In the 1840s, this group of around 90 people had heard about the wonders of California and decided to travel west to seek their fortune.

Rather than following the rutted road of the hundreds of settlers before them, they took an unproven shortcut given by a person who had not actually made the trip he proposed and therefore had no business in directing others to go that way. None of the Donner party had traveled the route before, either, so they had no experience or knowledge to measure the shortcut against.

As a direct result of taking the disastrous advice about the shortcut, most of the party didn’t live to tell the tale. Those who did live endured unimaginable and grisly hardships in camp.

People today have heard about the gold rush in audiobooks, leading many to decide to become a narrator. While mistakes in audiobook narration don’t carry such severe consequences, they do have repercussions. Therefore, narrators participating in online forums need to be careful about the advice they give and take.

Regardless of the site/group and discussion, established narrators have the same goal — maintain and even improve the quality of the art form.

I can’t express how incredibly frustrating and maddening it is to spend my valuable time offering guidance learned through years of expensive training classes and hands-on practice only to have a newcomer dismiss my hard-won knowledge with the comment “in my experience” and/or an argumentative reply.

I’ve been a member the Facebook Indie (ACX And Others) Audiobook Narrators and Producers group for almost 8 years. Recently, I have pulled back a lot from responding in this group because it looks like so many people don’t do any research before dashing off their basic question and only want to be validated in their approach. I repeatedly see questions that are answered in the group FAQ, in the ACX Help Center, and/or on NarratorsRoadmap.com.

I’d much rather help someone who has made some effort, done their research, has a more informed and thoughtful question, and shows a sincere desire to become a great narrator. They say things like:

* I followed your advice, but this is where I got stuck.
* Can you clarify what you meant about this topic?

Instead of gratitude for the assistance received, I see a steady stream of complaints from newcomers about the “snark” from longtime group members and our “vitriolic”, “toxic” comments. People say they are afraid to even ask a question because they don’t want a “mean” answer. Veterans are constantly told we should be more supportive.

No other competitive, artistic field is as supportive as audiobook narrators are to each other! The fact that so many well-established narrators spend our precious spare time trying to help newbies for FREE shows that we want you to succeed.

Why do you insist we reply to you in a way that makes you feel good about yourself? That sense of entitlement stops many veteran narrators from participating.

Why do you expect us to be warm and soothing in our responses, especially when we see bad advice being handed out and adopted?

We despair when newbies authoritatively advise each other; it’s like “the blind leading the blind”. If a veteran’s answer seems harsh, it’s because we’re jumping in for the umpteenth time — maybe even today — to save the blind from going in the alley and being beaten up at the end. Sometimes niceties get dropped for a very good reason.

We know what casting people expect. We know what listeners expect. We know you won’t get jobs from publishers or good reviews by implementing the bad habits and practices we’re trying to stop.

No one gave most of us any shortcuts. We paid for classes, read everything we could find, attended conferences which usually involved travel expenses, and took many other actions for years, all to improve as a narrator.

We learned from our own and others’ mistakes and now strive to save newbies from breaking with industry standards and heading into the wilderness. Unfortunately, we might guide 1 person down the safe path of best practices while 20 others run to the “do whatever you want” camp.

It’s not my job to offer info, advice, and encouragement to people on the trail. It’s my CHOICE.

If my advice is not respected and appreciated, I’ll choose to do other things with my time.

Before complaining about the icy tone of a response, just think how it would be if every veteran in the group felt as I do and simply left all the newbies to fend for themselves.

Rather than moving forward in your career as a narrator, you might just find yourself sitting out in the cold.

The post Thoughts About Advice in Narrator Groups appeared first on Karen Commins.

I was reflecting this week about being able to create audiobooks from my studio here in Atlanta for the past 10 years.

To be clear, I’ve recorded all of my audiobooks in my studio. However, when I started narrating early in the millennium, most publishers didn’t want to hire home studio narrators.

I always said I could fly any where; Atlanta is the home of Delta Airlines, after all. The answer was always “Why should we fly you to NY or LA when we have an abundance of talent nearby?”

Everything changed in 2011 when Audible developed ACX.com, its marketplace for narrators and rights holders to get together to produce audiobooks.

I’ve been there since day 1 when the site was in beta test:

• 1/12/11 — Audible invited me to a super secret, hush hush conference call.
  • On 1/12/21, I tweeted my journal page from that day.
• 1/14/11 — I was on the call and learned about ACX. Audible asked me to be a beta tester, and I immediately said YES!
  •  On 1/14/21, I tweeted a 1:30 video reading from my journal entry that day.
• 5/12/11 — Audible launches ACX to the world.
  • I announced it that day in this blog post.
• 9/18/11 — After submitting 23 auditions on ACX, I won one from a publisher. The book was Dixie Divas, which was the first in a series of 5 books and a bunch more I did for Belle Books, the publisher. Dixie Divas was a royalty share book that has paid several times what my PFH rate would have been and continues to make money for me every month!
• 1/22/14 — The Heart of the New Thought, my first book as a RH, went live.
  • I wrote about it in this blog post.
• 5/15/14 — Part 1 of my article about audiobook marketing appeared on the ACX blog.
• 5/20/14 — Part 2 of my article about audiobook marketing appeared on the ACX blog.
• 4/7/16 — My article How to Act Like an Audiobook Narrator appeared on the ACX blog.
• 3/2/18 — I was a panelist for ACX at VOAtlanta to discuss Creating Your Audiobook Career.
  • I created this list of resources for attendees, which can help you, too!
• 11/2/18 — I was the featured guest on ACX University.
  • I wrote about the video and added links in this blog article.

Of course, I’ve written MUCH more about ACX here on my blog! I’m also a frequent contributor in narrator Facebook groups, particularly the Indie (ACX and Others) Narrators and Producers Group, where I developed and maintain the extensive group FAQ.

I’ve been delighted each time John Florian at VoiceOverXtra has shared one of my articles with his audience. After republishing one of them recently, John asked me if I’d be interested in doing a webinar about ACX.

I responded to him the same way I did to Audible about beta testing ACX 10 years ago: YES!

I’m thrilled to announce VoiceOverXtra hosted my webinar Put Yourself in the ACX Driver’s Seat on 11 February 2021!

You can download the 3-hour recording, my 90+ slides, and my extensive list of resources at on my Shop page.

The post Put Yourself in the ACX Driver’s Seat Webinar appeared first on Karen Commins.

If you own the audio rights to your book, you are referred to as the rights holder (RH). The RH has many choices when starting an audiobook project. Two of the most important decisions you’ll make are the narrator’s payment and the audiobook’s distribution.

