

Scott Brick has said that understanding pronunciations can take even longer when he has to narrate a science fiction novel.
#Audiobook narrator how to#
And that’s how long it takes an experienced professional who knows how to get through the whole process as efficiently as possible.Ī beginner is more likely to take forever! Then you’d need to add another 3 hours of sound editing in the studio. Just one hour of a finished audiobook can take 6 hours to create, with one hour spent pre-reading it to understand pronunciations and roughly 2 hours of that time used to record the text. Writer Grant Cardone says that top CEOs read something like 60 books a year, mostly for self-improvement, and they consume the majority of those as audiobooks.Īlthough consumption of audiobooks has skyrocketed, production of them is just as much a labour of love as it ever was. However it’s not just bedtime stories that draw people to audiobooks. Many of us enjoyed the experience of being read to by our parents or teachers, and it’s still nice to be read to as an adult.

It’s the professional narrators that still dominate audiobook voicing though, with talents like Scott Brick, Jim Dale and George Guidall still holding firm against television or film stars.
#Audiobook narrator full#
That must have been a pretty full studio! Random House released George Saunders’s first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, with Susan Sarandon, Lena Dunham, David Sedaris, and Don Cheadle, amongst a cast of 166 others. If we capture them now, when they’re young and have a little bit more time and a few more dollars, we keep them listening for the rest of their lives.”Īlthough content is the driving force, publishers are drawing the listeners in with celebrity voices too. Michele Cobb of APA said, “48% of frequent listeners are under the age of 35. In case you think this is a passing trend, the industry does not see it that way, and is keen to look to the future. This explains why the APA (Association of American Publishers) said that the first 3 months of 2017 saw audio sales rise by 28.8%. Smartphone storage capacity has increased each year too, which must have helped to drive adoption because smartphones are the device of choice for audiobook listening among 29% of the audience.Įver-increasing subscriptions and downloads from Audible have driven major publishers to meet demand, turning their top titles into audiobooks for a hungry readership. Whatever the reasons, 2015 saw audiobook sales increase by 24%, and an additional 18.2% in 2016.Įdison Research produced a study that showed 24% of Americans listened to at least one audiobook during 2016, a rise of 22% over 2015, which is a lot of people. With your brain in neutral, it’s natural to want to do something a bit more productive than just daydream. These activities might be best characterized as ‘active waiting’, as they demand some but not all of your attention and they take a while.

It doesn’t take every spare neuron in your brain to drive and it takes fewer to sit on a train or a plane. Perhaps it’s a symptom of modern life, that we feel busier than ever and we like it when we can do two things at once to make the most of every moment, or perhaps it’s just a really neat idea that’s come of age.Įither way, voice overs for audiobooks have gone from a standing start (the blind-community market not withstanding) to a huge phenomenon in just a few years.Ī good audiobook narrator can definitely serve as an antidote to the daily grind of commuting.
