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Audio Stories
Free Stories
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Audio Stories |
Free Stories |
AudioCD.com is looking for well written stories that are read well.
We are just getting started and we need stories or all sorts. For the time being we are not considering stories with explicit sexual content or with scenes of extreme violence. Romance is fine as long as it is tasteful.
Types of stories:
AudioCD.com is mainly publishing Genre stories. The genres that we are interested
in are: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Detective, Western and Adventure.
If you have other genres that you think we'd like, let us decide.
If you have a group of poems, we will take a look at your reading if you can get at least five minutes worth together in a collection. Our readers don't want to donwload a dozen 30 second poems.
If you have a how-to, or a sermon or a lecture that you think will be of a general interest, send it along.
Length of stories:
We need stories from shorts on up. We are not interested in stories whose
read time is longer than one hour. We will consider longer works a chapter
at a time. Please query first for novels.
Who do we want:
We will only accept, at this time, readings submitted by the original author
for modern stories. This means that a story must be read by the author or
the author has arranged for someone else to read the story. In either case
the original author must submit the story and payment is made to the original
author.
For public domain stories, the original author is not available. A PD story is submitted by the reader.
File Format:
All stories should be in MP3 format.
Story Format:
Your reading should be bracketed with an opening
and closing script. Your reading goes in between.
The performance should be relaxed and easy to listen to. Place appropriate
pauses between scene shifts.
Story ownership:
Author’s retain all ownership of their stories. AudioCD.com requires
that the author assign first Audio Performance rights to us. An author can
request at any time that a story be removed from AudioCD.com’s website.
The author of a story must fill out a signed contract granting these rights.
Reader’s retain all ownership of their performance. AudioCD.com requires
that readers assign exclusive audio performance rights to a story as long
as it is on the AudioCD.com website. A reader can ask that a story be removed
from the AudioCD.com website at any time.
Payment:
Stories are either free or pay-per-download.
Stories with a running time of less than 10 minutes are offered free to the readers. AudioCD.com needs free downloads to attract new users. Authors must provide one reading under 10 minutes (about 2,000 words or less) so that downloaders can sample the author's literary style and reading ability.
Authors receive 40¢ for each paid story download.
Payments are made quarterly to contributors who have accumulated more than $25 in download royalties.
Payments are made via paypal only to contributors who have provided valid Tax IDs. Contributors will receive 1099-misc forms for all distributed royalties after the end of the year.
Note: the pay portion of the site will go up around April 1, 2006.
Public Domain Stories:
You can feel safe that any story published before around 1920 is public domain. Your best bet is to go to Project Gutenberg and find a good story. I would like to see stories by Guy de Maupassant, O Henry, Twain, Zane Grey, E.R. Burroughs, H. G. Wells and others. Check at the AudioCD.com site to make sure that the story hasn’t been read. Also check at amazon.com that there are no commercially audio books with the story you would like to read.
Contract:
AudioCD.com uses the Creative Commons Contract, which is a liberal contract allowing the downloader to copy a story and distribute it, but not sell it. Other contracts, such as the Apple iTunes contract, limit the downloader to personal use of the performance and restrict copying and distribution. Such contracts offer more protection, but unless you know a good lawyer and have the money to sue, will not prevent unethical persons from copying your story. Experience shows that the amount of money you make depends on the quality of the story and the performace and not the contract that you use.
Submitting a story.
AudioCD.com accepts email submissions at the following email address:
. Please include your name, address and any other cover letter information in
theboddy of the email. There is an autoresponder that will send back a notification
that your email has been received.
Response time is usually a day or two, with a maximum of about two weeks. Query
at the submission email if you don't hear back in two weeks.
If your email has a problem (quite common) with the large file size of the mp3 files, email me and I will send you an FTP address where you can send the file. FTP allows you to transmit very large files to me.
Production standards:
AudioCD.com wants interesting and pleasant readings of stories. If you have
a sound-effects library that is copyright free, an occasional sound effect is
allowable. We sometimes add music to an MP3, if you add music, it should be
at the beginning and the end, unless it is part of the story. Sound loops and
samples are available for free all over the web.
We reject readings for the following reasons:
(Note: we want to put your story up. We will forgive most things if the story is good and the reading is clear.)
1) Inaccurate reading: The author has flubbed words, added words, mispronounced
words, left out words.
2) Voice quality or Accent: Reader has an accent that is not appropriate to the work. AudioCD.com is targeted towards English speaking listeners. A mild French accent may be appropriate for reading Flaubert, but maybe not for Zane Grey. Accents can add color to a readaing. If, in the opinion of the publishers, a voice quality or accent interferes with the enjoyment of the story, then reading will be rejected.
3) Flat, uninteresting or annoying presentation: This is a performance. If the tone is dull and unexpressive then the story might be rejected. If the performance is exaggerated or bizarre it could be rejected (unless it works for your story).
4) Noises off: If we can hear the toilet flush, doors slam, the dog barking, or the phone ring in the background, then the story should be rejected.
5) Audio Quality: Use good PC audio capture software with a decent microphone. Tape hiss, flutter, wow, pops, unbalanced or overdriven input, low volume or other technical problems will get a story bounced. Use audio editing software to boost bass, equalize the volume and change the room echo.
6) One reader per story: For now, we are not going to publish ensembles. We may do it eventually, but in the beginning it will be one story for one reader.
7) The story is not being submitted by the original author or a story is not in the public domain.