Make these decisions very carefully and INDEPENDENTLY because their long-term repercussions could be harmful to you in ways you don’t expect!

Payment Options

You basically have 3 ways to pay your narrator:

1. Per Finished Hour (PFH) — You pay $X times each finished hour of audio up-front to the narrator. For instance, a $300 PFH rate on an 8-hour audiobook would cost $2400 at the time the audiobook is completed.
2. Royalty Share (RS) — Rather than you paying anything up-front to the narrator, you agree to share your royalties with the narrator. The narrator gambles that her narrator fee and production expenses for team members (director, editor, proofer) will earn out over time through the royalties. This contract can be structured so that the narrator receives ALL royalties until her fee is paid or, more typically, the royalties are split equally between the RH and narrator for the course of the contract.
3. Hybrid/Royalty Share Plus (RS+) — You pay the narrator some up-front fee to cover their hard expenses and also have a royalty share contract.

Recommendation:  By using a PFH payment, you could contract with a narrator completely outside of ACX or any other distribution platform and upload your completed audiobook to the distributors of your choice as a DIY project.

You may want to download and modify one of the contracts on this page if you go this route.

ACX as Distributor

This article focuses on using ACX as your distributor since it is the most widely known and utilized site.

Many RHs find a Royalty Share (RS) contract with the narrator on ACX.com to be very attractive because they can get an audiobook made without incurring up-front costs. They often don’t consider that this kind of contract marries the narrator’s payment to the distribution agreement.

Narrators are reluctant to accept an RS contract because the narrator shoulders ALL of the risk for low or no sales. Narrators look for several conditions to mitigate their risk.

A narrator is much more willing to accept the ACX hybrid contract known as Royalty Share Plus (RS+). In addition to the equal royalty split, the RH pays the narrator an amount up-front to help offset the narrator’s immediate expenses. The amount is negotiated between the RH and narrator and can be a set fee but is usually priced per finished hour (PFH).

With either an RS or RS+ contract, you are forced to accept exclusive distribution, meaning your audiobook will only be sold on Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books for the initial distribution term of 7 years. You have no option to upload your audiobook to other sites for wide distribution or sell it on CD or from your web site.

As I’ve previously written, indie authors get frustrated with the RS option for a number of reasons, especially when they itch to be relieved of the 7-year distribution term.

Contract Language

You have 2 contracts in place: the Book Posting Agreement between you and Audible, and the Production Standard Terms between you, Audible, and the narrator.

The distribution language is contained in the ACX Book Posting Agreement.

Sections 5A and 5B on exclusive or non-exclusive distribution set the initial distribution term at 7 years and include this auto-renewal clause:

After the Initial Term [7 years], this Agreement will renew automatically for additional 1 year terms (each, a “Renewal Term”) unless either party provides written notice of termination to the other party at least 60 days prior to the end of the Initial Term or the then-current Renewal Term.

Section 13B about changing the distribution to non-exclusive states:

If you elect to pay the Producer who produces an Audiobook using the ACX royalty share option, you must grant Audible exclusive distribution rights to the Audiobook and you cannot change your grant to non-exclusive.

In Section 14, the RH agrees that Audible will pay the royalties to producers on an RS contract.

Section 5-1 of the Production Standard Terms discusses the royalty payments.

Suppose you decide to use an RS or RS+ contract. Can you cancel distribution before the end of the initial 7 years?

If you want to cancel the distribution before the end of the 7 years, you must obtain the narrator’s permission to dissolve an RS or RS+ contract. Almost certainly, the narrator rightfully will demand a termination fee at that point. While section 8B of the Book Posting Agreement specifies termination fees prior to the completion of production, the contracts are silent about the termination fee once the book is on sale.

You and the narrator therefore will need to negotiate the kill fee. Remember, the narrator is expecting to earn at least their PFH rate through the royalties. If the audiobook’s sales have surpassed the total of what the PFH rate would have been, the narrator may reasonably propose a kill fee that also includes the loss of expected royalties.

The ACX blog states:

Effective February 1, ACX Rights Holders of DIY or Pay-for-Production titles that have been on sale for 90 or more days can convert their distribution type from exclusive to non-exclusive. In addition, all ACX Rights Holders will have the option to terminate after 90 days of distribution, but Rights Holders with Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus deals must provide Producer consent when making their request.

The contract language has not been updated to reflect this policy change.

What happens after the contract finishes its initial 7-year distribution term?

As you saw above, Audible’s contract language says exclusive RS agreements can’t be changed. The only way the RH can remove the narrator from the RS agreement is for them to terminate distribution with Audible, as confirmed in this section of the Contracts and Agreements Qs and As page:

Can I change my contract from Exclusive to Non-exclusive?

Changing the distribution rights to your audiobook depends on the payment option you have chosen. If the audiobook was completed as a pay-for-production deal, the distribution rights can be changed from exclusive to non-exclusive after it has been live in the store for one year. If this audiobook is in a royalty share deal, then the agreement can never be changed. For more information, please reference section 12.a. of the Book Posting Agreement.”

I’ve had a number of RS books I narrated pulled by the RH after the 7-year initial distribution term because they wanted to terminate the RS contract. The big downside to this approach is that the RH not only loses the income and visibility of the book being on Audible, but all of the ratings and reviews the book earned during the 7 years are gone, too.

At the point the RH terminates the RS contract, he then may republish the audiobook since he owns the copyright to the recording, and the producer has assigned all interest in the book to the RH, as explicitly stated in Section 10 of the Production Standard Terms:

Ownership. Subject to the restriction on audiobook production rights above and the distribution rights granted by Rights Holder to Audible, Rights Holder will retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Book and the Audiobook, including the copyright in the Book and the sound recording copyright in the Audiobook. Producer agrees that the Audiobook is a “work made for hire” to the full extent permitted by law, with all copyrights in the Audiobook owned by Rights Holder. To the extent that the Audiobook does not qualify as a work made for hire under applicable law, Producer assigns to Rights Holder all right, title and interest Producer may have in and to the Audiobook, including, but not limited to, all copyright or rights of authorship in the Audiobook. Producer will ensure that its agreements with any third parties Producer engages to assist in the production of the Audiobook establish Rights Holder’s sole ownership in the Audiobook. Producer will use the form agreements referenced in Section 2 above. At Rights Holder’s request, Producer will provide Rights Holder with copies of the agreements.

Be aware that ACX and Audible will not send the audio files to you. You would need to download them from your ACX Dashboard. Go to Completed Projects, select the book, choose Produce Audiobook tab, and download each file by pressing Download on the right side.

