Suppose your book includes a web address like:
“http://www.KarenCommins.com/othermedia/GraphicRomance.mp4”
You don’t need to say http:// or www. at the beginning of the URL for 2 reasons:
1. The general population has used computers and the Internet.
2. Computer servers almost always will connect to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) even when you don’t type the protocol (http://) or World Wide Web (www.) designations.
The period in a web URL or email address is spoken as “dot”. A hyphen is called “dash”.
Therefore, you would say this example address using these words
Karen Commins dot com slash other media slash graphic romance dot M P four
A good mnemonic for remembering the difference between slash and backslash is that the slash symbol / leans to the right. Web addresses always use slashes, not backslashes, so you will be RIGHT in saying slash!
For what it’s worth, a backslash \ leans to the left. You will see it on Windows machines for directory paths, where Mac machines use a slash for the same purpose.
If your book is non-fiction with real addresses, you would need to take care to spell out any words and include any capitalization AFTER the slash following the domain name, as if the listener is taking dictation and typing in the address as you speak.
In our example, KarenCommins.com (Karen Commins dot com) is the domain name. In a non-fiction book, our URL could be said as
Karen Commins dot com (that’s k a r e n c o m m i n s) slash other media slash graphic romance (all one word) dot m p four (with a capital G in graphic and capital R in romance)
Email addresses are written as Karen@NarratorsRoadmap.com. You’d say “Karen at Narrators Roadmap dot com”. Email addresses are not case-sensitive.
Many narrators have asked about the pronunciation on the site Reddit. The information on that site is organized in groups that begin with “r/”, such as “r/schnauzers”. Even though the co-founder said “ahr slash” in this clip, some publishers have directed narrators to say “the sub-reddit”. In my example, you’d say “ahr slash schnauzers” or “the sub-reddit schnauzers”. My choice would depend on the context and audience.
By the way, if you see one of my domains mentioned in your book, please let me know!
Other resources on this topic:
- This page shows another example where capitalization makes a difference in the URL.
- The Welcome Center lists several options for assistance with pronunciation research.