Auditions/Career

Thanks to narrator Travis Baldree for his permission to republish this essay that he originally posted on Facebook.

 

Hey, so I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and I have some notes that, if you are new, you may find useful.

1) Be nice to everyone.

2) Learn and internalize the best practices before you break or ignore them. The time may COME to break or ignore them, but you’ll know when that is, and it won’t be in your first couple of books. If you think the time is right to do so in your first few months, you’re wrong. You have to know the rules well before you can subvert them.

3) Coaching is not a one-stop shop. You are accruing information. Coach widely. Early on, a lot of this will be best practices that you just need to internalize, but eventually it will start to trend more to individual coaches’ opinions. They will not always agree. That is fine. That doesn’t mean they are wrong. You are gathering this up for your mental mulch pile. As you pass the threshold of competency and start to become skilled, you will start synthesizing this information to accentuate what makes you a singular performer. The ideas will ferment, and they will be of a benefit entirely unique to you. Let it happen naturally.

4) Learn all the parts of the business. That doesn’t mean you have to be proficient. It doesn’t mean you need to be an engineer or a proofer. But know how those things work. Understand the fundamentals of how audio files work. Understand the terms, and the tools. Be cognizant of everything. This will make you not a pain in the ass to work with and will lead to good things. It’s not beneath you, and beyond a certain point, it isn’t a distraction, as it will directly impact the quality of the work you deliver. If you DO decide to become proficient, it will come in handy though. Trust me.

5) Let go of the expectation that there is a specific set of steps or people or publishers that you must interact with to be successful. It’ll happen in a way you don’t expect. Just do excellent work, and continuously improve. And be nice. Always be nice.

6) Be selective of your projects. Be sure you want your name on them. A bad project isn’t worth the stain on your portfolio if you can help it. Stay away from scammy garbage books. If it’s less than 3 hours, royalty share, and has a blank red cover with white text – don’t waste your time on it. If you need to practice to become basically competent, record yourself, and then throw it away. Besides, reading poorly Google-translated text for someone whose motives for publishing the book are inexplicable will not build skills you want to build.

7) Quality is everything. You can overwork anything, but don’t let simple mistakes go out the door with the expectation that someone else will catch them. Be your own best critic first. Other people don’t have time to fix lazy mistakes, which means they’re more likely to make it out into the world. (with your name on them)

8) Listen to other people’s work, especially people you like. You will internalize important lessons that will become a part of your own particular delivery. The more excellent narrators you listen to, the more invisible lessons you will teach yourself, especially if you are paying attention. And you should pay attention. Why does that delivery work? Why is that funny? What about this made me tear up? How are they using their voice to accomplish this? Can I try it? Does it work for me? Why or why not?

9) Vocal practice is important. You want to develop the ability to put your voice where you want it repeatedly. If you can do something repeatedly with similar intonation and quality, then you can do it on demand — which means it can become instinctual. You must build instinct to have an effortless and natural read. Make sure you’re building the right instincts.

10) Identify ‘your people’ as you work with them and cultivate those relationships. People that you like and like to work with. I don’t mean that you should do this in a mercenary fashion — it’s just good for you! But also, these relationships are the invisible underpinning of your career. Don’t stress about it, but find the people you get along with and specifically feed and water those relationships. You will be happier, they will be happier, and good things will come out of it.

11) Learn to cold-read effectively. Practice it. It’s a combination of reading ahead and understanding the rhythm of speech and ‘predicting’ what an author will write before you read it (again on an instinctual level) so that you can intuit where the phrase is going to go. It’s also understanding the musicality of speech, and understanding how to avoid repetitive intonation and musicality while still respecting what the author is trying to do, and keeping it feeling natural. If you enjoy writing and like language, this is a lot easier to do. The better you can cold read, the better your delivery will be (and the faster you will produce work). I cannot overstate how useful this is. Also, it will pay dividends in breathing as well, as you will improve your ability to learn where to place breaths to sound most natural.

