The Birth of an Audiobook: What if you just tried one chapter?

My son figured he wouldn’t like bocadillo de chorizo  … until he tried one.

What do you have preconceived ideas about that you haven’t actually tried?

I sat down with Spanish author La Cuarta Soñadora and, without much fanfare, prodding, or preparation, I suggested we record Chapter One of her book “Caminante y La Estirpe afortunada.”

She didn’t hesitate, question, or even move. She grabbed her book, we turned on the microphone and she recorded. My only tip was that if she made a mistake to clap in front of the mic and read the same passage again so we could find it later.

She read the whole thing through with four mistakes which we cleaned up.

“Whoa. That was fun.”

The look on her face, the sparkle in her eyes. As if she found a new game, something magical. She just recorded, for the first time, a chapter of her book into a microphone.

I’m getting pretty used to having a microphone in front of me. But she was nervous. But she did it. She went through with it. Now it’s done.

I like to try new things. I like to test the boundaries, play around, see what happens. That morning, just two days ago, I had an idea for a new podcast to collect the first chapters of authors who were students in my Audio for Authors course and post them publicly on my (not yet live) podcast “Chapter Won.”

For me: this is the fun stuff.

Sitting with her at one of my oldest friend’s dining room table and bringing something that she created to life in audio is my idea of a good time.

We created something from nothing. We gave birth to a creation of hers that wasn’t there before. We had empty space, then we had recorded words from her imagination onto the page through her voice into the microphone and into your ears.

That is transformation. That is creation. That is fun.

Here she is in a little sneak peek behind the scenes: