*Originally published 12/19, last updated 9/24
This blog post is my quick-start guide on how to get started with narration and find the right (paying!) work. If you have more questions after reading or need help at any point in the process, I am available to hire for one-on-one coaching!
Since I made the transition from in front of the camera actor to audiobook narrator, I’ve had several fellow actors, authors and friends ask me about my success, and how they can get started in narration. Truthfully, with a little skill, patience and some basic equipment (that you may already have!), it’s very easy to get started submitting auditions and using your voice to bring books to life!
WHY I LOVE NARRATION
Through narration, and all voice work for that matter, the only thing you’re being judged on is how you SOUND. What your voice sounds like, how you bring the characters to life, how naturally you pace a scene, what kind of emotion you use to bring the words to life… I’ve found it truly freeing as an actor, and I love getting to try out new voices and characters that I would likely never get to play on screen. My work as a narrator has also helped me grow as an on-camera actor, with the ability to do dozens of accents and voices and improved cold reading skills.
GETTING STARTED
Things you’ll need
A computer, MAC or PC.
Recording and Editing Software (Garage Band comes built in on a MAC or Audacity is FREE to download and either - or both - are perfect for getting started)
A good-quality USB or Condensor Microphone (Your built-in mic is likely not up to quality standards)
A small, quiet space in your home (No echo-y rooms, noisy fishtanks, air conditioners, etc)
Lots of PATIENCE :)
Once you have the equipment you need, do some experimenting with your levels, settings, learn your way around the software, etc. This can be a little time consuming but can make a world of difference when it comes to your audio quality. Audiobook Distributors have specific specs for their audio so you also need to be able to edit and master all of your files to meet their specifications, or all of your hard work will be moot if the files do not pass quality control.
I can not stress enough how important it is to learn how to use your equipment and software BEFORE you start submitting auditions or taking on work. Take the time now so once you start booking work, you don’t experience any technical hiccups.
FINDING WORK
This part is fun, relatively easy, and best of all, FREE! All starting narrators should sign up on ACX.com, which stands for Audiobook Creation Exchange, and is an Amazon based company that is also tied to the big hitter in audiobooks, Audible. You can even sign up with your already existing Amazon account! Creating a profile is relatively painless, and this is when you’ll submit any audio samples, if you have them. If you haven’t narrated any books yet and don’t have any VO samples, record yourself reading a few excerpts from your favorite books or books in genres you are interested in narrating. This is also a good chance to experiment with your recording equipment and software, and to see how well you do reading long sentences, trying out different character voices, etc.
Once your profile is complete, it’s time to start AUDITIONING! There are over two thousand titles up for Audition on ACX at any given time, and you are pretty much guaranteed to find a few books that fit your vocal style and ability right off the bat.
MAKING MONEY AS A NARRATOR
While narration is fun and a great way to get your reading in, it can also be a lucrative freelance opportunity. As I said, there are SO many jobs on ACX, and there are a few different payment structures you’ll run into. Royalty Share, Royalty Share Plus, and Paid Per Finished Hour (PFH).
Royalty Share- A large bulk of titles on ACX will be listed as Royalty Share. Basically this means you’ll enter an agreement with the author or publisher where you will get paid nothing up front, but will make 50% of profits every month the title is on sale, indefinitely. Important information on this below.
Royalty Share Plus- Same as the above, except you work out a deal with the author or publisher where you also make a lesser PFH rate in addition to royalties.
Paid Per Finished Hour- As it sounds, you’re paid a flat rate for each hour of the book. This isn’t based on the time you put into it, but on the final running time of the book. It’s important overall to understand that for every hour of finished audio, you will have approximately 2.5-3 hours (and maybe more as you’re starting out) of work into it. More on PFH rates below.
