I started to write this quick story as a Twitter thread, but I strive to keep my original content on MY site and share it on social media.

On Tuesday 3 June 2014, I wrote in my journal:

The recording of FANNY HERSELF [by Edna Ferber] is done! Yay!

I had been thinking…of how to change the title to make the book different from the free edition…I want to retain the original title but add something to it to differentiate it [due to Kindle rules for publishing public domain books.]

The Audioblocks site [now Storyblocks.com] lets you search by instrument, mood, and time in addition to genre…I knew I wanted something with a violin solo since Fanny’s brother Theodore was a child prodigy violinist. She and her mother had to do without almost everything in order to pay for his studies overseas. He doesn’t even have a lot of lines in dialogue, yet you always know about Fanny’s brother.

I found a piece that sounds like a clock ticking and machinery before a violin solo of a contrasting tune emerges. It has a tension that suddenly resolves, just like the end of the book! I really liked it on the first listen and declared it perfect on the second one when Drew listened and liked it, too. The music was named “Passionate Instinct”.

And “Passionate Instinct” is now part of my ebook’s title — FANNY HERSELF: A PASSIONATE INSTINCT. Drew and I both think it sort of describes the book.

Not only did I write all of that in my journal, but I also wrote this 2014 article about finding and using M. Leone Bracker’s hand-drawn illustrations from 1917 in my ebook.

I looked at the illustrations this morning, and sure enough, I found one of Theodore playing violin for his teacher.

You can hear the haunting violin music I selected for the credits below.

Opening credits (Note that book was in the public domain when I recorded it. I would now say “The text is in the public domain” instead of the details I gave about the original publication.)

Closing credits

The post The Story Behind the Story Part 2: Music 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.

If I had, my report probably would have included the number of books I checked out from the library and the songs I learned to play on piano, and, from 5th grade on, the music I played on clarinet, oboe, and flute. I also would have talked about my daily trips to the pool.

My almost daily pool time would certainly remain present in such a chronicle today; some things never change. However, today’s account also would be bubbling with discussion about my new web site NarratorsRoadmap.com, which is fully launching today 9/16 at 9:00am!

Looking back, I can connect the dots and see this site has been in my destiny for quite a while and is a natural evolution and expansion of things I’ve been doing.

When I worked my day job in IT, I planned software, hardware, and wiring purchases, installations, and upgrades and solved daily operational problems. Other network administrators asked my advice when they’d run out of options in troubleshooting difficulties like an inoperable email server. In addition to helping my peers with technical issues, I wrote software tips for the users every week for over 5 straight years.

Soon after starting my voiceover business in 1999, I created my first web site. Other people found me on-line and began asking me how to get into voiceover, so I created an advice page.

That advice page and the emails I kept receiving led me to start this blog.

Once I got back into audiobooks after ACX.com launched, I found myself answering questions from new narrators in Facebook forums. Over time, I created an extensive FAQ in one group. I’ve become well known for being the Queen of Links since I provide so many of them on-line and throughout my articles.

After noticing how positively other narrators responded to my advice, one of my mentors frequently told me that I should write a book containing all of this information. I resisted that suggestion, in part because I felt a book wouldn’t reach the right audience and would be difficult to update so that the material would remain fresh.

Last year at the Audio Publishers Association Conference (APAC), several events occurred in rapid succession that caused me to see so clearly that I needed to create a new web site to aid narrators!

First, I heard some narrators on a panel talking about how we all bring different things to the table and have different goals. Four comments stuck with me and may help you see the next signpost on your path:

1. Ask yourself throughout your career what is unique to you.
2. Just because there’s a gold rush going on in audiobooks doesn’t mean you need to always be the one in the creek panning for nuggets.
3. It’s helpful to stop thinking of yourself in the limited role of narrator.
4. Use what you have to get what you want.

I arrived late to lunch that day, so most of the tables were filled. The panelists’ remarks were swirling in my mind, and I thought I might find a quiet place and write about them in my journal. At that precise moment, a narrator friend intersected my path and asked to have lunch with me. (I’m convinced the Universe planned it that way.) She thanked me for all of the info in my blog articles and told me they had been a tremendous help to her. She also suggested that I write a book using my blog articles as the basis for it.

As we talked, another narrator friend stopped and asked me a question, which I was able to quickly answer. (I think the Universe sent that person across my path then, too, to drive home the point that helping narrators is part of my purpose.)

I didn’t write anything until I was waiting at the far-from-quiet-gate that evening at LaGuardia Airport. By the time I boarded the plane, I realized I needed to create a membership site! In addition to the all of the information I typically disseminate through my articles and links to other sites, I also knew that some things aren’t easily found on-line. For starters, narrators were re-inventing the wheel to discover training and networking events they could attend and bloggers who would write thoughtful reviews of their audiobooks.

