Better Editing for Audiobooks

You wrote a book (or several books), and now you want to turn them into audiobooks. Congratulations! Before you hand over your ebook/print manuscript as-is to your narrator, consider some things that go into producing a clean audio version. There are differences, and they stand out to listeners.

Dialogue tags—which ones to avoid, and when to avoid using them.

Let’s address one of the most controversial dialogue tags first—using “said.” I’m not a fan, no matter which type of media you’re consuming, and here are some reasons why.

• It does nothing to convey how the character is speaking.
• It’s irrelevant if you’ve already conveyed everything the listener needs to know with other descriptions.
• It’s also irrelevant if we already know who’s speaking.
• For many listeners, it becomes a club over the head rather than being “invisible.” Ouch!
• Narrators often end up mumbling “he said” or “she said” for several reasons. See the above points. There are others.

Diving into the nitty-gritty

Below are two examples where we don’t need dialogue tags because we already know who’s speaking, and the tags add nothing relevant to how they’re saying it.

The next big gotcha is breaking your dialogue with a speech tag and not terminating it before resuming speaking. Think of it this way. Do you want a narrator interrupting you mid-sentence just to add a dialogue tag? Worse, having him or her do it every time you speak?

Here’s what I mean

The unedited version of Example 3 could be kept as-is since the tag terminates the sentence before resuming dialogue. Many authors write this way. There are also times when actions interrupt dialogue. However, it’s smoother for audiobook listeners when you remove unnecessary interruptions, such as descriptions of vocal tones. Key concept, there—unnecessary.

Here’s another example. This one uses an unnecessary tag, compounds it by using “said,” and does not terminate before resuming dialogue.

Another instance of a dialogue tag that interrupts but does not terminate.

Converting dialogue tags to action tags

Next up are unnecessary dialogue tags paired with actions. The solution is to convert it to an action tag.

Note that in some of the examples above, I made other edits to improve the narrative flow. This leads to another area of polishing your manuscript for audio.

Trim excess verbiage

Before your feathers get ruffled and you launch into a diatribe about your author voice and readers preferring more flowing prose, stop and think about what that phrase truly means.

CLARITY.

At its heart, trimming excess verbiage means choosing the best word or combination of words to convey exactly what you mean without making listeners wade through word soup or convoluted phrasing to understand your intent.

Listeners can’t flip back a paragraph or a page to remind themselves of a previous point or detail. They also need to “get” what you mean when outside factors like screaming toddlers, construction noise, or traffic jams with honking horns and wailing sirens are creating a competing cacophony.

Train your eye and ear to identify where listeners will get hung up

The previous example needed minimal editing to remove an unnecessary adverb (softly) and smooth the narrative. The next instance simplifies some wordier phrasing and removes commas that create pauses.

I made several changes to Example 9 while retaining the details that evoke the intended sensory description.

• Changed the second sentence from passive voice to active.
• Deleted an instance of “eyes” to eliminate word repetition in consecutive sentences.
• Fixed a comma-separated participle in the third sentence and rephrased for sense and sequential actions.
• Converted the noises to active sound effects, removed the comma, and rephrased the last sentence for sense and better flow.

That brings us to punctuation.

Punctuation = cues that tell narrators when, how, and how long to pause

Every instance of punctuation tells a narrator to pause. Keep that in mind as you go through your manuscript. Here’s the general rule of thumb for using them, going from short to long.

Commas create short pauses. A semicolon joins two parts of one sentence. (Be sure to use them correctly if you choose to use them!) Colons signify that a list follows. An em dash indicates an interruption, whether by another speaker or by the same speaker adding information mid-sentence. An ellipsis shows a speaker’s thought or speech trailing off.

I’m not a fan of using semicolons or colons in fiction because too many authors (and editors) get them wrong. That said, all punctuation has its place, so whether you incorporate those elements in your writing is up to you. But please, for the love of language, use them judiciously and correctly!

Speaking of using punctuation correctly, avoid these common mistakes.

• Do not use spaces on either side of an em dash.
• Avoid using interrobangs (?!).
• Do not put a space before an ellipsis, and only use a space after when starting a new sentence or thought. In the latter instance, capitalize the first word of the next sentence.
  • (E.g., “She wouldn’t believe you…says it’s impossible.” “I wanted… Never mind.”)
• Note that in many cases where an ellipsis is used, such as the first example above, it’s often better to make them separate sentences using periods (full stops) instead.
  • (E.g., “She wouldn’t believe you. Says it’s impossible.”)
  • Consider how your character normally speaks and the situation they’re in to determine which is best.
• The only punctuation mark that should ever follow an em dash or an ellipsis is a closing quotation mark when used in dialogue.
  • Let me repeat that for those in the back. No question marks. No exclamation points. No periods. No commas. No interrobangs.

Fixing your errant spaces and doubled punctuation

The reason behind the bold bullet point and its sub-point is simple. All punctuation indicates specific things. If your character is questioning something, use a question mark. Use an exclamation point if they’re exclaiming in disbelief. If they let their words trail off because they don’t want to finish their sentence, or they’re using it as an unspoken cue for another character to fill in information, use an ellipsis. When a character interrupts another mid-sentence, that’s an em dash for the one being interrupted.

There are plenty of ways to convey tone and emotion without using incorrect punctuation. Becoming adept in using them will elevate your craft as a writer. It will also save your narrator a lot of time, stress, and possible re-recordings due to misinterpreting your actual intent when they read one thing and realize after the fact that you meant another. Time is money for you and your narrator. Waste as little of both as possible.

Wrapping up

There are many other things that go into prepping your manuscript for audio. The ones covered so far are some of the biggest. For more on polishing your prose, I suggest downloading and reviewing the materials on my Editing Boot Camp page. All are helpful. In particular, I recommend my colleague’s whitepaper on Writing for Audio, based on real-life editing experiences, and Jules Horne’s book Audio-First for Flow and Impact: Author Advice from Radio Writing.

I’ll leave you with something I tell all the authors I work with. Many say it sticks in their head better than a list.

Audiobooks are the modern version of old-time radio dramas. Narrators are the voice actors. If you don’t want someone saying something, don’t include it in your manuscript. Use clear, descriptive words to evoke the intended scene and emotions. When done right, every audiobook is theater of the mind for your listeners, whether or not it includes cinematic dramatization.