DIVING DEEPER INTO ROYALTY SHARE AND PFH RATES
When I first decided to try my hand at narration, I submitted a handful of Royalty Share auditions, basically auditioning for any title I saw that had a pretty cover and looked like something I’d be interested in reading. Within a few days I had several contract offers, which I excitedly (and rather blindly) accepted. For one book in particular, this worked out wonderfully. The authors did a huge book tour, appearing on multiple national talk shows, the book sold like crazy, and I continue to make a small profit every month, which is to date way more than I would have made in a typical paid per hour deal. That, however, is relatively rare. Another title I did early on has sold about 35 copies in a year. So once Audible takes their 60%, then the Author and I share 50/50 of the profits (there’s a whole algorithm through Audible based on the type of sale for how much money you will make), I’ve made less than $100 in a year for my work on that book. The books runs 5 hours, it took me 20+ hours to record and edit it…so far I’ve made less than $5 an hour for my time. The Royalty Share continues forever, so of course I can still see more profit off of that book in the future, but this isn’t the big bucks…and it can be much worse (little to NO sales) if you don’t choose your Royalty Share books wisely.
So which factors should you consider when selecting Royalty Share books to audition for?
ACX makes it pretty easy for narrators to learn important facts about a book prior to auditioning. Having had some great Royalty Share successes, and some major flops, I’ve learned what to look out for when choosing books that will be most likely to generate a profit. One of the first things I look for is the Book Length. If the book is 14 hours long…you’re taking QUITE a gamble on ever making a decent payout for your time. Next, how many Reviews does the book have, and what kind of ratings are they? And in hand with that comes, when did the book Release? For example, if you see a book that released two years ago and has less than 10 reviews, that’s likely a red flag that the author isn’t promoting it, and chances are they won’t take the time to promote the audiobook version, either. And speaking of promotion, there’s a section right on the main audition page for each book called Rights Holder Comments. This is important! This is a chance for the author or publisher to tell you how and where they plan to market the book, how many social media followers they have, what kind of experience they have, etc - basically this is their chance to prove to you that you would be wisely investing your time in narrating their book! If this section is left blank…proceed with caution…and be sure to do research of your own.
UPDATE REGARDING BOOK LENGTH: While it can seem appealing to take on a very short book to “get your feet wet”, be smart with your choices. Most Audible customers will not use a monthly credit on a book under 3 hours long. Titles like Cook Books, Yoga Instruction, etc, are also likely to make little to no sales. Everyone has to start somewhere, but make sure you are using your time wisely and have realistic expectations about the sales potential for a title. Also remember that anything you narrate is linked to your name on Audible for seven years. Bigger audiobook publishers may not take you seriously if you have several short “filler” titles to your name rather than a limited number of longer books.
Royalty Share Plus is a newer option that is offered by ACX, where you’ll negotiate a lesser Per Finished Hour rate or stipend , in addition to receiving royalties. This is a really great way to minimize your risk when taking on a Royalty Share project. I still suggest the same screening process for the titles you audition for, but you can take more chances on a new author, etc, depending on what you can negotiate up front.
Finally, there are many Paid Per Finished Hour projects listed on ACX, in four different price range categories. $50-$100, $100-$200, $200-$400, and $400-$1000. Submit auditions in a few different price tiers as you’re starting out. This is a good way to get a feel for what authors are willing to pay for your work so you don’t undersell yourself. On your ACX profile you will be asked to choose your rate categories, and I recommend selecting Royalty Share and $100-$200 to start off. As you get more experience you can change your rate category at any time.
Be smart about taking lowball offers. Union minimum is $250PFH, and although you will probably need to take a few lower paying books while you are building your portfolio, be mindful of the time you will be putting in. Please, please, please, even when you are starting out, do not accept books for under $125/PFH (and even this is LOW)! It devalues your time and hard work and the time of all of the other narrators out there.
UPDATE: SCAM ALERT
There have been an influx of “scam” titles in ACX’s Royalty Share titles lately, and also some in the lower $50-$100 tier. Basically these titles have been claimed by people who do not actually hold the rights to the title, but they will hire narrators through royalty share hoping it will get released without ACX discovering the issue. If you see a widely popular title with thousands of reviews listed for royalty share, RUN. Large publishers DO NOT LIST BOOKS FOR ROYALTY SHARE! Basically if it seems too good to be true, it is. You could end up putting in dozens of hours of work, only to have the title eventually flagged by ACX or Audible, and you will make ZERO MONEY FOR YOUR TIME. Proceed with caution and do your research if you suspect you may have auditioned (or even accepted a contract) for a scam title.
