14
Audio Book Narration
In This Chapter
You’ll find more about audio books and more scripts at AOVA.VoiceActing.com.
Telling the Long Story
The Audio Book Challenge
Audio book narration is a voiceover world unto itself that has been growing at an unprecedented pace over the past few years. This is a highly specialized niche that is different from every other area of voiceover, both in terms of performing and obtaining work.
Audio book narration is much more than simply “reading” a book out loud. It requires exceptional reading skills and outstanding story telling skills with an ability to quickly adapt in real-time to different vocal placements or attitudes for multiple characters during a scripted conversation. You will need to be able to differentiate every character in the story and accurately reproduce each character’s vocal attitude or placement every time that character appears in the story. There are a variety of processes for achieving this, including color coding the lines for each character and developing a chart or spreadsheet that breaks down the characters, their attitudes and their vocal characteristics.
As for finding work—unless you have a history of successful audio book projects, higher paying jobs will be illusive and your compensation, at least initially, will be comparatively low, compared to some other areas of voiceover. Basically, you won’t be doing audio books for the money, but rather, you’ll be narrating audio books for the love of it and to build a catalog of work that will ultimately lead to higher paying jobs.
As an audio book reader, you will read a book, on average, three or four times. The first time through is to get a sense of the story. The second time through is for the purpose of identifying and marking the scenes, characters, emotions, and story dynamics; and starting to develop the voice treatments for each character. The third time through is usually the recording session, or perhaps a final read to rehearse the delivery, in which case the fourth time through would be the session. If you don’t enjoy reading, audio book narration may not be right for you.
As an audio book narrator, you’ll spend many long hours in the studio recording your telling of the story. In most cases, your delivery must be precisely accurate, word-for-word as written. If you are working directly for an author, you may be allowed to take some liberties with your narration, such as contracting words or making minor phrasing adjustments to make the “read” more conversational or to adjust the text “for the ear.” But if you are working for an audio book publisher, you must be word-for-word accurate with the text.
A typical audio book recording session will last about four to five hours per day. Most readers recommend taking frequent breaks and speaking continuously for no more than 50 minutes at a time. For the most part, the session goes nonstop, and the same process will repeat for as many days as it takes to complete the project—and that could be one or two days or up to several weeks. And even when you think your recording is complete, you may be called back to the studio months later for pick-ups to replace some lines or re-track a page or two. When this happens, you need to be able to match the original delivery both in delivery style and vocal quality.
Remember that the microphone hears everything. Even a slight change in position can result in a change in the quality or consistency of your performance. Wear clothing and jewelry that doesn’t make any noise, move silently, and learn to take shallow breaths. Many audio book readers work from an electronic tablet, but if working directly from the book or from a paper script, page turns should be done as quietly as possible. If a sentence at the bottom of one page continues to the next, memorize the sentence that transitions the pages, pause, turn the page, then pick up with the next sentence. Don’t try to do a page turn in mid-sentence. When working from a script of single pages, place two pages side-by-side on your copy stand with the page you are reading on the right. As you reach the bottom of the page, move to the top of the left-hand page to continue. The left-hand page can be slowly and silently slid to the right while you read without losing a beat. Changes in your delivery style, vocal placement, or bad edits will all result in your voice becoming a distraction to the listener.
Finding Audio Book Clients
Some of the larger audio book publishers will hire major celebrities and record in a conventional recording studio. However, the trend for most start-up and independent audio book publishers, who are often the author, is to hire independent voice actors to record in their home studio.
Marketing yourself as an audio book narrator requires some special skills and knowledge. As an independent audio book narrator, you will be expected to deliver a high-quality recording that is ready for publication on itunes.com, audible.com, and other electronic media. This means you’ll be handling every aspect of your recording, including quality control, editing and often mastering. Quality control simply means that you have a system in place, when performing, for making certain you don’t skip or mispronounce words, that your delivery and timing are appropriate for your telling of the story, and that there are no technical issues like mouth noise or popping p’s. It also means you have systems in place for editing and mastering for delivery to meet the standards for distribution. Some readers will hire an assistant to “proof” their narration, or handle the technical details, while others will simply spend the additional time proofing their read as they edit.