If you find yourself reading and discovering that you misunderstood what an author was attempting with a sentence only AFTER you get to the end, try to figure out the signposts in that sentence that would clue you in. This is hard to articulate in a paragraph here, but it’s worth thinking on. Also, it should go without saying, but if you misjudged the intent of a sentence and your take on it doesn’t support the intent, go back and fix it!

12) Learn to compare your work in a useful way. Being a good self critic means being truthful in your assessment without being cruel to yourself. It’s just part of the process, don’t let it hurt you. It’s always good when you can find something to improve and you understand why — that’s wonderful information! If you don’t understand why, or can’t even tell if something is not good, that’s where you get stuck. (And why you need a coach!) If you know something is lacking, then you are forearmed with critical information that will allow you to improve. Work on it, improve it, and move on to the next thing. It’s like sanding down rough wood. Eventually you will be working away at smaller imperfections that other people won’t notice.

13) You are a partner with the author. Understand what they are trying to do, and serve it. Get out and push when you can to make sure that their intent gets across to the listener. All authors fail to achieve their goals sometimes, just as we do. You can be a helping hand when you can recognize the cracks that you can help paper over. Note, that does NOT mean rewriting their work or altering their intent — that means using your performance ability to give a little boost where needed.

14) Learn to effectively tell an author’s jokes. Recognize when they’re being funny, and make sure you get the humor across. This is a great thing to practice over and over to wring out just the right amount of humor and to illustrate to yourself how your performance can really work hand-in-hand with their words. If an author laughs when they hear their own joke, you win.

15) Don’t tell yourself you can’t do something. “I can’t do the other gender’s voices. I can’t do this accent.”

Yeah, you can. It’s just going to take some work.

Don’t settle. You may not ever be done, but you can absolutely improve. Coach. Practice.

16) Don’t let yourself tear down your authors. It’s your job to get on board with the book, to learn to love what you can about it. Find those things and get behind them. If you snark all over a book you are doing, you will begin to fail the author. They won’t all be beautifully written, but delight in the fact that you can elevate them with some hard work.

17) The hardest books will be the worst-written books. That’s OK. They are exercise. They’re whetstones. You are sharpening yourself so that when the amazing books fall into your lap you will be well prepared to absolutely rock them. Bonus: Fewer people listen to the poorly written ones, usually, so you can work slightly out of the spotlight while still getting paid. Challenge yourself to make these books sing to the best of your ability. It can be very satisfying.

18) Some of the books you like least are the ones everyone else seems to love. Again, don’t let yourself fall into the trap of flaking out on things that aren’t your favorite. They may become what you are known best for, so make sure you put forth your best.

19) I hesitate to say this for fear it’ll be taken wrong, but mimicry is a useful learning technique. Listening to performers you admire and mimicking their diction and delivery is (I think) very powerful. You don’t want to do that on a book. But it’s like learning to play an instrument. It’s exercise and, again, putting your voice where you want it. Internalizing lessons about diction, emphasis, emotion. If you do this, do this broadly so that you are adding a variety of ingredients. You’re not trying to channel Jim Dale for your own read, you want to absorb a variety of influences and then adopt little lessons here and there that work for you, while improving your ability to precisely do with your voice what you intend. Most artists copied favorite artists as a child — they don’t draw like those artists now, but they learned important lessons that were incorporated into their own personal style. The same goes for musicians. I think it holds true here as well.

20) When voicing dialogue, I think it is useful to have a mental movie image of what is going on. Where are the characters relative to one another when they are speaking? What are they doing? If one character is coming down the stairs while one awaits them, or they are leaning close across a table toward one another, they might speak the same lines, but they will sound very different. The clearer this image is, and the better it fits the action that the author has described, the richer and more ‘live’ your dialogue delivery will become.

