Transparency
Transparency is pretty dang important to me. In business, when your end goal is revenue, dishonesty and amorality become advantageous. I don't want to approach this like a business man. I love books, I love making audiobooks, and I want to share your passion for your book. To prove that to you, I've decided to include this page where I give you waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more information than you want or need about myself, and how I approach audio narration.
Fair warning: if you couldn't already tell, I’m a rambler. You will not be spared of that here. Proceed at your own risk.
What’s with the pay rate?
It takes an average of 6.7 hours of labor to produce one hour of finished audio. That does not include the time it takes to find and record auditions, negotiate a contract, read and prepare the manuscript before narration, or make changes requested by the rights-holder after audio is submitted.
It's hard to give an estimate on how much the average narrator makes, but a good median-range for self-published audiobooks is $150-$200 Per Finished Hour ($22.39 - $29.85 per hour of labor). Given that you’ll be taking a risk by hiring me, and given that I love doing what I do, I’m comfortable lowering that price a bit. $125 PFH is roughly equivalent to $18.66 per hour of labor.
But you do get what you pay for. Narrators in price brackets below this are almost certainly going to deliver worse audio and create more of a hassle for you in the long run. If you’re just making your book for fun/don’t have the budget for a high quality audio-book, this is fine. But if you’re determined to make a high-quality audio-book that will sell, you’ll need to invest a bit more.
What sort of training do you have?
The best kind: real life experience.
For real though, I’m entirely self taught. I do not have any formal training. I do have acting experience and I did study creative writing at the University of Oklahoma- both of which are vital to my ability to deliver a compelling performance. But I learned to narrate from internet guides, YouTube tutorials, and the audiobooks I’ve had the opportunity to produce. If you’re intimidated by that, I get it. Your book is your baby. Hiring someone like me is a risk compared to someone with more extensive training.
BUT- if you like the sound of my voice, I can honestly and transparently tell you that I can and will deliver you an audio book that sounds great. I’ve never encountered issues with the audio-books I’ve produced. None have ever been returned, and I’ve never had an author cancel a contract. Ever. What you hear on my sample page is indicative of how your book will sound if you chose to hire me.
The risk associated with hiring a self-taught producer is factored into my pay rates. Moreover, I'd be more than happy to record a short sample for you, free of charge, so you can give me a try without any risk.
You seem awfully young…
I’m 23. You aren’t going to see many other narrators my age. That’s not a matter of their voices being too young-sounding- on the contrary, having a voice that is naturally similar to your main-character’s can be desirable. If you’re writing YA, that means you may want a younger narrator.
The issue is that breaking into voice-over and audio-book narration is next to impossible for most young people. Doing so requires you to spend hours upon hours practicing your craft, auditioning, and producing audio, as well as learning how to do all those things. When you start out, those hours will probably go unpaid.
In fact, it costs money to start recording. You either need to buy professional-grade equipment, or you need to pay for time in a studio. For someone either going through college, or working day and night to get by, (or both,) choosing to drop dozens of hours and hundreds of dollars to pursue voice-over work is ludicrous.
So how did I manage? I’d like to tell you I got by with sheer grit, grinding day and night for hours and hours each week, until I made it because my voice is just that good.
Transparently though, I just got lucky. I have a family member who needed to narrate their own audio book. On a whim, I asked to borrow their equipment. A few months of narrating in my family member’s closet later, I had made the money I needed to purchase my own equipment. I kept going, and now… here we are.
You don’t sound 23…
Nope. But I do in real life. Most of the time, anyway. I’m able to achieve a more mature sound during the editing process, depending on the needs of the project. That’s not to say the voice you’re hearing is entirely fake though. The editing I do to alter it is very subtle. Even so, if you and I were to hop on a phone call, you might be surprised by how I sound in real life.
Hypothetically. I patently refuse to talk on the phone with you.
Everyone says they’ll “work with you to deliver the best product possible.” What do you mean when you say that?
I mostly mean that I’m a perfectionist. Almost to a fault. I’m the sort of person who spends hours moping about a delicious meal they’ve made because they messed up one step even if it still tastes good. You know that portrait I have on the main page? That’s not what it looked like originally. I wasn’t satisfied with the quality, and I had a specific idea in my mind of how I wanted it to look. So I spent 4 hours re-touching and color-balancing until it looked how I wanted it to. The average person wouldn’t be able to tell a difference, but I could, and that was a problem for me. I also use the same background for every single page on this website. I didn’t like any of the backgrounds Squarespace offered, so I just made my own.
I’ll approach your audio book the same way. Not out of principal, nor based on how much you’re paying me, but out of compulsion.
That’s not to say I’m going to hold your audio-book in production-hell for eternity. Deadlines exist for a reason, and I’ll make sure to deliver you your book in the time-frame we agree on.
Why are you talking so much?
ADHD.
Will you really answer any questions I have? Are you really approachable?
Yes! I will talk your ear off if you give me the chance (obviously). That is both a threat and a promise. You don’t even have to ask me about service related stuff. I have an opinion on just about everything.