In addition, experienced narrators constantly needed ready information to pass on to newcomers who asked questions about how to get started in the field. Why not create one comprehensive list of resources to answer them?

The solid idea came together that day, but I was delayed in doing much on it last summer and fall because we were house-hunting, moving, and settling in our new home.

Although I earned an MS in computer information systems and worked in technical IT positions for 25 years, I never wanted to develop my new membership site. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you should! I discussed my ideas with Joe Davis at Voice Actor Websites soon after arriving home from APAC, and we started implementing my planned site toward the end of the year. I chose that company to create the site because they had done a marvelous job with this one, and I wanted continuity between the sites, both in the user interface and the WordPress construction.

Phase 1 was a splash page that was overflowing with articles, books, videos, and links to help newcomers learn how to be a narrator. We launched it on 19 January so it would be available for people who attended the APA’s open webcast on 22 January titled What I Wish I Knew.

Phase 2 would be the roll-out of the full site, complete with a knowledge base, comprehensive event calendar, reviewers directory, and video courses. I’ve lost count of the number of Zoom meetings Drew and I had with our wonderfully responsive project manager Alex Sanchez. The VAWS team developed a gorgeous and highly functional site that exceeds my vision and expectations!

In addition to all of the design discussions with the developers, I’ve been writing articles for the Knowledge Base and creating an incredible list of helpful links on the Welcome Center page. Drew and I have researched and added to the site calendar color-coded events in 8 categories, as well as detailed information about audiobook reviewers. As you’ve probably guessed, all this work required far more time and energy than a summer vacation!

NarratorsRoadmap.com is THE destination for audiobook narrators of all levels!

I’m overjoyed that the full site is finally HERE and LAUNCHING TODAY!

The site has more links than even I thought possible — and that’s saying something!

To celebrate the grand opening of this unique repository of goodness for narrators,

I’m holding a CONTEST!

To participate, look through the free areas of the site (Home page, Knowledge Base, and Welcome Center) to answer these 3 questions in a comment below before 11:59pm ET, Monday 23 September 2019. I’ll award 3 random winners with a 3-month Members Express Pass to the site, which gives you access to all of the calendar events and audiobook reviewer information. If you can’t find an answer, I’ll give you credit for creativity!

9/17/19 Additional info: In order to maintain the secrecy of the contest answers, I decided I won’t publish comments related to the contest until next week.

Questions:

1. What number is on the mile marker, and what is its significance?
2. What is the name of the song that is no longer under copyright that appears in one of the Knowledge Base articles?
3. What is the name of the only marketing book mentioned on the site?

Bonus question for an extra free month:

I asked the developers to include an Easter Egg, which is a special object that is significant to me. Like any Easter Egg hunt in real life, the surprise can be “hiding” in plain sight. Can you find it? I’ll even throw in a 2nd extra free month if you can tell me its significance.

Thanks so much for your interest, and good luck with your entries!

The post How I Spent My Summer Vacation appeared first on Karen Commins.

This time, we’ll talk about the Financial Considerations section of the Quiz. I was taught to never discuss money in a job interview until you know you are a good fit for the position. I saved this section until the end for the same reason.

What are your financial expectations?

While it’s true that your earnings potential as a narrator rests in part with your drive and determination, it’s also true that most new narrators don’t make enough money to live off their narration business for an undetermined number of years.

Audiobooks are paid per finished hour (PFH). If your rate is $200 PFH, you would earn $2,000 for a book that runs 10 hours. However, your actual time spent in recording the book will be longer than 10 hours. Refer to this article for a more in-depth explanation about the time needed to produce an audiobook and this one for info about computing your per finished hour rate.

Just because you’re new doesn’t mean you should accept rates below $100 PFH. The union minimum on ACX is $250PFH. When you figure your real-time hourly rate, you shouldn’t discover you’re charging minimum wage or lower.

Note that you should have some experience before you ever consider declaring yourself a professional audiobook narrator! You may need to do some volunteer work for the blind in addition to gaining audiobook-specific training as I discussed in part 1 of this series.

In order to gain the attention of authors and publishers who actually have decent budgets — particularly those with SAG/AFTRA agreements (note that union membership qualifies you for other benefits such as health insurance) — you first need to develop a portfolio of solid titles, by which I mean you should record books in popular genres that have finished times of at least 6-8 hours. You may choose to take some projects on a royalty share (RS) contract in order to gain more experience.  I wrote extensive articles about RS projects here and here.

In addition to possibly taking low-paying and/or speculative work at the start of your career, you should assess what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to pursue this work. I know people who worked a day job, narrated in their off hours, and only slept 3-4 hours for several years. They didn’t leave the day job until their narration income could fully support them.

