When in comes to audiobooks: your own voice or someone else’s? That’s the question. Many of today’s independent authors choose to convert their paperbacks/ebooks into audiobooks using free do-it-yourself tools like Audacity. But, for a more professional touch, you may want to hire a voice-over artist.

Audiobooks: Your Own Voice or Someone Else’s?

Audacity is a free tool you can use to convert your ebook to audio by recording yourself reading your book. According to a blog post titled “Should You Turn Your Book Into an Audiobook on Audible?” by Matt Stone, Audacity is a decent tool for do-it-yourselfers who want to produce an audiobook as cost effectively as possible:

It’s some trouble no doubt to do it yourself. But like anything else, once it’s done and behind you, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. A decent audiobook can be created in about 40 hours (based on a 50,000 word book, much less for a shorter book), and really only requires a decent USB microphone (usually $50-100) and a free program called Audacity. That may not produce rock-your-socks-off audio quality, but it’s certainly enough to give your readers a positive listening experience, and enough to get you in the audiobook game. That is, of course, if you have a decent-sounding voice. (Stone, 2017)

Your alternative is to hire voice-over talent—which can be found from the long list of freelancers on Fiverr—to produce a professional, musically-scored audiobook for you. The site displays a long list of both male and female talent to choose from, at all different price points. And Fiverr has controls in place. They ensure you’re happy with the result before your funds are released to the freelancer as final payment.

The Choice is Yours

Whichever way you choose to convert your book to an audiobook is fine. It’s all up to you and your budget, of course. Once you’ve done it, you can upload the audio files to Audible, Amazon, and iTunes in one fell swoop via ACX, and begin selling your audiobook online. Or you can save the audio files on your own website or CD for direct distribution to your targeted clientele.

Sample audiobook with professional voice-over and music scoring:

Sample home-made audio using my iPhone recorder:

Related reading: [eLearning Industry] The Virtues Of eBooks And Audiobooks In eLearning

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