should state that I’m not a lawyer. I offer advice based on my experience in the audiobook industry, but anyone considering starting a publishing company may need to consult with an attorney.

Telisha’s Questions:

1. Does ACX accept copyright audiobooks without the author’s consent in the example of an economy book that has been in publication for 20 years and has a new edition every year which comes out and has never had an audio version. I would love to do it. From reading your article, I would hate to have this idea usurped as the authors did in your experience.

In order to publish an audiobook, the text must either be in the public domain, or you must have the audio rights to publish it. Authors own the audio rights to their work unless and until they assign the rights to another party. Many publishers include audio rights as part of a publishing contract for the work.

This chart shows you copyright term and the public domain in the US. The terms vary for other countries; for example, this page has info about copyright in the UK.

If the work is in the public domain, anyone can use it for whatever purpose they like. As an example, I discovered 2 related books were in the public domain, and neither had ever been recorded. I edited both books together so they followed a consistent timeline. The result was an original, derivative work for which I now hold the copyright: Bly vs Bisland: Beating Phileas Fogg in a Race Around The World. I created the Kindle book and produced and co-narrated the audiobook.

Bly vs Bisland cover art for the audiobook — Bly vs Bisland is one of my all-time favorite projects!

If the copyright is still valid on the book, you must do research to determine who holds the audio rights. It could be the author, the author’s literary agent, or a traditional publisher.

When using ACX.com to distribute the audiobook, you must first be able to claim an edition on Amazon. It doesn’t matter whether the edition is Kindle, paperback, or hardback. My article linked above gives the steps and additional info about claiming the Amazon edition when you are using a text in the public domain. The ACX process is much simpler for claiming titles still in copyright and would start with step 6 and skip step 7 in my article.

Not knowing or being able to find the rights holder does not give one permission to record and publish the audiobook! Copyright infringement can be a serious and costly mistake.

Which leads us to the next question…

2. How do you find out who holds the Rights on a book currently in print? Can you negotiate to buy the audio rights? Is there a better way to buy the audio rights to a book currently in print?

The research on rights can start with how the book came to your attention. If you know the author, you can ask her whether she still has the audio rights to a book.

If the work is traditionally published, you can contact the Subsidiary Rights department of the publisher. You may need to become a detective following the links in this article and/or hire a researcher.

Once you find the rights holder, you can negotiate with that party to license the audio rights.

In August 2016, I hosted a webinar with Jessica Kaye, a Grammy-winning audiobook producer/director of over 500 titles, founder of long-time audiobook distributor Big Happy Family Audio, and intellectual property attorney at Kaye & Mills. Before the webinar, I compiled a list of links to aid in researching the rights holder and distributing the finished audiobook. In the 1.5 hours of the webinar, I asked Jessica how to structure the deal and specific questions about the budget for licensing. You can buy a copy of the recording and receive my exclusive list of links for $49 on my Shop page.

3. What production and payment options did you choose and why? I read up on the ACX website, but wanted to get your perspective as a seasoned business owner and narrator.

ACX forces one to select non-exclusive distribution when publishing an audiobook from a public domain text. The royalty rate is currently 25% of earnings, paid each month.

With Bly vs Bisland, I could have chosen exclusive distribution since it is an original work. Exclusive distribution gives you a 40% royalty rate, but you’re only allowed to sell the book on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes throughout the contract period. I chose non-exclusive distribution for it as well since I’d also like it to be available in libraries and places like the NY Historical Society Museum.

I’m currently producing and narrating a text for which I negotiated and licensed the audio rights. I haven’t decided if I want to distribute through ACX or another venue. If I do go through ACX, I’m leaning toward exclusive distribution for the first year to maximize the royalties paid. Like print editions, the interest in an audiobook is highest during its first year.

After the first year, section 12(A) of the ACX Book Posting Agreement states that you can write to Audible to request a change to non-exclusive distribution for titles produced under the pay-for-production model. The distribution cannot be changed for books created under a royalty share (RS) contract. As both the audio rights holder and narrator, I wouldn’t enter into an RS agreement with myself. 🙂

4. What was your starting out per-finished hour rate?

I’m assuming this question refers to my rate as an audiobook narrator. I completed my first audiobook for a commercial publisher in 2003. My rate was $60 per finished hour, which included editing and mastering the audio files to be retail-ready and transmitting them via DAT.