I’m not saying you have to follow suit. Instead, you must realize that your progress probably will be slower than you would like or hope.

If it were easy, everybody would do it.

Have you ever worked as a freelancer?

I probably should have asked this question first! If you’re used to a steady paycheck and benefits like paid sick days, you may be in for a major shock when you become a freelancer.

You can do a Google search and find numerous articles outlining the advantages and disadvantages of being a freelancer. I’ll point out a few of the downsides:

• Your workload is uncertain and often can be a feast or famine situation. Many narrators say yes to every project and risk their health because they want to ensure they have money even during the worst dry spells for work. In those cases, personal and/or vacation time often gets pre-empted by a must-do book.
• Some people can’t tolerate the uncertainty about payment and therefore always work at least one other job to maintain their lifestyle.
• Without the guarantee of money coming in, you may start doing work like lawn or house care that you previously hired another person to do. You also are responsible for all aspects of running your business, including invoicing the clients and making timely tax payments to the IRS.
• Health care costs, including insurance premiums, continue to rise.

Be sure you’re fully aware of the pros and cons to this type of work before you commit to it as your sole job.

Do you have a day job or other monetary cushion to see you through slow times?

Most people starting as audiobook narrators do so on a part-time basis. While a day job limits your availability, it also frees you of the stress and pressure to show an immediate profit while providing other benefits to you. Retirees from other fields who are drawing an annuity also tend to have an easier time starting a second career as an audiobook narrator.

Even the most successful, highly lauded, experienced narrators occasionally have periods of weeks or even months where they don’t have work. It’s important to always have contingency and emergency funding sources.

Do you have money set aside for start-up and on-going business costs?

Audiobook narration is a BUSINESS. Like any business, it has start-up and on-going costs, including equipment, software, coaching, internet connection, web site, and marketing materials.

If you don’t have enough money on-hand for your business expenses, whether now or in the future, I encourage you to do the empowering exercise described in this article.

How do you feel about constantly networking and marketing yourself to attract and retain clients?

Narrating a book is the reward for doing the REAL job — regularly informing those who could hire you of your talent, abilities, and availability.

How would you make yourself stand out and be memorable in an already crowded marketplace? Sending email after email may not gain any traction, especially when you’re new to the industry. As I wrote in the last article, publishers hire you only after they decide they can trust you.

One of the surest ways to help people to learn to trust you is to meet them in person. People who live in and around NYC and LA have an advantage in getting to industry events as most of the big audiobook production facilities are located in those 2 cities. The rest of us travel to other cities for conferences, mixers, and workshops. I recommend that you join the Audio Publishers Association to be alerted about member events across the USA.

Obviously, you also should be alert to events occurring in your city. For instance, the American Library Association holds twice-yearly conferences in different cities. Audiobook publishers and producers attend those conferences, so you might be able to connect with your prospects there.

When doing auditions, don’t expect to hear back from the casting person unless you get the job. TV star Bryan Cranston perfectly and succinctly explains this point in this 1:22 video.

Do you have or can you make a dedicated recording space in your home?

You need a dead-quiet space to record a pristine audiobook. Sound isolation and sound proofing materials can be expensive. You may also need to pay for consultations with studio and other technical advisors who can help you achieve an optimum sound for your space.

If you don’t have such a space available, you would need to rent studio time and pay an engineer for actual, not finished, hours to record the project. You would need to get rates in your local area in order to create a budget.

Now that we’ve examined the factors in becoming a successful audiobook narrator, what are your thoughts? Did the quiz help you decide whether to pursue audiobook narration as a career? Did the quiz raise more questions for you? I’d love to hear from you in a comment below!

The post Analyzing the Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz Part 4 appeared first on Karen Commins.

Continuing where I left off in part 2, we’ll discuss the last 7 of the 15 questions in the Personality/Work Habits section.

How would you rate your comfort and skill levels with working with technology more complicated than your phone?

Not too many years ago, all audiobook narrators went to recording studios and were only responsible for performing the text of the book. An engineer ran the computer controls, and a director helped the narrator shape the performance. Those same narrators might have done auditions from a home studio, but they recorded the full book in a commercial studio.

Due to changes in technology, more and more narrators must record the complete project in their own studio. Most narrators who work in a home/private studio don’t have the luxury of employing an engineer and director. Instead, the narrator wears all 3 hats simultaneously.

Recording your voice looks very different on the screen than writing an email. You will use a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) like Pro Tools, Audition, or Twisted Wave to record and edit your voice in a WAV file, which is the graphical representation of the raw, uncompressed sounds.