There are some companies that specialize in producing audio books; they do everything from arranging for the recording rights and booking the performers to handling distribution. Some will record at their facility, while others may be open to having you simply provide the completed and edited recordings. You can contact these companies directly regarding work as an audio book narrator, but without a history of successful audio books, you will likely not be hired on your initial contact.
In an effort to open the audio book industry to more authors and narrators, audible.com created the Audio book Creation Exchange. With ACX, the audio book genre of voiceover has been given specific standards of practice for performance and recording quality. Today, thousands of voice actors are vying for work as audio book narrators with ACX projects through acx.com.
Some audio book voice actors will take on the roles of both talent and producer by finding a book that they think will be marketable, arranging for recording rights from the author or publisher, preparing a production budget, and pitching the book to an audio book publisher with themselves as the performer. Developing an audio book project in this manner can create an income stream from several different areas.
One of the best ways to learn about audio books is to begin by studying acting and other performers who narrate audio books. Then find a voiceover coach who knows the audio book business, and who offers a class in audio book narration. You’ll find additional information about the audio book industry at the Audio book Publishers Association website, audiopub.org. Audio book work can be tiring and exhausting, but if you enjoy reading and storytelling, it can be very enjoyable and gratifying.
An Internet search for “public domain books” will bring up many sources for books that are in the public domain, out of copyright, and available for production. You’ll also find more scripts and associated recordings at AOVA.VoiceActing.com.
Tips for Performing Audio Books
- You must have excellent reading skills. You may be reading several pages without a break.
- You must be an exceptional story teller with an ability to create distinctions between characters and narrator.
- You must have a thorough understanding of the story and the interrelationships of the characters in it.
- The overall audio book style is more of reading out loud than of talking conversationally to one person. The conversations happen between the characters in the story.
- Be prepared for long hours in front of the microphone and in editing your recordings.
- You must have an excellent home studio and a thorough understanding of your equipment and the audio book production process.
Audio Book Scripts
Greg Godek is one of the most prolific creative people I know. He writes something every day without fail. He’s a professional speaker and best-selling author of “1,001 Ways to be Romantic,” “1,001 More Ways to be Romantic,” “10,000 Ways to Say ‘I Love You’,” and more than a dozen other books. The following is taken from an as-yet unpublished series of small books on how thinking creatively can result in brilliance.
How to Be Mildly Brilliant
Author: Greg Godek
Chapter: “Simple Simon Met an Orange Man”
The client was furious. Simple Simon’s Boss was nervous. All of which made Simple Simon very unhappy.
The client represented the California Orange Growers, where were fighting a losing battle with the Florida Orange Growers.
“Our sales are down! We need better ads!” the Client bellowed, emphasizing his words with a pounding fist.
Simple Simon’s boss stammered: “But our ads feature beautiful photos of your oranges; focus groups say that people love our ads; and research proves the effectiveness of our advertising!”
“But our market share is failing! DO something!”
All the while Simple Simon listened quietly. Finally, he ventured: “This might be a dumb question... but is there any difference between California oranges and Florida oranges?”
“Yes, dagnab-it! Our California oranges have thinner skins, making them more delicate and harder to ship. Thus, they often appear bruised, which harms our sales. But that’s not your problem! Your problem is ineffective advertising!”
Simple Simon was despondent. Instead of going straight home he went grocery shopping. He bought dozens of California oranges and Florida oranges. He took them home and cut them open. Sure enough, the California oranges had thinner skins. He frowned as he stared at the table-full of oranges in cross-section.
And then he knocked over his chair as he jumped for joy!
The next day Simple Simon presented a dozen orange-halves to the Client, saying: “From now on we’ll advertise the insides of your oranges! We’ll show your customers that thinner skins mean California oranges have more pulp. We’ll prove—visually-and-instantly!—that your oranges are a better buy!”
And so the advertising was changed. The sales of California oranges skyrocketed. And everyone was very very happy.
True story. From 1947. And while times have changed—and improved hybrid oranges are available from both Florida and California, and improved transportation has reduced bruising—smart consumers may still want to cut their oranges into cross-sections on occasion.
