Audiobooks are the largest growing aspect of the book market, so Kelly Lytle of Findaway Voices joins Rekka and Brian in their virtual studio to discuss their audiobook narration casting and distribution services.

* The internet is full of lies.

* Case in Point: Duck with Stick Arms

Cats Ducks GIF from Cats GIFs

* Soviet Censorship of Photographs during Stalin’s Regime

* Findaway Voices is making a run at ACX’s platform in terms of audiobook production for indie publishing

* Findaway is the parent company, a leader in audiobooks (so these guys have a long history of quality audio content)

* PlayAway – Single play audiobooks for military and circulation-based use

* AudioEngine – World’s Largest B2B audio content production

* FindAway Voices launched about a year ago in partnership with Draft2Digital (if you go through D2D to begin your audiobook process, you will not have to pay the $49 casting fee)

* Saw that indie authors were facing a lack of choices in audiobook distribution

* Market feedback indicated there was interest in an alternative to ACX and they saw that they could provide authors with more price control and wider distribution (including access to public libraries and K-12 education)

* Findaway Voices offers choice, freedom, and flexibility to interact with your listeners wherever they are.

* Process:

* Author fills out an interview form and uploads their MS

* Within a few days, FV matches the author with up to 10 narrators who match the author’s parameters (versus listening to hundreds of narrators on ACX)

* The team at FV (meaning real humans) review the manuscript and presents options from narrators they know and trust

* Author requests auditions from 2-4 of the performers

* FV coordinates the auditions with the selected actors

* If none of the performers seem like matches, they’ll provide updated casting recommendations (or have a deeper conversation with the Author to find them a great fit)

* When the performer is selected, the Author provides the final document for the recording along with any direction notes to help the performer

* An extended sample is provided to try and get an idea of how the book will be performed and to gather any necessary commentary

* Author reviews the extended sample, then the full production begins

* Author reviews the book and makes any production comments

* Author approves and pays for the audiobook then selects the distribution partners

* Findaway Voices has relationships with a wide variety of voices and capabilities (languages, dialects, accents, etc.)

* FV doesn’t do Royalty Share so 100% of the works remain with the Author (Rights Owner) and therefor the Author keeps the full royalties from any distribution in perpetuity

* Brian and Kelly make a strong case for hiring someone else to perform (and we mean ‘perform’) your book

* Authors can choose to favor cost over perfect matches, or vice versa. The FV casting takes that into consideration as they build recommendations.

* Brian begs you to consider the narrator so he doesn’t hate your book.

* FV’s team is passionate about books and audio and care deeply that they help authors find the best narrator for their work

* The process to create the book recording takes about 4-6 weeks from the time the narrator begins the project

* FV can assist in coordinating your release schedule if possible (and given enough time) and Kelly had some suggestions for rolling out content for ...