Howdy
Last year the jacarandas reminded me to send this mail, and this year, yip… it was the jacarandas again :-)
Every spring the purple arrives, Pretoria’s students skrik wakker for exams, and we open our diary for our year-end audiobook season. December and January are when many authors finally get to do the thing they’ve been meaning to do since the launch party: sit in a quiet studio and give their book a voice.
I love Joburg over this period - while the rest of the Vaalies are at the coast (or stuck on the N1/N3 heading there), the studios are hushed, the traffic is gone, and you get the one thing a good narration needs most... unhurried time.
Now, before we talk about booking, here are a few useful tips for before you step into the booth.
Know your word count.
As a rough rule of thumb, around 9,000 words makes one finished hour of audio. A 70,000-word book is a multi-day commitment, not an afternoon. Our handy calculator does the maths for you.
Check that you own the audio rights.
It’s not a given that you do. If a publisher holds your book, ask them first. (Many already work with us, so it’s often a short conversation.)
Make a pronunciation list.
You’d be surprised how many words we know by sight but have never actually articulated out loud. Especially names. Consistency matters more than perfection: listeners forgive an unusual pronunciation, they notice an inconsistent one. Make a page with phonetic versions.
Decide whose voice it is.
Your own voice carries an authority nobody else can lend you, particularly if your book is instructive non-fiction. If you’d rather not narrate, we’ll match you with a professional voice from our talent bank at Audiobooks.org.za
Read one chapter aloud, today. Then another tomorrow.
You’ll find the sentences that work on paper and trip on the tongue. Fix those before the studio clock is running. You’ll also be more relaxed on the second pass in the booth.
When you get to the studio, you’ll be in very good company. Here are some of the audiobooks that came through our doors this year:
The 3 Comma Club
Jonathan Ancer and Gus Silber, narrated by Zach Haines (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
Mount Up for Murder
Emma Park, narrated by Jassy Mackenzie (KDP)
Saddle Up for Strife
Emma Park, narrated by Jassy Mackenzie (KDP)
Letters of Love
Dr Rani Samuel (KDP)
Drift Happens
Nkululeko Khumalo, narrated by Dineo Langa (Tracey McDonald Publishers)
Tracks in the Dust
Mario Cesare, narrated by Emmanuel Castis (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
Trace
Ryan Blumenthal, narrated by Matthew Dalton (Tafelberg)
Wisani and the Bafokeng Brothers
Thandi Moagi, narrated by Ayanda Charlie (Tafelberg)
Underdogs
Vusi Thembekwayo and Michael Hinton (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
Curro
Chris van der Merwe with Elmari Rautenbach, narrated by Hendrik Baird (Tafelberg)
Puppet Master
James-Brent Styan, narrated by Arnold Gerdts (Jonathan Ball Publishers)
Are you ready to add your book to the list?
Pop on over to SolidGold.co.za/Audiobooks to listen to samples.
Pick one at random. That’s the standard your book gets.
Here’s why we push this for December and January:
For most of the year our studios are dominated by corporate podcasts. Then Dezemba arrives (ke Dezemba, boss!), the boardrooms empty out, and our corporate clients go quiet until well into January (make that February LOL).
That’s when we get to do the longer-form work. An audiobook is made slowly: long days in the booth, one chapter at a time, while the city takes its annual breather.
We can only fit a handful of audiobooks into the season, so the diary fills fast.
Book yours today.
Listening is reading with your ears.
Let’s have an adventure!