To learn more about building skills in becoming an audiobook narrator, check out this article. You’ll find more advice specific to being a producer on ACX at this link.

Adrian’s Questions:

5. I just finished recording an audio version of a copyrighted book that the author himself narrated and a friend of mine suggested that I start my own publishing company. I’m confused since the agreement with the author of the book was that we will publish the audiobook thru ACX and he will receive all the royalties. But now I wonder if I should use this opportunity and offer him to publish the book thru my publishing company that I want to start. Obviously all the profit on his book will be completely his.

Can you give some advice or thought on that?

Adrian clarified for me that:

he had been the sound engineer in a work-for-hire arrangement with the author
the author had paid him the agreed-upon fee
he had created an ACX account for the author to upload the files

In this instance, you have no choice but to give the author the audio files per your agreement with him. For instance, the agreement may state that you will provide the edited, mastered, retail-ready, finished product. Withholding the files definitely is a breach of contract. I also would think attempts to re-negotiate the terms of the agreement at this point violate the spirit of the agreement and could jeopardize your long-term reputation.

Assuming that the file upload wasn’t included in your contract, you could offer to upload the files to the author’s ACX account as a convenience to that person and for an additional fee. The audio rights to the work, the audio files, and the ACX account all belong to the author.

Offering the author the chance to “publish through your company” doesn’t get the author anything, and, in fact, would cost the author more because you presumably would take a commission from the royalties. Otherwise, how would you make money from this venture?

The 3 easiest ways that you could start a publishing company are:

following the steps in my article to produce works in the public domain
acquiring the audio rights to books as discussed in questions 1 and 2 above
becoming an agent for authors who don’t want to or have time to do the casting, production, and technical aspects like uploading files, and/or for those who want to use ACX but live outside the US, UK, Canada, or Ireland.

In your position as sound engineer, option 3 seems like the best route for you. You would need to outline the services covered in your fee to potential clients BEFORE you sign an agreement.

You would need to cast qualified narrators since authors usually are not the best oral interpreters of their text. You could use the talent pool on ACX for casting. You could also use ACX for distribution or another service. You would make these kinds of decisions when developing your business plan.

As the audio publisher, you’re also responsible for marketing the audiobook, starting with its cover art. Many times, the audio publisher cannot license the cover art to the print editions and must create or obtain new artwork for the audio.

6. If I want to start a publishing company is it enough to make a ACX publishing account or do I need to register it somewhere else?

ACX is merely a distribution option in audiobook production. You would still need to follow rules in your state, county, and city about starting a business. You may be required to get a business license and/or file other paperwork. You also need to talk with your tax advisor about the type of business you’d run (sole proprietor, LLC, etc.), which would dictate how you’d report the taxes on the income from it.

*****

When I worked at the government, I taught many training classes. I always liked to end with this quote:

We have not succeeded in answering all our problems.
The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions.
In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever,
but we believe we are confused on a much higher level, and about more important things. 🙂

Obviously, we’ve just scratched the surface about considerations in audiobook publishing! If you have questions, please leave a comment, or contact me on my Shop page to set up a 30- or 60-minute personal consultation.

Updated 7/9/19

Recaps From 5 APAC 2017 Sessions

31 May 2017

Each year, the Audio Publishers Association hosts an informative conference for its members. I was unable to attend this year due to family concerns. However, thanks to the many tweets from ACX.com and other participants today, I almost feel like was there!

Using Storify, I chronologically sorted all of the #APAC2017 tweets about these 5 sessions of interest to audiobook narrators:

Technology is such a wonderful thing! 🙂 Enjoy!

SaveSave

Outsourcing From a Narrator’s Perspective

18 April 2017

In 2013, I heard client attraction specialist Fabienne Frederickson talk about determining your “Quadrants of Brilliance”. It’s a thought-provoking and highly revealing exercise that requires some reflection about those things in your business that you like and excel at doing versus things that you don’t enjoy and/or don’t do too well.

