Can I Just Ask ... How Do You Get Into Audiobooks?

As self Isolation and Covid19 become part of our normal (and I hope long and healthy) lives, I and many of my narrator colleagues are being overwhelmed with enquiries about 'how to get into audiobooks'. I am getting almost as many emails asking how to set up a home studio and record remotely.  I'd love to be able to answer all these emails and messages individually but I'm afraid I can't - I have deadlines to meet I there just aren't enough hours in the day to individually answer every email or mesage that comes in.  And in case you're wondering how I'm finding time to write this, it is now 1.30 in the morning! It's been a long day!.

"​I'm getting a ton of emails from people who want to 'bend my ear' and talk audiobooks for a while. They've always wanted to be a narrator and now seems like the perfect time.

It's actually not the perfect time.

The creation of audiobooks and narration is not easy. It seems that way, because we make it appear that way. So, even if you have a home computer and a microphone...there is SO much more you need to know before you're ready to produce an audiobook.

With what's happening in the world right now, the audiobook industry is in flux and the new productions will need to be with established talent who understand the minutiae of producing a book. And there's a lot of detail to it.

I wish I had time to educate people, but every time you ask me for coffee or a virtual meeting, it's an hour out my day that I could use to be working and supporting my family. And I need to support my family more than ever right now. . . ."

" This is not to say you CAN'T do it. You can. There are resources available to you. One of the little known things about audiobooks is that if you're really meant to do this, you will figure it out yourself. It's actually great training in being a narrator. You need to be self-motivated, a problem solver, tenacious, responsible, respectful...and have some talent. You also need to research the heck out of the job."

Image by 'thedarknut' from Pixabay

Working from Home An increasing number of folk are self isolating - and are having to work from home, I thought I'd share this excellent information written by a friend of mine, who runs a successful business from home - and is a wizard at organisation and communication. Her article is relevant to anyone working from home - but particuarly at the moment when there are increasing demands from other family members - who are also isolated at home..

I am posting this here in case it's of any help to people (like me) used to having the house to themselves during the day, who are now surrounded by people unused to structuring their own days. Routines can be so reassuring, without us having to say a word.


In the last week I've gone through what we all have, and noticed how it made my sense of day/time a bit swimmy. Fell into some news/social media habits I don't want. By Friday I realized that I need structure in my work days, and it is going to be up to me to establish it, and ask my family to respect it, or I am not going to get much done.


Some suggestions:
1.      Get YOUR head together first. Do a brain dump, on scratch paper or in a journal or wherever, of all of your thoughts, fears, hopes, big and small, related to this whole situation. Get all that noise on paper and look at it, own it, set it aside. Not a bad way to start or end each day for a while if it helps...kind of like morning pages in The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.


2.     Look at your work commitments, schedule, etc. and erase the things that were canceled. You've probably already done this.


3.     With the things not happening, do you have more time to meet deadlines? If so, rather than taking on more projects, can you plan a condensed workday / work week? Consider a policy of not working after dinner, not working weekends. You could do 10 hours in 4 days instead of 5.


4.     Consider your family's daily rhythms now. Do you have little ones who are up with the sun, or teenagers who sleep in? When you look at your work day, plan work time that is congruent with these rhythms. Save yourself frustration wherever possible.


5.      Plan your in-the-office calendar. When will you be in your office / studio? How much of the time will be recording, how much time for admin tasks? Build in a couple of stretch / walk around breaks as needed. Set TRT goals for each recording block. Make rules for non-work internet use. Use apps that lock you out of news / social media during certain hours if necessary. This version of your schedule is more detailed and it's for you.


6.     Now look at your detailed calendar and zoom out a bit. What is work and what is not work? This is all that matters to your family. Summarize your workday. For me, it's 8:30-12:30, 1:30-4 with an option to be done at 2:30 if I was super-productive in the morning.


7.     POST YOUR SCHEDULE on the family bulletin board, fridge, wherever everyone sees it. Also post it on your office door. Your detailed schedule can be in your office.


8.     Communicate about it. Your only goal this week is to try your hardest to hold to your plan, and to patiently communicate with your family. It'll take time for everyone to settle in. Emphasize that routine can be helpful for everyone at a time like this, that you are sharing your routine that helps you, and encouraging them to come up with a daily routine that helps them. For younger kids, agree on a few times during the day they can count on to connect with you. When those times come, "pencils down" and keep your promise.


