Accessible Audiobook Production: Files and Labeling
Files and labeling should be done in a systematic, logical way, with predictable filenames. This resource offers guidance on naming files in a way that is useful to both humans and machines!
Suggested Prerequisites
Before reading this, you might want to read:
Chapter books, books of short stories, poetry, non-fiction, etc.
- Each chapter, short story, poem and section of the book should be a single audio file, i.e. copyright, epigraph, dedication, title page, chapters. Do not create a file per page (except in the case of single page sections), or only one file for the entire book.
- Each section filename should begin with the chronological number, followed by the title of the section, i.e. “03 Dedication” then “04 Chapter One”. Note, the name, author, narrator and publisher of the book will be stored in each file as ‘core metadata’.
- Note: be sure to include a leading 0 if there are 10 or more files (01, 02, 03, …10, 11, 12), to give a more reliable sorting order when reading systems sort by filename alphabetically.
- Save the entire audiobook playlist in a folder named the title of the book, i.e. ‘Alias Grace’
Children’s non-chapter books
- Each section should be its own audio file with the main story as one single audio file. e. title page, dedication, story. Do not create a file per page or only one file. Note, most children’s non-chapter books include images and there are a variety of ways to approach the inclusion of image descriptions which are discussed later in this document.
- Each filename should begin with a chronological number, followed by the title of the section, i.e. “01 Title Page”, “02 Dedication”, “03 Story”.
Narration & Section Headings
The narrator should begin each section by speaking the title of the section i.e. “Copyright”, “Chapter one”, “Title page”. When applicable, the section titles should correspond to the items in the table of contents.
Next Steps
1
Deciding What Content to Record for an Audiobook
Accessible Audiobook Production: What to Record
This resource provides guidelines around what sections of a book should be recorded, and offers some discussion around approaches and options for footnotes/endnotes, and image descriptions.
Subject(s): Audiobook Production, Image Descriptions, Strategic Planning
Resource Type(s): Checklist, Standards and Best Practices
2
Planning Out Audiobook Production & Post-production (some technical recommendations)
Accessible Audiobook Production: General Recording Notes
This resource discusses some general technical guidelines that can be used when planning out audiobook production and post-production.
Subject(s): Audiobook Production
Resource Type(s): Standards and Best Practices
3
Guiding/Training Audiobook Narrators
Accessible Audiobook Production: Narration Guidelines
Good narration is a big part of creating a great audiobook. Make sure that narrators and/or your ebook producers know about these guidelines. They enhance both accessibility and overall quality!
Subject(s): Audiobook Production
Resource Type(s): Standards and Best Practices
4
Making Audiobooks for Children
Accessible Audiobook Production: Children’s Books
Illustrated children’s books present a unique challenge when it comes to recording audio. This resource discusses a few approaches you may consider.
Subject(s): Audiobook Production, Image Descriptions, Strategic Planning
Resource Type(s): Foundations and Rationale
External Links to More Information
Audiobooks: W3C Recommendation
This specification from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) offers a format to mark up audiobooks, which primarily involves marking up the heading structure but does also allow for including related text content. As of this writing in late 2021 it does not have a great deal of support yet by reading systems.
Content Source Acknowledgement