If a writer is looking to produce their own audiobook, they should consider four big things: budget, space, learning curve, and time.
Konn Lavery, a Canadian author from Edmonton, Alberta, has a funny obsession with telling stories that inspire people to think beyond the way they normally do. In addition to writing a monthly short story on Patreon, he writes dark horror, fantasy, and thriller novels. If you read along, you’ll discover “he writes creative ideas that inspire, explores creative ideas that push the limit, and designs creative ideas that work.”
Lyndi: What should writers consider when deciding whether to produce an audiobook?
Konn: If a writer is looking to produce their own audiobook, they should consider four big things: budget, space, learning curve, and time. It’s a great method to get your books out in a new format if you can meet these four requirements. Not everyone can. Something as simple as building a quiet space to record can be a challenge in a noisy home or neighbourhood.
Lyndi: What are the benefits of recording your own audiobook?
Konn: The perk of recording your own audiobooks is it’s your voice telling the story! You know it the best and can channel the passion. If you’re not afraid of throwing in some performance, you can bring the story to life of sound. Of course, there’s the benefit of copyrights and royalties. If you have the rights to do so from your publisher, or self-published, it’s all yours and it’s far easier to manage.
Lyndi: What challenges did you experience when recording your own audiobook?
Konn: Learning the technical terminology and audio file standards was tricky and took a few books to finally figure it all out. Before, files were rejected a few times and they would need tweaking, all trial and error.
Another big one is figuring out the best workflow. You’re dealing with many hours of audio and dozens of files. Each audiobook is a big project, like writing the novels themselves. Once you figure out a good workflow, it becomes autopilot while recording and you can focus on performance.
Lyndi: How can authors prepare to narrate their own audiobooks?
Konn: Start training your ear in the sound spectrum and with acoustics if you haven’t. Listen to other narrators, podcasts, your own voice, and music to understand frequencies and pitch of other voices. It also helps while editing the audio files to know if your voice needs dampening or it is too dry.
Another piece of advice would be to practice narrating, a lot. If you don’t talk for hours a day, you’re going to strain your voice and have a limited range while recording. You’ll also need time to recover if you hurt it. Start with short excerpts and listen to your voice when it is tired.
Lyndi: In your books, your readers discover mysteries, explore the unknown, and enter worlds. Of your two series, Mental Damnation and the Rutherford Series, and several standalone novels, where would you suggest readers start reading?
Konn: Good question! I generally ask people “what do you like to read?” and go from there. Mental Damnation is good for those who want to deep dive into a twisted fantasy series with heavy afterlife influence. The Rutherford Manor series is great if you’re into historical supernatural fiction. The two horror novels I have, Rave, and Cultivate, are good if you’re fans of unconventional storytelling and dark humour. The thriller YEGman is great if you like gritty crime.
Now if a reader is truly uncertain, I do lead people to either the short story collection Into the Macrocosmbecause it has a wide range of genre fiction, or if they prefer novels, generally it’s Cultivate.
Lyndi: You have a fascination with transmedia storytelling, which introduces various medias into a story. What do you incorporate and what do you hope to convey?
Konn: Sure. Transmedia storytelling is the method of including various mediums that add to a story. Most people know of it, just the term is unfamiliar. Big franchises like The Walking Dead, or Marvel’s Universe, or League of Legends would be examples.
Basically, it’s adding other types of art or media. In the case of novels, you could expand into a comic, or artwork, or music, or possibly film.
All my work has some form of transmedia storytelling. Some have graphical illustrations and photo collages that I design to express moods and characters. Others have musical scores that I collaborate with musicians on, as I am a hobbyist myself. Rutherford Manor was a fun one as it’s a larger story than my own and they have other people working on the universe. They have a teaser film, music, and comics.
Lyndi: What other creative services do you offer?
Konn: I am a graphic designer by trade, which pays the bills. I’ve been freelancing since 2014 and so far, so good! Most of my work includes logo and branding for corporations along with website design and development. My work does frequently go into the print industry with formatting books, trade show displays, brochures, business cards, etc.
I also love working with authors and musicians to make cover art for their work – these are fun projects!
Konn Lavery is a Canadian author whose work has been recognized by Edmonton’s top five bestseller charts and by reviewers such as Readers’ Favorite, Literary Titan, and The Wishing Shelf Awards. His work has also been curated into the Edmonton Public Library’s Capital Press collection.
He started writing stories at a young age while being homeschooled. After graduating from graphic design college, he began professionally pursuing his writing with his first release, Reality. He continues to write in the thriller, horror, and fantasy genres.
His literary work is balanced alongside his graphic design and website development business (Reveal Design). Konn’s visual communication skills have been transcribed into the formatting and artwork found within his publications, supporting his transmedia storytelling fascination. The previous works have also included musical scores primarily composed by Konn with occasional collaborators, also found within his audiobooks.
Follow Konn
konnlavery.com / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Episodic Audiobook Podcast
Read Konn’s Work