21) If you can’t emote properly with a character voice, don’t do it. If the character can’t sing and tell a joke, you are straining too hard, and you can’t act. If you’re altering your voice, it needs to be comfortable and near effortless or the character will become wooden.

22) Be nice. (again)

 

Other resources on this topic:

• Vetted coaches are linked in Audiobook Village.

 

You’ve probably heard that audiobook narration is a marathon, not a sprint.

That phrase not only describes the type of work, but it also conveys the amount of time you may need to reach the level of success that you desire.

Like any business, audiobook narration has start-up costs, and it may take a while before you begin to see a profit.

Like any field in the performing arts, audiobook narration is an EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE field. Each job has exacting requirements the narrator must fulfill.

Before you even THINK of submitting yourself for publisher work, assess whether you:

1. Have a home studio with sound quality comparable to audiobooks produced by major publishers
2. Have completed more than 1 audiobook without asking the producer a lot of questions
3. Can do punch and roll when recording
4. Can differentiate characters
5. Do your own research about pronunciations
6. Are able to complete narration of an 8-hour book in a single week

Each person follows a different path. Some people do a handful of books on ACX and soon get cast by audiobook publishers like Blackstone and Tantor.

For others, the climb may take years. People who are viewed as “overnight successes” usually have been working diligently for 5-10 years.

You need to build a relationship with people in a position to hire you. An audio publisher might have invested $20k in a title they are going to produce. They don’t cast books on the basis of 1 random email from a narrator.

They don’t have the time or staff to train you. They have to know they can trust you — first, as a person who understands the industry expectations, and second, with the particular project — before they will cast you. If you are cast in a project, you must prove that the producer’s trust in you was warranted.

Unfortunately, narrators can break that trust after being cast in many ways, such as:

• agreeing to a rate for the contract and then saying they needed a higher rate
• accepting an audiobook project and then bailing on it because they had never recorded a book and didn’t know how hard it was
• delivering audiobook files late because they took a VO job
• communicating in a disrespectful manner, for instance responding with frustration when you aren’t cast

In addition, producers are working with and being contacted by 100s of other narrators. You need to distinguish what you bring to the table that they don’t already have.

You must continue doing your best work and marketing yourself to those who can hire you for as long as it takes.

Therefore, you must patiently persist and persevere by setting goals which include:

• setting up and treating your recording space
• obtaining coaching to answer your questions and improve your performance
• creating compelling demos with a coach’s guidance
• developing a web site
• auditioning for quality titles you’re suited for on ACX, even if they are only available for a royalty share contract
• completing a strong portfolio of audiobooks that demonstrate your strengths. If you aren’t getting cast to narrate an audiobook, look at producing your own work, perhaps with Public Domain texts.
• Receiving favorable listener and professional reviews
• researching publishers and contacting them AFTER your skills are at the level of the narrators they cast. You only have one chance to make a good first impression!
• attending industry events to meet people and build relationships
• sending regular emails to update casting people whom you’ve met about new skills, awards, and other areas that may help them cast you
• believing in yourself
• enjoying your life

The last 2 bullet points are important because it’s easy to feel frustrated, disappointed, etc. when it seems that it’s taking a long time to gain traction.

Remember, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it.

Some of the points in this article are based on this public Facebook post written by narrator/producer Tanya Eby.

 

Other resources on this topic:

• Common Mode CEO Jess Escalona offers info and advice in this Twitter thread.
• Narrator Thérèse Plummer describes the casting process in this Backstage article.
• This Tuesday Tip offers advice for composing succinct emails.
• When contacting prospects by email, follow these 5 pieces of email marketing advice.
• Contact one of the coaches listed in Audiobook Village.

Establishing and maintaining a relationship is the key to gaining work with any producer or publisher.

You’ll want to research people and companies before you contact them. It’s important to learn and follow each producer’s preferences for communications.

