Book Part 6: Recording the audiobook

The finish line is fast approaching. 77 days till Money School the book launches, in all formats at once: print, eBook and audio.

In early November I asked the team at Penguin what the plan was for the audiobook. When they learned I was willing to read it myself, they were delighted and planning kicked into high gear. 20 days after that first conversation, I started writing this article sitting in my AirBnB in Melbourne. I'd finished the recording with the wonderful folks at Production Alley and was feeling very tired and very happy.

In case you're curious, here's what it was like to record the audiobook:

The process

1. Before you start

It starts before you even arrive at the studio with translating bits of the book that don't read well aloud.

In Money School's case, this is some diagrams, graphs and formulae. Trying to convert pictures into words was ...interesting. This chart, for example, does not translate into spoken word, full stop:

As someone who hasn't listened to an audiobook since I was seven (and that was Winnie the Pooh), I wasn't sure how to do it well. The audio team at Penguin gave me plenty of guidance so I arrived at the studio with a plan for most of the tricky bits.

They also gave me tips on what to do, and not to do, to give me the best chance possible of success. They included (with my interpretations added):

• No orange juice - the acid is a problem.
• No dairy - the phlegm is a problem.
• Plenty of water.
• You will be tired - plan accordingly.

I had to fly to Melbourne for the week's recording. Usually I'd try to meet up with lots of friends and family. Knowing my voice would be tired, I resisted filling my evenings with catch-ups, keeping it to just two.

2. Recording

I didn't know what to expect when I rocked up at Production Alley. My first thoughts when I saw the studio I'd be recording in were:

• Wow, this is a tiny area for three humans to hang out in for a week. Hope we don't drive each other nuts.
• Holy amazeballs, this is an efficient use of space. I wonder what the return per square metre is?
• What do all those things do? (in reference to the equipment the Production Alley team operates)

Thank goodness the two dudes working with me were rockstars in more than one way. (They were total champions, and they wield instruments on stages.)

Recording is usually max six hours a day including breaks. Beyond that, your voice gets tired and you can hear it. Given we had a tight timeline (I had only 4.5 days available in Melbourne) we pushed the limits and did a couple of seven-hour days.

Turns out all those years of verbal diarrhoea and yelling at children (my own included) paid off - my voice held up. Hooray!

All up I spent 25 hours at Production Alley, about 20 of which I was in the chair in the studio. That will yield an audiobook 7-8 hours long.

What's all that extra time, then?

1. Mistakes in reading. You must read the book verbatim. No switching words around, or skipping them. One of my two techs listened intently while reading along with the text, pulling me up when I missed something. Which was a lot.
2. Mistakes in writing. We found about a dozen grammatical errors. Which was awesome, as we hadn't sent the text to print yet and I could correct them. Yay! Definitely a great way to do the final edit.
3. Matching. At the start of the day, you're super perky. At the end of the day, you're ...less perky. It comes across in your voice. That's fine when it's a new chapter, but when you're reading on partway through a section, you have to match yesterday's speed and tone. That means re-reading along with yourself until you match.

3. Post Recording

This is all down to the Production Alley and Penguin Random House teams. All I have to do is finalise the .pdf downloadable that comes with the audiobook, covering the bits I just couldn't articulate fully. My job's the easy bit :)

What's next?

Coming to Melbourne had many benefits:

• Working with Production Alley was brilliant. They made me feel at ease throughout the process. If I annoyed them at any point, they hid it admirably. Consummate professionals, all of them.
• Dinner with the Penguin Random House team. Lou and Clive treated me to a delightful dinner at Chin Chin and spoiled me with a swag bag. Can't wait for launch for an excuse to hang out with them again.
• Catching up with a few people. My uncle and aunt. One of my favourite education professionals, Adriano Di Prato, who's revolutionising education at Marcellin College with Polaris. So lovely to see them when I had the chance.

Then, last Friday when I was in Auckland for the Building Financially Capable Communities Conference, the text was signed off.

It's official: I can't change anything anymore. It's scary and wonderful all at once.

So, now it's into promotion mode. Book preorder offers are up on our shiny new website. (Shout-out to Kristy Morton for that). We're turning my FI Supply spreadsheet into a mobile-responsive website calculator. It's exciting times!

And just in time for Christmas :)

You can read my previous book articles here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.