Adventures in Audiobook Production: Square One, Again

Saturday, November 1, 2025 – Orlando, Florida

A dispatch from the trenches of self-publishing

“The mind can go either direction under stress—toward positive or toward negative: on or off. Think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. The way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training.”
—Frank Herbert, Dune

Hey everyone,

Let me share a bit of good news—and a dash of publishing pain—from my corner of the writing world.

Earlier this week, we wrapped production on the audiobook edition of Comings and Goings – The Art of Being Seen. On Wednesday afternoon, Bryan Haddock—my trusted producer on Amazon’s Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX)—delivered a performance that feels less like narration and more like emotional stewardship. Eleven tracks, including the opening and closing credits and an Author’s Note that traces the book’s origin to just two months after I closed the chapter on Reunion: Coda.

I’ve praised Bryan before, but it bears repeating: his voice carries the soul of the text. Jim Garraty, my narrator and protagonist, sounds uncannily close to the version I’ve heard in my head for years—steady, measured, quietly observant. And Kelly? Bryan gives her a presence that sidesteps cliché entirely. No breathy caricature, no “girl voice”—just intelligence, warmth, and emotional depth. It’s a generous, deeply literate performance, and I’m grateful beyond words.

I listened to every track Bryan uploaded. No jarring edits, no missing lines, no awkward pacing. With quiet satisfaction, I approved the project Wednesday evening—knowing full well that Audible’s vetting process can stretch out like a DMV queue that smells faintly of burnt coffee and ancient plastic.

Then came the email from ACX: balm and burr in equal measure.

The good news? The audiobook passed nearly every technical and content requirement. Bryan’s tracks were flawless. My metadata was squeaky clean. No re-records, no tweaks. Relief.

The bad news? The cover art didn’t make the cut.

ACX has specs stricter than a librarian with white gloves and a light meter. Here’s the rundown, for those curious or masochistic enough to care:

• Square image, minimum 2400 x 2400 pixels
• 72 dpi, RGB, 24-bit “True Color”
• File under 8MB (sometimes 5MB, depending on upload portal)
• JPEG, PNG, or TIF only
• Filename: letters and numbers only—no spaces, no wildcards
• Must include book title and author’s name exactly as they appear in the audio
• Narrator credit must match the audio credits word-for-word
• Leave the bottom right corner clear—Audible slaps an icon there
• No porn, no barcodes, no “Bestseller!” banners, no rival logos, no URLs, no watermarks, and definitely no references to physical media

My original cover for Comings and Goings almost passed. It was square, the right size, checked every box—except one: it had a border. Apparently, Audible has a vendetta against borders. Cue internal groan. I’m a writer, not a graphic artist. Suddenly, I was back to Square One—pun intended—staring at my screen with the enthusiasm of someone who just realized their cake is actually a hat.

I’ll spare you the full play-by-play of my battle with Microsoft Paint, Designer, and the free version of Canva. After several hours of flailing, I realized I had to spend money—either on Fiverr or Canva Pro. Sometimes, the story you’re telling is better served when you throw a little cash at the technical hurdles.

Fiverr was tempting. Plenty of talented freelancers there. But most charge by the hour, and I’m on a fixed income. So I opted for Canva Pro—$120 a year. Pricey, yes, but I already knew my way around Canva Free. At least this way, I could create the cover myself, even if it wasn’t gallery-worthy.

Once my adrenaline returned to baseline—or what passes for baseline—I opened a new project in Canva Pro, uploaded the original text-free illustration I’d used for the Kindle and paperback editions, and began the delicate dance of placing text and graphic elements to meet ACX’s specs. It took nearly an hour, but I landed on a design I could live with. I submitted it just after 7:30 PM Eastern.

The file met the size and formatting requirements. It’s in the system. But because ACX runs on a Monday-through-Friday schedule, I won’t hear back from their Quality Assurance team until next week.

It’s nerve-racking, this self-publishing business. I believe I did the best I could, and I’m cautiously optimistic that Audible will greenlight Comings and Goings for an early November release. But until I see it live on Amazon, part of me will remain on edge.

And to those of you who’ve switched to audiobooks—who asked, nudged, and gently insisted that Jim Garraty’s stories deserved to be heard as well as read—this one’s for you. You helped bring this format to life. So when the audiobook drops, I hope you’ll be there to meet it. Not just with applause, but with the kind of support that keeps indie stories alive.

Let’s just say: if your typing fingers helped birth this audiobook, maybe they can help it find its legs.

Warmly,
Alex