If you have a 6-month or yearly membership, you’ll find I’ve done much of the research for you! I created company listings loaded with producer names and lots of valuable info like producer interviews in the exclusive Casting Directory.

This article offers some additional tips and links to help you discover publishers and producers so you can make and build connections.

Please know that most producers will want to see a body of work before they are willing to take a chance on you. Refer to this article and learn about how narrators earn or abuse the trust of publishers.

AudioFile Magazine is the premier publication of the audiobook industry and lists publisher info in the Advertiser Directory found at the back of each issue.

You can search by company or service (check Independent Producers) in AudioFile’s Talent & Industry Guide.

Look at a genre you’re interested in on Audible.com and make a list of the publisher names producing work in that genre.

Once you know the company that produces the kind of audiobooks you want to narrate, you can search for producer names in LinkedIn or the APA directory below.

• The Google Site: search in this Tuesday Tip shows how to search LinkedIn for a name.
• Once you have a name with the company, this Tuesday Tip has 3 tactics for discovering a person’s email address.

If you’re a member of the Audio Publishers Association (APA), you can search the member database for producers’ email addresses. As with the AudioFile guide, most publishers don’t list a particular casting person and may not even designate someone as a producer. That’s another reason why researching LinkedIn can be so helpful.

APA members will find several “Ask a Casting Director” webcasts under Resources, then Webinars after logging in to the APA site. These videos enable you to learn all sorts of good stuff straight from the casting directors, including how and when to contact them. Many casting people give their email address.

You can follow my Twitter list of audiobook publishers. The link and instructions are in this article.

Follow my Twitter account because I often announce new audio publishers, such as in this tweet.

 

 

“Slating an audition” refers to saying your name at the beginning of the recording.

Unlike theater or commercial VO auditions that require actors to slate their name and possibly role, audiobook auditions don’t need slates unless the audition instructions specifically ask for one.

The reverse is also true: In those infrequent occasions where the instructions tell you to add a slate, be sure to say only your first and last name. You would not say the name of the book or author or offer any other information that was not requested.

Remember, the audition is the job interview.

Let the first thing they hear be what they want to hear — the actual audition.

In addition to showcasing how you would interpret the text, your recording also demonstrates 2 other key points:

1. You know how to follow instructions.
2. You have respect for the person who is listening to the auditions. You don’t waste their time with an unnecessary slate.

Depending on the number of auditions they’re hearing, time spent listening to slates can really add up. The slated files can cause confusion and frustration when the casting person has narrowed the choices and wants to hear the text but instead hears the actor’s name.

Slating at the end of the recording doesn’t help. Casting people don’t necessarily listen to the end of the file. Plus, doing something non-standard in the industry can make the listener wonder whether you understand the work and what is expected.

In addition, producers working with production companies or publishers often share the audition files with the author. They cut off the slates before sending the audition to their client.

By not slating, you have reduced the casting person’s time.

Be sure you label the file with your name. Even on ACX, the rights holders may download the audition files rather than listening to them inside the ACX system. If they like your take on the material, they need to know who you are so they can contact you.

The audition text may give you a file naming convention, which you should follow.

If no convention is present, I name my audition files using this format:

KarenCommins-BookTitle-Aud-DDMMYY

The filename informs me and the listener exactly what to expect. I would later know it’s an audition file and when it was recorded. I could easily decide whether to use it for a sample or delete it.

If you want your audition to be listed at the top of an alphabetically sorted list, label it this way as the leading underscore should sort first:

_Aud-BookTitle-FirstNameLastName

 

Other resources on this topic:

• For more tips on improving your audition chances, read the Knowledge Base article What can I do to win more auditions? and check out its list of resources.

The number one thing you need to do is FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. I can’t tell you how many comments I’ve read over the years from casting directors who state they immediately reject auditions where the talent has not followed the instructions given.

For instance, if the audition file should be named and/or formatted a certain way, you should name and format your file EXACTLY as specified. Your ability to follow instructions is a test. If you can’t pass this test on an audition, how can the casting director trust you to correctly submit an actual project? Attention to details MATTERS.