Stop Complaining About Noise

30 November 2016

In a recent Inc. Magazine article titled 7 Ways Successful People Have Better Mindsets, this quote practically leaped off the screen at me:

The biggest problem is thinking of problems as problems. Successful people know that when you focus on problems you have more problems, but when you focus on possibilities you have more opportunities.

It’s true. Our thoughts and words have tremendous creative power in shaping our lives. In fact, in one of my first blog posts 10 years ago, I wrote that nothing is more powerful on this planet than the words you think and speak. Everything that exists now was first a thought in a person’s mind. Speaking the thought out loud gives it creative power.

Wayne Dyer used to say, “What you think about expands”, and “You can’t get enough of what you don’t want.” When we’re repeatedly talking about something with energy and emotion, we’re actually telling the Universe, “please send me more of this.”

That’s great when we’re enthusiastically and excitedly talking about our latest audiobook contract or marketing plans. However, the same principle is at work when we’re animatedly griping about the leaf-blowers in the neighborhood.

An army of leaf blowers is coming soon to your neighborhood!

I can’t count the times when I’ve read posts from audiobook narrators in Facebook groups in which they whine about the external noise from the neighbors cutting their grass, planes flying overhead, nearby construction projects, or any other thing that interrupts their recording sessions. The people bemoaning these (first-world) problems seem to expect empathy from everyone else. If challenged, the complainer would say he’s merely venting off steam with people who understand the situation.

I never respond to those types of posts. If I did, I’d say, “Quit your bellyaching, and DO something about your recording space! It’s not up to the world to be quiet in order for you to have a cocoon of silence for recording.”

Before anyone gets offended at my harsh statement, let me add that I have walked in the naysayer’s shoes. In order to solve my multiple issues with an extremely noisy environment, I replaced all of the windows in my house and custom-built an additional room on my house with soundproofing techniques.

More importantly, I don’t respond because constant complaining really goes much deeper and has a more pronounced effect than most people realize.

Have you ever noticed that, when you’re sick and you tell and re-tell the story about all of your symptoms to everybody you know, you feel worse with each telling?

When I used to gripe about people yakking loudly on their cell phones or children screaming in restaurants, it seemed more and more of them would show up around me. OF COURSE THEY DID! I repeatedly focused my attention and poured lots of negative emotion in my comments about how much those situations annoyed me! I had an epiphany one day when I realized I had been saying, “We are a magnet for obnoxious children” — literally summoning the very condition I wanted to avoid!

I’ve learned — not that I’m always successful at it — that I have to keep my attention focused on WHAT I WANT, not what I don’t want.

The loud children and cell phone talkers in public are still around, but my reaction to them has changed. When I find myself getting annoyed by them or other irritants, I speak out loud affirmations like, “I am focusing my attention on what I want, which is a pleasant, enjoyable dinner.” Almost immediately, the environment — or at least my perception of it — shifts for the better.

Frequent grumbling doesn’t just steal your joy (and that of others around you) in the moment. You can be setting yourself up for an unfulfilled life.

I’ll leave you with these profound thoughts from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear:

Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you must, but stop whining and get back to work….

…most important, you’re scaring away inspiration. Every time you express a complaint about how difficult and tiresome it is to be creative, inspiration takes another step away from you, offended. It’s almost like inspiration puts up its hands and says, “Hey, sorry, buddy! I didn’t realize my presence was such a drag. I’ll take my business elsewhere.

…I have felt this phenomenon in my own life, whenever I start complaining. I have felt the way my self-pity slams the door on inspiration, making the room feel suddenly cold, small, and empty. That being the case, I took this path as a young person: I started telling myself that I enjoyed my work. I proclaimed that I enjoyed every single aspect of my creative endeavors—the agony and the ecstasy, the success and the failure, the joy and the embarrassment, the dry spells and the grind and the stumble and the confusion and the stupidity of it all. I even dared to say this aloud. I told the universe (and anyone who would listen) that I was committed to living a creative life not in order to save the world, not as an act of protest, not to become famous, not to gain entrance to the canon, not to challenge the system, not to show the bastards, not to prove to my family that I was worthy, not as a form of deep therapeutic emotional catharsis . . . but simply because I liked it. So try saying this: “I enjoy my creativity.” And when you say it, be sure to actually mean it.