Teddy Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” Your first studio may be a simple set-up of a computer and good microphone. However, you still must be able to research the hardware and software that you need to get and learn how the pieces work separately and together. You’d also need to set up a dead-quiet recording space in order to create the type of audio expected by publishers and listeners.

Once the narrator completes the recording, she must be able to submit files that A) conform to a publisher’s specifications and B) use the publisher’s choice of delivery methods. No one asks you to copy files to CD any more. They will tell you the format of file to submit (WAV, MP3, FLAC) and whether to use a commercial FTP service like WeTransfer or connect to their server using your own FTP software. They may instead ask you to upload files to Dropbox or another site.

They will not tell you HOW to do any of those things. They expect that you either already know or will spend the time and energy to learn.

If the high-level description and quantity of acronyms in this section make your eyes glaze over or cause you to feel nervous or apprehensive, take a deep breath and relax. Other people have learned all of these terms and skills, and you can, too. Realize, though, that you may need to take some computer classes and/or pay consultants to help you create an ideal recording environment and absorb all you need to know to use it with ease.

How does the thought of learning new software make you feel?

I’ve talked with many people who dread learning software and are afraid of making a mistake that will erase all of their work and damage their machine. Some leave 15,000 emails in their in-box because they are afraid of deleting something they might need later or missing some piece of information.

Both of these scenarios stem from lack of knowledge and confidence. The more you learn about your software and hardware, the more confidence, ease, and productivity you will have in using them.

As I pointed out in this article, a lot of software operations are transferrable skills. Understanding and becoming proficient with DAW processes seems to give most people the greatest difficulty. If you are struggling to learn your DAW, 1 or more of the training options I shared in this post may benefit you.

How would you rate your communications and customer service skills?

Even before I specifically talk about marketing and networking in the upcoming final article of this series, I want to point out that good communications and a customer service attitude are at the heart of this job.

Narrators pleasantly and persistently contact and follow up with people who can hire us without overdoing it and becoming a pest.

Publishers hire you only after they TRUST you. You must be reliable and a person of your word.  Once hired, if you run into any issue that jeopardizes meeting your deadline, you must immediately inform the publisher.

However, you also must be able to help audio rights holders who are new to audiobooks understand the production process as well as industry best practices. For instance, an author may expect you to do something like sing copyrighted song lyrics that the author included in the text, add background music to certain scenes, etc. In such cases, the customer is NOT always right! You must be able to use a firm, professional, non-argumentative tone to advise the rights holder of the industry position.

How do you feel when you need to research something?

Mispronounced words are a sure way to annoy listeners and cause them to temporarily lose their focus in the audiobook. You need to say city, street, and business names the way people in the local area say them. For instance, one narrator I know received numerous complaints for mispronouncing Houston St. in New York City. Go ahead and research that one to see what I mean.

You’ll find that most books require the narrator to research some pronunciations of proper names for people, places, and products. Non-fiction books particularly demand rigorous research; here’s an example showing my research for ROAD TO TARA: THE LIFE OF MARGARET MITCHELL by Anne Edwards. You may be able to find sources on-line, or you may need to dig further and actually call people to ask for pronunciations. You may need to check multiple sources. You’ll want to document your findings to share with the proofer and publisher.

Are you able to concentrate on one task for long periods?

Kids and other people in your house, social media, clients, the doorbell, lawnmowers and weed eaters in your neighbor’s yard — an endless number and variety of possible distractions await the audiobook narrator each and every day. When you’re in the booth, you need to put the rest of your life on hold.

You have to get your mind in a good place before you walk in your booth so that you’re totally focused on the story at hand. All sorts of things could be running through your mind, even something simple like, “Oh, I need to make my grocery list.” If you’re upset about something, you need to get that out of your system before you come in front of the microphone. You have to put all of that aside so that you are totally and completely focused on the story in front of you. That’s the only way that you can give justice to the author’s words — to be so immersed in their story that you can tune out the rest of the world.

Remember, the listener is right there. You are literally in their ear when they listen to your narration. They will be able to hear when a narrator is disconnected from the story.

Are you patient?

I see too many people entering a narration career with the false expectation of quickly earning enough money to make narration their sole source of income. The people on top of the mountain didn’t just land there. People who are viewed as overnight successes usually have been working diligently for years or even decades before attaining public recognition.

It takes time to develop a narration style, gain the trust of 1 or more publishers, and build a client list and a thriving business. You also need to be patient with yourself as you gain knowledge about the industry and learn new competencies. A while back, I wrote about 12 lessons from a popular TV show that further explains the many ways you’ll need to exhibit patience.

Are you a perfectionist?

If you proudly proclaimed your perfectionism, you might have done so thinking it would be a valued trait. However, as Voltaire wrote, “the best is the enemy of the good.”