Other Tips

Never submit your VO demo for an audiobook audition! Don’t even submit an audiobook sample from the same genre unless the instructions explicitly state this action is acceptable. Anyone casting an audiobook wants to hear how you interpret and perform the actual words from the book.

If the audition specifies the rate, for instance royalty share, do not audition if you are not willing to work for that rate.

Many auditions specify a particular accent for the role. If you can’t do the accent well, don’t audition. Also, you won’t be scoring any points if you upload an accent that is different than the one requested.

Auditions calling for one gender should not be submitted by any one of a different gender.

Most right holders provide an audition script; it’s a requirement on ACX. Some rights holders will upload the whole book. You are not expected to read the entire book for the audition. However, you should at least search it for any material you would find objectionable.

If you decide you’re right for the book and were given the book instead of a script, you would choose dialogue of the 2-3 main characters in fiction, as well as some of the narrative. The RH needs to hear how you will tell the story. Auditions on ACX should not last longer than 5 minutes.

Only audition when you are right for the book. Otherwise, you’re wasting your and the rights holder’s time.

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Thanks to project manager/director Tina Dietz for her permission to republish this information that she originally posted on Facebook.

From the Director/Project Manager’s Desk: 10 ways to get yourself cut from the running for an audiobook narration job

1. Sound like you’re in a fishbowl, tunnel, or cavern
2. Have the first sound you make be a mouth noise (still twitching)
3. Don’t read first words on the audition page (even if it’s “Chapter 15”)
4. Be nasal
5. Manage to sound both acid and flat at the same time (like a day and a half old cup of coffee)
6. Send an audition reel or set of samples instead of the actual audition script
7. Email the rights holder/project manager over and over again asking for updates
8. Narrate at the speed of being chased by a pack of wild dogs
9. Submit an audition that’s clearly the first time you’re reading the copy out loud

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Author Josh Steimle wrote the article How I Chose A Narrator for My Audiobook. Thanks to narrator Paul Heitsch for his permission to republish below his analysis of that article which he originally posted on Facebook.

The salient points for me were –

“In some cases I could tell within five seconds there was no way I was choosing a certain narrator.”

Takeaway – if the audition script is longer than 5 minutes, pare it down to sections that reflect what’s most likely to matter to the RH’s decision (see below). They won’t have time or the inclination to listen to dozens of 20-minute auditions looking for that nugget of wonderfulness that only you can create.

“Some of the voices were fine, even great, but the technology they used put them at a disadvantage…. I felt bad for these folks, because my rejection had nothing to do with their talent, and everything to do with them not using the right equipment.”

Takeaway – Does anyone still think that doing their physical space and signal path on the cheap is a clever strategy?

“There were other narrators who were “eliminated” because they never auditioned. They sent me questions through the ACX system but I didn’t have time to answer them so I never received their auditions.”

Takeaway – Never wait to audition when you see a title you think you’d be good for, and that meets your other criteria. If you have questions you can follow up later, but get that audition in their hands ASAP.

“I did not reject anyone due to price or gender. The winner was actually the most expensive…”

Takeaway – Don’t worry about being underbid. Bid what you’re worth. If the client disagrees, they’re not who you want to be working with.

“The winning narrator came close to making me feel as though I were there with Seth Farbman and the other CMOs, hearing their real responses. It felt natural, friendly, authentic.”

Takeaway – Read the audition script, and tease out which aspects are likely to be most important to the RH. And commit to performing *everything* as authentically as you can.

 

Other resources on this topic:

• Watch this video from Bryan Cranston as he explains the actor’s job in an audition. Also watch this one from Robert De Niro as he shares his advice on audition mindset.
• Read narrator Jeffrey Kafer’s definitive article 8 Reasons Why You’re Not Landing ACX Audiobook Gigs.
• Award-winning narrator Joel Leslie Froomkin shows how to use reviews before you audition and markup your book during prep in this video.
• Work with a coach listed in the Coaches Directory.

