A few weeks ago my book “Learning to die in order to live” was published in audiobook format, for now in Spanish. In this article, I want to tell you how this new edition came about.
The Origin of the Idea
It all started when I wanted to write an article, I was looking for phrases to publish and I wanted to be prepared for future interviews or editions in other languages. To do this, I needed to refresh my memory with a reading. As reading makes me very tired because I strain my eyes, I thought that if someone would do the book’s locution for me, it would be much easier.
So I asked a friend of mine who in the last few years has voiced several audiobooks. He told me he would be happy to do it, and he did it in Catalan and Spanish. Although these versions have not been published, I have kept them for personal use. From here, I thank him for leading the way.
The Production Process
I sent the voiceovers recorded by my friend to my publisher, who has the audiovisual publishing rights in Catalan and Spanish. Initially, they asked me for a specific audio format for the edition, so I had to convert the original audio. Despite the excellent work of my friend, who did it with all his illusion, they were not convinced because they wanted a more professional recording. They wanted a dubbing actor used to long recording sessions in a studio.
They told me that for now they would publish the Spanish version and that they would let me connect live to the studio during the recording, so we met for a couple of days and I met the voice actor and the sound technician in charge of editing the audiobook. My impression was that they are very nice people and they loved my book. Jordi, the actor, found it very inspiring, and I think that’s why the voiceover came out so well.
Recording in the Studio
The process was as follows: he would read the book and, from time to time, if he made a mistake, he would repeat the wrong part as many times as necessary. Also, if he had doubts about pronunciation or context, he would ask me or let me interrupt him if the doubt was mine or if I wanted to correct it.
A couple of nice touches they had with me were that they let me record with my voice a little updated introduction and dedication for this edition, and allowed me to add some context updates to the book. It has been almost four years since the first publication.
Objective and Future
I believe that with this edition I am going a step further, since my intention is to reach people who are blind or have any visual or physical difficulty that prevents them from reading the book on paper or digitally, in a way that is pleasant to the ear. Also, according to what I have been told from the publisher, it will be in great demand, especially in South America, where most audiobooks are listened to, probably partly because of the difficulty to acquire the book in paper. I hope it can help other audiences who do not know my story. In this link you can access the website to download the audiobook, available on Audible (Amazon), Apple Books, Google Play Books and Rakuten Kobo.
To conclude, I would like to make an exclusive announcement: the French edition of the book is already underway to reach France and other French-speaking countries in Africa.