The cure for the ACX 7-year itch is available to you at the BEGINNING of the project: decide to pay the narrator per finished hour (PFH) instead of using an RS or RS+ contract. 

When you pay a PFH rate at the outset, you can select non-exclusive distribution on ACX and then immediately distribute your audiobook to other platforms, including those that offer your audiobook to libraries. You also have the option of exclusive distribution for the first year and then changing to non-exclusive distribution as early as the 91st day.

As you can see on my RH info page, I ask new clients to pay a 50% deposit after approving the 15-minute sample. I invoice for the final 50% after uploading the completed audiobook. In cases where the RH and I contract independently of ACX or another platform, I withhold at least the end credits and retail sample until the invoice is paid. I encourage other narrators to adopt a similar policy.

The post Cure For The ACX 7-Year Itch appeared first on Karen Commins.

[I want share] a recent experience about breaking an ACX contract in the hopes it helps someone else.

The 2 lessons to the story:

1) If you hear warning bells before you audition, either request the book or forget about auditioning.
2) Life’s too short to deal with bad text and a non-responsive rights holder!

The abridged version:

• I broke a royalty share (RS) contract on ACX before recording the first 15 minutes. The manuscript was terrible, and the rights holder became unresponsive.
• I sent her 2 messages through the ACX message system before requesting project termination.
• You have to send the reasons for termination to INFO@acx.com. I first wrote to support@acx.com but was told I had to send the request to INFO@acx.com.
• ACX dissolved the project and deleted it from my dashboard the next day.
• If you ever need to dissolve a contract, feel free to copy any of the language from my messages.

The unabridged version, complete with my messages to the RH:

I saw a book titled “Keeping A Journal”. I’ve been keeping a journal for years and know the many benefits of this practice. It was a short royalty share book of an hour or less. Even though I couldn’t find anything about the author, I auditioned because I wanted to share the message about journaling. I’d say now that if you can’t find any info about the author, don’t even bother auditioning.

The audition script seemed a bit repetitive. The word choices seemed like someone who was trying to sound more educated than she is.

I heard the warning bells and almost didn’t audition. Whenever I hear warning bells now, I listen to them! I thought about asking for the complete book before the audition. However, since it was so short, I decided to go ahead with it. Anyone who has been burned by doing a short ACX book probably thought the same thing!

The rights holder (RH) selected me and sent the manuscript right away. She said she teaches journaling classes. “Great!”, I thought, “She obviously knows what people commonly ask when they start journaling and will get right to the heart of it.”

I thought the book would get better than the audition copy. I was wrong. It got worse….much, MUCH worse.

My first message to the RH explains some of the book’s problems:

Hi, [RH]! I hope you are enjoying a relaxing holiday weekend.

I had planned to record, edit, and submit the first 15 minutes of Keeping a Journal today. However, I wonder if I have the final version of the manuscript.

Before I continue, let me assure you that I view my narrations as a collaboration with the author. We want the same end result — happy listeners who leave great reviews/ratings and who want to refer their friends to the audiobook.

I was excited to see your book on ACX because I am a firm believer in the power of journaling. I auditioned and agreed to a royalty share contract only because I want to promote the value of journaling, not because I need the work.

After reading the entire book, I feel I must tell you the version of the manuscript that I have is not ready to be made into an audiobook. Here are a few issues that might be remedied with some strong editing:

1) Much of the content is overly repetitive and makes starting a journal seem more difficult than it actually is. The prolonged and redundant discussion about preparation alone is enough to dissuade anyone from keeping a journal. The actual ideas expressed in the book could be more simply stated in about 2 pages.

2) Some of the word choices are incorrect (“once you INHERIT these various tactics…”), and the overall language is formal and highfalutin rather than conversational.

3) The book doesn’t fulfill the promise of the title about self-discovery and finding joy. The book mentions benefits of journaling, but none are listed or explored. I think most people are concerned about what to write or how the journal will help them over time. Those topics also are not addressed. A listener who hears the journaling “rules” will be inclined to give up the practice before even starting.

When I auditioned, I thought that this book would offer concrete tips similar to Jim Rohn’s excellent advice in his program How to Keep A Journal.

I’m afraid that if I record the version of the manuscript that I have, listeners will rate the content as 1-star and automatically make my performance a 1-star rating as well. I further predict that any reviews would be very negative and highlight the points I have made in this message. With many other books available on this subject, 1 bad review would cause this one to fade to obscurity.

My intent is to help you produce the best product possible. I apologize if my candor angers or hurts you. I am direct, concise, and honest in my communications because no one ever solved a problem by beating around the bush.

Do you want to send me a revised manuscript? ACX doesn’t care if we change the due dates on the contract.

If not, I must ask you to terminate the contract.

Thank you for your time and understanding. I look forward to your response.

Cordially,
Karen Commins

Today, I’d simply ask the RH if I have the final version of the manuscript and then skip to end where I ask for a revised edition. I wouldn’t list any of the various problems I found in the text as it’s not my job to tell the author how to write. I also don’t enjoy spending my time trying to educate a RH who may not value my help.

She didn’t respond. Ten days and both deadlines passed. I wrote to her a second time:

Hi, [RH]! I hope your week is off to a good start.

I wrote to you on 30 August about problems in the manuscript for Keeping a Journal but haven’t heard from you.

Are you revising the manuscript? Both deadlines for this book have already passed. I need to know if you plan to send an updated manuscript or terminate the contract.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Cordially,
Karen Commins

Six days later, I sent my third and final message to her:

Hi, [RH]. I hope you are well.

I’ve written 2 messages to you about the manuscript for Keeping a Journal (30 Aug. and 10 Sept.) but have not received a response. I’m assuming that you don’t want to go forward with creating an audiobook of Keeping a Journal at this time.

Therefore, I’m going to ask ACX to terminate the contract and remove it from my project list.

Perhaps we can work together in the future. Best wishes for your success!

Cordially,
Karen Commins

I then wrote to ACX to request project termination. I gave my reasons and outlined my dates of communication.

As a reminder, the ACX message system is the official documentation. While you may communicate with RHs outside of the system, all messages affecting production dates should be sent through the ACX system. Furthermore, contract dissolution is more easily accomplished when it occurs before the first 15 minute checkpoint file is recorded or uploaded.

Photo: Andriano.cz/Shutterstock

The post Breaking a Contract on ACX appeared first on Karen Commins.

During and after the video broadcast, I chatted with viewers. As usual for the Queen of Links, I shared a number of resources in that chat session. I also answered a number of questions.

