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

  • Audience:

    Non-technical

Prerequisites

Before reading this, you might want to read:

Narration Guidelines

Good narration can enhance the experience of listening to an audiobook, and so the narrator should be a vessel to all of the print book’s information in audio form. With that in mind, make sure that your narrator meets the following guidelines:

Next Steps

1

Choosing the Right Format for an Audiobook

Accessible Audiobook Production: Audiobook Formats

This quick resource discusses the differences between some popular audiobook formats: MP3/WAV; DAISY; Enhanced EPUB; and .LPF.

Subject(s): Audiobook Production
Resource Type(s): Standards and Best Practices
Audience:
Technical
2

Making Filenames for Audiobooks

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!

Subject(s): Audiobook Production
Resource Type(s): Standards and Best Practices
Audience:
Technical
3

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
Audience:
Introduction

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

Accessible Publishing.ca: Audiobook Recommendations for Publishers