The Making of an Indie Horror Audiobook
BP: So in January of this year I posted about wanting to get into audiobooks as my New Year’s resolution …
… and the next day Ed DM’d me to say HIS resolution was to start his own brand new audiobook narration company! We decided to combine our powers to launch both projects.
Here are five questions each about this New Year’s resolution journey we’ve gone on together.
Horror and SciFi author BP Gregory VS Ed Hall of One-Stop Audiobook
BP to Ed: What was it when you saw my tweet that made you decide this is the time to strike, your new audiobook career starts now?
Ed: It’s something I’d been planning for a while. I have a background in music production and had done some voice-over work in the past and saw this as a great opportunity to combine these skills with my love of reading. All I needed was that little push to take the next step. When I saw your tweet, I just thought this is it – go for it!
BP to Ed: Did you already have an interest in horror or sci-fi stories before you narrated Flora & Jim?
Ed: Absolutely! Horror and sci-fi were a big part of what made me first fall in love with reading. I loved reading Stephen King and James Herbert, while Kim Stanley Robinson is probably my favourite sci-fi author. These days I lean more towards fantasy fiction, but it’s been a great experience to reconnect with my horror roots.
BP to Ed: What has been the most challenging part, and your favourite part, about recording this audiobook?
Ed: Actually, the answer to both those questions is the same thing: Jim’s voice. Jim is the narrator, has dialogue (as an adult, a teen and a child) and also has his inner voice (representing his own thoughts as well as the remembered words of others). The most interesting challenge was trying to find a way to represent this inner voice, and like all good solutions the answer in the end was simple. And if anyone wants to hear it… well they’ll have to buy the book!
BP to Ed: How would you describe your dream story that you’d like to narrate?
Ed: That’s a great question. Really what I’d like to do is narrate all kinds of books but if I had to choose one story, I’d go for a modern take on really gritty noir à la Jim Thompson.
BP to Ed: What is one thing you’d like to say to indie authors out there who are interested in getting into audiobooks but who feel nervous, don’t know where to start, or worry their work might not be “good enough” to be offered in different formats?
Ed: Get in touch! As a writer myself I know what it feels like and I’m here to help. I offer free samples so you can hear how your book will sound, and if you’d like any help with the text itself, I can also offer copy-editing services.
And now the questioning tables are turned!
Ed to BP: What was the inspiration behind Flora & Jim?
BP: It’s going to sound weird but I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and decided it wasn’t miserable enough.
Hear me out, because I absolutely love The Road, it’s one of the most stupendous books I’ve ever read – however I was struck by how virtuously the father sees himself (as opposed to the other characters they encounter).
To me that felt like an old-world luxury that didn’t necessarily set his child up for success. I decided I wanted to write about an apocalypse where you had to be the raider, the cannibal, the bad guy and still live with yourself.
Kendall Reviews: You can read Steve Stred’s Kendall Review for Flora & Jim HERE
Ed to BP: What makes a good audiobook?
BP: One that people want to listen to 😊
Preferences will be different depending on who you ask; I like it when the narrator brings something of their personality to the reading, so that the story becomes a dialogue of sorts between the author, the narrator and the listener. I feel like there’s a lot of artistry to being a good narrator and it contributes so much to the tone and polish of the finished audiobook — it makes the listener’s experience much richer.
Ed to BP: What was it like hearing your words read for the first time?
BP: It was so perfect I literally screamed and scared the cat off the couch. That thing you did shifting the sound balance so that Jim’s internal voice was coming creepily over my shoulder was absolute *chef’s kiss*.
Ed to BP: What distribution channel have you chosen for this audiobook and why?
BP: I’m using a platform called Findaway Voices which distributes to 44 audiobook retailers (incl Audible, Google Play, Rakuten Kobo, and Nook). I’m not a big fan of exclusivity when it comes to distribution, mainly because I believe in trying to go where the audience is, rather than hoping they’ll come to me.
It also gets the audiobook into libraries worldwide which I think is critical for reaching listeners.
Ed to BP: What are you working on at the moment?
BP: I’m writing a scifi/horror murder-mystery novel called The Newru Trail, set in a world where houses eat memories. Unable to go indoors anymore everybody lives in roaming tent cities out on the street, just trying to survive.
Squat foul-mouthed investigator Kura and her spindly, elderly partner Rashmi are called to the side of a wealthy client who is dying a slow, grim death by poisoning. In trying to track down her doctor, who has suspiciously vanished, they are soon swept into a world of secret cults, contamination, and obsession.
Flora & Jim
The world is frozen.
The animals ascendant.
And, locked in desperate pursuit of “the other father” across a grim icy apocalypse, Jim will do anything to keep his daughter alive.
You can order the Flora & Jim audiobook from www.bpgregory.com
BP Gregory
BP Gregory has been an archaeology student and a dilettante of biology, psychology, and apocalypse prepping.
She is the author of five novels including the recently audio booked Flora & Jim, about a father who’ll do anything to keep his daughter alive in a frozen wasteland.
BP Gregory lives in Melbourne, Australia and is currently working on The Newru Trail, a murder-mystery set in a world where houses eat your memories.
You can find out more about BP by visiting their website www.bpgregory.com
Please follow BP on Twitter @BP_Gregory
Ed Hall
Ed Hall is a writer, teacher, musician and avid-reader. He created One-Stop Audiobook to help indie authors and publishers create great audiobooks.
He can produce, narrate, edit, proof and master your audiobook and compose original music for book credits and promo. He also offers advice on narrating your own audiobook and post-production services.
Ed lives in the beautiful Blue Mountains and is currently working through re-writes of his first full-length novel.
You can follow Ed on Twitter @ed_reads_books
Great to hear that Bronwyn and Ed have launched into this area, and that Flora and Jim is the product. It’s a stupendous book. I’m a horror author and narrator myself and am aware of the challenges these ventures pose. So, all the best as the project unfolds.