CREATING MY AUDIO BOOK EDITION Of Code Name: ORION’S EYE

Jason Wheeler controlling the process

Tom Gauthier Narrating Audio Book

We are in the middle of producing our second audio book—“we” being my audio producer, Jason Wheeler, and me, the author/narrator. While the experience of making an audio book is new ground to plow for me, I’m drawing on years of public speaking, occasional radio and television appearances, stage work, and my nearly three years as a blog-talk-radio co-host. But doing the book raised the bar to meet the technical requirements for a commercially produced quality product that are well above my pay grade. I rely completely on my friend and venture partner, Jason Wheeler, to keep me legal and viable as a “performer.”

Doing my own narration was encouraged by our production/marketing “big brother,” ACX Productions—an Amazon Company. They told us that author/narrator is sought after by buyers of audio books. Okay, if Bill O’Reilly can pull it off, why not me? Well, for one reason, my voice. Too many years of using it hard, and the impact of the last five years of “extreme medications” (which successfully worked to beat back a nasty disease!) has left me with a gravely, gritty, voice—recognizable on air for all the wrong reasons. But there is a good side for me—when I was asked to co-host Military Author Radio (after being a guest) I said that nobody would want to listen to this voice. To my surprise, the opposite proved true and folks called it unique, easy to listen to, and authentic. The latter adjective gave me the confidence to proceed with the audio book narration gig. Feedback on our first book, MEAD’S TREK, supported the proposition when folks called the voice just right for telling a soldier’s story. So, I’m guessing narrating a romance novel is not in my future.

Our audio books, MEAD’S TREK, and soon-to-be-there, Code Name: ORION’S EYE are available on Amazon.com, Audible.com and iTunes.com. (Check out the sample recording on this site—home page.)

For you authors out there who are encouraged to give it a try with your books, check out the tutorials on ACX.com—they’re informative and very helpful to clear up a lot of the fuzzy stuff for you. Give me a shout back on this blog about your experiences with audio books.

---