I trust the sites listed below because one or more of these conditions is true:

• I know the owner.
• I have used the service or product.
• I have reviewed unsolicited testimonials from other narrators.

I would not refer you to a service or product created by someone who has narrated a few books and now considers themselves an expert! I also am not receiving compensation from any of these businesses with the exception of any affiliate links as noted in the Terms of Service.

If you contact one of the people below, please let them know you found them listed on NarratorsRoadmap.com!

Accents and Dialects

• Accents & Dialects Masterclass — Voice actor and dialect coach Eliza Jane Schneider offers a video package with samples, a call with her, and membership in her Facebook group.
• AccentHelp.com — A number of specialized dialect kits containing numerous recordings, written materials, and links to reference voices are available for purchase for a nominal charge.
• DrDialect.com — Narrator and coach PJ Ochlan provides paid personal coaching in accents and dialects.
• Narrator and coach Pat Fraley has a home-study course that you can get with or without his guidance.
• The Talk Shop — Speech, dialect, and breath coach Amanda Quaid offers personal coaching and group classes, including a specialized class called Gender + Speech for Narrators.

Author Resources

My Audiobook Resources for Authors is a categorized list of helpful articles from a variety of sites to help educate authors about all phases of the audiobook production process, from writing with audio in mind to marketing the finished audiobook.

Book Covers

• If you publish your own audiobook, you’re responsible for supplying the book cover. I have been very pleased with Emma Lysy Design.

Books 

Books specifically about becoming a narrator and improving your performance are shown on the Home page.

• I highly recommend that every freelancer read How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors: Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee by Larry Steinmetz and William Brook. As I explain in this article, you’ll learn why price shoppers are not the clients you want to have.
• Throughout your career as a narrator, negotiation skills will be very useful. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William L. Ury is a highly rated book on this topic. Thanks to narrator Peter Lerman for the suggestion as well as this link to its key points.
• If you’re interested in becoming a publisher, you’ll find good information in The Guide to Publishing Audiobooks: How to Produce and Sell and an Audiobook by Grammy-winning audiobook director Jessica Kaye.
• Audiobook narrator and coach Sean Pratt wrote a helpful book for all actors: To Be or Wanna Be: The Top Ten Differences Between a Successful Actor and a Starving Artist.
• Actions: The Actors’ Thesaurus is a handy guide of active verbs that help the narrator define the tactics the character is using to get what s/he wants.
• The Actor’s Script: Script Analysis for Performers can help the narrator better analyze and interpret the script and apply acting skills in performance.
• Several reference books are useful on a regular basis in non-fiction narration:
  • HarperCollins Bible Pronunciation Guide
  • Merriam Webster Biographical Dictionary
  • Merriam Webster Geographical Dictionary

Coaching

A vetted directory of audiobook coaches and consultants for both audiobook performance and business issues can be found in Audiobook Village.

Discord Servers

Some narrators record while live on camera on a Discord server. You can watch and listen to them work and possibly interact with them. Narrator Aven Shore wrote this illustrated guide which explains how to connect to and navigate in one of these systems. She also wrote this guide for using Open Broadcaster Software to narrate on Discord. If you decide to narrate on this service or any other medium, be aware that you must first obtain the RH’s permission to avoid copyright infringement.

Join a narrator’s Discord session using one of the following links:

• The Haven (open to narrators romance, erotica, and/or LGBTQ material)
• The Narrators Nook (open to all narrators to use)
• Individual narrators’ servers:
  • Travis Baldree — Cryptid Audio
  • Jennifer Blom — Jennifer’s Narrator Corner
  • Steve Campbell — Campbell’s Corner
  • Chris Ciulla — Leonardo Audiobook Narration
  • Emma Faye — Clean Reads Lounge
  • Jeff Hays — Soundbooth Theatre
  • Andrea Parsneau — Maven’s Narration Madness
  • Austin Rising — Fantasy is Everywhere
  • Todd Waites — TW Narrates
• Author Dawn Chapman maintains this Facebook list of author servers, starting with her own.

Downloadable Training

• I presented the webinar Put Yourself in the ACX Driver’s Seat. You can get the 3-hour video and audio recordings, my 90+ slides, and my exclusive list of 40+ resources on my Shop page.
• I hosted a webinar with intellectual property attorney and Grammy-winning audiobook director Jessica Kaye about licensing audio rights. You can purchase the 1.5-hour recording with transcript and sample agreement on my Shop page.
• Audio engineer Don Baarns has developed several video courses on Studio One and iZotope RX.
• Narrator Andi Arndt has created the site Narrator.Life, which offers free and paid courses for aspiring, beginning, and advanced narrators.
• Narrator Jennifer Blom has developed a video of her introductory Reaper class. She also shares some free Reaper scripts.
• Narrator James Anderson Foster lists videos for his Fostering Characters workshop and narrator web sites.
• Narrator and coach Pat Fraley sells in his on-line shop a wide variety of books, as well as home study courses available with and without critique, including the 5-course Audiobook Major set.
• Narrator Jeffrey Kafer shares his strategies for picking more winners among royalty share titles and creating an attention-getting portfolio.
• Narrator and coach Emily Lawrence has a modular course on Narrator Business Skills focusing on branding, marketing, and client relationships which is available either with or without her personal guidance.
• VoiceOverXtra has numerous recordings of webinars, including the Complete Audiobook Narrator Series featuring coaches Paul Alan Ruben and Sean Pratt, and engineer George Whittam.

