Did my second audiobook reading of the Bicycle Diaries NY chapter today. My first attempt, last week, was marred by maybe a combination of nerves and a wonky lower lip, as the braces had just gone in and were scraping the inside of my mouth. (I smashed a guitar into my bottom teeth about a week before the tour ended.) There’s less of that slurring and slushing going on now, and perhaps I am more confident and relaxed as well. It went pretty well, though I’m no David Sedaris or Ira Glass. The plan, still in the testing stage, is to add sounds and some subtle background music to the reading, to make it more like an NPR radio show than a typical book on tape (audiobook). We’ll see if it works. I recorded a bunch of bike sounds, traffic, trains, squeaky doors, sidewalk pedestrians and a lot more to add to the mix.
Another part of the plan, if it works, is to make each chapter available as a podcast-type download for 99¢. Like a song… only MUCH longer. That way, for only a dollar you could see if you like it — it’s not a big risk. The recording won’t be finished by the time the US version of the book comes out — as Penguin (the publisher) would have liked — but I think in the end that may be OK. As with record releases, trickling things out might keep the story alive a little longer.