While the chat is embedded with the video, I wanted to post all of the ancillary material and discussion here on my blog to make it easier to reference. That way, you can watch the video and not worry about missing anything.

Links to resources I mentioned in the video with time stamps:

3:51 My article outlining 10 questions to ask coaches and demo producers  I would also refer you to a more recent article Is This Coach Right For Me?

7:51 Audio Publishers Association

9:36 Sisters in Crime

9:47 Decatur Book Festival

10:36 Barbara Sher’s fabulous book Wishcraft

12:04 Facebook groups for narrators:

• Audiobook Crowd
• Indie (ACX and Others) Narrators and Producers Facebook group I referred to it as the ACX  group in the video. After you join the Indie/ACX FB group, be sure the check the extensive group FAQ, which I created and maintain.
• Narrating Audio Books from the Public Domain
• Professional Audiobook Narrators is not visible to the general public. A current member must add you, and you must have done 10+ books to be approved.
• Findaway Voices Narrators I didn’t name it in the video, but you’ll want to join it if you narrate for Findaway Voices.

13:18 C. J. Hayden’s Get Clients Now! book

13:43 C. J. Hayden’s Business Building Writing workshop

14:23 Krista Tippett’s “On Being” interview with Seth Godin

Other links I shared in the chat:

I send newcomers to audiobook narration to this article.

Someone in the chat mentioned being an introvert. I replied that lots of narrators are introverts, including me! Here’s an article of 3 networking tips for introverts. I still smile at the graphic I created for that post!

Links on ACX:

My ACX profile

My articles on the ACX blog:

• How to Act Like an Audiobook Narrator
• A Narrator’s Look at Audiobook Marketing – Part One
• A Narrator’s Look at Audiobook Marketing – Part Two

ACX U Chat Questions and Answers

Rather than merely copying the questions and answers in the order they appeared, I’m going to resequence them and group related questions together to make them more organized and digestible. Of course, I’ll add links to this info as well, which is another bonus of viewing it here instead of in the chat window.

Q: When you started, did you start with shorter auditions? Or just plunge into what you were interested in?
A: The AUDITION is short, no more than 5 minutes, but the BOOK never was. Starting with a short book seems intuitive but really is counter-productive long term. Many ACX producers take short books to get their feet wet, and usually those books don’t look good in their portfolio 7 years later. I would say to start with REAL books like mysteries, romances, etc. no matter the length.

Q: How detailed do you get with your notes for intention/feeling? Do you evaluate by chapter only, or do you get as detailed as marking each paragraph with an intention or feeling?
A: I used to mark up my texts in different colors for every line of dialogue but now find that too distracting. I underline dialogue tags that describe the emotion, like “she said angrily”. I might write a quick description of the emotion in a scene, or something about the subtext to remember, but usually I remember the emotions from my prep.

Q: So, you’ve trained your eyes to see the underlined dialogue tag, even if it comes later than the dialogue?
A: Yes, for the most part, but I do underline some tags during prep.

Q: Do you self-direct or always have a separate director?
A: I’m blessed that my husband Drew directs all of my performances and even most of my auditions. If I didn’t have him, I’d team up with another narrator to direct each other. Having a 2nd set of ears hearing everything and someone to discuss the text with makes the performance more accurate and emotionally rich!

Q: What was the self-directing game changer for you? Could be a technique or a moment where things really clicked and you could see a noticeable change in your narration.
A: Paul Ruben’s narrator workshop was a game changer. He pushes you to be more emotionally invested in each and every word from the author — what he calls “upping the stakes”. He also teaches you to mine the subtext for your approach to the performance. You make think you’re going overboard on the emotion, but may not come across that way to the listener.

Q: Do you ever have a concern of coming across as “hammy” in a performance? And how do you assess that?
A: No, I don’t have that concern because I view fictional characters as real people and act them that way. You can’t just “do a voice” for a character. That’s when it starts to sound like a caricature.

Q: What do you mean by “you can’t just ‘do a voice’ for a character”? Do you mean that can’t be the only thing you do to differentiate that character’s personality?
A: Doing a voice” is different than “being a character”. So many things in the text will tell you about the character’s personality that it helps you shape their voice, rhythm, and speech.

Q: What is your process for maintaining consistency of characters over the reading process?
In my prep, I figure out who the character is. I wrote a post on the ACX blog discussing that process. [See section 2 of this article.] While recording, I make and save WAV files of each character.

Q: Why save WAV files instead of just saving in the native format of the app, e.g., Audacity project files?
A: If it’s a WAV, I don’t have to stop one project and load another to hear a voice match.

Q: During 3rd person narrations of a book, how much emotion or “character” do you assign to those portions?
A: The 3rd person narrator definitely has a point of view and is often in everyone’s mind (for fiction). You can really mine the subtext for characters’ emotions for a nuanced performance.

Q: Have you done any Non-Fiction books? If so, how is your approach different?
A: Yes, I LOVE non-fiction books! In fact, ROAD TO TARA: THE LIFE OF MARGARET MITCHELL by Anne Edwards is nominated for a Voice Arts Award in Audiobook Biography! Non-fiction still requires ACTING and being emotionally committed to the author’s words. In many ways, it’s more difficult than fiction because you have to speak with the author’s knowledge and confidence. Plus, non-fic books often require lots of pronunciation research. My approach is pretty much the same for any book — you have to emotionally connect.

Q: We have been having a bit of a back and forth re: nonfiction reads. Do you read the whole book beforehand in nonfiction like you must to in fiction?
A: PRE-READ THE WHOLE BOOK EVERY TIME. No exceptions. If you don’t know where the author is taking you, regardless of fiction/non-fic, how could you possibly expect to take the listener along with you?

Q: When you find your focus straying, what do you do to stay focused on the narration?
A: I usually take a quick break out of the booth. If something’s bothering me, I might write it down in my journal. If it’s summer and thoughts of being in the pool keep me unfocused on my work, I get in the pool!

Q: Are certain times of the day better for your voice for recording? Like, more energy in the morning?
A: Vocal energy and resonance depends on each person and things like your previous night’s sleep, hydration, stress, etc. I hope everyone knows they shouldn’t scream at concerts (sorry Barry Manilow!)

Q: The dullest of geeky questions – what mic do you generally use for audiobooks?
A: It’s not dull, and I worked a career in IT, so I’m a geek, too! I have only had 1 mic throughout my vo/narration career: a Neumann TLM 103. [As of Jan. 2019, I upgraded to a Neumann TLM 49.]

