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Post by whdean on Dec 11, 2015 22:04:54 GMT -5
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Post by lindymoone on Dec 12, 2015 4:45:36 GMT -5
Interesting topic and link... thanks!
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Post by Daniel on Dec 12, 2015 8:09:13 GMT -5
It makes sense to me that narrators would have fans. For audiobook listeners, the narration is probably the most important part of the experience. Maybe more important than the writing.
If audiobooks really are a primary format for the future, we should probably all be writing with audio in mind. Would that change the way some of us write?
I'm not sure it would change anything for me. I always read my books aloud and make changes for smoother narration. I figure those changes make the story easier to read as well. I occasionally make revisions related to the mental image the words convey. Reading aloud and thinking about how the words would be heard gives me a new perspective on the wording. Again, I figure clarifying the mental image makes the story a better read, but that might also be good practice for future audio editions.
Thanks for the article and the thread. It was definitely food for thought. When I do the final read-through of my next release, I'll be keeping this in mind.
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Post by Becca Mills on Dec 12, 2015 10:52:19 GMT -5
Haven't read the article yet, but I have a question: do you think anyone lightly edits their book for the audio version? Removing speech tags, for instance? In most of the audio books I've read, the narrator subtly changes her/his voice for each character. That make a lot of speech tags unnecessary.
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Post by whdean on Dec 12, 2015 21:11:54 GMT -5
It makes sense to me that narrators would have fans. For audiobook listeners, the narration is probably the most important part of the experience. Maybe more important than the writing. If audiobooks really are a primary format for the future, we should probably all be writing with audio in mind. Would that change the way some of us write? I'm not sure it would change anything for me. I always read my books aloud and make changes for smoother narration. I figure those changes make the story easier to read as well. I occasionally make revisions related to the mental image the words convey. Reading aloud and thinking about how the words would be heard gives me a new perspective on the wording. Again, I figure clarifying the mental image makes the story a better read, but that might also be good practice for future audio editions. Thanks for the article and the thread. It was definitely food for thought. When I do the final read-through of my next release, I'll be keeping this in mind. I agree. If you need to fix your writing for narration, you have a problem with your writing. I'd argue that how it sounds read aloud should be the standard. |
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Post by whdean on Dec 12, 2015 21:14:17 GMT -5
Haven't read the article yet, but I have a question: do you think anyone lightly edits their book for the audio version? Removing speech tags, for instance? In most of the audio books I've read, the narrator subtly changes her/his voice for each character. That make a lot of speech tags unnecessary. Good point. I've never compared text to audio to see, but I seem to recalling hearing the "saids." The guy who reads the Reacher novels doesn't say said much because Child rarely uses it. |
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Post by lindymoone on Dec 12, 2015 22:55:54 GMT -5
It's starting to sound like we should be writing plays...
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Post by ameliasmith on Dec 13, 2015 7:28:49 GMT -5
It's starting to sound like we should be writing plays... Radio plays. (Except that full cast recordings are expensive.) |
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Post by Daniel on Dec 13, 2015 8:44:10 GMT -5
Haven't read the article yet, but I have a question: do you think anyone lightly edits their book for the audio version? Removing speech tags, for instance? In most of the audio books I've read, the narrator subtly changes her/his voice for each character. That make a lot of speech tags unnecessary. I can't recall the specific article, but I remember reading about at least one author who said her books were tweaked slightly for better narration. If I were to work with a narrator, I'd suggest he or she do what was best for the narration, although I'd like to know about what changes were made for future reference. |
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Post by whdean on Dec 13, 2015 20:45:50 GMT -5
Haven't read the article yet, but I have a question: do you think anyone lightly edits their book for the audio version? Removing speech tags, for instance? In most of the audio books I've read, the narrator subtly changes her/his voice for each character. That make a lot of speech tags unnecessary. I can't recall the specific article, but I remember reading about at least one author who said her books were tweaked slightly for better narration. If I were to work with a narrator, I'd suggest he or she do what was best for the narration, although I'd like to know about what changes were made for future reference. Could've been adding detail about maps or something else "graphical" that would normally be seen in print. |
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Post by Becca Mills on Dec 13, 2015 22:22:21 GMT -5
Haven't read the article yet, but I have a question: do you think anyone lightly edits their book for the audio version? Removing speech tags, for instance? In most of the audio books I've read, the narrator subtly changes her/his voice for each character. That make a lot of speech tags unnecessary. I can't recall the specific article, but I remember reading about at least one author who said her books were tweaked slightly for better narration. If I were to work with a narrator, I'd suggest he or she do what was best for the narration, although I'd like to know about what changes were made for future reference. Yeah, I'm thinking that way too. For instance, in a three-person conversation where the narrator is going to be doing noticeably different voices, some tags are going to become redundant. |
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Post by Victoria on Dec 15, 2015 5:22:14 GMT -5
My boyfriend is blind so I have Audio Description permanently turned on on my TV and of course we always have it on (if it's available) when watching movies. I'm definitely developing favourite Audio Description narrators and might be swayed into watching a movie if it had a good one (although I wouldn't know, since they don't put that on the packaging). So this makes sense to me, even though audiobooks are generally out of my price range. You're committing to spending hours listening to a voice so you want it to be one you like, and you'll only know that going in if you recognise the name.
I agree that your writing should sound good read aloud anyway, but I'm also curious about Becca's question. I wouldn't expect all speech tags to be removed in an audiobook but I'm sure some of them would seem superfluous if the narrator was doing different voices for each character.
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Post by shawninmon on Feb 24, 2016 22:51:01 GMT -5
The issue with changing your book even slightly for the audio version is that you want the book Whispersynced on Amazon, and they want the two to match as closely as possible. If you qualify for Whispersync, then when someone buys a Kindle copy, they get a drastically reduced copy of the Audible version. When I run a Bookbub, it's not unusual to sell a couple of hundred (reduced price) audio books that same week.
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