Part 2
You can find Part 1 here.
There's a place on the main ACX webpage where you can go searching for producers (narrators). You have to put in information about the book like your genre, region, male, female, young, etc. Then your search will provide you with the names and audio samples that you can go through.At this point, I hadn't yet listened to the book that made me seek out the producer I went after.
Now, if you've never listened to audiobooks yourself, you might not have much experience with them. I think it wouldn't hurt to give some a try. I'll bet your local library has a collection, and I would ask your librarian to make suggestions about good narrators.
What are some things that were important to me?
How the male producer does female voices.
I know there are some ways of reading that I don't like. I love how Jim Dale did the Scholastic version of the Harry Potter series. His Snape and Dumbledore ... amazing. I wasn't a fan of the way he did Hermione. So, I wanted a male producer who wouldn't do the book's women high pitched and irritating.
Can the producer do decent accents?
Can the producer do decent accents?
An audiobook is a performance. It is not turning on the read feature on your Kindle with that horrible, mechanical voice. In my opinion, it should be a way to enhance the story experience and not just be a faster way to get through the book. Torn Canvas has people from different races and parts of the world. I wanted someone who could make listening to the book be more real.
There were other things, but one important one I didn't even think about until I was deep into the process. I'll talk about that next time.
I found one narrator that I thought would work and asked him to audition. Even though he'd come up on my list for my genre, he said didn't think he could do a romance. Well, Torn Canvas isn't a romance but it does have a strong romantic element, so okay.
The good thing is that I'd just listened to a book, and I LOVED the narrator. Seriously, he became my dream narrator for this book.
I contacted to author, and she told me how to send him a request to audition. And he said YES. Proof positive that sometimes an initial no is a good thing.
This was last August. My narrator's only challenge was the he had some other commitments that he had to finish before he could begin mine.
Next week, the process of audiobook production.
There were other things, but one important one I didn't even think about until I was deep into the process. I'll talk about that next time.
The good thing is that I'd just listened to a book, and I LOVED the narrator. Seriously, he became my dream narrator for this book.
I contacted to author, and she told me how to send him a request to audition. And he said YES. Proof positive that sometimes an initial no is a good thing.
This was last August. My narrator's only challenge was the he had some other commitments that he had to finish before he could begin mine.
Next week, the process of audiobook production.
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If you missed out, don't forget there's a huge book promotion going on right now. Great opportunity to stock up on your summer reads. Click here.
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What have I been reading? Well, it's actually listening to.
What do I think?
It's a cute and clever story. I'm at the stage where the silly stuff they do to convince the other are making me crazy, but the story's getting even more fun the farther in I get.
What did you do this weekend? I was at a writers retreat.
That's a good point - the narrator has to do both male and female characters.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got your dream narrator. Never hurts to ask, does it?
It is! There are other issues, too, about interpretation of the characters which I'll get into later.
Deleteso they also act while narrating assuming female or male voices? I thought they just read it out in their own voice
ReplyDeleteNo no no. There are some readers who do that, and they can still be very good. One of my favorites if The Blue Sword. But it really ups the experience when your narrator is good at accents.
DeleteHigh pitched and irritating would surely irritate lol always have to search to find the right one
ReplyDeleteWell, it can make the character come across as a caricature.
DeleteI love well read books on audio. Hope all goes well for you.
ReplyDeleteSame here! Thanks.
DeleteI just finished listening to The Name of the Wind. I'd say the narrator did a fine job switching from character to character, providing different accents and speech inflections and he didn't make the females sound like whining, high-pitched nags.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that there are so many things to consider and that a first no doesn't have to remain the final answer :-)
There's one narrator--I don't know how active she is now--who is fabulous. She does amazing accents voice differentiation. One book she did had four different women. I could tell who each one was just by how she did the voice. And it's not like one was from the South, another from New York, etc.
DeleteAwesome how you found your dream narrator. And good point about being sure they can do all the characters'. This is such an interesting series. Thanks for sharing about your experiences.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone else besides me is finding it interesting. :D
DeleteThat's probably the best way to find someone to narrate your book. Your familiarity with audio-books led you to someone you really connected with. I'm sure it will show in the final product, too. :)
ReplyDelete*sigh* I love the final product. I love my story anyway, but this makes it easy to revisit with pleasure.
DeleteI had a lazy weekend catching up on TV episodes I missed. Real lazy there.
ReplyDeleteI have listened to some audio books. My problem with them is that I get distracted with other things and tend to tune out the story - just like listening to music. My brother loves audio books, he is a long haul trucker and they help pass the time.
I used to be like that too, Dolorah. If what I'm doing requires too much of my attention, then it's not a good time to for me to listen. But I listen while I shower and get ready for work. I listen while shop or do laundry or yard work. Mindless things that a good book can make less tedious.
DeleteJane and Austen looks real cute.
ReplyDeleteI've played audiobooks for my students. Amazing narrators make you forget what the gender and background the narrator is. They make all the characters come to life.
It's really clever. And you're right, the narrator can make the characters come to life.
DeleteThanks for sharing about your journey...it's research and awesome information for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope it helps others. There are other paths than the one I took. I hope others share their experiences to help in the process.
DeleteJane and Austen is my type of book. :P
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your audiobook journey, Donna. Really helpful especially if I decide to make my own.
I'm in the works of doing one of my novelettes myself. I can share about that journey too. :)
Delete"Proof positive that sometimes an initial no is a good thing."
ReplyDeleteThis sort of thing comes up time and time again in publishing (and in life, I suppose). I've read a lot of horror stories about "Dream Agent" or "Dream Editor/Publishing House" where things just didn't work. Or worse, where it was a horrible experience. Sometimes we get so caught up in an ideal that we don't see reality. It sounds like this initial no worked out pretty good for you.
So, so true, Jeff! I've know a lot of authors who ended up breaking with their agents or have felt misused by their publishers. And then gone on to what ended up finding their real dreams.
DeleteLots of people love audio books and I hear it's a growing market. I've listened to plenty, but find I read much faster when I do it myself:)
ReplyDeleteI have very little time to sit and read. Takes me forever to get through a book rest way. Plus, I don't generally like to speed read for leisure. ;)
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