9.     Hold steady and keep your patience. Your schedule is not a battle line, it's not a punishment, it's not a declaration that you are more important than others. For kids, you are setting an example. For a spouse or partner who misses the rhythms of the office, your work rhythms can give them that same sense of the day/week they had at work.


10.     If people aren't understanding the difference between work and not-work time, it might feel silly but you can actually talk as though your office is outside the house. "Ok everybody, heading to work now, I'll see you around x:xx for lunch!" might feel silly but it underscores that you are not going to be available to do household things for a bit. If people are asking you do do household or fun things during work time, you can always Obi-Wan that person: "that sounds really fun! I look forward to doing that with you at x:xx."

Six monthly check up!

One Voice Awards 2019 . . . 

On Saturday 11 May 2019 - I attended the One Voice Awards in London. This is a major annual event in the world of audio and voice overs in the UK, part of the One Voice Conference run by the inestimable Gravy for The Brain.  Awards are given for excellence across all genres of voice work and the judging process is acknowledged as being exceptionally thorough, totally independent and incorruptable! There are only two Audiobook related awards, one for non-fiction one for fiction - and this year I was shortlisted in both categories. To my delight and surprise, I won the One Voice Award for the Best Fiction Audiobook Performance. My acceptance speech was less than impressive - so here, with hindsight, is the speech I wish I had made!

The Acceptance Speech I wish I'd made 

What's In A Name . . . ? 

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

I spotted a question on social media the other day that got me thinking. A professional Voiceover was applying to be featured on an online casting site and was being asked to use a different name from the name she is known by professionally - to basically go undercover! I know this is common practice on many Pay to Play sites, but it seems to be gaining popularity with the growing number of online casting sites labelling themselves as an 'Agency' and thus offering representation to voice actors and VO folk. ​This worries me ... but why am I concerned?

"One word, trust. Personally I think it shows a distinct lack of trust on behalf of the voice over artist and insinuates that we will take on a repeat client and bypass the source from whence it came. That’s not my style.  I will ALWAYS refer back to the source if it came back from an agency. Personally I’m not a fan of a pseudonym at all."

Re-inventing yourself.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Having recently celebrated a milestone birthday -  fifty years since graduating from drama school - I can't help reflecting that according to my reckoning, I'm on my fifth major re-invention of myself.  Of course, as a jobbing actor, there were also a selection of 'inbetween-jobs'  jobs  - shop assistant in the lingerie department of Barker's High Street Ken, waitress at the Toasted Cushion on Fleet Street, painter and decorator, office temp, wedding cake maker, knitter, teacher, researcher and medical secretary - but these brief interludes aside - everything I have done in my working life has been related to, and connected with my childhood ambition - to be an actor!

​AUDIOBOOK NARRATION - TOP-TIP

Audiobook samples Having great samples on your website and various profile pages and they can really help you to get work.  I mark excerpts that I think would make useful clips while I am prepping my reads, and also keep the audio of those sections (if I am recording remotely) or re-record them at home when I'm working in a mainstream studio - that way I have all kinds of samples at hand - featuring dialogue, accents, styles of deliver and different genres to send to publishers - and add to my list of clips on my VoiceZam profile, Sound Cloud and other profiles - having asked permission of the rights holder of course!

Muse from The Booth - It's that time of year again

​Well ... what a year 2018 was! Amid the chaos surrounding us all - all the horrors and worries  that were so much part of our lives, professionally it was a great year! I have never been busier - not only in audiobooks, but also in other fields of voice over work. And I am very grateful.

That sinking feeling - money thrown away or a wise investment?

Do you ever get a sinking feeling after you've made an impulse buy that you perhaps couldn't afford, and which, when you get it home, turns out to be a big mistake?  I certainly have a few disastrous impulse buys hanging in my wardrobe  - and it's even easier to buy impulsively online.  However - this post is not about buying a new dress or a pair of shoes. I am talking about spending money on your career and investing in your business - and how to avoid making some costly mistakes. It's important to invest in my career and in the equipment and software that I use. I want to learn how to use my skills effectively, I want to build my business and to expand into new areas of work; I want to make social media and marketing work to my best advantage - and to make the most of my USP in an increasingly overcrowded market.  And it goes without saying, there are numerous individuals and organisations that will take my money and in exchange, will promise to help me with all of these things.  However, it's all too easy to get swept away on a cloud of enthusiasm leading to some very expensive mistakes!