The audiobook industry doesn’t have a “beginner” rate. The ACX union minimum, which is a professional rate, is $250 PFH to produce a retail-ready product. If you don’t feel your skills are at a level where you are comfortable charging that rate, you will want to get more training and do more volunteer and royalty share projects to gain experience.

If the book runs less than 1 hour, bill for one hour. Otherwise, invoice for the exact time. Enter the audiobook’s finished length in this time to decimal calculator. Multiply the resulting decimal number by your PFH rate to determine the cost.

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Thanks to sound engineer Amanda Rose Smith for her permission to re-publish the following information that she originally posted on Facebook.

Let’s talk rates, people.

So, for context, for any new people who don’t know me, I’m not a narrator. I’m the head of a small pub’s audio department, and hire narrators on a regular basis.

Here’s the deal.

No one worth working for is going to be offering you $75 PFH. That’s not a thing. No successful business that you want to be associated with, or who will have any projects that you’d want people to see in your portfolio, is going to pay you that little.

Around $200 PFH is the BOTTOM of what you should be asking for, for clean, punch-recorded audio.

This does not include:

• mastering or editing (beyond the clean, punched audio)
• a proof listen against the script to catch errors

If you need to deliver final audio, you should be aiming for $250-300 PFH, at LEAST.

And just to pre-empt some questions and excuses that always come up —

1) “But I’m just starting out, and need experience!”
If you aren’t ready to do pro work, you’re not ready to be taking on ANY projects. There’s no “bad work” discount. If you’re doing bad work, you shouldn’t be doing paid work. Practice. Volunteer to read for blind people. Get coaching. Don’t put bad work out into the world for cheap.

2) “But no clients will pay that!”
Yes, they will. I am living proof of that. If you can’t find clients to pay those rates, you’re looking in the wrong place for work. A lot of successful ACX narrators bring their own authors onto the platform. Look into that. Or get some business coaching. Marketing yourself and networking are separate skills from narrating

3) “Mind your own business. If you don’t want to work for the rates I work for, charge higher, and let me charge what I want!”
Oh, alas, if only we all worked in a vacuum. But we don’t. Every time you take less than a living wage, you’re telling your client that’s okay, and that’s what they should pay everyone. You’re hurting your colleagues just as much as you’re hurting yourself.

4) “Well, at least it’s better than working for free with RS!”
RS isnt supposed to be free. If you’re not getting paid for any of your RS titles, you’re doing that wrong, too. It’s not free work, and it’s not a total gamble. You shouldn’t be taking RS titles that you don’t have some reason to believe will make your standard PFH rate, at minimum, over time.

Look — If you come at a career from a place of scarcity, you’ll always lose. No one values people who don’t value themselves — and why should they?

You know yourself best. If you think you’re worth less, I’m going to believe you.

Joining this field doesn’t come easy, and it doesn’t come quickly. It’s ok to spend a few months or more, just training and learning, before going all in.

And if you do it right, you’ll be up and running within a year. I’ve seen it happen over and over and over again.

It’s not magic or rocket science or luck. It’s just starting a business thoughtfully.

 

Other resources on this topic:

• This article and its comments provide additional explanation about the formula for estimating finished time, the work involved in producing a finished hour, and considerations for your rate calculations.
• Royalty share contracts are a deferred payment for the cost of production, which is paid through the royalties earned on the audiobook. While some of the info in this article and its comments are dated, you can learn some ways to improve your chances of earning your fee over time through RS contracts.
• You’ll find several more useful articles about RS in the Payment Options and Narrators Views About Royalty Share Projects section of my AudioForAuthors.com page.
• You may want to look into some business coaching from one of the pros listed in the Coaches Directory in Audiobook Village.