You could labor over each sentence in a paragraph doing retake after retake until you get that sentence JUST RIGHT. Paragraphs recorded this way could end up sounding stilted and forced. Instead, we want the words to flow with energy and be naturally connected to each other.

Perfect is also the enemy of the DONE. You could make any project into life’s work. After having a proof listener go through the completed audiobook and then re-recording any parts of the text that they point out for correction, you need to have the confidence in your art to meet or beat your deadline and release it to the world.

In my upcoming final segment to analyze answers to my Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz, we’ll discuss the nitty and the gritty financial considerations. In the meantime, are you writing things down? Have you discovered anything about yourself that makes you reconsider your desire to become a narrator? Please leave me a comment with your feedback!

The post Analyzing the Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz Part 3 appeared first on Karen Commins.

After I published my last article, Drew and I moved to a new house! We had lived in our other house for 30 years, so it took 6 weeks to get everything relocated from there to here. We’re STILL unpacking and hanging artwork in between our other activities, including actually doing some work!

Like finding the right place to live and physically moving in, choosing the right career — even if it’s a career change — should start with significant self-reflection about the way you want to structure your life, the activities you enjoy, and your skills. I think most people spend more time planning their vacations than they do in planning their lives!

Many people think they want to become an audiobook narrator until they realize that being successful in this career entails a large number of skills and personality traits they may not have considered. I therefore created my Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz.

In the first article about analyzing your answers, I explained the rationale behind the questions in the Baseline and Language sections.

Today, we’ll look at the first 8 of the 15 questions in the Personality/Work Habits section.

Do you like to work independently or with other people?

Most narrators work in their home studios without aid from anyone like a director or engineer. As a result, some people report that the isolation and solitary nature of the job wears on them.

However, others say that they feel they need to be around other creative people to maintain their energy. If you fall in this category, you may want to consider renting an office for your booth.

The newer narrator you are, the more you need coaching and directorial guidance to shape your performance. I recommend that you book time with one or more reputable coaches before starting your first projects.

Are you a self-starter?

When I switched from part-time to full-time work at the IRS, I was surprised that they rang a bell at the start and end of each work day. I already was accustomed to the regimented and precise 15-minute break times. Full-time employees also had a 30-minute lunch period. You didn’t go a minute early or stay a minute late during either break or lunch. Any personal business must be attended during those times or off hours.

As an audiobook narrator, you have complete freedom in setting your schedule. No one will be looking over your shoulder telling you when to start or stop work or ensuring that you even perform any work. You don’t fill out time sheets or submit your accomplishments to anyone. Best of all, no one will hound you about the dreaded TPS reports!

Producers and publishers want to work with people they can trust. You prove your value to your clients by being efficient, maintaining communication, and completing quality work within your deadline. You must determine how much time is needed to prep and narrate your book and plan your days around getting it done.

Do you consider yourself organized?

Organizational skills extend beyond the number of papers — or stacks of papers — on your desk. A narrator must manage the project from beginning to end.

Your computer files need to be orderly so that you can quickly and easily find and load the project recordings when you receive corrections. You’ll need to know when, to whom, and for what amount to submit invoices and follow up if payments are late.

Being organized for success includes having the necessary materials to attract clients, especially a well-functioning web site with demos that are labeled and immediately clickable. As somewhat of a tangent about being organized, I also suggest that you have an email address with your own domain as it looks more professional than a free account.

I could write an entire article about organization. Wait. I already did! This article offers lots of ideas and resources related to 3 main areas of organization that would be useful regardless of your career.

Are you detail-oriented?

Attention to detail goes hand in hand with organization. In addition to sometimes extensive pronunciation research on individual projects, which I’ll address in the next article in this series, you ALWAYS need to pay close attention to the recording specifications and file naming conventions provided by each publisher or distributor. Detail-oriented people also log every communication with prospects and clients in order to build and maintain relationships and improve their results.

You need to maintain consistency of character voices across the book or even a series. A large part of your prep for a book is learning about the characters. I described my process and gave an example in the “Take Notes” section of this article.

During the recording sessions, my director makes WAV files of each voice and stores them in a folder for a project. Since they are WAVs, I don’t have to spend time to find and load a different project file in order to hear a character’s voice. This practice becomes even more useful for books in a series as quite some time may pass in between book releases.

When you receive corrections from a proof listener, you’ll want to listen to the original recording in order to match your voice before re-recording the line. Such re-recorded segments, known as “pick-ups”, must be inserted seamlessly into the original recording. Our goal is for listeners to feel like we told the story in one sitting.

Are you adept at time and project management?