Simple Simon combined two of the six Thinking Strategies to solve this dilemma. He used [2] Science-based thinking (observation and experimentation), and [3] Business-based thinking (display your products most effectively)—and proved that seemingly insoluble problems often give way to innovative thinking.
SOMETHING IN THE AIR (unpublished)
Author: Reese Whitney
Chapter: “Unexpected”
For a Tuesday afternoon in March, it was unseasonably warm. The air was heavy making it difficult to breathe and there was not even the slightest breeze to offer a hint of comfort. It had been like this for weeks, ever since... the incident.
Tom walked toward a car parked in front of his house, trying to avoid the reflected heat bouncing off his asphalt driveway. Looking up at the sky he thought, “Hmmm. Finally... some clouds starting to come in. We just might get lucky. Odd color, though...”
Stan, Tom’s neighbor, was watering his lawn trying to save the grass. As Tom passed, Stan said, “Sixteen days now and nothing’s changed.”
Tom, pointing to the sky, replied, “That’s changed.”
“You really think that’s gonna make a difference?” Stan said “Those ain’t rain clouds. Hey… You work for them... What the Hell’s going on?”
Tom just smiled, knowingly and kept moving toward the black SUV. He had recognized the company car when he glanced out his living room window a few minutes earlier. The driver simply parked and waited, but Tom knew exactly why he was there. And it wasn’t good news.
As he approached the vehicle, he noticed the engine was running as the passenger window began to slowly lower and an arm extended through the open window holding a small package. The glare off the car’s tinted windows made the inside as black as the desert during a new moon and its occupants all but invisible. But Tom knew who it was.
“That you, Mr. Snyder?” Tom asked. There was no answer from inside, only a slight gesture from the arm indicating that Tom should take the package.
“O... K...” Tom said slowly, as he reluctantly took the parcel from the invisible passenger. Slowly and carefully, he opened it, then paused for what felt like an eternity as he stared at the contents. His attention shifted back to the vehicle. Squinting in an attempt to focus on someone inside he said, “You sure you want me to do this? I mean, there’s no evidence this will work, and the last time we...”
Interrupting before Tom could complete his thought, he heard a woman’s voice from the rear seat of the SUV. There was a sense of urgency and determination as she said, “Look, Tom, you’re the only person left who can. If you don’t handle this, none of us will survive.”
“Handle it!,” Tom thought silently, slightly agitated, “I didn’t cause this! I tried to stop it! It was those idiots...”. Tom calmly acknowledged the woman, “Ma’am, I was specifically told not to get involved when I was released from the project.”
“That was a mistake,” the woman said curtly. “Management let everyone go who had anything to do with the project! They said it was for security reasons. But when things went... wrong there was no one left who understood.”
“Idiots!,” Tom thought.
There was a long pause as Tom collected his thoughts. “So, they want me back. Is that the idea?”
“We’re here to reinstate you,” another unseen voice Tom recognized as his former boss, Mr. Snyder, bellowed from the rear seat. “You know more about this than anyone. We need you to bring this under control and get things back to normal.”
Tom had expected this and replied, “If I do this, I’ll need full access and complete control. No supervision. One hundred percent autonomy. I choose the team. And a blank check.”
The boisterous voice from the rear seat said, “We ’re prepared to offer you...”
Tom had never interrupted his senior before, but this time he cut off Mr. Snyder in mid-sentence, “Those are my terms. Period.”
As Tom turned to walk away, he could hear the couple in the back seat arguing. It was clear the woman was in control and as Tom’s back turned to the vehicle and he took his first step, the woman said, “Whatever you need.”
Tom stopped, keeping his back to the black SUV, turning his head to look up at the odd cloud formations in the sky.
“We need your decision now,” said the woman. “Whatever you need,” she repeated slowly.
“In writing!” Tom said.
“In writing,” said the woman.
As Tom turned to confirm the deal, the mysterious arm once again reached out the window, this time holding a single sheet of paper with neat typing on company letterhead. Tom took the document, which contained a single short paragraph that specified Tom’s terms exactly... plus a number for monetary compensation that was in the mid 9 figures.
As he read the short contract, he thought, “That’s unexpected.” Shaking his head, “Idiots!”