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I recently learned that some casting directors want to know a bit more about their narrators than just the normal bullet-points we include in our outreach emails. So I decided to do a full bio with a bunch of obscure background stuff about me  in the hopes that it will help me stay hired!

RECORDING BOOTH WEIRDNESS Each narrator’s journey is different and interesting, and many remarkable adventures happen in our quest for pristine recording environments. I recently went to social media to ask my audiobook narrator colleagues to share with me their stories from the booth. I hope you find these as enjoyable as I do! RECORDING ENVIRONMENTS […]

This blog was difficult to write and has taken me more than two years to complete. This is because I firmly believe that what you focus on and look for will inevitably become reality. I combed through most of the books I’ve narrated, whether under my own name or my pseudonym, and culled out some […]

I sometimes REALLY want to leave social media, as many others have lamented.  There are oodles of things to worry about including: -am I alienating someone by posting this? -am I going to look like a new, inexperienced wannabe if I post this question or share this experience? -do the “right” people even follow me? […]

Narrators are beginning to farm out an important step in the audiobook creation chain, in an effort to support unemployed friends, as well as keep themselves on schedule. How do you communicate exactly what you need to a person new to prepping? The process will flow smoother if you’re both on the same page, and headaches will be avoided if details are established up front. Plus, you don’t know what you don’t know (or what THEY don’t know) and it’s best to be specific with your needs. for brevity and ease of quickly sharing, following are two guides I’ve put together that a narrator can share with someone new to book prepping. One is for non-fiction and the other for fiction.

I’ve been reading articles published with seemingly increasing frequency across media outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and many more, about “the Polish Anne Frank”.   The headlines read “Before there was Anne Frank, there was Renia Spiegel.  It sends chills down my spine and my eyes fill with tears, because I feel I know Renia.

I’ve been asked many times if I read the book before I begin narrating.  Resoundingly, YES, and this blog focuses on the pitfalls of not doing so, plus what “prepping” a book entails.

Did you know that the Oregon Trail wagon wheel ruts can still be seen in at least nine places in the US? Are you giving less than your best with each audition, interaction, practice in your narration business? Are you making excuses for your sub-par offerings, yet still sending them off as representative of your skill and integrity? You’re forming wheel ruts of your own.

Helping an interested listener find an audiobook he’d enjoy, can produce unexpected, yet lovely returns.

The memory of my long-passed father comes to life in an unlikely place at Christmastime.

The guidance in this blog is here to help you, to smooth your way, and hopefully help our industry avoid poor-quality audiobooks which may dissuade listeners from continuing to listen to audiobooks. Many, many individuals have been down this road before you. We’ve made many mistakes and come away better for it; that’s how Best Practices are established. You have every right to make your own way in this arena, and run your business the way you want to, but please remember that we are a tightly-knit community. We want each other to succeed and put quality product out there at a reasonable price. As has been said before by my colleagues, “a rising tide lifts all boats.”

How on Earth can a narrator know how to pronounce all of those obscure, incredibly difficult, and odd-sounding words? Are they just gifted that way? Did they drink a special potion and get super-pronunciation-powers? Or do they have a pronunciation fish they stick in their ear to listen to? Of all people, narrators don’t want to make an error, because when we do, we have to go back and fix it. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Which may amount to hundreds of fixes in one book.

Shaking with fear and self-loathing, I drove home and thanked God that this experience had a happy ending. How could I have been so foolish? Immediately my children come to mind. I would never let them do something like this without making sure I knew where they were going, how they were getting there, how long they’d be there, who they were with, and what they were doing. Why didn’t I place this same value on my own personal safety? I still have no answer for this.

It’s not that I don’t like to help people… I actually have a very high capacity and willingness to take someone under my wing. It’s more of an issue of respect. Respect for me, my accomplishments, and the hard work I did to get where I am. I worked very hard to find out if this path would be viable, interesting, and something I could continue into my retirement years. You can do this too. If it’s important to you, you should do the footwork FOR YOURSELF. This is the best way to learn, and the lessons will stick far better this way than simply hearing me tell you about my experiences. This is the same kind of tough love with which I raised my sons, and I truly believe that if you were to ask them today, they’d say it was more valuable to learn how to do something, rather than have it handed to them.

How do narrators handle performing erotica? I am privileged to have been invited to join a secret group of females who narrate “spicier” books under a pseudonym. Despite the fact that my connection with these women is facilitated by social media, my imagination created a kind of film noir setting…

I was reading some discussion threads on Goodreads recently, and it appears some audiobook fans and even authors are not sure of why a narrator would choose to record under a different name. Here are some reasons, as well as hints for narrators who wish to pursue marketing their alternate self, in addition to formulas to use when choosing a pseudonym…

FAQs About Audiobook Creation: a brief overview answering questions such as “How much will it cost?”, “Should I narrate my own book?”, and “How can I learn more about the audiobook industry?”

Some points to consider when embarking upon your narrator journey… ethics and etiquette can make you loved (or hated) by your clients.

Fall 2016: After completing narration on Zane Grey’s timeless classic “Riders of the Purple Sage” around the Christmas holiday, I was pleased when Carlyn Craig, owner of PostHypnotic Press audiobook publishing, phoned and said she was excited to nominate my performance for a Voice Arts Award. The audiobook industry doesn’t have many awards, and so […]

Hard work pays off. I’ve been living my dream since 2008, narrating audiobooks. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t always been easy, nor pleasant. There are so many mountains to climb, but with perseverance and due diligence, one can conquer those hills! After consistently getting good reviews from the audiobook reviewer crowd, as well as […]