PREPARING FOR TAKEOFF
Different narrators have different preparation methods, and this is all about what works for you. When you’re reading over an audition excerpt, or preparing to record a book, identify the characters and decide what voice type you plan to give them (and be sure to keep it consistent!). When there are lots of minor characters that pop up throughout a book I’ll keep some notes about the voicing I’ve given them, so I don’t have to go searching through recordings from previous chapters to remember what I did. If there are lots of long sentences, you may want to mark up places to take a breath. When working on a book with heavy dialogue, especially multiple people in a scene, you may want to highlight in different colors for each voice or accent. That worked wonderfully for me in a book where I was going back and forth between British, Canadian, Scottish, and American accents in any given conversation, but it’s not something I find necessary to do all of the time.
When working directly with indie authors, I’ve found that most are very responsive. Don’t bug them too much if you’re just putting together an audition, but once you’ve accepted a contract send them your pronunciation or character questions, etc. Occasionally I’ll work with an author or publisher who will send me a detailed character breakdown with personality traits and the voicings they are looking for, etc, but I have found that many authors will leave it up to you and your expertise to bring the book and characters to life.
TIME TO RECORD
Whether you’re submitting an audition or you’ve received a contract on a book, the recording and editing process is the same. I read tons of blogs when I was getting started with various advice about the process, and once that stuck with me was by author Rob Dirks. He does a great, in-depth job of explaining the recording process and even provides a free Garage Band project with his recording settings built in. Highly Recommend this quick, informative read!
I get the question a lot…Do you record the whole book in one sitting? And the answer, for me anyway, is no! You will need to submit each chapter in it’s own file, so it makes sense to record a chapter at a time. Working as a full-time narrator, I’ll record approximately 60-75 pages per day, depending on my deadlines and schedule, the length of the chapters, and my vocal stamina. Another question I get is…How many times do you record the whole chapter? And that answer is, just once! I will start at the beginning of the chapter and and start reading…until I make a mistake (which I do a lot!). When that happens, I make a high pitched BOOP! sound, then start the sentence over again and continue from there. Some narrators will also use a dog clicker or clap after an error. This sound creates a visible spike in my waveform, but also sticks out enough that I’m sure to hear it as I’m editing so I don’t miss it when cleaning up the file. If I stumble over the line again, or come to a word I am unsure of the pronunciation, etc, I’ll stop the recording and then re-start at that same point when I am ready. There are several different techniques for editing as you go, Punch and Roll Recording is a popular one, but I’m not going to go too in-depth into the techie stuff (sorry, Rob Dirks can help you with that!)
Pro-Tip: Most authors will send you a PDF of their book for you to narrate from. Pop that file into Adobe Acrobat and hit Command+Shift+H and it will automatically scroll for you! You can change the speed by hitting the up or down arrows.
TIME TO EDIT
As I mentioned earlier, ALL BOOKS MUST BE EDITED! And, spoiler alert, this is the most boring and time consuming part of narration. When you’re editing you’re not only cleaning up all those little “boops” and misreads you made, you’re cutting out the sounds you made when you swallowed, when you breathed too loud, when your stomach growled, and every time you swiped to turn the page (unless you used my handy scroll hack!). A common question…Do you cut out every breath? I do not. I remove big breaths and breaths that affect the pacing, and breaths are softened when noise reduction and gating is applied. Listen to a few different samples on Audible and you’ll get a feel for different edits. Pacing is so important, so you’re also looking out for abnormally long pauses, etc.
It is also wise to check your read against the manuscript as you edit. Many authors will proof the narration word for word (and it must match for the book to be available on WhisperSync), so unless they have granted permission, don’t take any liberties with the text.
There are some important file requirements that ACX has that you must incorporate into your editing process.
