Hearing challenged writing expert meets one-handed audio guy and team up to help authors overcome obstacles to publishing!

Welcome to another episode of the author2audio Listen In series.

(Click above to play the full interview)

In this interview, I’m chatting with the curious and caring entrepreneur Tanya Brockett. Tanya is the founder of Hallagen Ink – a book coaching enterprise educating, inspiring, and preparing award-winning authors – where she is both instructor and editorial mentor. Tanya is the author of four books and has ghost-written countless others.

In a wonderful twist, it was Tanya who led the conversation (I thought it was going to be me!). She asks really good questions. As you will find out later, this was the natural and appropriate outcome for someone considering a new podcast series in 2021!

During this discussion – our very first time together – we discussed a wide range of literary subject matter including: promotion, publishing, audiobooks, podcasting and of course, shared professional and personal stories :>)

Following is a list of bookmark links you can click to jump to a particular topic of interest:

In this first interview excerpt, Tanya and I face the inevitable ‘technology challenges’ of conference calls, then settle into the common ground on audiobook awareness among authors. Click the play button below to listen to the ‘sound bite’.

First book

Being an avid fan of audiobooks, I was delighted to hear Tanya’s first publication back in 2007 was converted to audio. She talks about her studio recording and production experience in the following audio.

Courses

Two common question from authors are:

“What about the graphics in my book? How do I handle those in audio?”
“My book closely follows the structure of my training program. Can I offer my students the choice to read or listen?”

Listen in to our thoughts on both these topics below.

In this short clip below, I describe my motivation, background and understanding of author’s motives that has led me on this audiobook path.

Narration

“Can I narrate my own book or should I have a voice actor do it?”

Another very common discussion topic… in the next audio extract, Tanya and I discuss public speaking, confidence, suitability, variety, voice acting (and a quick plug for Tanya’s daughters and their characterisation talents ;>)

Storytelling

We’ve all been told to write a book – especially influential leaders in business. But how best to convey that story? In the following audio clip we discuss business storytelling, recall, emotion and memory. Is it really possible to tell an engaging story about auditing?

Marketing

There are two powerful activities when it comes to marketing your business:

Identifying your ideal client
Forming relationships with other business who have the same ideal client

In this following audio clip, Tanya and I discover our common clients and where they might be on their publishing path.

The development of the inevitable… Tanya fills us in on her journey from auditor trainer to author services. In this clip we hear about her editorial skills transition from numbers to letters ;>)

Quality

Quality is so important. Aiming for a set of book assets worthy of recording and achieving best seller status needs great advice, planning, the right equipment and a suitable environment.

Recording

Can you successfully record an audiobook at home? What might a studio recording be like? How is your narrating style going to affect your listeners? We consider all these factors during the following deep dive into recording.

Editing

It’s so important to back up your expensive and time-consuming book marketing and promotional efforts. If your book or audio is poorly edited, you risk interrupting the story flow, and people may just stop reading or listening! Remember, these are perpetual, durable products… they might as well be your very best.

Very few of us are built to the ‘perfect design’. Tanya has hearing challenges that she accommodates with both auditory and visual strategies. We hear about those next…

It turn out that I have my own design challenges! Born with one hand, I’ve learned to play drums and water ski with the help of neoprene and velcro :>). You’ll hear patience and determination in the following ‘shoe lace’ story…

Podcasting

Here we do a deeper dive into podcasting – now a legitimate media publicity tool. Cheaper studio quality equipment is now making your sound quality a profile differentiator for hosts and guests. And you may want to think about a podcast based on your book insights. Following is also a link to one of our recommended microphones.

Rode NT-USB microphone

Process

Media hosting versus podcast hosting, channels, RSS feeds, blog posts, planning scheduling, WordPress, show notes… the list goes on and on! Next we try and unpack this tangle of podcast language and step back to view the ‘big picture’.

Planning

The word on the street is to keep your podcasting production schedule regular. Make it easy for your subscribers to make a recurring weekly/monthly reminder. Spend the time to craft your podcast synopses, study your target audience and start your podcast series with 10 episodes already ‘in the can’.

Affiliation

A book coach hosting a podcast for authors sounds pretty smart :>). There are so many benefits that flow from collaborating with businesses with whom you have a common target audience.

Distribution

Distribution, reach and exposure are key factors in an author’s or podcaster’s marketing strategy. Did you know you can list your audiobook on Google Play? We talk in the following excerpt about these extensive and international audiobook retail websites.

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Planning

Podcasts, book writing… where do I start? Who is telling me what? Try it before you recommend anything. Your podcast planning will dovetail with your content creation schedule (and can help with that routine discipline :>).

Promoting

Sales and marketing are ‘black arts’! Getting tight with your niche market requires lots of communication and imagination. Tanya and I talk about one possible social media strategy on LinkedIn that could get you ahead of the curve. @mention your friends!

Publishing

What are my options for publishing? Should I release an audiobook first – before my print and eBook? What are ‘tiny books’? Do I want an abridged/condensed or serial version? We discuss the current format trends and innovations.