Q: What’s inspiring you today? (This one and the next from AudibleACX as we wrapped up)
A: We just moved to a new house, so I’m being inspired by seeing boxes getting unpacked and art hung on the walls! The studio was the first thing we did and looks gorgeous!

Q: We definitely need pics!
A: Absolutely! We ran out of time during my session, so I didn’t post these photos in the chat. I’m delighted to share them here.

Labor Day weekend 2005 was the first time we assembled my WhisperRoom. We spent Labor Day weekend 2018 in WhisperRoom assembly, take 2!

The booth has over 40 pieces and weighs over a ton once assembled. Drew did all of the disassembly at our previous house and reassembly in the new one, with only minor help from me: steadying pieces while he screwed bolts, and lifting the ceiling panels into place. We had the moving crew transport the disassembled WhisperRoom when they moved our furniture.

In the above picture, Drew joins the 2 floor panels on top of the base on casters. We left the casters on the frame during the move. The photo below shows him putting the last screws in the ceiling about 4.5 hours later.

Here’s a pano shot of the new studio! I’m in the booth. My executive producer Yogi is facing Drew, who stopped directing to take this picture.

The post ACX U – Acting With Intention appeared first on Karen Commins.

Scott is moderating the panel titled Chapter One — Creating Your Audiobook Career. My fellow panelists are Greg Cooler, Director of Production for ListenUp Audiobooks here in Atlanta, and Andrew Gallagher, the QA Supervisor and Production Evangelist at ACX.

Since we have a wealth of topics to cover in 1 hour, I thought it would be helpful to provide attendees with this curated, short list of companion articles from ACX’s and my blogs. Obviously, you’ll find lots more useful content to aid your career on both our sites!

Choosing and Learning Your Software

ACX Studio Gear Series Part 2: DAWs

7 Places to Learn Audio Editing for Audiobooks

A Critical Ear: The ACX Reference Sample Pack

Editing and Spacing with Alex the Audio Scientist

Regarding Room Tone with Alex the Audio Scientist

File Management with Alex the Audio Scientist

Choosing Good Royalty Share Projects

Picking the Right Royalty Share Projects

Karen’s Primer on Narrating Royalty Share Audiobooks

To Voice Royalty Share Audiobooks… Or Not.That is the question

Time Management

Simple Math About Audiobook Rates

How To Act Like an Audiobook Narrator

4 Keys to Becoming a Successful ACX Audiobook Producer

3 Ways to Increase Your Computing Power

Putting the “I” in Organized

Top 10 Q&A About Audiobook Production Although I wrote this article for authors, it answers many questions for narrators.

Outsourcing From A Narrator’s Perspective 

Video: Why Use Evernote for Audiobook Pronunciation Research

Video: Using the iAnnotate App in the Corrections Process

Reviews

How do you respond to criticism?

How to Submit Your Audiobooks for Review in AudioFile Magazine

How to use Karen Commins’s Audiobook Twitter Lists

Other Important Resources

ACX Blog

ACX channel on YouTube

AudioEloquence.com for pronunciation research

AudioFile Magazine

Facebook group Indie (ACX and Others) Audiobook Narrators and Producers — You must have a profile on ACX to join this group. The comprehensive group FAQ that I created and maintained will answer more questions that you realized could be possible!

ListenUp Audiobooks

Vetted audiobook coaches linked in the Connections section of my NarratorsRoadmap.com home page

Twitter accounts: ACX   Karen Commins   ListenUp Audiobooks

Updated 10/8/21

The post Audiobook Resources for Attendees of VOAtlanta 2018 appeared first on Karen Commins.

In my last article for narrators, I wrote about 3 ways to become a computer super user. One piece of software that all audiobook narrators need is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Coaches and new narrators often ask me where they can learn how to use their DAW.

The 7 options listed below in no particular order will help you learn the DAW software.

1) The Deyan Institute offers classes in Pro Tools for Production and Pro Tools for Post-Production, as well as an option for 6 hours of Pro Tools instruction.

2) Edge Studio offers webinars in Audition, Audacity, Pro Tools, Reaper, and Twisted Wave.

3) Global Voice Acting Academy has several webinars on recording and occasionally offers classes.

4)  Lynda.com is a FANTASTIC site with professionally produced video courses on Pro Tools, Audition, and Studio One, plus tons of other courses on things like WordPress, marketing, etc. Anyone can get a free 10-day trial using this (affiliate) link.You may be able to access Lynda for FREE with a library card as described in this article.

5) YouTube overflows with how-to videos for numerous DAWS. One excellent source for Studio One videos is the Red Baarns channel created by audio engineer Don Baarns. He also has created tutorials that show how to use iZotope RX products to clean up your audio.

6) Udemy.com offers a number of courses in Audacity, Adobe Audition, Reaper, and Pro Tools. I haven’t used any of these courses, but some of them look pretty comprehensive.

7) You might find a course at a local college or hire a student to teach you. For example, I took an enrichment class on Pro Tools offered on successive Saturdays at the Art Institute of Atlanta.

By the way, if you learn the basic shortcuts keys discussed in the previous article, you have a head start as they will work in your DAW!

Updated 4/19/18 to remove links to deleted courses on VoiceOverExtra. com and add the link to Udemy.com

The post 7 Places to Learn Audio Editing for Audiobooks appeared first on Karen Commins.

1. When should I produce an audiobook?

I encourage authors to plan for the audiobook as part of the overall book release. In fact, planning for your audiobook will make you a better writer.

In addition, just as you have costs for an editor and cover designer, you also will incur expenses in producing the audiobook. Budgeting for the audiobook at the same time as your print and ebook editions makes it part of the expense of the book rather than a separate, standalone cost.

That said, I wouldn’t recommend a simultaneous release of your first book. Most authors need to develop a fan following in order to sell enough audiobook copies to recoup your production expenses.

2. How much does an audiobook cost?

The expense of audiobook production is usually computed Per Finished Hour (PFH).  A PFH contract means that the narrator would be paid the contracted hourly rate multiplied by the run time of the audiobook.

The industry rule of thumb is that it takes 6.2 hours in real time to record, edit, proof, and master 1 finished hour. Therefore, a 10-hour audiobook could require 60 or more hours to produce. If we charged for each studio hour, only the largest publishing companies would ever be able to afford to produce an audiobook.

The most experienced narrators charge $200-400 PFH for their narration fee. Editors and proof-listeners each charge an additional PFH rate which must be paid immediately upon completion of the audiobook. If you create your audiobook using ACX.com, you can work with a narrator/producer who will hire the team necessary to create your retail-ready audiobook.