.5-1 second of room tone (no noises whatsoever) before the chapter heading
1-5 seconds of room tone (same thing, no noises) at the end
It’s not hard to do, but your files will get rejected if you don’t meet these requirements.
Pro-Tip: Don’t leave any guesswork in labeling your files. I create a folder for each book, label each file with the book name and chapter number, and make note if it is raw, edited, or corrected.
Pro-Tip 2: When I started taking PFH contracts I began outsourcing my editing to a few different sound editors for a PFH rate so I could focus strictly on the narration. I highly recommend doing this as you’re able to. You can find producers and editors through the ACX platform as well.
TIME TO MASTER & EXPORT
This part is actually relatively simple, but it can seem super overwhelming when you’re just reading the technical jargon. But, there are standards that ACX has that are VERY important to follow, or your book will be rejected and the release will be delayed. If you’re using Audacity, the ACX Plug-in is free to download and checks your files against ACX specs for you! You will still have to correct any issues manually, but it’s a great way to double check before you export.
Before you export, how does your overall background noise sound? Is there a hum or consistent level of white noise you can easily fix? I apply light noise reduction and noise gating, both set to specific settings that I experimented with. Noise gating is also great for lessening your breath sounds without doing away with them completely. Don’t go overboard with these or your audio can quickly have a tin-sounding effect or sound like you’re under water!
Once your file is edited, your background noise is minimized, and you’ve got the right amount of clean room tone at the beginning and end of each file, it’s time to export! It’s very important to get the file right settings, and if you’re using Audacity it’s especially easy to change them.
Export each chapter as an MP3 at 192kbps Constant
Make sure all files export consistently to either Joint Stereo (my preference) or Mono
Be sure your file is set to 44.1kHz
Check your RMS & Volume settings with ACX check to be sure the file will be approved
And there you have it! Once you have exported all of your Chapters, your opening credits, closing credits, and cut a retail sample (5 minutes or less), you’re ready to upload to ACX!
SUBMITTING & HEADING TO RETAIL
Uploading your completed files to ACX is super easy, you’ll upload them in order and change the Chapter headings if needed. Then once you’re ready you’ll click SUBMIT and the files float away for the author or publisher to review! The author can either Accept the narration or Request Changes, which may mean you missed a mistake, read a line in the wrong voice, etc. If authors request changes, you’ll want to get the chapter number, time stamp, and correction for each error so re can re-record each specific line and replace them in each chapter.
Once the narration is accepted by the author or publisher, you’re not out of the woods yet. It can take 1-2 weeks to go through ACX Quality Control. This is where those spacing and file requirements are necessary. The author may love the book, but if you didn’t export at the right kHz, ACX will reject the project and you’ll have to re-export all of the files correctly before they are approved. (This happened to me once. It was a major pain)
Assuming you did everything right, ACX will approve the file and it heads to Retail. You won’t get an email once the title is approved, but the project status in your ACX Project Manager will change.
09/21 Update: ACX is currently releasing to Audible in approximately 10 days time. A major improvement over 2020’s months of waiting for the title to head to retail!
For Royalty Share projects, ACX pays out at the end of each month and they have detailed reports you can download.
WHAT NEXT
Pat yourself on the back, because many people have no idea the time and work that goes into completing an audiobook, and you’ve just accomplished that! And be sure to keep auditioning. I will often submit several auditions a week, and generally always have multiple books in cue. Don’t overload yourself, and be mindful of your deadlines and how much time you have to take on new projects.
Once you have some experience under your belt, and if you feel like narration is something you enjoy and want to further pursue, there are other sites outside of ACX that you can use to find work! These sites and agencies are more selective, so make sure you’re ready before submitting to them. A few that I work through are Bee Audio, Lantern Audio, One Audiobooks, Ahab, Pro Audio Voices and Deyan Audio.
AND THAT’S MY GUIDE ON HOW TO GET STARTED AS AN AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR!
Thank you for reading, and I hope this information was helpful. If you have are interested in coaching, have questions or a success story to share, please reach out to me through my Contact page!