It's not that hard to sound better

[Evo Terra]

You know what I hate? Seeing comments like this:

This is a great book! I'm glad I stuck through the really terrible audio and didn't follow my first inclination to shut it off.

It's too bad I can't listen to this book in the car because the volume is so low. It's fantastic!

The intro music is very loud, so I just skip the first minute and then get into the story.

No, none of these are "live" comments from any one particular book. But variations on those themes do crop up on an all-too-frequent basis. Yes, I realize that most of the authors and producers here have no experience with recording or editing before recording and releasing serialized audio versions of their books. No, I'm not going to create some "minimum level of quality" and ban books that don't meet some incredibly subjective guidelines. Yes, I understand that everyone's version of quality differs and is a matter of opinion.

So here's mine. There are three things that can -- and do -- stop me from listening to a book.

• Audio Quality - Inconsistent volumes either within or across episodes, overpowering music or effects, flubs and stumbles left in, and a general lack of caring on the producers part as to the sound of the final product is an immediate turn off to me. I've stopped listening to more than one book in less than 2 minutes.
• Narration Quality - Keep in mind that I actually like listening to Scott Sigler read out loud, so I'm not looking for Scott Brick professionalism. But I do expect the narrator to read at an acceptable pace, be generally free of atavistic tics, and to have. A firm grasp on. The diction and meter of. Common. Speech Patterns. (That was an example of what not to do).
• Writing Quality - You know why most books written never get published? Because the persons who wrote them don't write well. Writing is a craft. Learn it. And get an editor. Who isn't your mother.

What I find most frustrating is how easy it is to overcome all of these obstacles. And I'm not suggesting throwing money at the problem. Many of the incredibly popular and well-received books on our site were done on a shoestring budget. But in (as far as I know) all of those cases, a significant investment in time was made by the author or producer.

It's said that time heals all wounds. It works here, too.