Sprinting to Book Launch Day: Recording My Audio Book in L.A.
May has been a whirlwind of activities as my book launch is just a few short weeks away.
The first week of May was jam-packed as I recorded the audiobook and finalized the cover design for Scaling With Soul: How I Built and Sold a $25 Million Tech Company Without Being an A**hole.
I have never recorded an audiobook, so I was beyond excited about the recording process.
My publisher’s studio of choice is located right in the middle of Hollywood, so I decided to turn it into a family road trip, with my husband and eldest son along for the ride. We drove down to LA over the weekend, checking into the Palihotel on the famed Sunset Blvd. There we were surrounded by LA icons; the Hollywood sign on the mountains behind us, an In-N-Out Burger next door, and Hollywood High right across the street.
Hollywood has definitely seen better days and is still recovering from the pandemic, the move to remote work, and last year’s industry strikes, but it is still an exciting place to be. Our first night in town, my angel investor, Michael Blend, treated us to dinner at Soho House, which has a stunning view of Los Angeles. The people watching wasn’t bad either. It was thrilling to see Michael, as we had not talked or seen each other since I sold Boardroom Insiders in 2022.
Afterwards, we walked down the heart of the Sunset Strip past storied rock n roll clubs like The Whiskey, The Roxy, and The Viper Room. We tried to duck into the Chateau Marmont for a drink, but were turned away due to a private event.
After a weekend of fun, Monday was recording day and I was due at the studio at 9:30. My preferred mode of transportation is walking, so I woke up early, had some coffee and set off for the 30-minute walk to the studio. There I met Jared, my engineer for the next few days. He ushered me into a soundproof booth the size of a coat closet, where he had my book pulled up on an iPad.
Jared and I got down to business right away and I was surprised how comfortable I was doing the narration. I quickly realized the benefit of having read my own book so many times during the production process, as well as having read excerpts on TikTok. The words just rolled right off my tongue.
The biggest challenge turned out to be my stomach. I am not a breakfast eater, so about an hour into the recording my stomach started making very loud noises that were picked up by the mic. On the second day, I made sure to have a snack right before I went into the booth, but it turns out that digestion is equally noisy. Jared promised that all of these sounds will be edited out.
Another surprise was how emotional I felt while reading certain parts of the book. I was on the verge of tears several times and I even had to take a moment to compose myself at one point. I hope those emotions come through in the final recording.
Jared and I got through the first half of the book by 2:00pm. I was starving by then, so on the walk back to the hotel I stopped off at Mama Shelter, which I could see from the street had an inviting rooftop restaurant. The weather was perfect, so I lingered there over short rib tacos and frozen strawberry sangria, catching up on the news and email.
After arriving back at the hotel, I took a swim in the pool and waited for my family to return from a day of sightseeing. That night we had dinner on Melrose Avenue at Crossroads Kitchen, which was named Best Vegan Restaurant in America. It was great, so I can’t argue with that. Then we returned to the Sunset Strip for a show at the Comedy Store. My son, thrilled to learn that Lisa Ann Walter was part of that night’s lineup, shouted “I LOVE YOU!!!” as she took to the stage. Who knew?
Day 2 of recording was pretty much the same. Jared and I wrapped everything up, so a scheduled day 3 turned into an unexpected day off. My family and I lingered at the hotel until around 11 and then visited Luna Luna, an exhibit that defies explanation. If you get a chance to see it, go! We had lunch at Au Lac in downtown LA, then took off for Anaheim, where we checked into the Viv Hotel to prepare for an all-out assault on Disneyland the following day. We were at the park by 8am and didn’t return to the hotel until 10pm, where we had snacks and drinks at the bar then went right to bed. The next day we drove back to San Francisco.
In the midst of our full days in LA, I was constantly checking email to track the progress of my book cover design. By the end of our trip, the cover had been finalized and I am very happy with it!
Scaling With Soul goes on sale in paperback and hardcover on May 30th, and the audiobook will be ready later this summer. While it feels like my big project is coming to an end, this is only the beginning, because now it is time to get out there and promote it. I have a lot of podcast interviews coming out, which I will post on my website and social media, so stay tuned!