Jessica Albert and Brendan Ouellette discuss the many options available to large and small publishers when creating an audiobook program from the ground up. Learn how to develop an audiobook strategy, including the considerations that come with creating audiobooks in-house, how to sell audio rights, and how to work with third-parties and freelancers. Using their experiences at ECW Press and Annick Press, as well as sharing updates from other houses, Jessica and Brendan share lessons learned and the hurdles still to overcome in the Canadian audiobook landscape. March 20, 2019 techforum.booknetcanada.ca #TechForum

1. Readers Are Listening
Best Practices in the Production and Distribution
of Audiobooks

2. Jessica Albert
Art Director & Digital Production
Manager, @ECWPress
Brendan Ouellette
Digital Project Manager,
@AnnickPress

3. Making audiobooks
in Canada

4. To license, or produce?
Licensing considerations
● Should the author narrate?
● Is the library market important
for this title?
● Does the author have a heavy
stake in the final audio?
● Does the book require a very
specific reader to be ethical?
Production considerations
● $$$
● Estimate finished hours
○ word count / 7600 on the high
end
● Studio cost $220
● Narrator cost $100 ++

5. What is the market
like today?

8. The 100 Project

12. Production

13. 1. Preparation in-house
○ In-house producer
○ Choosing the right type of book
○ Re-reading the text for adaptation
○ Contracts

14. Translating
graphics

15. 2. Casting & Narration
○ Casting auditions
○ Prepping with producer
○ Character samples
○ Author meeting

16. In the studio
Anne T.
Donahue
Matthew Edison
Dillan Meighan
Chiblow

17. 3. Recording
○ Professional studio vs. home studio
○ Director (in-house, freelance, in-studio)
○ Engineer

18. The studio

19. 4. Post-production
○ Editor
○ Auditor
○ Mastering
○ Final files

21. Distribution

22. Distribution basics
○ Distributor
○ Retailers
○ Pricing
○ Metadata

24. Metadata for audiobooks
○ Audio ISBN
○ Narrator name(s)
○ Abridged vs Unabridged edition
○ Runtime (min and hh:mm)
○ Supplementary material, explicit content
○ Territory rights for audio edition
○ Pub date for audio edition (simultaneous?)
○ Audio-specific pricing (retail and library)

25. How do you make it happen?

26. Questions.

27. Thanks!
Jessica Albert
Art Director & Digital Production
Manager, @ECWPress
Brendan Ouellette
Digital Project Manager,
@AnnickPress