How to Make Your AUDIO BOOK Come ALIVE

"People don't have to see you to connect with you." - Sam Horn

What a thrill it was going the studio to record SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week. And it made my day (week? month?) to see that Audible - out of ALL the books they could feature - is showcasing SOMEDAY in their marketing campaign to new members.

Kiki L'Italien, host of Association Chat, said it was clear I was re-living the adventures, not just reading them. A couple told me they pulled into their driveway and sat and listened in their car to the end of the chapter because they didn't want to stop mid-story.

So, I thought I'd share some of my lessons-learned in case you're going into the studio or picking up a mic to do a podcast, webinar or book recording. Hope you find them valuable!

1. Don’t hire a professional reader; do your OWN recording. See this as a speaker showcase. If one of your goals is to turn your book into paid speaking engagements to maximize its revenue, understand that listeners around the world will have an opportunity to experience you in action and decide whether you'd be a great presenter for their convention.

2. Don't read from your book. Print the manuscript in 14 point font so it’s easy to see. If you read from a normal-sized book, quality microphones will pick up the sound of you turning the pages. And stopping mid-sentence to turn pages chops up the flow. If the type is small and crowded into long paragraphs, this causes you to squint which causes your voice to sound strained. It sounds like you're "plowing" your way through the text which makes it sound like "hard work."

3. Read and rehearse the manuscript in advance. This gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with the content so you're not stumbling over words you're seeing for the first time. It also gives you the opportunity to get comfortable pronouncing difficult names correctly.

4. Mark up your manuscript as you would a musical score. Put squiggly lines under words you want to verbally italicize and e-nun-ci-ate. Put three dots before and after phrases you want to highlight to indicate a … pause. Put double spaces between paragraphs to give your eyes a rest and to make it easier to "shift gears" when switching the point of view.

See yourself as a singer – not as a reader – and use full vocal variety to give your voice a musical quality that makes it pleasant and interesting to listen to.

5. Put your pages at EYE LEVEL so you're sitting tall. Try it right now. Put your manuscript flat on a desk and start reading. Feel how that slouches you over, pulls your head down, puts pressure on your diaphram and constricts your throat?

Now sit up and imagine reading pages on a music stand propped at face level. Feel how this "tower vs. cower" posture opens up your airways and allows you to breathe more fully? This expands your voice so it connotes more authority and commands more attention. You want even want to stand (vs. sit) to energize your voice even more.

6. WARM WATER = WARM VOICE. Take a tip from opera singers. Do NOT drink cold or iced anything in the hours before or during your recording. Iced drinks hasten laryngitis. They constrict your throat and make your voice scratchy/ hoarse.

Try it right now. Drink a class of iced something and listen to the quality of your voice. Wait an hour and then drink something above room temperature but not hot. Warm liquids lubricate your throat and keep your vocal chords hydrated and resonant.

7. Go low and slow. Nervous people tend to rush and blush. They race through material to “get it over with.” The faster you read, the more tense you sound. And the higher-pitched your voice, the more irritating it is.

Try this right now. Re-read this paragraph out loud, quickly and with a high-pitched voice. Hear how grating it is? It's hard to listen to that for too long. So people don't.

Now, re-read this same paragraph with a lower voice register. Luxuriate in the words. Roll them around in your mouth. Doesn’t that sound better?

8. Read with your mind, not just your mouth. Robert Frost said, “No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader.” What do you want readers to feel? You go first. Whatever you're thinking and feeling will come through loud and clear. If you perceive this as a "chore or bore," readers will sense that and opt out.

Sharing your stories and insights is a privilege. It is an opportunity to make a difference for people you may never meet. Invest your heart (not just your head) into delivering something you can be proud of - and that will favorably impact people - for years to come.

Who is your "ideal" listener? Who did you write this book for? Who is someone you care about who desperately needs - or could benefit from - this content?

Speak/read to that person. Imagine this person is sitting right across from you so your tone of voice is personal. Imagine seeing the light go on in their eyes.Imagine them nodding in recognition or agreement as they relate to, and connect with, everything you're saying.

9. If you make a mistake, simply pause and restart at the beginning of the sentence. No scolding, apologizing or berating yourself. Your sound engineer can edit out mistakes if you re-do them in the moment and don't draw attention to them. If you get frustrated or embarrassed, that belabors and unnecessarily complicates the process. Understand, even the best professionals make mistakes. Correct them and move on.

10. Use your hands to act out and reinforce what you mean. Gesturing reinforces what you're saying so it's not just a "disembodied" string of words. This is one of the single best ways to create “mental theater” where listeners are hanging on your every word because you’re "enlivening" your content.

When telling stories, put yourself back in the situation. Don't just read what happened, re-enact it. Remember what it looked and felt like so you're re-living it. This gets you out of your head (where you're just mechanically reading words on paper) and back into the moment so that story comes emotionally alive. When you re-experience what happened, your listeners will too.

11. Don’t try to record your entire book in one day. A 200 page book will take about 10 hours to record. Of course, this varies depending on your reading pace and how many breaks and do-overs you take. The quality of most people’s voice deteriorates after three hours. Doing all the above requires energy and concentration. Spread your recording out over three-four days so the last hour of your recording is as fresh and full of life as the first.

12. Think of this as a pebble in the pond of your legacy. Walk in with gratitude for this opportunity to voice a project you’ve spent months (years?!) creating. Pour yourself into this recording so people “get” how much you care. Listeners will feel connected to you if you feel connected to them. And that is the purpose of all communication. To connect.

It's true that a quality recording takes time, effort, money, skill and the right team. But if you do it right; it’s worth it. Your work may be just the right words at the right time for someone who needs to hear them. Who knows how many people will benefit because you invested the time to share your stories, lessons-learned and creative contribution?

Pablo Picasso said, "The purpose of life is to find your gift. The meaning is to give it away." Recording your work is a way to give back and contribute your gifts. Treat it accordingly.

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Sam Horn, CEO of the Intrigue Agency?and?3x TEDx speaker?- is on a mission to help people create the life and work of their dreams. Her work has been featured in?New York Times,?Forbes,?on NPR and taught to Boeing, Intel, Cisco, Nationwide, YPO, Capital One.