You can estimate the finished time of your audiobook by dividing the number of words in your book by 9300, which is the industry average number of words that can be spoken in an hour.

For example, let’s say your book has 82,500 words. If we divide 82,500 by 9300, we get 8.87, meaning the approximate finished time of the audiobook would be almost 9 hours long. (To be precise, this decimal to time calculator shows us that 8.87 hours equates to 8 hours, 52 minutes, 12 seconds.) The completed audiobook may be shorter or longer depending on the narrator’s actual rate of speech, which can vary due to the complexity of the material. For easy math, let’s say the finished time is exactly 9 hours. If you agreed to pay $200 PFH for this book, your cost of production would be $200PFH times 9 hours equals $1,800.

This article and its comments will give you a more detailed explanation and much better approach regarding the cost.

3. What are the differences between Royalty Share, Per Finished Hour, and Hybrid contracts?

I already discussed a PFH contract. If you’re using FindawayVoices.com, AuthorsRepublic.com, or other audiobook production services, you would be billed PFH.

On ACX, you also have the option of using a Royalty Share (RS) contract with your narrator/producer. While many authors think of this type of contract as “free” narration, it really is a method of deferring the cost of production so that these expenses are paid out of the royalties earned from the audiobook.

Although it’s not an option shown in the ACX system, many authors and narrators create Hybrid contracts. In a Hybrid deal, you would pay the narrator a negotiated PFH rate up-front and outside of ACX in addition to signing a RS contract on the ACX system. This sort of arrangement helps an author attract a more skillful narrator while enabling the narrator to receive part of her payment up-front so she can pay her production team and some living expenses.

4. What are the downsides to having a Royalty Share contract?

1. You earn only half of the royalties available to you. ACX pays out 40% of royalties it receive; you could receive that entire 40% only if you pay up-front for production with a PFH deal.. On an RS contract, you would get 20%, and your narrator would get 20% of those payments for the life of the contract.
2. You MUST agree to exclusive distribution on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes for 7 years. In other words, you couldn’t sell the audiobook on CD or your website, or use other distributors which could get your audiobook into libraries and other outlets.
   • If you later decide you want a non-exclusive contract or hope to bundle a series into a boxed set, you would need to negotiate a buy-out price with the narrator.
   • Note that if you want to bundle a series of books for which you used RS contracts, you must use the same narrator for all of the books in the series. This page in the ACX help section has more details.
3. Experienced narrators are unlikely to audition to narrate your book. While you earn royalties from all of your editions, the narrator only earns from sales of the audiobooks. She is incurring up-front costs before getting payment and has ALL of the risk for low or no sales of the audiobook.
4. It may take longer to get your title produced. Seasoned narrators usually look for books that pay PFH rates up front and do RS titles to fill gaps in their recording schedule. I will put 2-4 months on a RS contract so that I have availability take work that pays up front.

5. Why aren’t I receiving any auditions for my royalty share title?

One reason for lack of interest may be that your book is competing with 100s or even 1000s of other titles. Aside from that point, experienced narrators view RS titles as red flags. We think that the author doesn’t have confidence in her work that the audiobook will earn back the production costs.

Even for solid books with lots of reviews and ratings, narrators look at numerous factors when deciding whether to audition, including cover, genre, and Amazon sales rank. Narrator Jeffrey Kafer explains many issues and fixes for them in this article. I offer some additional advice in this comment on another article here on my blog.

I’ll let you in on one of my secrets: I search the language in every book before I audition. This video shows my test for romance books, but I use the same technique for determining 4-letter words.

[KGVID]http://www.karencommins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/GraphicRomance.mp4[/KGVID]

6. Can I hire 2 narrators for the same book on Royalty Share contracts?

It’s extremely unlikely that you will find 2 good narrators who are willing to split their 20% of the royalties. Each person would only earn 10% of the royalties.

If you actually do find narrators for this kind of project, you would need to work out a means of paying both people since ACX will only make payments to the Rights Holder (RH) and a single narrator.

You might be able to buy out one narrator with a PFH agreement and have a hybrid or straight RS deal with the other one.

7. Why did a narrator decline my RS offer when their ACX profile shows they do RS projects? 

One author accused me of false advertising because my ACX profile shows I will accept RS contracts.

Just because I will accept certain RS contracts doesn’t mean I will accept EVERY royalty share contract offered me. I have turned down books for a number of reasons:

• I didn’t like the subject.
• I don’t narrate books with graphic sex or violence.
• I don’t narrate books that contain an overabundance and/or gratuitous use of profanity.
• The book was poorly written and was littered with grammatical and punctuation errors.
• The author had a poor track history with other books and/or no track history on the book in question.
• The author had no promotion or marketing plans for the book, much less for the audio edition.

I also might have a scheduling conflict. I continue to be shocked at the number of people who send me a contract with arbitrary dates of their choosing without ever consulting with me about my interest and availability in narrating their book!

Finally, it’s not apparent to authors, but narrators see search results for available titles accepting auditions based on the compensation rates entered in our profiles. I set my profile for “Royalty Share or Unspecified” in order to see the full range of books available. Of course, I prefer PFH or Hybrid contracts.

8. What are the author’s responsibilities during production?

The author should provide a manuscript that is ready to record at the time you contract with your narrator. If you have some particular pronunciations or a story bible of characters in a series, give those to the narrator at the outset. The narrator may or may not ask you any additional questions before recording the book.

Audiobook narration is a performance art that is based on the narrator’s interpretation of the author’s words. My interpretation will probably never entirely match yours. In fact, many authors are surprised when the narrator brings new meaning to the work that the author hadn’t considered.

Just as a scriptwriter is usually not present on a film set, the author would not be involved in the recording sessions.

Once you receive the final audiobook, you can proof listen to it and report to the narrator any corrections. Some authors think they should be allowed to give detailed instructions and line reads, like telling the narrator to pause a certain length of time or say something with a different inflection. However, you should not expect or ask to change the performer’s creative choices. Corrections are limited to technical issues like mis-reads or mispronunciations along with the location in the book (chapter and time) that they occurred.

9. How much money can I make?

If I knew the answer to that question, I’d be sitting on a mountainside somewhere and speaking to the pilgrims that journey to me for my wisdom! Seriously, so many variables factor into the amount of money you can make, including your reputation, your genre, your royalty rate, and your marketing plan. Look at it this way — if you don’t make an audiobook, you are leaving money on the table.

10. Which companies can I use for audiobook production, and what are the differences between them?

This question is a topic for one or more new articles!