UK Audiobooks - Competition, Cost  & Quality?  

Has the Audiobook industry in the UK  become obsessed with keeping down costs? Judging by the numerous discussions on various Facebook Narrator and VO groups, the answer is 'yes'. Despite being told that Audiobooks are the darling of the publishing industry - the largest growth area in publishing for decades, it seems that rates for all the creatives involved in audiobook production are not showing any improvement. It seems as though a lot of audiobook publishers are asking studios to compete on price rather than on quality? If profits are so high, why are the rates for bread and butter audiobook narrators, not to mention freelance producers, audio proofers, editors and audio engineers in the UK, sinking so low?

​Remote Narration & Audiobooks - A Viable Option

In my last post 'Muse from The Booth no 17, I discussed audiobook narrators recording for the first time in a Pro Studio. Today, the opposite - remote recording an audiobook from your own personal studio. Remote recording is the norm when recording audiobooks for the majority of publishers on the US - though not yet in the UK. However, as more British audiobook publishers can clearly hear the quality of the audiobooks that remote narrators are recording from home studios, they're becoming more flexible. ​What is expected of the narrator recording remotely - and what do we need to do to ensure quality and production values don't fall?

First Time Audiobook in a Pro studio? 

The world of audiobook narration has changed immensely even over the past three or four years - and a recent email from a colleague highlighted something I hadn't previously considered. There are an increasing number of established professional narrators who record audiobooks remotely - so despite having a significant number of reads to their credit, plus Earphone awards, Audie nominations and awards - and other significant gongs, there are an increasing number who have only ever recorded remotely. Being invited to record in a professional recording studio for the first time is pretty daunting - but perhaps even more so if you are used to flying solo.  I know it was for me!

​An open letter from an Actor to Casting Folk
​

Where are the Working Class Voices? According to an article in the Guardian today. working-class people continue to be hugely under-represented in the arts, and the people at the top – mostly well-paid, middle-class white men – are least likely to see it. This conclusion was reached in a new report published today, billed as the first sociological study on social mobility in the cultural industries. The study used data from interviews with 237 people who work in the creative industries to shine light on a problem that the report’s authors said is a longstanding one. ​ "The percentage of people working in publishing with working-class origins was given as 12.6%. In film, TV and radio it was 12.4%, and in music, performing and visual arts, 18.2%. Aside from crafts, no creative occupation comes close to having a third of its workforce from working-class origins, which is the average for the population as a whole. The research shows that the people most attached to the idea of the arts being a meritocracy – that the best jobs go to those with the most talent – were white middle-class men who occupied the highest-paid jobs and who were most able to bring about change."

“There is only one class in the north, and that’s working class, and if you’re a woman you will be slightly brassy and a bit blowzy; if you’re a man you’re either aggressive or you’re angsty and poetic. That is the entire north in a nutshell."
Maxine Peak - Actress

Podcasts & Webinars
An irritation or a Useful Resource?

I have never been overly fond of listening to podcasts or tuning in to webinars; I so often find them  frustrating and unsatisfactory and usually lose interest and drop out of the session. But why?  My antipathy to podcasts and webinars puzzles me because as an avid 'talk radio' listener (BBC Radio 4) :  people talking about what interests them, interviews and radio documentaries are what I listen to most. As far as TV is concerned, I watch far more factual programmes than anything else, so why do I frequently find podcasts and webinars, which are essentially an online version of what I enjoy so much on the radio and television, so singularly unsatisfactory?  Today it suddenly struck me ... a lightbulb moment!

One of the cardinal rules for journalists, interviewers and presenters - it is not about you; it's about your guests. 

Listening to a discussion where the interviewer is following their own agenda is like having a health related discussion with a hypochondriac - every illness, every ache and pain you've experienced, they've had -  not only more often, but more seriously! 

Sun King Media - investigated by Simon Hare on BBC ONE

Advice on Social Media?  - Take it with a pinch of salt!

End of Year Review 2017

New Year Resolutions

In 2018 I will . . .