If the narrator is also the producer, as is the case on ACX.com, you’re responsible for hiring, scheduling, and paying editors and proof listeners. Once you become established, you could be doing the prep for one book, recording another, and re-recording corrections on a third. Of course, you have other things going on in your life that must be planned and scheduled concurrently with your work.

Are you thick-skinned when it comes to criticism?

As a performance artist, you can’t escape criticism. Audible listeners often hide behind a pseudonym and leave soul-destroying comments about your narration or even you as a person. Professional reviewers will point out flaws in your vocal abilities and acting choices. I therefore encourage you to read my article How Do You Respond to Criticism? for more information and thoughts about coping with the negativity in reviews.

Are you curious? Do you like to learn new things?

I think that if you don’t learn something new almost every day, you might as well be dead. Aside from that mindset, though, I added this question because of the research involved in narration. Fiction books often require a narrator to learn the flavor of an accent in order to portray a character. With a non-fiction book, you need to sound like you know what you’re talking about because you are standing in for the author who is indeed an expert. In either case, getting up to speed quickly will be easier for those who are innately curious.

However, research can easily send narrators exploring one rabbit hole after another. Did I mention you need to be good at time management?

Aside from the research, the best narrators are constantly looking for ways to improve our performances and work flow. We listen to audiobooks, talk with other narrators, get coaching, read articles, and experiment with everything from software usage to mic technique.

How do you deal with constant rejection or perhaps even feeling ignored?

Some new narrators who audition on ACX think the rights holder casting the title should let them know whether they listened to the audition. These same narrators also want feedback about their performance. Experienced pros, on the other hand, know that you do the best you can in the audition, submit it and FORGET it. Actor Bryan Cranston gives the best advice about the actor’s job in the audition process in this 1:22 video.

Beyond auditions, you can expect that you may not receive a response for weeks, months, or ever, no matter how persistent and consistent you are in marketing yourself to prospects. Your goal is to stay in touch frequently enough that you pleasantly stay on the radar of producers and publishers without being perceived as a nuisance. If you need constant strokes of praise and/or can’t live with the uncertainty about your next contract, you will not enjoy being an audiobook narrator.

We’re halfway through this section and will get to the remaining 7 questions in the 3rd article in this series. In the meantime, are you writing things down? To further encourage you to spend time writing answers to the quiz and thinking in depth about how you want your life to be, I will send a special journal to the first 5 people who leave a meaningful comment on this post! I’d love to know your thoughts about the quiz, and, if you’d care to share, any revelations you’ve had after taking it.

The post Analyzing the Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz Part 2 appeared first on Karen Commins.

Baseline Skills

Have you ever heard the sound of your recorded voice?

I asked this question because many people have never heard a recording of their voice. When they do hear it, they don’t think it sounds like them.

Listening to your own voice can help you identify areas where you need improvement. For instance, your diction may sound sloppy and even make words unintelligible to the listener. Remember, the listener won’t have the benefit of the text or your facial clues in deciphering your speech. If you sound raspy, you may need to drink more water and stay better hydrated. Actually, it’s a good practice to drink lots of water each day so that you are always prepared to record!

Once people get used to the sound of their recorded voice, they can fall in love with it. It’s a mistake to listen too much to yourself in your headphones as you record. The goal in audiobook narration is to make the author’s words shine, not our own voices. If you or listeners are paying attention to your vocal mechanics, you and they will not be able to maintain interest in the story.

Have you ever read aloud?

We read things in our minds differently than we do out loud. In fact, we often skim texts and skip over words entirely. Audiobook narrators must read each and every word on the page with the appropriate inflection in the order they are written without adding, subtracting, or transposing them while maintaining any character voices and exhibiting the emotion found in the text and sub-text. If we make a mistake, we must stop and re-start the recording so we can say it again.

Narration requires vocal stamina that most people don’t automatically have. You’d think it would be as easy as talking, but you need to strengthen the larynx muscles by practicing reading aloud. You may also want to consult with a speech therapist and learn specific exercises to improve the quality of your speech.

Do you enjoy telling stories?

We tend to think of born storytellers as those who attract people with their every utterance. It’s one thing to rely on one’s personal charm and tell a short, funny joke. It’s another thing entirely to read someone else’s words and communicate that author’s intent to the listener.

You may have been told that you have a nice voice. One’s voice is NOT the most important part of becoming a narrator! Every word the author wrote has meaning, and the narrator must understand and be fully engaged with the text to deliver its meaning and realize the author’s vision. You wouldn’t read an adult non-fiction book in the same manner as a children’s fairy tale. Knowing how to change your tone to match the genre and emotion of the text is a key part of telling an author’s story.

Do you have training or experience in acting or oral interpretation?