We’ve just scratched the surface of the production process. If you have other questions, please leave a comment below.

The post Top 10 Q & A About Audiobook Production appeared first on Karen Commins.

One of my friends is a well-established and highly successful audiobook narrator with years of experience working in commercial studios for traditional publishers. For the longest time, he had absolutely zero interest in setting up a studio and recording at home, largely because he is not comfortable with technology.

I often talked with him about the many merits of using ACX, including the:

• ease of finding interesting books on the site and auditioning to narrate them
• ability to work directly with authors and fill holes in his recording schedule
• excitement (and sometimes need!) to earn passive income each month from carefully selected Royalty Share projects
• possibility of creating his own publishing company and performing titles of his choice in his spare time

Futhermore, traditional publishers are increasingly employing narrators who are experienced in home recording.

Once he was finally convinced that establishing a home recording studio would be an empowering career move on all levels, he decided to create one and asked many questions while implementing his plan.

The thought occurred to me that anyone who is new to home recording and working through ACX might benefit from the 4 key areas of practical advice and information that I gave to my friend about becoming a successful ACX producer.

Key #1: Recording Software

We first talked about his choice of computer system and Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software. He initially wanted to buy a proprietary, self-contained system so he wouldn’t have to learn how to use recording software. However, I explained that he should choose software that a lot of his peers are also using so that he could easily get training and support.

He researched the needs of his current clients and learned that one of his main publishers uses Pro Tools. For that reason, he decided that he would use it, too.

Your software choice may not seem so clear-cut. This article on the ACX blog about the most popular software choices will give you pros and cons of several DAWs to help you make your decision.

Before you undertake an ACX project, you need to learn how to use your recording software, at least to the bare minimum capabilities of recording, saving, and exporting your files. I highly recommend you purchase the 2 excellent webinars about audiobook recording and mastering that studio engineer George Whittam and ACX engineer Charles Clerke taught for ACX users.

While they aren’t audiobook specific, I also suggest you look at the extensive video courses on DAWs and other useful topics offered by Lynda.com. Lynda courses are much thorough and come with a transcript and materials. You can preview the Pro Tools 12 Essential Training at this link, but classes on every popular DAW are available. You pay for the service monthly, can take as many courses as you want, and can cancel at any time. In addition to courses on DAWs, Lynda offers loads of classes in marketing, social media, web site design, and other topics useful to your audiobook business.

On a related note, I want to add that on-going training in audiobook performance is essential throughout your career as a narrator. Again, on-line offerings are numerous, affordable, and invaluable. For instance, VoiceOverXtra offers webinar replays on audiobook performance from director Paul Ruben and narrator Sean Pratt . As another example, narrator and coach Pat Fraley and narrator Scott Brick have created a number of home study courses designed expressly for audiobook narrators.

Key #2: Work Habits

After he completed his software training, I told my friend that he should establish good practices and habits in his home studio to make his workflow compatible with those of traditional audiobook publishers.

One of the most important things a narrator can do to streamline the recording process is to learn the recording technique called punch and roll.

In this terrific explainer video, audio engineers Don Baarns and Amanda Rose Smith demonstrate the punch and roll technique and discuss why a narrator should use it. The punch and roll method dramatically decreases the editing time because all of the mistakes are removed at the time of recording. The full audiobook is completely assembled at the end of the recording sessions.

Traditional audio publishers complete recording of the book before editing it. That way, if you want to change something earlier in the book, it won’t be edited twice.

New narrators will learn a lot about their narration ability and sound quality by listening to their own voice while editing their audio files. Due to his busy recording schedule, my friend could not edit anything longer than an audition.

Since you could narrate another book during the time one book is edited, I recommend that every narrator outsource your narration for editing and proofing as soon as possible. You can ask your narrator friends for editor recommendations or contact people who listed their services and rates on this spreadsheet, which was created on Facebook in response to narrators’ frequent requests for assistance. ACX encourages you to use one of the ACX Independent Contractor Agreement forms for your contract.

Whether you are working with an editor or editing your audio and creating your files, you need to establish a file naming convention for your recordings. The exact format for the naming convention doesn’t matter as long as the names are consistent and clear, with the section number first, followed by the section name. It’s a good idea to include some form of the book title in the section name. Otherwise, it would be easy to mix up files between books.

Traditional audio publishers complete recording of the book before editing it. You will want to edit the complete audiobook before uploading the finished chapters to ACX. After the rights holder (RH) has approved the first 15 minutes, they should not be allowed to guide the work in progress.

Which brings me to my next point…

Key #3: Communication

Audiobook narration is a unique performance art that is based on the narrator’s interpretation of the author’s words. The actor’s job is to make choices throughout the performance. Those choices frequently will not match the choices the RH would make. Therefore, it’s vitally important to set expectations at the outset.

Unless the RH is willing to pay per real-time hour to direct you through every second of the entire full performance, you should clearly communicate the types of revisions you’ll accept at project completion, namely technical errors on your part like mispronunciations or misreads.

Colin Firth beautifully expresses this idea in this video clip.

Otherwise, some RHs tend to micromanage the process and will send copious notes like a Monday-morning quarterback analyzing the big game. Since my audiobooks are edited and proofed by someone else, the RHs rarely have found any issues or requested any changes.

Even though my friend was already an exceptional communicator, he felt a bit overwhelmed in learning the ACX process. Before we tackled offers and contracts, I explained that the ACX message system is the official record of correspondence. For your protection, you should use the ACX message system to confirm all details with rights holders.

However, the ACX message sometimes does NOT send your message!

Rather than risking the loss of your note, I suggest that you first write your message in your personal email program or text editor and then copy and paste it into the ACX message system. This way, if the ACX system doesn’t send the message, you don’t have to re-type it.

The ACX system should display “Message Sent” on your screen if the transaction was successful. You can also check the Sent messages in your ACX Message Center as shown in the picture. If you don’t find your message in the Sent folder, you’ll need to re-send it.

In addition, you are free to communicate with the rights holder outside of ACX. I usually exchange personal email addresses and communicate that way as the ACX message center does not work well on an iOS device.

You can and should negotiate the rate and due dates of any production before accepting an offer. I also explain my payment terms and invoice schedule at that time so the rights holder has no surprises. If I haven’t worked with a RH and have a PFH contract, I ask for half to paid after the approval of the first 15 minutes. I send an invoice then and a second one for the remainder once I’ve uploaded the complete audiobook.

After conferring with the rights holder about my availability and the amount of time needed for the production, I schedule the dates with my editor and notify the RH of the due dates.