Photo: Hector Alejandro/Flickr

A DEAL You Can Get Any Day And Is Good All Year

28 November 2016

The Monday after Thanksgiving is known as Cyber Monday, when lots of people are on their computers shopping for deals. Friends, have I got a DEAL for you!

I spent the morning searching for a special item to add to one of my collections.

This prize doesn’t cost much and can be purchased for the same low price any day of the year.

I’m talking about a library card — not just any library card, mind you, but a non-resident library card.

Of course, you should start your collection of cards with one from your city or county library. Most libraries offer local residents a free card since the library is funded through tax dollars. Learn what your local library has to offer and use it.

However, you’ll discover that getting a non-resident card to a second library system may be very useful since libraries offer different digital services. You’ll want to shop around for 1 or more non-resident library cards that fit your needs.

In addition to the cost of the card, you’ll need to determine whether the library accepts on-line registrations. I viewed at least 2 dozen library sites across the country, and most libraries require you to apply in person.

The cost for a non-resident library card is usually minimal, although some places like Kalamazoo, MI charge a 3-digit figure equating to a resident’s property tax.

Once you acquire the library cards you need, their benefit to your career as an audiobook narrator can be immeasurable in at least 4 ways:

Performance

I listen to audiobooks every day. I’m not only listening to the story, but I’m critically listening to the narrator and production quality. Each one is a mini-masterclass in performance technique that aids my own interpretations.

Overdrive, Hoopla, and Recorded Books are the largest services that supply digital audiobooks to libraries. Two libraries with Overdrive accounts choose different audiobooks for their patrons to download. With multiple library cards, you’re sure to find an audiobook you want to hear.

Periodicals

I went shopping for my 2nd non-resident card this morning because I want to read Publishers Weekly (PW) magazine. Sure, I could pay the $180 subscription fee on Zinio.com to get a digital subscription or the $249.99 to Publishers Weekly for them to cut more trees and deliver the magazine to my house.

I’d rather pay much less and support a library at the same time!

I had noticed that my 2 libraries both offer magazines through their Recorded Books portal (formerly Zinio). As an aside, my libraries also have other fabulous options from Recorded Books, such as ArtistWorks for art and music instruction! Neither had Publishers Weekly in their account, so I searched Google for a library that does. I’m planning to head over to a neighboring county tomorrow and pay $30 for a year’s access on their non-resident card.

TIP: Some libraries listed PW in a PDF as an available title, but I had to look at their actual magazine page to determine whether it really was included. If they have it, be sure they are showing the current issue as I saw several sites that indicated it was limited to archives. Also, some libraries have Flipster accounts for their magazines. I don’t know whether Publishers Weekly is available from Flipster.

Polylinguist

My library cards can help me achieve my long-held goal of becoming polylingual. (Most people would say “multi-lingual”, but that word wouldn’t fit with my alliteration.) Both of my cards give me on-line access to Mángo Languages. Even if I don’t take an entire course, it’s helpful to listen to these conversations when working on accents for an audiobook.

Proficiency

I got my first non-resident card from the nearby city of Smyrna a few months ago after learning that some libraries give card holders access to the fantastic on-line training site Lynda.com.

While they aren’t audiobook-specific, the Lynda video courses are professionally created and come with a transcript and materials. You can preview the Pro Tools 12 Essential Training at this link, but classes on every popular DAW are available. In addition to courses on DAWs, Lynda offers loads of classes in marketing, social media, web site design, and other topics useful to your audiobook business.

Like the magazines, Lynda is a subscription site. You pay either monthly or yearly. They charge more for the plan that includes the exercise files. When I started with Lynda in mid-2015, I paid $34.99 per month for the courses and exercise files. Last December, I paid a discounted price of $242.89 for a year.

In contrast, my Smyrna Library card cost $50, and I get to take advantage of all the other services from the Smyrna Library as well.

As you can see, the cost savings of the library cards over the regular price of these subscriptions is a DEAL!

Do you have a library card? Please leave a comment and let me know how you use it!

Updated 6/6/19 to change Recorded Books and Zinio references

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™