Acting and oral interpretation classes, and certainly Toastmasters, focus on giving speeches or performing in front of an audience. A narrator needs acting skills to connect to and convey the emotional content of the book. However, audiobook narration does not depend on stage directions, other actors, or the audience reaction. It’s an intimate medium. You’re right in the listener’s ear, so you need to be able to adjust your volume downward while continuing to use your full range.

As far as your delivery and performance, award-winning narrator and coach Marc Cashman outlined 10 Skills You Need for Audiobook Narration + Voice Work.

I recommend all newcomers to train with one or more vetted audiobook coaches linked in the Connections section of my NarratorsRoadmap.com home page to learn performance skills necessary to become a successful narrator.

Language Skills

Do you love language?

Most narrators I know delight in words. We love awesome alliterations, evocative descriptions, and clever metaphors. I’ve noticed that a large number of narrators not only enjoyed our English classes in school, but we’re well-versed in grammar rules.

Often, though, the books we narrate may be lacking interesting literary devices. What’s a narrator to do? A passage I heard when listening to the audiobook of  The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger contains the secret. The lead character Henry had a father who was a 2nd chair violinist in the symphony. Henry described his father this way:

“He has this idea that every piece of music should be treated with respect, even if it isn’t something he likes much. I mean, he doesn’t like Tchaikovsky, or Strauss, but he will play them very seriously. That’s why he’s great; he plays everything as though he’s in love with it.”

By exercising the same love and respect for the language before us, a narrator can elevate even the most mundane writing into a thing of beauty. After all, language is meant to be spoken. Oral storytelling came long before written words.

What is your native language?

If your native language is not English, you may find it more difficult to get a foothold in the audiobook industry. Take heart! Each year, production continues to increase around the world, and native speakers of other languages are being sought after more often.

Do you know more than 1 language? If so, how would you rate your proficiency in it?

Most casting directors and producers these days are looking for authentic native speakers for books. In addition, foreign words regularly appear in English texts. Some level of training or, better yet, fluency in 1 or more languages other than English could lead to your being cast for a book.

In my next article, I’ll talk about the personality and work habits section. In the meantime, I’d love to learn your thoughts about the quiz. Please leave a comment on the blog!

Last updated 10/31/25

The post Analyzing the Audiobook Narrator Self-Assessment Quiz Part 1 appeared first on Karen Commins.

Congratulations! You’ve got a brand new audiobook! It’s time to get the word out about it!

I minored in marketing while in college and have always loved to think about marketing ideas. Sandra Beckwith at BuildBookBuzz.com recently asked me a number of questions related to audiobook marketing. Our interview was posted today, and you can read it here.

A while back, I wrote 2 articles on the ACX.com blog to address this very topic. In Part One, I explained some reasons why people are resistant to listening to audiobooks. I then offered 3 ways to make your audiobooks more discoverable to an audience, including an invaluable site to use when developing a promotions calendar.

Part Two contains 4 more ways to promote your audiobooks and includes some very specific tactics about several social media sites, such as instructions about adding the audio edition of your title to Goodreads and subscribing to my Twitter list of audiobook reviewers and bloggers.

While I encourage you to mine those articles and their comments for their wealth of actionable steps, I’m excited to share these 6 low-cost avenues of audiobook promotion.

Author Mentions

The number one thing that any author can do to sell your audiobook is to consistently alert your fans that you have an audiobook available!

Any time you promote your book, make it a habit to say that the audiobook is also available.

I have been astonished and dismayed by the number of audio rights holders who use ACX to create their audiobooks but then do little or nothing to promote the finished product. The audiobook won’t sell itself!

Some narrators like me heavily promote our titles. However, narrators generally can’t spend much energy marketing any one book as we are constantly recording the next one. The author is the person who wrote the words in the book and has the fan base who most wants to know about — and is most likely to buy — an audiobook edition.

Here are some easy ways to constantly update your fans specifically about your audiobooks:

• Write progress reports on your blog during audiobook production.
• Add a blurb about or even a link to your audiobook in the front matter of your other editions.
• Create a sales page on your web site specifically for your audiobooks, or add links to the audiobooks along with the print editions on your site. Include the audiobook “buy” links from Amazon, Audible, and iTunes every time you mention the book (your web site, blog, social media, interviews elsewhere, etc.)
• Notify your email list about all new audiobook releases.
• Conduct an audiobook event on Facebook to celebrate release day or some other occasion in your promotions calendar.
• Host a Google Hangout On Air or a Zoom chat with your narrator and invite your fans to participate in the live stream. Fans love to have a look behind the scenes! Once the event is over, the recorded video of the Hangout is posted on YouTube. You and your narrator could then share that video on your blogs and social media sites for even more coverage.

