My thoughts on producing a high quality audio book, for what it is worth.

Hi, I am Nigel Killick, the executive producer at peopletalk.libsyn.com. Peopletalk is a non-profit making group, comprising of British trained: actors, writers, producers, musicians, short film and documentary makers. They have combined their areas of expertise in order to provide a free internet audio book, anecdotal story and social history site.

We sometimes feature interviews with authors and podcasters, who we think have gained the accolade of producing high quality stories, with the highest audio production values. One such author is Basil Sands, who we interviewed this year from podiobooks. He so impressed me that I commissioned him to write and narrate six short audio pieces called 'Our man in Alaska'. His stories have been well received by our listeners in 55 countries around the world.

I work with some very talented actors and writers here in the UK but I have been impressed by the creativity shown on podiobooks. So I spend a few days a month listening to and sampling the audio books on your site to find more interesting authors to interview.

The criteria I look for is quality of production values, before I even begin to listen to the narration and the story. After all, if the author has taken the time to pay attention to his production values, making it sound professional and the story is well written, and holds my attention, I will continue to listen. If the narration has changes in quality and background noise, I will give up listening. In other words if the author can not be bothered, then neither can I.

Our listeners are looking for a quality productions and have told us they love our stories.

So the advice I would give authors who want to produce their own audio books, is the same advice I give my actors. Rehearse, rehearse and more rehearsals, together with a forensic analysis of your script for narration. Marking up your script is also important; this is like a road map, of when and where to stress words, with the emphasis on tonal values.

Pace is also of great importance. Try to relax your voice. Give your listeners the chance to be calm and take in the richness of your vocal tones, as well as the magic of your words. Try to mimic the pace of the words in the story to vary the pace, so that your voice dose not sound tedious or colourless.

I hope that my thoughts on the matter are of some use?
Nigel at www.peopletalk.libsyn.com