VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Nikki]

I've reached a point of horrible confusion (not too hard and more common than I like) and so I thought I'd ask the question straight out.

I see conflicting reports of Audiobooks being such a bustling market (as described by big names with deep ties in the industry) and others who say this is the lowest paying market (from people on this board who do it routinely as I can tell) and that it can be hard to get into and get started.

As someone who is especially interested in long form narrations, and audiobooks as well, what's the story? Anyone who can provide insight and clarification would be much appreciated.

(I doubt this will stop me from delving into it, but I just want to know what to expect without smoke, mirrors, rainbows, and cute puppies)...okay, maybe I'll take the puppies if they're really cute.

Nikki

[Mike Harrison]

Apart from a book for an educational publisher several years ago, I've not done any 'regular' audiobooks. I am acquainted with someone who has done many audiobooks (and still does) and, through this person and from what I've read, the audiobook industry is growing and those established in the genre can do pretty well.

However, I have also heard more recently (within the last year or so) as you have, that reading audiobooks doesn't pay as well as one might expect. Additionally - and this I know first-hand - a voice-over organization at least a year ago had apparently entered into some sort of agreement with one of the audiobook publishers where members of the organization who 'made the cut' would be eligible to do recordings for this publisher, BUT at a rate which at the time I was considering it was less than half of the 'going' rate on AFTRA's website. And this required that the voice talent do the recording AND the editing.

For me, it wasn't worth it. I hope you receive more favorable feedback.
_________________
Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Jeffrey Kafer]

I don't think any audiobook narrator does it for the big bucks. Because aside from real estate narration, audiobooks are some of the lowest paying gigs, considering the work involved. You'll be luck to get a couple hundred per finished hour with full production. However, if you can crank out a 10 hour book in a week, that's pretty good salary.

Is it tough to break into audiobooks? Yup. Then again, I don't know of any VO that's easy to break into...

I suggest you grab yourself a public domain book and start recording. That will let you know if you have the chops, stamina, editing skillz, and most importantly, the desire to do more of it.
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Diane Havens]

What Jeffrey said. It's a true labor of love -- and lots of labor involved. When I produce a book at home it's a 9 hour day, recording, editing, checking against text, editing in pickups -- for days straight until it's done. Even in an outside studio, it's a six hour day of recording, with few breaks. The pay is per finished hour. So the more efficient you can be, the better your return per hour of work.
_________________
Diane


Veni, Vidi, Voci
http://www.dianehavens.com

[bobsouer]

Nikki,

There's really no conflict between the 2 things you've heard. The audiobook business is booming, that is, it's a market that is growing and continues to grow. However, it is and always has been toward the lower end of the pay scale per hour of work. Not everything is as it seems on the surface. The "names" you hear from aren't making much more per hour of work (when they're working for an audiobook publisher) than are Jeff or Diane or me or any of us working in the trenches below the radar. There's only so much money available from even the biggest publishers. (The only ones who make big money narrating audiobooks are the celebrities who do "condensed" versions of best-sellers. But in order to get that money, you have to make it as a celebrity, first.)
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[whalewtchr]

Hi there Nikki. While I have spent a number of years behind a mic, I am a newbie in the world of audiobooks. Certainly, I do not pursue audiobook story telling for the money. I enjoy telling a story as well as the challenges of character development, dialogue differentiation, acting, consistency and delivering on the author's intent.

The home studio version of audiobook narration is relatively new from what I understand. Audiobook publishers have been able to deepen the talent pool by going outside of the traditional studio locations in New York and Los Angeles, however, finding those with the technical and editing expertise to go with the narration talent is difficult---so, in a sense, there is opportunity for those with the right combination of skills.

When I recently attended APAC in NYC, most publishers lamented on the lack of studio quality sound coming from home recording operations throwing demos at them. In addition, some publishers simply do not trust that narrators working out of home studios can hit deadlines on their own and without Directors. Time is money as Diane pointed out and most publishers simply do not have the time for slow narration or editing. Most fully expect a narrator to to be able to hunker down and narrate for a full six hours per day with little or few mistakes, then edit the work in a timely manner and deliver the goods before deadline. Since I have a "Day Job", this is not practical for me at this time. The audiobook work I am doing now enables me to get the experience of doing it every day-the research, the reading, the galley sheet edits, the narration and final editing. My time is limited to evenings and weekends.

Jeff has great advice. Get a book and do it. Record an entire audiobook and deliver it mistake free within a deadline you give yourself and see if this is something you truly enjoy, if you're good at it, the money will find you.

PS Pat Fraley, Scott Brick and Hillary Huber usually host a great weekend of learning, it helped me.
_________________
jonahcummings

[Nikki]

Thank you for the feedback everyone.

Actually, not so much the information on the pay, but another aspect I've been worrying about might be my bar to entry...the editing.

I have '0' editing skills except for a little volunteer work I've done where I've done some directing (which I really need to do again) and minor edits that weren't perfect so I think the fact I don't know how to edit might be what keeps me out of this arena for the time being.

I'm thinking I probably need to investigate and practice that a little more since I hear a lot of people doing their own production work and editing. So much to learn, but really, one step at a time it seems.

Thank you.

[Jeffrey Kafer]

Audiobook editing is a unique skill. So much of the whitespace tells the story. Listen to some professional audiobooks with an ear to how it's edited.
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Andy Bowyer]

[whalewtchr]

Nikki. If you feel you have the goods as an actor then move to L.A. or New York where you would not be doing any of the editing-we're talking about the Home Studio market...just because you don't possess the technical or editing skills; this should not prevent you from pursuing audiobooks. Many of the New York based Actors do not engage in editing at all, nor do the narrators at BOT in L.A. Just sayin'. Do you have a DEMO?
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jonahcummings

[bobsouer]

By the way, the last audiobook I did in my home studio was submitted to the publisher unedited because that's the way they wanted it. Not all "non-edited" audiobook work is done in LA or NYC.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Melanie Haynes]

Hey Nikki,

While I haven't done many audiobooks for some of the reasons mentioned earlier, I do TONS of long form narration, which I believe you mentioned you were interested in, as well. A lot of the same advice holds true for long form narration - especially E-learning. Most E-learning clients expect clean, edited files - and most often, a separate file for each slide. Most of them pay per finished hour, finished minute or per job - hardly ever for hours worked unless you work locally in a studio with a producer/director.

I've been dragging my feet in really digging into looking for audiobook opportunities, because it seems like there's a lot more homework involved - for even less pay than E-learning.....
_________________
SaVoa#08019

www.melaniehaynes.com

832-912-9250

[whalewtchr]

You are correct Bob. There are some publishers who accept raw narration without editing of any kind. It's also safe to say that there are audiobook publishers who do not use home studio narrators at all and a majority of them have or use studios in NYC and LA. My intent was to suggest that Nikki not give up her goal of narrating audiobooks simply because she does not feel she has the editing skills. Sorry for the confusion. Here is a great link for information from one of the larger publishers.
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jonahcummings

[bobsouer]

Jonah,

I'm sorry if it seemed that I was correcting you. I was trying to add a specific illustration to the point you made, and expand it a bit.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[whalewtchr]

all good
_________________
jonahcummings