The Author’s Guide to Producing and Narrating Audiobooks | Trenton Bennett & Lynn Smargis

In the last couple of decades, audiobooks have exploded in popularity. In fact, audiobooks are the fastest-growing segment of digital publishing, with Audible distributing well over half of all audiobooks.

And what’s not love? You can listen to audiobooks anywhere, you can listen while you’re doing other things, and most people can listen to a book faster than they can read them.

If you’ve ever considered creating audiobooks as a companion to your print books or ebooks, you’ll love this episode. I’m joined by Trenton Bennett and Lynn Smargis for a conversation about options and processes for producing and narrating audiobooks.

Trenton is an audiobook narrator who has nearly ten years of voiceover training, coaching, and work. He is also skilled in related areas such as podcasting and professional audio production. He has narrated dozens of books in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mysteries & Thrillers, Religion & Spirituality, Military Adventure, and more. You can find out more about Trenton at https://www.trentonbennett.com/.

Lynn Smargis helps leaders, executives, and consultants transform their expertise into published works. Her books include Sensible Senior Solutions: Long Term Care Choices and Funding Options for Seniors and 9 Stumbling Blocks Preventing Creatives From Tapping Into Free Grant Funds, co-authored with Danielle Corbett and Leo York, which reveals the hidden pathways to creative funding.

Lynn is also the host and producer of Publishing for Professionals, a podcast that sprinkles publishing wisdom across all major platforms and YouTube. You can find out more about Lynn at https://www.writeforyou.me/.

In this conversation, we talk about why authors should produce audiobooks, options for production, how to actually get it done, and whether you should narrate your books yourself or use a narrator.

No matter where you are on your author journey, this episode will help you make some critical decisions about where audiobooks fit into your business.