Once you and the rights holder agree on the payment and schedule, you can accept the offer. Be aware that any schedule deviations during production can’t be changed on-site and should be noted in email. There’s no need to inform ACX, though. As long as you and the rights holder are on the same page, ACX is satisfied.

I use this calendar calculator to determine due dates.

Key #4: Paperwork

No job is finished until the paperwork is done! Much of an ACX producer’s paperwork revolves around payment and tax issues.

You’ll need to invoice the rights holder for a “pay-for-production” project. For Stipend projects, the stipend is paid by ACX, so follow the directions and use the invoice template found here.

If you’re a member of the SAG/AFTRA union, you can request that contributions are made on your behalf to your health and retirement fund on qualifying projects. The RH has to send your payment through the paymaster, and it’s up to you as the producer, not ACX, to provide the paymaster’s information to the rights holder.

You will need to request a completed IRS Form W-9 from each person on your team: editor, proofer, virtual assistant, etc. If your total payments to each contractor reach $600 in a year, you will use the information on the W-9 to send out an IRS Form 1099-Misc in January to that person so he can report your payment as income on his tax return.

You can get answers to many more questions in the ACX Help Center. You also may want to join the ACX Narrators & Producers Facebook group and read through its extensive FAQ that I created and maintain.

Finally, I welcome your comments and questions here on the ACX blog or through a personal consultation, available for purchase on my Shop page.

I’ve lost count of the number of audiobooks my friend has completed in his home studio, both for ACX rights holders and his regular publishers. By carefully choosing your software, adopting a streamlined work flow, communicating with rights holders and your team, and finishing your paperwork, you too will be on your way to becoming a successful ACX audiobook producer!

The post 4 Keys to Becoming a Successful ACX Audiobook Producer appeared first on Karen Commins.

On 26 May 2015, the day before the annual Audio Publishers Association Conference, veteran narrator Johnny Heller hosted a Narrator Workshop in NYC. In addition to Johnny, the All Star presenters were Scott Brick, Simon Vance, Karen White, Jeffrey Kafer, Robert Fass, PJ Ochlan, Carol Monda, and Peter Berkrot. The NY Mets and Yankees could only dream about fielding 9 such talented people at the same time!

Each presenter first shared some thoughts about their work in audiobooks. We then heard terrific discussions on these topics:

• Web sites and social media (panel with Scott Brick, Jeffrey Kafer, and Karen White)
• ACX (Mike Stover from ACX and Jeffrey Kafer)
• Accents and dialects (PJ Ochlan)
• Romance (perfectly planned topic following lunch! panel with Karen White, Carol Monda, and Jeffrey Kafer)
• Non-ficion (panel with Robert Fass, Simon Vance, Scott Brick, and Peter Berkrot)
• Young adult (Carol Monda and Peter Berkrot)

The day ended with a number of personal coaching sessions observed by the entire audience.

I couldn’t possibly do justice to the entire event in this post. Also, in all honesty, I felt that the presenters shared some things that were intended only for the people who were in the room. In fact, Jeffrey Kafer said one particular thing that made the cost of my trip worthwhile. It wouldn’t be fair or right to repeat everything I heard that day. Instead, I will offer 10 of my takeaways from the workshop.

1)  From Scott Brick: “In every line of text that I read, I’m looking for the teachable moment. The teachable moment is when you can reach the one who is disconnected, the one who isn’t paying attention. There’s going to be somebody in the audience who doesn’t care about audiobooks. They’ve never heard one, and they think it’s weird that someone is reading them a story. There will come a moment, somewhere in the text, where you’re going to be able to reach them. For somebody, it’s going to be their very first listen. Unless you do the very best job you possibly can…they may not come back for a second listen. ” Scott doesn’t pay attention to the genre as it tells him nothing. He approaches fiction and non-fiction the same way.

2)  From Robert Fass:  “You’re there to serve the text. Being aware of the difference between serving yourself or something in your spirit other than the text is something that needs to be cultivated. Cultivate your intelligence because you don’t know what kind of book you’re going to get. Every character in even the worst book has to have a full life. Go to museums. Read outside of your assigned book. Do something totally different to expose yourself to different facets [of life]. When you get in there, you’ll say you know what this is about.”

3)  From Carol Monda:  “I’ve been taught that good is the enemy of great. I could spend 15 hours doing an hour of recorded time! I’ve learned you can’t; you have to let it go. If you are mindful, if you are in the moment, if you are connected — that’s the most you can do. [You can make characters more interesting sounding and other technical improvements.] Ultimately, is your gut in it? Your heart in it? Are you earnest about it? That’s the work.”

4)  From Scott Brick:  Every successful actor creates work for themselves. Have something that you can sell through your web site, and use affiliate links.

5)  From PJ Ochlan:  When doing accents and dialects, phonetics only make up 50% of the language. Placement is everything. Practice mimicry and notice how your vocal placement moves.

6)  From Peter Berkrot:  “The inexplicable moment of truth and beauty comes from spontaneity…Sometimes the material isn’t good and you have to find a way to enter that imaginary world and bring it to life….There’s a legacy. The gifts that you receive come through the gifts you give.”

7)  From Karen White:  If you don’t take romance seriously, don’t do it. Let go of the judgment. To play the opposite gender, some adjective can describe the character. Think of that adjective when that character speaks.

8)  From Simon Vance:  Check in with yourself before you start to see how you are feeling. Acknowledge how you’re feeling and let it go because you have to be with the book when you start recording.

9)  From Michael Stover:  ACX has published over 35,000 audiobooks, and around 1000 auditions are uploaded every week. Audible is showing 30% growth each year and now has about 700 employees.

10) From Johnny Heller:   You need to see who you’re talking to in order to pull out the emotion. We can’t speak through a horrible moment. We must live it.

The Johnny Heller All Star Narrator Workshop was a grand slam! I extend my deep gratitude to Johnny for organizing the event (complete with a wonderful catered lunch), the fabulous presenters who were simultaneously entertaining and informative, the narrators with me in the audience who asked such useful and interesting questions, and the narrators who courageously had a coaching session in front of their peers.

If Johnny or someone else organizes a similar event next year in Chicago, I hope to be there!

Do you have any questions or comments about my takeaways from the workshop? Please leave a response on my blog.

Photos: Sincere thanks go to Graeme Spicer, voice talent and managing director of Edge Studios, for graciously sharing his fantastic pictures taken throughout the workshop.
 

The post 10 Takeaways From Johnny Heller’s All Star Narrator Workshop appeared first on Karen Commins.