Editors and Proofers

Need an editor or proofer for your project? Contact one of the people in Audiobook Village.

Marketing

• My Audiobook Marketing Cheat Sheet — This free page offers a treasure trove of tips and tactics to market your audiobook. The RH should be doing the heavy lifting for audiobook marketing. Marketing yourself as a narrator, which is a better use of your time, requires different strategies. The best marketing book to help you increase your general client list is Get Clients Now! by CJ Hayden.
• These services and more are listed in the cheat sheet above:
  • AudiobookBoom.com — Created by narrator Jeffrey Kafer, this site allows you to post paid ads in a weekly newsletter of titles for which you can offer reviewers a download code.
  • AudiobooksUnleashed.com — Developed by narrator Sarah Sampino, this site gives you several options for listings that automatically provide your audiobook promo codes to requesting listeners. A nice value-add is a field for your newsletter sign-up link.
  • AudioFreebies.com — Developed by narrator Amy Soakes, this site helps you give out codes either manually or automatically, plus it works for Audible and Author’s Direct codes.
  • Many people have asked how to create an audiogram, which is the short video where the WAV file is visible over the book cover similar to this example. I mentioned 2 sites on my Cheat Sheet above but am including them here for ease of reference: Headliner, a free site, and Wavve.co, a paid one.

Podcasts

• Audible Original Audicted hosted by Audible’s editors
• Audio BarnYard hosted by Don Baarns
• Audiobook Break hosted by AudioFile Magazine
• Audiobook Lovin’ hosted by Viviana Izzo
• Audiobook Narration for Beginners hosted by narrator J. Rodney Turner
• Audiobook Speakeasy hosted by narrator Rich Miller
• Behind the Mic hosted by AudioFile Magazine
• Harper Audio Presents hosted by Harper Audio
• Story Bites hosted by narrator/author Tanya Eby and author Sarina Bowen
• Voices In My Head (video show) hosted by narrator Basil Sands

You’ll find more shows in my Twitter list of Audiobook Podcasts. Skip down to the Twitter List section below for more info about my lists.

Pronunciation

• AudioEloquence.com — Created and maintained by narrators Judith West and Heather Anne Henderson, this free site contains the motherlode of vetted pronunciation sites to aid in research, many with sound clips.
• Pronounceology.com — Developed by narrator Adam Verner, this paid site automates your pronunciation research. A free referral list of vetted researchers is also available on the site.
• Subject Matter Experts may be able to assist you.

Studio Treatment and DAW Training

• This article lists 7 places to learn audio editing for audiobooks.
• Don Baarns provides personal coaching on StudioOne and more. He also has started an audio review service that’s free at the moment.
• Jennifer Blom teaches people to use Reaper.
• Jack DeGolia trains people to use Twisted Wave.
• Jim Edgar offers a free audio review, as well as classes and coaching on recording software.
• Dan Lenard can help create or troubleshoot your studio and assist you with your demo.
• George Whittam has a variety of studio services and tutorial videos.
• Roy Yokelson offers studio treatment and coaching in software among many other services.

Time-saving Services

• AudiobookScout.com — Created by narrator/author Craig Tollifson, this paid site notifies you about ACX listings that fit your criteria and includes links to the ancillary research needed to evaluate them.
• Narratic.com — Another offering from CraigTollifson, this paid site tracks and emails you about your ratings and reviews for your audiobooks on Audible.
• Pozotron.com — Co-founder Jake Poznanski loves audiobooks and has developed a paid tool that narrators can use to aid in their proofing. The tool is also useful for finding every occurrence of a word in a recording.

Twitter Lists

I maintain what are arguably the largest Twitter lists of audiobook publishers, narrators, bloggers, and podcasters. This article explains how to subscribe to and use them.

Utilities

• Audible Sample Finder — Enter your audiobook’s Audible page on narrator Steven Jay Cohen’s site, and his code will extract your sample for you at no charge.
• 2nd Opinion — Steven Jay Cohen created another nifty utility that’s free to download and use. This one checks the technical aspects of your recorded files.

Voiceover

• Voice Actor Websites maintains a comprehensive database about all things related to voiceover careers.

Web Sites

• I highly recommend the talented team at Voice Actor Websites. They created this site and KarenCommins.com and exceeded my vision for functionality and form in both cases.
• Andrea Emmes Designs specializes in creating web sites, graphics, business cards and other branding materials for audiobook narrators.
• James Anderson Foster offers a user interface heuristic evaluation of your audiobook narrator website.

YouTube Playlists

Rather than adding each individual video to the Videos page, the creators of these playlists consistently produce excellent, useful material for narrators:

• Daniela Acitelli Narrators Weekly Cup of Joe
• ACX — multiple playlists from ACX University and more
• Ahab Breakdown monthly web show presented by Penguin Random House Audio
• Travis Baldree Audiobook Production