Audiobook Boom

The popular AudiobookBoom.com site is the brainchild of  fellow audiobook narrator Jeffrey Kafer. Audiobook Boom is kind of like BookBub in that it is a paid service where authors and publishers highlight certain titles. However, Audiobook Boom is only for audiobook promotion, and the weekly email newsletters are sent to subscribers who are audiobook listeners.

You pay $10 per title for a  Listen & Review ad. If you used ACX to create your audiobook, you will automatically receive 25 Audible promo codes so you can give copies of your audiobook to eager listeners. With a Listen & Review ad, you’ll quickly receive a number of requests for your book from people who are willing to review it.

Whispersync

If you publish an edition of your book in Amazon’s Kindle format, your audiobook is eligible for the Whispersync feature. This amazing technology allows people to switch seamlessly between the Kindle ebook and the Audible audiobook.

I created a 3-minute video that demonstrates Whispersync in action.

Whispersync also increases sales of both editions. Amazon offers a discount on the audiobook if the buyer first purchases the Kindle edition. In fact, some people will buy the Kindle book simply to get the audiobook at a discount.

If you promote your free ebook on services like BookBub, you can expect to see an immediate ripple effect of sales of your audiobook edition. For instance, a recent Kindle Free ad on BookBub resulted in over 300 audiobook units sold the same day! The royalties from the audiobook sales might easily exceed the cost of the BookBub listing!

QR Codes

You’ve probably seen the square black and white boxes on coupons, in magazines, on store shelves, and on actual products. These boxes are called Quick Response, or QR, codes, and you can create a QR code on-line for free.

QR codes link to some content of your choosing on-line and can create a deeper level of engagement with a fan. People with smart phones can use an app that takes a picture of the QR code and immediately sends them to your link.

You could print the image of a QR code on a business card, postcard or flyer that you mail or hand out at your live events. If you have a print edition of your book, you could include a QR code in it.

After scanning your QR code in her phone app to read them, the recipient’s browser opens to the link you used when creating the QR code. For example, you might create a QR code link that sends people to your audiobook edition on Audible, plays the MP3 of the audiobook retail sample, or calls up the YouTube video of your Google Hangout with your narrator.

As you can see in these pictures, I have a QR code on the back of my business cards. Once scanned, my QR code will bring up my web site in the phone browser.

Podcasts

A podcast is defined as a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.

With the proliferation of smart phones, podcasts are enjoying increased visibility and popularity, and they are a perfect platform for audiobook promotion!

In a Kindle Direct Publishing newsletter, author Hal Elrod, who has sold over 100,000 copies of his self-published ebook, said, “I can confidently say that the number one key to driving book sales has been securing interviews on other people’s podcasts!”

He further commented, “A great place to start is to look on iTunes in the “New and Noteworthy” section to find podcasters who are new (so they’re not inundated with requests) but are gaining a lot of momentum and listeners. Google them, go to their websites, and reach out to tell them how you and your book would add extraordinary value for their audiences!”

You can also seek out interviews on established podcasts. Harper Audio Presents usually features author interviews, even if the author was published elsewhere. In fact, you’ll find many more terrific podcast possibilities by looking in the iTunes store under Podcasts/Art/Literature.

You even can create your own podcast and host it on your web site and/or Soundcloud. For instance, my colleague Ann Richardson and I recorded each of our InD’ear columns and uploaded the recordings to our Narrators Helping Authors Soundcloud account. If you hold a Google hangout with your narrator and/or fans, you can extract the audio and repurpose it as a podcast.

Radio Shows

A podcast interview is valuable experience and can definitely drive sales, but a real radio station has many more listeners. However, unless you’re a celebrity author, the media probably won’t come looking for you. As with podcasts, you can contact local radio stations and ask to be a guest on a show.

According to morning show host Wayne Kelly, the key to booking radio interviews is that you do NOT want to approach the producers as an author promoting a book! The producer could fear booking an introverted author who would provide no value to the listeners. Instead, you would position yourself as someone who increases audience interest with your specialized insight and comments about current stories.

First, keep a list of topics covered in your book. Authors who research topics for fictional stories would develop expertise in those areas. When it’s time to publicize the book and audiobook, look for hot topics in the news which tie into your subject matter knowledge.

Google stations in your locale. You then can find them on social media and/or call the station to ask for the email address of the person who books the most interviews.

As you can see, you can market your audiobook with your book and as a standalone product. Want even more ideas for audiobook marketing? You’ll find them on my Audiobook Marketing Cheat Sheet! If you have questions, please leave a comment on the blog or book a personal consultation on my Shop page.

Most of this article originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of InD’Tale Magazine. I’ve updated some of the info and links.

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The post 6 Low-Cost Avenues For Greater Audiobook Sales 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

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