Audiobook Recording for Authors

Tips on Habits, Throat Health, and Food

You ever read out loud to your kid for 20 minutes?

Notice how tired you get? And how quickly you mispronounce words?

Ok, now imagine doing that three days straight, for 5-7 hours each day with perfect pronunciation, emphasis, and energy throughout.

Audiobook reading’s no joke.

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This is a short article with 15 tips for authors who are recording their own audiobook.

I’ve split it in into two categories:

1. Food / throat health

2. Habits / behaviors

It came about because I just finished recording Unhinged Habits in studio. It was my third time recording a book. I took notes of my habits, what I ate, clothing I wore, and things that I did to keep my energy high, throat healthy, and mood elevated.

This is the list that I wish I had going in. Hope it helps you. And if you know somebody about to record their own book, please share it with them.

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1. Food / throat health

Eat an apple mid-morning to avoid stomach growls in the mic.

Drink coffee liberally and tons of water. I normally stick to two coffees a day and never have one after 12pm. When recording, I added a small coffee early afternoon.

Bring lip chap, throat spray, and lozenges. Apply both often and before you need them. Once your throat goes it is too late. I either did a spray or had a lozenge during every break from day 1 onwards.

Some of my “tools”. The throat spray was my kids but worked incredibly well.

Bring your lunch. Eat your happy food. My published offered to pay for my lunches. Instead, I brought a stew every day. You’ll want to opt for nourishing, warming food that isn’t too heavy. Avoid takeout.

Run a humidifier by your bed at night. It will help your throat recover between sessions.

2. Habits / behaviors

Bring 3 shirts. Change during each break to refresh. Make sure one has a hood (reason why later). Two long-sleeve, one short sleeve*

*Your recording room will likely be insulated from the rest of the studio. It may or may not have separate temperature control. If not, it can be quite cold. The rest of the studio has electric equipment warming it up. Your room will not.

Move beforehand. Walk or bike to the studio. If you drive, park far away and get a ten-minute walk in beforehand. Moving the body is the best way to energize the mind.

Stretch in-between takes. You will likely be sitting on a stool for hours a day. To avoid your body starting to hurt, cycle through three stretches––Couch stretch (hip flexors), doorway chest stretch (pecs), seated hamstring stretch (hammies). 30-40s on each should suffice.

Take loads of short breaks and read each section again before recording. You want the message to sound more from you instead of from you reading it. It’s subtle, but the energy transfer matters.

I doubled up the stretching and reading of each section during loads of short breaks throughout.

Use a large tablet to read off of. I borrowed my nephews. Paper rustling while reading gets picked up by the mic.

Use paper in-between takes. I also printed the manuscript and read off of paper while reviewing upcoming sections. It helped to have the two so I wasn’t looking at a screen the entire time.

Dress well. Dressing well makes you more confident, which comes through the recording. Reading is selling. Conviction matters.

Put the headphones over your hood. Your ears will begin to hurt after wearing headphones for such a long time. Avoid this by cycling through wearing a hooded shirt.

Share the journey on social media. Take pics. Share the journey before, day 1, day 2, and day 3. Bring a copy of your book and strategically place it in the shot. If you don’t have a physical copy yet, get the book jacket printed and put it over a different book. Request it from your publisher unless you’re self-published. Which is what I did. Nobody will know.

Share what you’re doing in real time across any social platform you’re on. I did Instagram, Substack, Threads, LinkedIn, and Facebook. And now I’m writing about it here.

Include your community in the journey. They’ll want to cheer you on.

Hope this all helps. If so, please consider preordering a copy of Unhinged Habits today.

-Jon

P.S. If you have anything to add that can help others from your experience, please share in the comments. I’d love this to be a running doc where I update (and credit you) with tips as time goes on.